June 29, 2018
Week 7
Here are some of the
items you may be receiving in your delivery this week:
Rainbow Swiss Chard,
Purple and White Mixed Bunching Onions, Assorted Head Lettuce including Friseé, Purple Romaine and Butterhead, Purple Mustard Greens,
Spring Baby Carrots, Edible Flowers
including Nasturtiums and Calendulas and… Strawberries!
This week we had some
wonderful rainfall including a torrential downpour with an amazing thunder
storm Thursday overnight to Friday morning. The boys had left the wheelbarrow
down by the house and it turned into a makeshift rain gauge. Wow that’s a lot
of water.
6am found me
containing a leak at one side of the house waiting to be fixed once the roof is
redone, and then up on a ladder unclogging a drainpipe and running around
checking drainage ditches. Meanwhile our awesome Junior Farmers were taking
care of the Layers, little chicks and greenhouse. Thank goodness we did have
this rain as looking forward at the temperatures I’m already expecting to be
watering the field on Monday and then again Thursday.
The harvest this week
is a wonder to behold after the weather we’ve had this month. A rainbow of
color. This week we made strawberry rhubarb muffins which both boys insist on
having more rhubarb in them next time. They are wonderful for breakfast with
tea and fruit.
I had written the
newsletter this far on Friday morning and now on Tuesday am only just getting
back to it. We had some extra drama here starting on Friday night, never a dull
moment. I came down from closing up the barn and could smell the stench of a
skunk spray. As I approached the porch I saw our cat Jasper sitting there with
his eyes shut facing me. He was drenched. It must have been point blank range.
I picked him up and wrapped him in a towel. I did my best to flush his eyes out
as he could barely open them. Our poor baby.
He did really well and
at this point I was only bleeding a little and my hands smelled awful. Who can
blame him; I hate putting drops in my eyes let alone flushing awful stuff out
of them. He then escaped me and hid in the house.
His eyes were a lot
clearer the next day and I sent his stinky butt directly outside in the
morning. Researching online I found a number of people using hydrogen peroxide
mixed with baking soda and a little dish soap. Bathing my cat has never been on
my list of things to do in life. I was pleasantly surprised at how he managed.
Mainly he was trying to get away but no growling, biting or clawing. Once he
realized the shower door was shut and that there was no escape, he stayed still
and succumbed to the treatment. The treatment took all of the smell away from
where I had washed him. His face is still odorous as I wasn’t going to risk
getting it in his eyes but it is gradually wearing off. We wrapped him into a
towel and he snuggled for a while on my lap before starting giving himself a
huge bath.
With Jasper set, I
went to ready the trap to catch the skunk. I’ve been attempting this for a few
months now with numerous baits but I was exhausted at this point so went with
moistened dry cat food. After having the skunk walk right up to me about a
month ago I chose to set the larger trap and called it a night. The next
morning unbelievably we caught one! OMG! I say one, as it certainly wasn’t the
one I’d seen before but a baby.
An adorable, spraying,
little baby. How on earth was I going to handle this? I had breakfast in the
oven, less than an hour before I had to drop the boys off at Exit 7 and then
start work at my part time job 45 minutes after that. The day was going to be
hot. Could I move it to the shade with food and water until after work? That
way I could take it to release using the trailer. No way, too many risks. I
decided to just go for it. Anthony stayed home with Navarre and I grabbed our
thick car blanket and placed it over the scared little skunk who stenched up
the joint immediately. The potent acidic smell of rotting flesh. Disgusting. As
gently as possible I moved the trap into the back of the CRV and had a windy
drive with the windows down. Once I found an area far from other residences I
pulled off the road and gingerly removed the trap from the car with the skunk
continuing to let out little bombs. I plunked the trap down and opened it. It
didn’t come out! Crap. Okay, now what? Skunks are mostly nocturnal so I moved
the trap to a bush and pulled off the blanket. Oh goodness. I moved back
attempting to get out of range and with great relief did not get further
scented. My hands still reeked from tending to Jasper. The little cutie took its
sweet time getting out of the cage and I set back for home. A friend offered
her driveway to park the car for work so I could leave the windows down. Now 2
days later they are still down but the smell is improving.
Jasper is doing great.
He still has some discharge coming out of his eyes. His fur looks gorgeous and
the scent on his face is slowly going away. The meat birds are out of their
little chick cages and enjoying roaming around the large horse stall. No luck
catching anything else so far. We have as you have been doing our best to beat
the heat and keep the plants watered. I’m hoping for a thunderstorm.
I hope you all had a
fantastic Canada Day Weekend and wonderful week.
If you have any questions please feel
free to contact me.
Your Farmer,
Amber
