pictured, not pictured.

i only ever have my camera within arm's length of the house. its too much to bring to the fields or the barns. i feel self-conscious toting it along to visit the neighbors. i don't want it flopping on my back when i'm trying to voice-train my sheep. 

i'll work on that. i know you can only stand so many photos of the house and her surroundings. so for today i'll do my best to tell you about what is not pictured. 

pictured

1. new yellow rocker for the bedroom from the town flea market.

2. my mom gave me this morning glory that she started from seed for my birthday. it bloomed for the first time sunday morning. 

3. a riveting read. not really. it turns out saving seed is much more scientific and involved than shelling beans. i think i'll put this back on the shelf for winter reading. AND a bowl of honey nut cheerios left over from everly. score. 

4. this photo could be of any day of any year. that dog likes a good sun-nap.

5. nick found sun-dehydrated oyster mushrooms. small blessings from the drought.

6. soup delivery from our neighbor.

7. love these boys. hate their cigarettes. i have an old french ad framed in the bathroom that admonishes: au bout de chaque cigarette, tojours le meme filtre: vos poumons. neither of them pay it any mind.

8. we are actually selling out of our eggs. and milk. and yogurt.

9. soup of the farm's mint, cucumbers, and yogurt. 

10. honey comb candy which is easy to make and easy to over indulge. 

not pictured

1. the loaner bull nick picked up last thursday. nate. he is huge. he rules by terror. nick and i meekly request winnie every morning, and only half the time he gives her to us without the pomp of threats. we can't wait for his departure. one month to breed the girls. 

2. albert, the bull calf, who is the opposite of nate. and just wants to be scratched under the chin. we have been receiving all manner of advice on how to raise him. all conflicting. but we are attempting to do it with a confident dominance and distance. 

3. my cucumbers and beans that are all trellising along. the ONE tomato a day from my garden. better speed up. 

4. the mama hen that decided (maybe a week or two too early) that she is done raising her chicks, and the abandoned chicks that run around cheeping and nick and i that try to stand in for mama by showing them food and water and perching them. every day and night.

5. nick and i and two neighbors slinging straps around a heifer that got stuck in the creek and pulling her out. 

6. nick and toby and i rubbing arnica on her swollen leg. spraying her with essential oils to repel the flies. rubbing A&D on her sores. in the late evening. trying to get her comfortable as she lay immobilized on the banks of the creek. 

7. eating dinner with new friends by torch-light. the power had crumbled as the storms rolled through last night. 

8. the smell of earth that is blessed with water for the first time in many weeks. such a sweet sweet smell. 

9. my palm's blisters from banging T-posts in the garden. 

10. the honey custard ice cream i made yesterday and then melted to soup in our powerless freezer. 

11. the faces of my ewe lambs covered in milk weed juice and their pelts covered in burdock. they are going to need some Cleaning Up before the fall's shearing.