Birds are the big news of the day. 21 baby birds, to be exact. Grackles, robins, warblers, etc. Our friend Jenni, wildlife rehabber, had to go out of town, and she entrusted her wee babies in Maggie's care. Here they are in the classroom.

They have to be fed every hour or so during daylight hours, so they travel where I travel. This is the sight that greets me when I open the robin cage :)

Monk's hidey spot in the prairie plants.

I took my gathering basket out to get catnip to distill...and found a giant 5 ft plant that wouldn't even begin to fit in the basket!

Dante says he didn't inhale.

I really love my still.

Our kittens are spayed, neutered, vaccinated, microchipped, and ready for adoption!! Here our little torti tests the yarn for softness (it passed the test).

Lunch!! We love lunch. This is a fresh corn tortilla topped with adobo spiced black beans, queso fresco, a fried egg, and homemade chipotle/roasted garlic salsa with fried plantain slices on the side. I don't know what this is called - I think I had it at a restaurant some years ago. If anyone knows the name of the dish, please let me know!

It was WAY yummy.

The gardens are going bonkers, in the best way possible. Our first zucchini! (you really only get excited about the first one, right?) I pulled some weeds, and staked up the tomatoes (about a week too late).

Donna did tons of mowing today... Tons and tons. It is a never-ending job.....

Friday...we picked some St. johns wort for infusing into oil. This plant is pure magic! Bright yellow flowers stain your hands purple as you pick the blossoms, then turn the infused oil a lovely ruby red.

We distilled some lemon balm. up next: catnip, and bee balm... Then more peppermint and comfrey.

Donna pulled loads of orders!

And John packed loads of orders!

Dante supervised all the proceedings.

Then our favorite local herbologist friend Lynn came out and got a bunch of fresh herbs for tincturing.

The minis "helped" her gather elderflowers :)

And then we packed up for farmers market! A busy day indeed.

We are growing potatoes vertically. Or trying to anyway. We found some round wire cages on the curb this spring (yay curb crawling!) and got a ten lb bag of seed taters at an Amish store for $3.75. We shared the taters with our friend Becky, so we probably planted 6-7 lbs in five round cages. Put cardboard under the cages to supress weeds, threw the cut up seed potatoes on top, and covered with leaves and old straw. That's it! As the potato plants grow, we add more straw or old hay. I've covered them twice do far and as you can see they are ready for another layer.

Tomatoes are doing well, we will have to think about stringing them up soon.

This ambitious little pepper plant has a pepper on it already.

BABY PEACHES!!!

The very first St. Johns Wort blossoms!

Dante is a faithful (and talkative) garden helper.

The big, icky, super-duper sweaty project today was hauling lots of very heavy barn refuse (MAN those mini horses produce a lot of manure) out to the raspberry patch. Donna weeded, and Maggie mulched. It wasn't very hot - maybe lower 80's? - but the humidity was 91 percent and the sweat was literally dripping off us. Sweaty drippy manure-covered us. That's sexy farm life for ya. There's at least another 3/4 left to do, too. Here's hoping the berries are plentiful next year!!