Shade for a Hot Day

Last week’s heat wave shot the temperatures into the high 90s, with heat indexes up to 100. Humidity dripped from my face within ten minutes of being outside for morning chores. One reason the humidity was so high is that the corn crop is doing so well.

At the beginning of the week, we mapped out the paddocks so that each group would have enough to eat for a week. We didn’t want to move anyone while it was so hot, as the animals could get overheated if doing too much in that weather.

While they wandered out in the evening and cool morning to munch grass and sip from the water tank, the sheep and llamas mostly sheltered in the arms of a fallen tree. They hollowed out their own spots to lie in and scratched against the branches.

Thanks for Reading!

And I hope you feel refreshed and rejuvenated for the week ahead with this moment preserved in picture and prose. Consider:

• How do you beat the heat?

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This Week on the Farm

It’s haying time, and it’s time to plan when to put the rams in with the ewes so that we can have lambs in the spring of 2024!

And here’s a look down the road from the farm: a turkey gathering. On this particular day, four young ones and two adults casually meandered across the road.

When the turkeys are only a few weeks old, they’ll follow their families into the grassy ditches or cornfields across the road. When they reach the plants, the young turkeys dart along the edge of the road, anxiously seeking a path so they can follow their mum, who charged right into the thick stand of grass or corn.

Farm Shop

A new Shropshire fleece is up! This one is a ram lamb’s fleece and is uniquely soft. Click the picture below to view this nice fleece.