The view in June

Here's a bit of a tour of our yard in this last week of June. We've had a fairly wet summer overall, but no rain for more than a week.

My main garden is so-so this year. Not all the seeds came up (planted too early? cheap seeds?), and there's never as much variety as I would like.

At least the tomatoes and peppers are doing well - they're the real reason I have a garden.

The flower/kitchen garden is getting rather overgrown with grass and weeds - I've clearly not been keeping up with this one. Even so, we like to sit on the park bench and gaze upon it in the evenings.

This honeycrisp tree makes us think this will again be "an apple year" - quite exciting!

Raspberries are starting to abound.

And the grapes this year are crazy abundant. Is it the weather? the severe pruning I gave them this spring? In any case, Ramont is really looking forward to grape juice again.

What a lovely yard we live on!

On to the barn...Ramont is now milking Gracie and easing Joanie into pre-natal leave. Our neighbors (some quite far flung) and friends purchase three-four gallons each day, coming to the milkhouse on the right of the barn and taking it straight out of the fridge. We also have frozen cream, butter, and cottage cheese available, as well as yogurt and Farmhouse Cheddar cheese upon request (as well as regular customers for each).

A glimpse of Ramont's cobbled together milking system, which he keeps quite orderly.

This summer we're trying something new...hiring a neighbor to round bale some of the ditch hay. These bales weigh about 1000 pounds each - almost 50 of these and about 300 smaller square bales got made yesterday afternoon!

And these two keep busy in summer. They spent about an hour giggling like crazy as they wheeled this "go cart" in and out of the garage, down the slightest little slope. A pail with water, a squirter, helmets, and shin guards were added after this photo. Creativity abounds when they're left to their own devices!