Thursday, June 3, 2010

Taking the leap & a second milk cow

Yesterday we decided to sell our home so that we have more flexibility. We cannot afford to lease land that we don't live on (carrying a house payment as well), and being tied into this home makes it near impossible for us to move quickly on a lease when it becomes available. This is a breathtaking, exciting decision and even though we are now also painting all summer - we're relieved to have finally decided.

Also, in July we will be driving down to Mendon, UT to purchase our second milk cow. She is another milking shorthorn, but is much more "dairy-ish" than Ruby is (I'm hoping this also means a bit more docile). The dairy we are purchasing her from will be breeding her for us this month - they are such nice people to do business with! They're an Organic Valley dairy and have an exceptional dairy cleanliness record so we can't wait to see their operation.

We have been working in the planting beds this week and I was so excited to find that our tomatillos from last year (the few fruit that remained after harvesting) have self-seeded and there are dozens of tomatillos seedlings in that section of bed. I separated and planted them as a hedge/wind block along the up-wind side of the bed. They were an amazingly hearty plant last year that overcame every bit of weather that blew them over or beat them down, so I'm hoping they'll protect the other plants in the bed this year. We're waiting for the last "June snow" that could damage everything immensely, before we put too many young plants in the beds. For now they are happy in the cold frame.

2 comments:

Christina said...

Wow! Lots of exciting decisions and possibilities. I'm hoping that I can buy some of the tomatillos at farmer's market later this summer!

Erin said...

We have some canned tomatillos from last years crop if you would like some - just return the jars and rings :) We hardly use them and have over 10 qts left...