Bing, Bang, BOOM it's JULY!

Well we did it.  We pulled the cord and purchased our own haying equipment.  It wasn't easy for me to part with that much money, ugh.  Heck, I was exited of 12 cent jars for crying out loud!  We researched and hemmed and hawed and finally did it.  We chose Yanmar compact haying equipment.  Mostly due to the fact that their customer service was incredible, and they had detailed videos online so that you could trouble shoot on your own.  Because issues don't always happen during weekdays during office hours.

We purchased the disk mower, the multi use rake, and the mini round baler.  After much discussion in the house, we came to the conclusion that while the hay system will never pay for itself on our ranch, it would save on the annual frustration of waiting to hear from the non-existant hay contractor that comes around whenever he pleases, but not necessarily when the hay is at it's peak or when the weather is at it's best.  We had TERRIBLE hay harvested last year. It was rained on 3 times before baling, was almost all straw or sticks (far past prime), and the alpacas wasted nearly 50 % looking for palatable food.

So we put our order in and waited.  We missed the time for the traditional first cutting which was the middle of June, but that's ok.  We'd do it when we did it.

The 4th of July came and went, but it didn't feel like the 4th.  The neighbors down the road set off fireworks, one of which got away from them and sent fireball after fireball into our uncut hay field.  Doc and I raced out with buckets of water, but the dew on the field kept it from catching fire.

The mini round bales are actually easier to lift than the squares and still fit nicely in the hay shed.  We did have to get the PTOs cut specifically for our tractor, but that's ok.  Challenge met, accepted and done.  Of course the days we had to fit PTOs, hook up equipment and actually cut and bale hay were some of the hottest and most humid of the year so far, of course.

The local fox kits are on the prowl. Ugh.

The project for this month, on TOP of everything else, was to get a canning cabinet built.  Another blog I follow, Old World Garden Farms, posted a great set of plans  (for sale) for a canning cabinet.  My current method of shelving jars on industrial shelving was not working for me in any stretch of the imagination.  I don't like to stack jars, as the weight can pop the lids.  Putting lumber between the layers is an option, but my jars aren't all the same height, so that's a problem.  PLUS, both methods hide what's on the shelf.  What to do what to do?  Well they had my solution right there.  I was reading the blog to get an update on their cancelled around the country trip in their teardrop camper and came upon the cabinet.  Well I have a wood shop full of scrap lumber and odds and ends, so I ran with the idea using what I had on hand.  Mentally, I couldn't stand the thought of one more trip to the hardware store.  Using a pair of bi-fold door I picked up at Habitat for Humanity 6 years ago for $5, I came up with this.  It has slanted shelves, with non-slip shelf liner on them. The bottom shelf is for the canning pots, both pressure and water bath canning.  The top shelf is sized for my giant dry storage jars.  Rings and lids are stored on the side.  I LOVE IT!  (Posted with permission from OWG as they were my muse.)

Starting in July, the canner is a full time resident of the stove-top;  soups, stew bases, meats from the freezer, veggies, and tomatoes, tomatoes, tomatoes!)

Garden at one month old.

After windstorm after windstorm, I invested in two, long, 4 foot tall windscreens and attached them to the outside of the garden fence all the way around.  It was so windy that the self-pollinating tomatoes weren't!  I also had branches snapping off on a regular basis.  This cycle HAD to stop!

A poor choice of parking locations for the mower.  Barn swallows are
a necessary pest.

 Comet Neowise made a spectacular early morning visit in mid-July.  We were lucky enough to not only have clear weather for two days, but the humidity dropped so we had crystal clear skies with no distortion!  It was an amazing sight, even if I did have to get up at 4 am.

I got this adorable planter for my birthday.  This is exactly how I see my chickens.  I thought she'd be adorable with leaf lettuce planted in the back, making her extra fluffy!

The chicks have outgrown their pen in the workshop.  And besides, they're driving me nuts in there.  The older girls are breaking into the shop during the day and "visiting" and pooping all over my shop floor.  The benefit to this breaking and entering visitation is that the girls see them as flockmates already, smaller ones they can still bully, but mates just the same.  The day came when I was truly sick of them underfoot and I kicked them out with the big girls.  They LOVED exploring and playing and annoying the big girls.

 Canning is up to full speed.  I stumbled on a meat sale at the market, and of course had to take full advantage of that.  Jar after jar of beef went on the shelves.  Then I got a deal on greenbeans, so I dug the ham out of the freezer and put up some ham and beans.  Older, bagged, dry navy beans, garbanzo beans, and red beans were next.  Chicken from the freezer was made into chicken soup and put up, and canned with broth and put up.  That freed up a lot of room in the freezer.  Sloppy joes, pizza sauce, and spicy fiesta chicken soup have rounded out the month of July.  I LOVE using my All American Canner! (no affiliation)  I only have the 921, which holds 4 quart jars, 5 wide mouth pints, or 12 half pints at a time, but it was the largest I could afford at the time. 


And if THAT wasn't enough......at the beginning of the month I purchased a wonderful antique bed set from a man down the road.  It had been his mother's and had been stored in the back of his barn for years.  He wanted the barn space back, so he was clearing things out.  He sold it to me for $20.  It took me on and off for the month of July working on it as it needed totally taken apart and it was HOT in the workshop.  The foot board was the piece that originally had the curved top with the leaves carved in it and the walnut rosette.  The head board had the flat edge and the high top.  I took the oak, walnut, and cherry ends apart and reassembled them to put the curved top on the headboard and the flat top on the foot board. 

I then cut the foot board in half.  I decided that it made the bench too deep and further removed 9 inches from each piece.  I used the side rails as the front and back boards for the seat.  I left the curved trim on the front piece, which is now actually upside down.  On the original bed, the curved pieces went up to hold on the mattress.  I wanted them to curve down as a decorative piece.  I removed these decorative curved piece on the back rail and added them to the top of the armrests. 

I then sanded it enough to make it soft, but not so much as to remove the character, to include the water spot on the headboard, where grandmother's hair made a spot.

The seat is purchased pine, but stained walnut.  The whole piece was top stained and sealed with this same walnut stain to make it a cohesive piece.  It looks WONDERFUL.  It will be the new bench in the master bathroom sitting area.

The tomatoes are almost 6 feet tall with some varieties.  The cabbages have been netted to keep out the worms.  The squash have been subjected to squash bore and have yet to make a male flower to fertilize the female flowers.  The mustard plants are 5 feet tall.  It time now to start hunting for horn worms at night with our black light flashlight.  And with that July is gone, just gone.

August brings the start of school in person, back to the office, back to the dorms and the tomatoes turning red. More canning, more projects, the countdown to Fall and Winter preparations is looming and seems more depressing than normal.  But we are blessed to have it.  So I'll take it.