It's July, Which Means the Year is 1/2 Gone

July usually means hot days, but so far, it has been cooler than normal and we've had quite a bit of rain.  The garden is looking wonderful but I wanted to wait and take photos when it was sunny out and the weeds had been knocked back a bit.   My sunflowers are as tall as the cattle panels and the tomato plants have lots of blooms and also little green fruits on them.  The corn is waist high.  Everything looks really good right now.  

I am very behind on mowing.  All the pastures need to be mowed again, but it was too rainy and wet to get it done yesterday as planned.  Tomorrow Grover and I leave for a 3 day agility trial in Pennsylvania, so I won't be getting any more work done on that front until next week.    Speaking of agility trials, here are a couple photos from the trial in the Cincinnati area 3 weeks ago.

I hope we do well this weekend.  Our last class was not so good.  Grover just seemed out of it.  Everyone has one of those days once in a while I guess.

But back to what's going on on the farm.  I was unable to harvest any honey as I had hoped a week or so ago.  But the orange butterfly weed is now blooming, as is the buckwheat and the pastures are just full of clover since there are no alpacas to eat it down.  Even my agility practice field is so full of clover that I get nervous running out there.  If I stand still and watch, the clover is just alive with bees.  I mow the practice field about every 2 weeks, so it was 10 days ago I mowed last and the clover is taking over.  But all this means a good supply of nectar for the bees.  I should be able to harvest some honey soon.  At least I certainly hope so.


We have several creeks that run through our property.  There is a good sized creek along our hayfield which is the property line between our farm and the neighboring farm.  About 3/4 a mile from the house, there is a nice shady swimming hole that is best accessed before the hay gets too tall or right after the hay is cut.  It is about 2 1/2 feet deep and has a nice flow of water through it.  It is easy to get to for an old dog with arthritis, so Sam and I took the dogs there one evening last week.  

 The dogs and I really enjoyed the nice cool water.  


 I kind of wish this was right in our yard, but then again, the dogs would be in it constantly.  

I am weaving a couple of baby blankets on my large loom.  The woman who cuts my hair is due to have her second baby in about 3 weeks and I had this nice blue cotton in my yarn stash, so I warped the loom for 2 blankets.  I'll have one to give now and one to give later.  The weaving is going quickly since I am using only one color.  I like this textured pattern.  

I have started a couple of new knitting projects as well, but there is not much progress as of yet.  Knitting and weaving time is harder to come by in the longer days of summer .

 
Here is someone else who is on the lookout for nectar.  I love the tiger lilies that just grow everywhere this time of year.  I have even been known to mow around them.