I'm Still Here!

Well, so much for trying to post 1-2 times a week!  My excuse this time is that, while I've been busy as usual, it wasn't farm stuff much, so I didn't have farm blog material - or time to write it.  I've been going to the market, a board meeting, driving to Pennsylvania and back, and basically taking a breather before the garden produce starts pouring in.  Here's a quick review of the last couple of weeks...

In initially great news, we got new WWOOFers on Monday evening the 13th, that looked to be a great match with our farm.  They actually got up when we did, for starters!  They were interested in learning a lot of what we do, sounded pretty gung-ho, could stay until September - and then the next day when I was at the market, they ran away with little explanation ("more suitable opportunities elsewhere").  I'd been excited to have them here, since I was taking the boys on a 5-day trip that Thursday, and there would actually be someone here to take care of things for Caleb, so he wouldn't be trying to do everything - including milking the goats.  But no such luck :(  As usual, though, we managed just fine - this summer has been a good lesson in self-reliance, which is sort of our farm's whole point anyway, so it's quite fitting.  But it's good to be reminded that, when pressed, we really do seem to be able to do everything here - help is wonderful, but not necessary.  It has also been a good exercise in evaluating what is really worth our time and effort, when those become a limited resource. 

Help has been present (albeit in a limited, sporadic capacity) in the form of Liam.  I'm able to do a lot more now than I was when Liam was this age, because Malachi has entertainment (or someone to argue with and aggravate) unlike Liam 3 years ago.  

Friday was a big day here for Liam, he turned 5 years old!  He and Caleb had a guys day out on Saturday afternoon, going to lunch and then some real caving, not just walking through commercial caverns.  Then we topped it off with a cookout, with smores, and then homemade chocolate cake and ice cream!!  Last weekend I took the boys to Virginia and Pennsylvania for a family get-together, and on the way we stopped at Luray Caverns.  They were much larger and more impressive than Cumberland Caverns, and Liam really enjoyed the tour.  He told me when they got back Saturday, though, that the ones with Daddy were the best.  They had actual tunnels, not just rooms!  

The garden is starting to come in, we're getting cantaloupe, honeydew, watermelon, and okra, I picked 24 big winter squashes, with more coming, a dozen butternut squash, and canned my first batch of tomatoes yesterday.  I'll try to post about the garden in a couple of days - I've got some pretty awesome pictures of a pile of squash!