Vacation!

This past weekend was a wonderful break from the usual life on the farm - we went to a family wedding in Kentucky. Unlike most of our trips, it was only a 5 hour drive - we didn't leave at 2 am or drive the whole night, it was really quite luxurious. The wedding was beautiful, we got to see family we hadn't seen in a couple of years, and even had time on the trip home for an extra stop. We went to Cumberland Caverns in McMinnville and took the walking tour. Liam loved it - he said "this is so cool!!" every few minutes and even spontaneously thanked us both for taking him :). The caves are pretty touristy - we met an employee 4-wheeler, and there's an area with bathrooms and a snack bar - but they were pretty amazing to Liam!  We'd actually like to go back - the snack bar and bathrooms are in a large area that is used for monthly Bluegrass Underground concerts - apparently the acoustics are great, and in addition to the regular bluegrass sessions they sometimes have pretty big-name concerts as well.  If we can just get some leisure time on the right Saturday...

We have a new WWOOFer this week, just Monday through Thursday, but she's fairly local so she'd like to continue to come back when she can - hopefully in  month or so when we butcher chickens, especially!  Caleb took Monday off to catch up on farm work since we were gone for our usual work-weekend, so between the 3 of us (and Liam) we got the Siberian garlic pulled - the last of the garlic!  I've already started selling it on the farmer's markets, so it's good to have it all available finally.  I usually start selling it fresh out of the ground - it's actually easier to peel then, and so juicy - but for storage, it should hang and cure for about a month.  Once it's cured, it'll last anywhere from a few months (most of it) to a year (Music).  

I just took a short break from typing here - Caleb had just come back from morning chores, we were discussing leftover Eowyn's-birthday carrot cake for breakfast - and heard a baby goat bawling.  Not just "where's mom" calling but fullout bawling - but from a direction we don't have goats.  We ran out, and there was a fawn stuck in the fence on the driveway right by the house!  We got it unstuck, but one back leg was pretty cut up - basically skinned about the size of 2-3 fingers - and another cut inside a thigh.  I had to hold it solo for a minute, and I have never held anything so small and strong!  Still haven't - I couldn't - it thrashed like I've never seen, and ripped out of my hands, giving me some aches and welts, and took off.  Now I have experience holding thrashing animals, and I didn't stand a chance!  Unfortunately, it went down the driveway with Whitney hot on it's heels - I'm not sure how that ended.  Despite our yelling, they disappeared over the hill with no slowing from the dog - although the last I saw, the fawn was widening it's lead...

Now, back to our regular programing - The intern Hannah is currently weeding the garden, doing a once-over, and that'll pretty well take care of things for a while.  It's supposed to rain for several days, which is perfect.  The garlic is out, everything is planted, as of this morning everything will be weeded (except the memory garden), and nothing is coming in yet - don't tell anyone but I secretly ate the first 2 cherry tomatoes yesterday, but they won't really need picking for several more days.  Now I can take a breather, we can have a knitting lesson, card some wool, maybe I can do some spinning, we'll make soap, maybe a couple of batches, make some pasta...especially when interns are here for short stays, but really interested in a lot of things, I try to make time to cover things like soap, fiber, and such (the fun things) rather than just having them weed or turn compost the whole time, and that's working out perfectly this time.  

The blackberries are just starting to ripen - it's still a bit of a search for black ones - but I think we may actually have time to get enough for some jam this year.  The areas we've run the animals through with big stands of briars are perfect for picking - the livestock didn't eat them all, but they did trample everything down around the patches, and walked paths right through the bigger ones, so it's much easier to get the berries than usual.  I love blackberry jam, but haven't made any for 2 years - it's usually just too hot to go berrypicking!  Here's hoping this cool weather stays...