State of the Farm: cool summer, tomatoes and cucumbers, egg production dropoff, goat health, and dog
The weather has been surprisingly mild for summer in our area. We've had a few hot spells, but we've had more cool spells. The cool nights have been very good for the goats, though I suspect the boys will come into season early because of it. I keep meaning to move baby-Diego into the front yard and I keep not doing it. I don't really expect him to come into season this year at all, but I also don't want to find out too late that I made a big mistake and he's knocked up his mom.
We've traded off the 10 pounds of cucumbers for tomatoes this week. We got only a few cucumbers (though more are coming), one squash, and a pile of tomatoes. The purple ones are a little pest-nibbled and split, but we've gotten a few. The orange tomatoes are just starting to come in. I haven't cut any of them open yet, but they appear to be thicker-skinned than the purple ones.
The chickens slowed their egg production this past week. I've neither received double-yolk eggs nor all that many white eggs in the past week. The last four week's count for white eggs is: 13,15,15,9. I wonder if the chickens are headed for moult? I expect I'll find out soon.
I de-wormed/de-loused all of the goats this weekend (and CK did the llama). Unfortunately, Cookie's eyelids were bright white, which does not make me happy and will cause me to start him on iron injections if he does not bounce back from this deworming within a few days. August is, apparently, the deadliest month at my farm for anemia problems. Yes, I'm worried. Fortunately, he is the only one, and he seems to be in ok health for him, so hopefully he'll pull through in his usual ponderous manner.
The dog passed her 1-year anniversary on the farm without fanfare. I still resent her impact on my schedule, but I can't [legitimately] complain about her behavior. She's a bascially good dog. She is trying to be obedient and participatory, and she actually listens when told not to chase the chickens. In exchange, I'm consciously working to make sure that my body language matches my requests/commands so that she knows she is doing the right thing when I ask, and I'm trying to include her in my evening lounge-and-read activities so that she gets more comfortable just hanging out. She is still trying to get the cats to play with her, and is still not succeeding.