The Weekly Digs #115
I was listening to Joel Salatin’s book, “You Can Farm”, and he said something that really rang true. To summarize, he said that abnormal weather, whether it be really hot or freezing, lots of rain or a drought, is more “normal” than a year that follows the average or normal weather pattern. It is rare to have normal weather.
As I reflected on it for a bit, I realized the validity behind it. This year has been so rainy and flooded, last year we had a month in summer with no rain at all, three years ago we had a crazy hail storm that wiped out some of my early crops, and four years ago we had major flooding.
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Nature’s curve balls definitely make gardening interesting. But for this year, all the rain has made home building interesting too.
House Progress
There has been a bit of a struggle to get some of the outdoor work done on our home. We still have grading and septic to do. Cam and I were praying that we would catch a break in the rain so the septic could get finished.
The rain stopped for a few days but the truck that was supposed to bring the pipes for the septic never came up to drop it off. The next day, Cameron went and picked up supplies himself. A friend is helping Cameron install it.
We knew that they could probably get most of it done today (Saturday) but it is supposed to rain all next week and they won’t inspect on weekends. All our ditches don’t drain well and they fill up like miniature ponds. The chambers for the septic would likely float in each ditch and they would need to be adjusted again before the inspection.
I tell all this because we had a miracle happen. It wasn’t the no rain we were praying for, it came from the Health Department! They said since Cameron as the homeowner was installing the septic, that he could take pictures of each of the important bullet points needed to pass and show they were completed correctly.
Once the pictures were taken, they could send them in and fill in the ditch right away! Cam and a friend were able to get most of it done today and filled most of the lateral lines.
I think we still have a few weeks left on finishing the rest of the house. Other than the grading and septic I mentioned above, it’s just lots of little things now. We really don’t want to move in or get the certificate of occupancy until they are 99% done.
In the Garden
We are now in the phase of harvesting, preserving, planting, and nonstop weeding. Both weeds and plants grow fast this time of year!
- I froze 7.5 lbs of snap peas and we harvested another 5lbs yesterday.
- We planted sweet corn.
- I finished planting tomatoes
- We transplanted zinnias
- Plowed a new area of garden and pulled out lots of Bermuda Grass
Pigs, Cows, Chickens, and Turkeys
- We got a new batch of chicks this week! The types are Cream Legbar, Blue Americauna, and Cuckoo Maran, just 5 of each. To our surprise they all arrived alive! One looked a little sick and started to perk up here and there but unfortunately, it didn’t make it. The rest are alive and well.
- The pigs got out again this week. Cameron was working but home and corralled them in the barn. We slept under the same roof with the pigs again since we are also sleeping in the barn. He weed whacked again and fixed the fence, then they went back, thankfully!
