june gloom

our plans to shear this weekend were foiled when the blade sharpener guy didn't show last week at east valley feed & tack.  would have been nice to get it done, but it'll have to wait until next weekend.  the weather is uneven - hazy and cool most mornings, warm and sunny on others.  temps are hovering in the high 70s and low 80s. 

instead of shearing, i spent part of the weekend building a chicken tractor for the bantam roosters.  a "tractor" is a pen on wheels, that can be moved from place to place.  figured it was the best solution until we're able to completely relocate the bantam pen away from our whiny neighbors.  the pen i'm building is 4 x 6, with a lockable hutch for nighttime. i'm recycling the wood from the old bantam pen, and cannibalizing parts of the old hutches. hope to have it finished next weekend, with the help of my dad, who'll be visiting.  james gave me some pointers (like reinforcing the corners), so i think it'll turn out well.

the garden is underway.  had to break down and buy some heirloom tomato plants from sperling, since all of my seedlings died after i transplanted them to the garden.  i should probably have planted them earlier, and transplanted them to transitional containers until they were bigger.  i also picked up a couple additional varieties of cucumber (persian and lemon), along with a yellow zucchini plant.  not buying hybrids this year, so hopefully i'll have more seeds to start next year (and greater wisdom, based on this year's experiment).  a couple of cuke and zucchini plants grown from seed have survived and seem to be thriving, and the heirloom lettuces are growing fast.  lettuce always does well in the garden, even during the hottest summer. we also have a couple of eggplants, some tiny pepper sprouts, and a few corn stalks growing. the sweet potato slips that pattie gave me are now in the ground.  i also have a few small herb plants started (purple basil, garlic chives and rosemary), and last year's oregano and thyme are still going strong.  my giant rosemary plant died suddenly last month, so i've been missing fresh rosemary.  pattie and scott gave us a clove of russian garlic to plant, which they received from a friend.  it's supposed to be especially delicious and expensive.

lamb abe has become especially friendly.  he'll approach me now, and let me rub his head.  he's started spending more time with the big rams and less time with mom.  the twins are curious, now that they see me touching abe, and will let me pet them briefly but aren't convinced that i'm harmless.  little maggie is still shy, just like her mom, but still enjoys jumping and romping (usually around the chickens and dogs) in a little dance.

the first mission figs are ripe - just a dozen or so ripen early every year as a teaser.  the trees are covered with little green fruit that will soon be plump and sweet.  it won't be long before the sheep are running for the trees every morning in search of figs for breakfast.  by then, it'll be warmer and the sheep will be enjoying their new haircuts.