a quiet sunday

it's a quiet sunday - warm and breezy.  relaxing on the sofa, with tango at my side and amy on my lap, after a full morning of chores.  i was up at dawn to open both coops and feed the chickens, brought out another bale of bermuda for the sheep, and picked and juiced some pomegranates. i made breakfast with fresh eggs and homegrown potatoes for james and me. we cleaned out the sheep shed with the tractor, and will let the ground dry in the sun before sprinkling with hydrated lime, and covering with shavings and straw.  i power-washed and disinfected the perches, with scooter at my side (i think he secretly enjoyed getting sprayed by the hose).  james built removable perches in the standard coop, which is genius.  the tops are covered with astro-turf (to help prevent bumblefoot) and i can take them out for a deep cleaning about once a month.  while i don't like cleaning the house much, i don't really mind cleaning the coop and the shed.

pattie came by yesterday and we picked most of the pomegranates and loaded them into her pickup.  when she saw how much fruit was coming off of the trees, she was apprehensive about taking all of it, so we left some for the sheep and chicks.  she'll spend the week juicing what she took, which is quite a chore.  the first year we were here, we set up a juicing area outside and juiced hundreds of pomegranates.  now, we rarely have the time, so it's a treat that pattie is doing the work for us.

i dug up the rest of the sweet potatoes, which yielded a disappointing harvest - about 12 potatoes from 5 plants.  the plants were so large, i expected a bigger crop.  i made soup with a few of the potatoes, some onion, an apple from isabel's tree, and some fresh rosemary and sage.  it was spectacular.  we have lettuce and baby bok choy, and beets and carrots look like they'll be ready soon.  the tomato plants are still hanging on in the late summer weather, and have a couple of small fruit growing.

the weather's still unusually warm, but temps are supposed to drop later this week.  we had the same phenomenon last year, and actually had two harvests of some of the figs.  all the fruit trees are on the wane except the citrus.  we have a crop of very small grapefruit that's not quite ripe, along with some navel oranges and tangerines.  last week's storm has left grass sprouting across some of the dirt in the back.  it's amazing what alittle water can do.