Yesterday dawned beastly hot. I'm not sure of the exact temperature but I believe it was in the high 80's when I headed out of the house at 7:30 a.m.
We headed toward the farm a little early thinking we'd have a long day.
Turns out it was so hot that the farmer couldn't bear the thought of the body cooking heat during two or three hours of picking at full on suntime. So she did all the picking in the cooler hours.
We got to wash and pack and were done within a mere few hours. Promised to be a humdinger of a day ended up being very pleasant.
Two pounds of heirloom tomatoes came home with us. I believe these are green and yellow zebras. Turnips, cucumbers, dill (the spiky things in the picture are the skeleton of the dill flower that were covered with seeds that were harvested), basil, zucchini and radishes rounded out the box. The Swiss Chard and the lettuces are almost done, the bugs and the heat are making sure of that, but she managed to take some ground and we packed some into each box. And we each got a bag of garlic bulbs. Fun and yum. A nice haul.
And I shared the goat milking pictures from the Living Loess Third Saturday. Here's more pictures. Tucker, the Great Pyrenees puppy was the sweetest little guy. He lives with the goats and will be a great watch dog one day...once he figures out the proper pecking order. I'm sure he answers to the Queen goat. Apparently dogs are domestic goats worst predators hence the need for watch dogs. And wisely, Tucker will know this herd very well before he's big enough to try anything anti-goat. He gets the goat milk that Rosie patiently produces for visiting amateur milkers.
And finally. More goat details. The long eared goat girls are apparently whiny little prissy goats and not great producers...however, they make the best creamy dense fat milk so they get to hang out and participate with the other goats.
And the milking process is pretty much goat organized. Or Queen Goat run. The farmers open a little door in one side of the milking room, the first two goats head in, climb up the little chute, pop their heads into the head chute and chow down while being milked. The Queen sets the order and makes sure it's followed. The goat lady said that the Queen, when not amused, will knock a usurper off her feet with a healthy butt. No one in our group annoyed the queen so I have no pictures of any slapstick goat incidents. Maybe next time!
