Fog, Grain Run and Co-op, Harvests, Propane Shit Show, Butcher Area...

Woke to some pretty good fog yesterday morning. The storms had left a bunch of moisture and the temperature difference socked us in nicely.

It wasn't until I was in Spokane that the fog lifted and the city was completely clear. My first stop was to pickup 4 barrels onto the trailer.

One of the brewers was there working so I had to drag the barrels to the trailer but I got them all loaded up and on my way. I dropped 2 empties at the smallest brewery then headed across the city to the co-op.

Nicely it was just one box, one box of 50 half pound bags of beans, which made the drop off super easy. I have my timing down exactly as I got there right at 8am.

I hit fog again once I was coming down the north side of the Argonne hill but by the time I got home it was largely lifted and burned off. I dumped 3 barrels into the sheep pen and am saving one for if our friend wants it. I had let the turkeys out before I left and they all ran into the pen to munch on the grain. Later in the day I had to help them get out of the pen as half the birds couldn't figure out they needed to jump or fly over the fence.

Getting to the squash I found this one that had a totally stunted flower on the end, normally they are giant gold yellow flowers, not this buttercup looking thing.

3 more seed squash came out of the garden along with the 29.5 pounds for 38.5 pounds for the day.

At 11 the boys and I got in the truck and drove the 2 miles up the road to the quick stop. I wanted to get propane and asked the owner if he could do it. "Sure, sure, I will be out" he quipped in his Indian accent. So we waited out by the tank for well over 20 minutes as people went in and out of the quick stop. I finally went in to ask if there was a better time for me to come by but he said, "I will be out, I have to wait for the customers to go and I have to lock the front door" while his wife is sitting there next to him yakking into a phone. Really? Some cultures are really annoying sometimes.

So I had enough waiting and after looking at street view of the gas station up in Riverside we drove up there. I walked in and instantly they were helping me get the tank filled. I now have my forever spot to get my tanks filled. They were helpful and quick, and they don't have a convenience store to man.

Once back at the house I got the tank unloaded then set the rest of the butcher area back up. The plucker sits nicely and makes little noise as it spins, the scalding pot is full and I just got the burner going a little bit ago.

The small tank is hooked up to the weed burner which I use for scalding the birds after the plucking.

With my glass studio build actually happening I had to drag out a couple of pieces from my old studio. The giant fan that is from the old paint booth that was my original glass studio and the hood I had made for my old glass studio here on the farm. I drug them up to the yard but as I looked at them I began to doubt my ability to use them in the new studio. The fan would be nice but I think it is over kill.

As I was pulling them from the studio porch I saw a couple more barn spiders. The things are EVERYWHERE this year. Never before have I seen this many of them on almost every surface.

A full pound of tomatoes finally. They are slowly beginning to ripen and I really need to hack back the plants some more.

Picking cucumbers I decided on another one for seeds that I will let get huge. I have 4 varieties of cucumbers growing and this makes half of them I have seed stock for.

Only 20 came out of the gardens but the plants are still going strong.

One anaheim and 2 little jalapeno peppers were nicely colored up and came of the plants.

One of the many hopping insects covering the farm this summer.

I figured out that if I took the top board off that I had installed I could put in two boards that would fit the remaining space perfectly. I got it installed then I went and put the level on the side and realized I screwed up. I now have to remove all 64 screws, straighten the frame, then reinstall the boards. My dumbass move of the day.

I have one squash that has grown in the lower garden and it finally has shown me that it is a delicata. I had no clue even with my panting plan.

This wire spool had been at the bottom of the hill by the creek and I rolled it up towards the house. I hope to pull the one in the yard out and use it for the privacy fence and this one can replace that in the yard.

I rolled it by the tree out of the driveway.

Homegrown cucumber, tomato, and watermelon with beef and bison burger raised 5 miles away.

The boys setup their tent next to the spa and we had the glow of their lights in the tent glowing next to us.

I wasn't too long for soaking as I had to get the birds put in. The little turkeys are getting better at going in the hut and I only had to toss a few in before closing them in for the night.

The scalding pot it on and working on heating the water. Once it is ready to go and we have everything cleaned up and ready in the house and the water basins filled I will start lopping heads. Today we will be processing as many roosters as we can. We have 15 at least so I hope to get through at least 12 of them.