Go Team!

Oftentimes it feels like the stars must align to get anything done on the farm with three kids all requiring my attention.  Some days, though, everything goes like clockwork and I get almost a week's worth of work done in a day.  Today was one of those days where you look back at your first completed task and think "Geesh!  Was that this morning?!"

The day began early with Grandma Susan sneaking in at 5:15 am to take over Alistair duty so I could harvest my CSA baskets before the temperature outside got too out of control.

This week’s basket included: green and butter crunch leaf lettuce,  a head of red leaf lettuce, chard, baby red cabbage, baby turnips, baby carrots, jalapeños, garlic chives, dill, lemon basil, licorice basil, sweet basil, flat leaf and curly parsley, kale, tiny red radishes, scallions, chocolate mint, apple mint, oregano, sage, pea shoots, daikon micro greens, wasabi mustard micro greens, red clover micro greens, raspberries, red currants, and a dozen farm fresh eggs.

This week’s bonus item was homemade garlic scape aioli.

Once the baskets were complete, Seamus and I freed the animals from their barns and prepared them and the gardens to survive this scorcher of a day.  Charlie got a special brushing while I mucked out the donkey barn before it got too hot out.

We also watered all of the gardens and made sure that our shade cloth was firmly in place to protect the last of the lettuce from bolting.

Next, Grandma Cora tapped in and took the big boys to the splash pad while I put Ali down for a nap.  During Ali's morning nap I harvested and watered the strawberries.

I actually got a whole bowl of strawberries since Seamus was not "helping" me harvest!

I also inspected and watered some of my flower gardens...

Delphinium - beautiful but inedible.

Our black currants are almost ripe!

and prepared the well garden for the plants Ali and picked out a few weeks ago while Liam and Seamus were at bike camp.

I watered the rock hard soil so I was able to dig the 11 holes I needed for my new plants.

Once Ali awoke, he and I cleaned yesterday's currant haul, froze them individually and portioned them into 1 cup baggies.  We got 12 cups (after we gave some away in today's CSA baskets)!

Next I prepared lunch for the boys, greeted our CSA families as they dropped in to pick up their baskets and got everyone down for afternoon nap.  During nap time, I braved the heat to plant my well garden.  A heat wave is obviously not ideal planting weather but I watered everything thoroughly so the new plants should be fine.

It might not look too different yet but hopefully as my new plants grow,
we will have more flowers and berries and less thistles!

During nap, I also did an afternoon water refresher for the barnyard animals.  I treated them to ice in their buckets to help them beat the extreme heat.

Charlie is not sure what to make of the ice cubes.

Ava, on the other hand, was all over them. 
She could not drink the cold water fast enough
and then proceeded to chew the ice cubes into bits.

After a quick cold supper, I delegated the grocery shopping to Ian while I bathed the big boys and put them to bed.  Next, Grandma Cora occupied with Ali while I mucked out the goat, chicken and Ava coop.  I then showered quickly (thank goodness, I was sweltering, sweaty and filthy) and nursed Alistair to sleep.  Finally, I started the micro greens for next week's CSA basket.

It has been a busy and very productive day, to say the least.  I am extremely grateful for all the help from both Grandmas and Ian.  Managing life on a farm with three kids is seriously a team sport.  

#goteam