Here we are again, its Friday! Pretty slow week on the homestead as it  rained the 5 out of seven days, I believe we have about 5” of rain for  the week.  We have lived in South Central Kentucky for two full years  now and we have dubbed the first two weeks of July Monsoon Season!  The  first year we got 14” of rain and last year we got 12” so we are little  short this year but that’s OK.  What is nice is it is coming in ½” to  1” events, this helps keep the plants in our garden from stressing out  too bad.  There are some signs of stress by nothing like last year, I  think is also helps that we most have everything planted in bales so it  is up off the ground. 

 My lovely wife is a 4th of July Baby! I won’t tell ya how old she is,  but she is doing great even though the hell she has been through in the  past three or four years, fighting off three strokes and dealing with a  blood disorder that will eventually lead to Leukemia (in 20 years or  so). 

Guess what the weather was like???? 

It Rained….. 

We  made the best of it though, we drove the 45 minutes to the nearest town  with the movie theater, there was not a lot to choose from but we found  a pretty good one call “Champion”  It’s a Christian movie with a car  racing sub-plot.  Kinda predictable but good.  By the way I love the  movie ticket prices down here, up in the most corrupt state in the  world, Illinois $12.00 is the going ticket price, $3.00 down here, ya  can’t beat that! When we got back home I cooked a great (if I  don’t say so myself) streak dinner with baked sweet potatoes and grilled  veggies, it was a hit!  

 Like I said it rained and rained but the neighbor managed to get off  some fire works, but it was really foggy which made for a neat effect  and the echo off the mountains was really cool!  Check out this short  video you have to listen to the frog for a minute or so….

https://www.facebook.com/colleen.brummelbrowning/posts/10154921961106379 

 

Animal Update....

We  added a rooster to our egg layer flock, our hens were getting a little  bitchy and needed some testosterone to even things out.  See my previous blog for all the details! 

 

The Chicks are growing pretty quick take a look! 

 

Garden Update...

In the garden things are progressing well I think we will tell the story in pictures here we go!Lettuce bed Two transplanted 

 Lettuce bed One going to seed for next year’s crop 

 If you have never had Kentucky Purple Pole Beans (they come in a bush  bean too) you have to try them, by far the best green been you can eat,  they are purple when you pick them but turn green when you cook them,  dam good!  

 Pumpkin or squash? 

 This is a squash flower, and if you look real close you will see a honey bee inside! 

 Round two squash plants with baby squash 

 Tomatoes, tomatoes, tomatoes!  I am guessing we will have about 300lbs this year! 

 

Self Sustainability...

We also got some food  preservation done, Colleen picked a bunch of blackberries and we put up  some preserves.  Along with putting up frozen beans and making some Mesquite Seasoning, see previous post here…. 

 I got stung by a bee! Right on top of my ear! 

 Ouch!

Last and surely not least we bottled some beer!  Boy its good! 

 That’s all for this week, we hope ya all have a great weekend, happy homesteading.  Let us know what you think in the comments.

Thanks,

Bob & Colleen Browning

 Check us out at…..

Follow us on STEEMIT: https://steemit.com/@svfarms

And Facebook: www.facebook.com/Serenity-Valley-Farms-167719676966401/

And on Instagram: www.instagram.com/serenityvalleyfarmers/

Check out our Website: www.serenityvalleyfarms.us