Mules, Pigs, Apples, and Stars

Here is to hoping that Rich and Mica stay out of semi retirement from mule riding. Mica is about 21 years old and has always been a 'hard' keeper. However she had a hard job in her younger years. She was a 'heeler' and a trail mule. After we acquired her she was used for trail riding and team penning.

The view from Mica is different than any other mule I have ridden.

I could really like this view...a lot!
Mica gets a little grain in the morning and a little bit at night. None of our other mules really need grain. They can stare at a piece of grass or some hay and gain weight.

I plan on riding Mica much more this fall. She is tall enough to get me through those thick weeds in the valley. After she and I break open a trail, I'll rotate with Sunshine and Siera. Fred gets a break after all of his hard work training youngsters this summer. Although he will put up a huge fuss if he is left behind.

Apples.
After juicing the wild apples the old fashioned way.

I took the left over pulp and ran it through a food mill.

And viola! I had the makings of apple sauce or apple butter.
I put the apple sauce in the crock pot with some cinnamon and sugar to slow cook while I canned 4 quarts of apple juice.
Now common sense would say that it is less work and easier just to buy apple products, but there is some sort of satisfaction in making it yourself.


Pigs.
Swine.
Vernon County Fair.

Regarding Pigs. Hmm. Well we purchase our hay from a local farmer and have for 9 years now. I met this farmer through work. Rich and Ed hit things off right away and have been friends ever since.
Ed's daughters started to show swine at the Fair along with other projects.

This year Rich and I actually went to the Fair specifically to watch the Swine judging. Rich has not been to a Fair in a very long time.

I'd forgotten how intense showing an animal at the fair can be. Months of work are then judged in an arena with a lot of people watching. The judge looks over the animals and places them.

Learning how to walk a pig and show off your pig is really quite the task. Just say I was very impressed. I'd seen the farmer's girls raise these pigs and train them.

Stars.
Last summer Lily asked me if we could see the Milky Way. So I've done a bit of studying including using a program that would show me the location of the Milky Way on any given day.
I studied and practiced in taking photos of it too.

I wanted Lily to know that indeed the Milky Way does shine right above "Grandma and Grandpa's" house.

I obviously need more practice for 'shooting' stars, but as always, ... I love a challenge.

Guess who is coming to town!

Miss Lily!!!

With a bit of hard work and some juggling of schedules, I will be able to pick Lily up tomorrow in the Dells. 

I'm sort of really kind of...well yes...

excited.

I love all my Grands and wish I could visit with each of them for a week. At the end of Lily's visit, I get to spend some time in Wausau with Elena and Sterling. I can't wait for that either.

Later this month, Dennis will be coming to spend some time at the farm.

Now all I have to do is figure out how to retire and just spend my summers with the kids. Hmm, kids, farm, and seeing state parks. I have that on my list!

Well, in reality, that isn't going to happen, so ....I will muddle through the best way I know how.

I had a bountiful harvest yesterday from the garden! I've never grown sweet corn before as I always figured the wild critters would get it before I could.

But as luck would have it, we have a huge harvest of corn!

And it is delicious! So I grabbed my pails and went to work yesterday in the forenoon to harvest goodies from the garden.

I had some beans, grape tomatoes, some Roma tomatoes, and some Beefeater type tomatoes. I filled a 5 gallon bucket twice with sweet corn.

Of course it was hot and humid. I froze 5 bags of corn on the cob for having this winter. I still had a 5 gallon bag of sweet corn.

So I sent an email to my neighbor telling her that I was having a crisis of too much sweet corn, and the bucket was looking for a home in some tummies.

Her crop hasn't come in yet but I like to share.

She answered that she had a family of expert corn eaters and would be grateful for a bucket of corn.

Here is my harvest which includes onions, zinnias, and peaches from the market in town. I couldn't resist trying to create a 'still life' out of the produce I picked and cleaned.

It looks like another warm humid day in SW Wisconsin. Lots of work to get done!

We had another two inches of rainfall last night. I don't think we are facing any sort of drought this year.