JULY NEWSLETTER

Hello!

I hope this finds you doing OK.

I had my first ripened tomato from the garden, fresh peas, and green beans.  Now that's what I think is good food.  I love sitting on my porch after harvesting the veggies early in the morning relaxing while shelling peas and snapping green beans. I've been making homemade ice cream and strawberry shortcake too along with salads when it is too hot to cook. 

On the farm end of things, I've been out trimming bushes and hedges so our place looks civilized.  Dwight helped me wire the back fence to keep the bears away from my bee hive. So far no black critters have gotten back in my woods, although one neighbor said a bear was walking up our road the other week.  I was given seven newly hatched Guinea hen chicks so got my brooder operating again.  I lost three as they are hard to raise when so little. At a week old the tiny things were finally as big as a newborn chick.  Today they are almost a month old so I moved the four lively chicks that have feathered out over to the shed where they will stay.  Hopefully they will eat a lot of ticks around here.  I also lost one of my white ducks so now only have two.  Meanwhile my hens stay busy laying lovely brown eggs. I have one rooster from the chicks I raised this year- a buff colored one- so I am calling him, Mr. Buffy.  Texie boy, is almost a year old. Lo and behold if he doesn't like berries. I had to race to get the ripened strawberries t his spring and raspberries before he sank his doggy teeth in them. Here when I was out in the garden picking green beans the other day, didn't I see him over at my blackberries eating them too!  Next the crazy dog will be eating my green beans and tomatoes off the vine.  The heat and humidity doesn't seem to bother Tex.  When I go outside and head down to the woods or hen house, he not only runs, but leaps and bounds ahead of me.  Would I ever love to harness some of that energy!  Tex is turning into quite the guard dog keeping the wild critters off our property as he races from one end to the other. He also loves to try and race any vehicles that come down our road as well along the fence.  I nearly got bowled over when I was out trimming the bushes along the front of the fence one day when a car came by.  So while I trimmed, I also kept an ear tuned for any cars coming up the road as well.

Another exciting thing that happened was four teenagers and two fellows from the GAP project came and painted our front and back porches & rails and cleaned out the gutters one week.  Some of the kids got as much paint on themselves as what they were painting. It was quite the busy week, but such a blessing.

Then Dawn and her kids came up for a quick visit while she was down at Monterey doing a VBS. It was so good to see them again.  The next week she headed out to Iowa for another VBS.  I was so relieved when she got back home safely after eleven hours on the road going and twelve hours coming back. This week she and her family are up in IN at a camp.

Dwight is to go to the annual comprehensive hemophilia clinic at the end of the month out at Nashville. He is limping more and going slower. I wish Dwight would go ahead and get the ankle surgeries over with.  I hate seeing him in pain. I know Dwight is reluctant to do it until absolutely necessary as past knee surgeries ended messing him up more and he was down for six months.  So I worry and pray.

Take care and stay cool!  I’m so thankful to have air condition during this hot and humid summer weather. Despite the heat my flowers continue to bloom as my bees stay busy buzzing around, colorful butterflies flutter among the flowers, and dragonflies dart across the pond.

Until next month~

Dorcas