The past week has been crazy busy, hubby went to alberta to give his momma a helping hand and I was holding the fort.. got to see my dad which was very nice.
he had time to visit some of my family as well 🙂
hubby came home to a new to us second hand extra large leather chair, I got it at the second hand shop for twenty, awesome find, hauled it home in the horse trailer
Got a call from a daughter of a friend who needed to rehome her budgies, so Tweetie and Tweddle came home to the farm, they are settling in very well, they have a regular cage until I get a custom one built for them
Twiddle is the more friendly one
the black broad beans are doing well, as are the purple sugar snap peas but they are a new heritage pea to me and they are tender an yummy but, they taste like a green bean.. very odd
lots of drying going on daily..
strawberries are coming ripe now an picking daily.. 
great for any help in controlling the pests and slugs an such.. love how pretty this frog is..
first cut of hay done and its not good news at all, the hay is ok quality but the volume is very poor indeed,. a third or less then normal.. the drought locally is effecting all crops and its showing! my pasture look like the mid-aug unstead of end of june.. we have only had two good rains and maybe six teasing rains in the last two months.. crazy!
Something had to give, the well will not hold in this drought if everything is on it, so we added in a 2000 gallon water bin and its filled and will be used for livestock an garden needs, while the well will do household and we pray for rain
my elderflowers are a third the size of normal but at least they are there, the huge blackberry patch has just aborted all their fruit.. we will see what happens..
The geese have settled in fine and with that I need to run.. as you can see, the farm is hopping right now! how is your world going? gardens? critters?
Just another Day on the Farm 
Wow….where to start wiht your lovely pics. Love everyone of them!
Your gardens are so far advanced than ours! Due to cool spring & drought we’ve had to replant 3 times so some rows just germinating & others doing ok. Crossing fingers for some kind of garden harvest. We’re also adding large water tank for any water run off which would do one large garden, raspberries & the chicken coops. More than anything it’s a good peace of mine. We’re enlarging the tank’s opening so that snow can enter then once filled it can be closed up to melt slowly come spring.
Strawberries are coming on strong & taste soooo good! Made jam & jam tarties yesterday. Having ice cream thoughts now…yummy
Finally it RAINED!!!! Happy dance on this farm! We’ll take every little drop & be mighty thankful.
Will start cutting hay in about 2-3 weeks so the thinner grass that hasn’t gone into head will be able to grow some more. Hay is in big demand this year with little stored. We mostly bale big round bales for winter feed but finally found a OLD Massey 124 square baler & will have small square bales for the barn! Now that brings a smile to a farm girl’s face!
I must say your new buggies are awesome! I love the colours of them plus thier names are too cute.
Would you have a mint jelly recipe please? I put mine in a VERY good place but just can’t quite fine that place. LOL
THANKS for your time & shairng thoughts!
how did this one get lost.. so sorry
I will get back to you about the mint jelly very soon, again, again sorry I missed this somehow
I guess my earlier comment got ate up but as always Thanks for sharing your life & farm!
Our garden is certianly no where near yours due to cool spring & drought. Been replanting somethings 3 times so crossing our fingers for some kind of harvest since we heavily relay on our food storage during winter.
Our strawberries are coming on strong so jam, cordial & freezing is on the table right now.
Just finishing up a great run on asparagus so lots of soup & jars are ready for winter use.
Your strawberry dessert pic is waaay too yummy!
ARDORE your buggies! How are they doing? Haven’t had buggies for years but you’ve stirred up thoughts! LOL
Adding more water storage is our project this summer. Well water too short for watering livestock & garden so it will really help. We’ve never had a problem with our well & sure don’t want that to change!
OUr hay cutting will start next week but it’s thin. Drought!
Question please: we’d love to know how much small square hay bales are going for in your area?
They’re VERY hard to come by here so baling more up this season & they’re selling from any where between 4.50 to $7/bale.
well, I paid 4 dollars a small square last year, and I have not got a quote yet locally for this year but for round bales with average of 850 pounds last year it was 40 yard pickup and this year, I know that its 70 yard pickup.
but I was also told there would be no extra available, but I can tell you what prices were on our last drought year in 2012, small squares went eight dollar a bale and round went 80
Holy cow….OUCH on those prices!
Hearing Alberta is pretty desperate for hay this season so prices are outrageous there
Thanks