WHAT IS UP WITH THIS HEAT???

Every morning the Farmer asks me the same old question, just like a broken record, " Well my little Butter Bean, is today the day that you close the windows of the house and turn on the air conditioner?" And he hears the same reply "It is May! who closes their windows in May!" But I have to admit, come mid afternoon it has been mighty tempting. When the clothes start sticking, and the hair is all matted, I will probably capitulate. With the heat comes the bugs and flies. The plants and the animals are putting up a good fight against these natural disasters. On the upside, the warmth has encouraged the squash, melons, and okra to explode. The strawberries are winding down, as the plants do not do well in the heat, so we will probably pick for another week maybe two. On the berry upside, the blackberries are starting to turn. We are anticipating opening on Memorial Day. Due to the extreme heat, we will be arranging for morning picking, the earlier the better. I have not been able to anticipate with much success the day or the hour that the berries will be ready. One day there is nothing that looks remotely close to being ripe, the next day, the whole bush is loaded with ripe berries.  Midweak, we will post some information. The wind is blowing ninety to nothing today, and what peaches were left on the trees have been knocked to the ground. Better luck next year. The Farmer took out the first row of potato plants with the new potato digger direct from Italy. It was mesmerizing watching it gently burrow under the ground, raise the new tators up from the dirt, and gently shake away the soil and place them neatly on top of the fresh dug mound. Those Italians are wizards in the garden. Found another superb milking doe this past week, so our goat milk production is ever so slowly increasing. We have put Praline on the cow milk production line and she just fit right in with the rest of the girls. She is a little shy, this being her first time, but she will soon learn the ropes.  From our farmstead to your table, thank you for all of your support!!