Today may be the last day of our oppressive heat wave. I certainly hope so. It would be nice to be able to get something done again!

We did sell the donkeys—to a couple in Charleston. I was sorry to see them go—they were so sweet—but really, unless we could’ve come up with a job for them, there was no point in having any extra animals to eat the pasture down.

The pigs are living back in the woods in the shade, where they can root around in the cool earth. We’re not really feeding them much—just a couple of buckets of milk and scraps every few days. They’re finding what they need in the pasture and in the ground. As it cools off, I’ll be thinking of ways to move them closer to the house and confine them just a bit more. I’d like to keep an eye on Dixie, who I hope is bred, and begin a final fattening of Bill so we can eat him this fall.

Pearl developed a bit of mastitis in one of her quarters, so we haven’t been getting milk for the last week or so. We’ve been turning her in with Maeby, and it’s all cleared up now, so starting today we’re back in the milk. It’s worth keeping a calf on a cow, just for a mastitis cure!

The sheep are fat and healthy—who knows why! I can’t imagine that this weather is very comfortable for them!

Split is a sweetheart. She’s a little bored with our lack of outside activity, but she’s hanging in there, giving just the occasional long sigh or groan to express her boredom. The pups are wonderful. Ben is huge—he already weighs as much as Split!

I’ve been canning tomatoes—a delightful activity this time of year! There’s really nothing else that I want to put up, except maybe applesauce later. I was going to make peach chutney, but I’m the only one who eats it, and I don’t eat very much of it! We really don’t preserve a lot of stuff—none of us likes canned vegetables except for tomatoes and applesauce. We don’t eat jams or jellies. There are a few kinds of pickles we enjoy, though we still don’t eat very many of them. I could eat lactic pickles every day, but they don’t really preserve well—the ones I made last week are in the fridge, and I hope to make more in the next day or two.

I notice that we tend to like vegetables that are in season, as opposed to summer veggies that we preserve and store. Fortunately this year the winter squash have done amazingly well, so we’ll be eating those all winter. And I like that this year the cows will milk straight on through winter—at least Pearl will—so I can make cheese and butter all winter instead of frantically trying to make enough in the fall to last until spring!