While the farmers are away...

While the farmers are away, the goats will play. And so our's did. We had rigged up our fence to where it held the goats inside for a single day and prayed it would do so while we were gone to Tennessee for a family reunion for 4 days. They quickly figured out that the fence was nothing more than a back scratcher and roamed the property and our neighbor's as they pleased. No damage was done. They were sweet, harmless goats, but it tired our neighbor plenty trying repeatedly to get them back in.

Before we left, we harvested a few watermelons. To get really sweet melons its best if the weather is dry the last couple weeks before harvesting. That's exactly when our rains started. The first was ok. Not a lot of flavor, but at least moderately enjoyable. Like a typical store bought melon. The next had even less flavor. The third wasn't ripe at all. When we returned, Randy found 2 more little ones where the vine had died. I'm thinking the anthracnose is showing its ugly side and taking our little melons with it as it slowly kills the vines. Its a lesson in knowing what can hit and preventing it long before you even see a symptom. We at least have gotten a good number of viable seeds from the first watermelon we ate.

On a good note, we harvested a sunflower and it is drying in our porch. The sorghum heads really look good. Our amaranth is starting to head with beautiful red fuzz balls. Our various different beans are flowering. We have about 10 little pumpkins growing bigger. I have our pineapple protected with a heavy dusting of cayenne pepper. We slaughtered most of our meat birds last Saturday and will be doing the remaining 5 hens this saturday. Our okra continues to give a few bits a day, amounting to about a side dish a week (which is about all you want of okra) from only 2 plants. Our new plants are looking good to start producing in a few more weeks.

As for our trip, it was great. I got our fall garden mostly planned on the 12 hour drive up and back. I also cut out diaper pieces for Aaron, finished knitting Randy's winter hat (little late) and started Aaron Christmas stocking (hmmm... will I have it done in 6 months???) Gloria had a wonderful time with various other kids, mostly 3rd and 4th cousins. Aaron loved being held by all the great aunts who are waiting for grandkids and more cousins who are waiting for kids. He was just as mellow as usual, even when I made him sport the festive do rag.

Now its back to normal, continuing the potty-training process, fixing the fence, fighting off the fungi, chasing Sundae, etc. The break was nice, but normal life is really nice too.