Weather: Overcast and breezy, and again on the verge of rain.

Garden: All three gardens are now nearly weed-free. The interior of the hoop house is nothing short of remarkable. The plants inside are 1/3 larger than the plants growing outside. We’ve been harvesting greens from all three gardens for three weeks now – lots of salads going down, lots of stir fried vegetables going down. Does anyone know at what point picked lettuce is officially dead? It can’t happen immediately, can it?

Hay shed: It’s now ¾ complete. The framework and rafters are up. All it now needs is a roof and board and batten sides. I wonder what the neighbors think when they see Pete working away on yet another horse-related project. If they asked, I’d tell them. Having this project done is going to enable us to store more hay. We won’t run out like we did last year.

Compost and Manure: I have four stations cooking. All are ready to turn. I will do this tomorrow if it doesn’t rain. This hardly seems like noting, but it’s important in the great farming scheme of things. Laurel who lives in Sutton came by and returned buckets, and as well took half a truck load of manure. I was low on buckets. Without them, pen cleaning grinds to a halt. But as I was remind, we seem to have good manure karma—gardeners have always come and taken it away in a timely fashion.

Alys and Marge putting lead line on Jokla

Alys leading Marge on Jokla

Icelandic Horses:

Solfari: The Trickeys, who own him, have come down on the price. I have my fingers crossed that he ends up in a really good home, that is one where he’s both loved and used in a kindly fashion. And of course, I hope that someone nearby buys him.

Jokla: Yesterday I worked with Mariann and Dick Stoffel’s filly. She’s three, a big mare with one blue eye. It’s like she has two sides to her personality. I think that both are good sides. I got on her yesterday and she seemed confused. So I’m going to integrate fun things into the training mix. I used to do this with Raudi, and it broke up the monotony of the real heavy duty stuff. So why not?

Tinni: Yesterday Vicki came by – she told me in passing that she and Emily did a long ride last Sunday, going up Lazy Mountain to Matanuska Peak. “Tinni,” Vicki said, “did wonderfully.” Vicki and Emily are asking him to do more than I ever asked him to do, and he’s clearly rising to the challenge. I have come to the conclusion that Tinni is in a good space, and that I made the right decision in letting the Talbots have him for the summer. I still miss him something awful, but am glad that his summer owners are taking such good care of him.

Raudi: Today we did a 15 mile ride and were out for about five hours. Early on, the princess made it clear that she didn’t want to work any harder than she had to. I thought that perhaps she had a rock in her hoof, and got off to check. As I was lifting up her right rear foot, she decided to take off. Pete, on Siggi, gave chase. After she was returned to me, I beat her to the punch, and pitched a fit. I made her do walk, trot, and canter transitions. She finally stopped dancing around, and did what I asked. It was if she said “all right, I’ll do what you want.” We went to the end of Buffalo Mine Road. There, as Pete and I ate lunch, she had time to think about her actions. She was a different horse on the way home, seemed a whole lot happier. Sometimes I wonder, what gives?

Siggi: Pete and Siggi accompanied me and Raudi on today’s ride. What most amazes me is what this horse will do for Pete. He used to balk at crossing streams and boggy areas. Now he handles them all nicely. I suspect that if Pete asked Siggi to levitate, that he’d give it a try. If and when rapture day arrives, Pete will head upward, on Siggi’s back.

Signy: I took her for a jaunt shortly after our ride to the end of Buffalo Mine Road. All I have to say is wow, what a great riding horse. Unlike Siggi, this horse seems to levitate. She floats along, and at a fast pace. I feel very safe and secure when riding her.

Hrimmi: She’s now about all shed out. Our filly is white and blood bay in color. Apparently, she’s not going to go through an ugly duckling phase. Hrimmi has good proportions and a very nice topline. She also has a solid canter and very much enjoys coming along when I take Signy out. She has no problem crossing streams and now knows that it’s a wise idea to skirt bogs. We got lucky on this one.

Dogs:

Jenna: She came along on today’s long ride, but bowed out on the short ride. I think that we tired her out.

Rainbow: We left her at home because we had decided to do a road ride. So she stayed inside and rested up for the next big adventure.

Goats:

Ranger, Rover, Peaches: All three got some yard time today. Peaches has about shed out. This happens once a year. It’s a mystery as to why. She’s lively and energetic, so I’m not worried about her.

Chickens:

Heny Penny Palin, Snooky: They continue to make it known to me that they’d rather be outside than inside. When I can, I oblige, and let them root around in the goat pen.

This is where we are now at. I suspect that once the hay shed is done, that Pete will put the siding on the main cabin. And I will clean tack. I have my fingers crossed – maybe, just maybe, we’ll have a day when we can kick back on the porch and look around and say “huh, place looks pretty good. Guess we can relax today.”

Next: 216. 07/12/12: Good Morning