August on the farm has been… busy.
Two weeks ago, Israel.
Yesterday, Florida to interview with Russell Brand.
Last week, an 8-person film crew at the farm for three days.
This weekend, UAP whistleblowers arrive for a retreat.
And that's just the beginning.
🧵
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We have another group coming the following week, and then Jill and I head to the Polyface/Brownstone event at the end of August.
So yes, August is apparently our quiet month.
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Meanwhile, just as we were packing for Israel, lightning struck the ground near our main house and blew out the buried electrical cable - completely. No electricity.
So we moved into the guest house.
And then Jill made a tactical error.
She looked at the carpet.
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The carpet is about 10 years old and has survived four dogs.
It had served honorably.
So we, meaning Jill, decided that since the house was already torn apart, this was the perfect time to replace it with flooring.
But obviously you should paint BEFORE putting down new floors…
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And if you're already painting and replacing floors, there are a few things in the kitchen that really ought to be done…
You can see where this is going.
The lightning strike has now become a home renovation project.
We may be living in the guest house for two months.
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Meanwhile, the garden doesn't care.
The tomatoes have finally decided to produce.
The squash and cucumbers are coming in.
The peppers are going crazy.
And we have HUNDREDS of tiny "micro peppers" that Jill grew because she once had some delicious pickled ones in a salad.
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So this week is micro-pepper pickling week.
The Anaheims will get a little riper, then be fire-roasted on the barbecue, peeled, chopped and frozen.
And the kale has become a monster and needs to come out.
Which means it is already time to start planting the fall garden.
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But Jill's favorite experiment this year may be the garlic.
She harvested a huge crop last month, dried it, then spent hours peeling it while listening to podcasts.
An important homesteading discovery:
Process enough garlic with your bare hands and the juice will actually start cracking your skin.
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Which reminded me why I don't like buying peeled garlic from China.
There have been documented reports of Chinese prison labor being used to peel garlic, with former prisoners describing severely damaged fingers and lost fingernails from the work.
We will grow our own, thanks.
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But then the garlic gave us a surprise.
Jill had saved some of the mature flower heads because she thought they would look pretty dried.
Instead, they started dropping hundreds and hundreds of tiny garlic bulbils.
Suddenly, we had THOUSANDS of them.
Which naturally meant she needed another project.
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Garlic grown from bulbils takes time.
Plant them this fall and they generally produce little single bulbs the first year.
Give them another growing cycle and they can develop into normal multi-clove garlic.
So we now have a two-year garlic experiment underway.
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So this fall, thousands of garlic bulbils are going into the gardens.
If this works, by 2028 we may have enough garlic to feed us, donate tens of pounds to the local food bank, and give garlic to everyone we know for Christmas.
Friends and family, you have been warned.
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Meanwhile, our three filly foals are growing like weeds.
And breeding season continues…
We have one mare confirmed pregnant.
But the first artificial insemination attempt on our buckskin mare, Quieta, didn't take.
We're now well into round two.
Each round costs about $3,500.
Meaning if this one works, we're already $7,000 into a foal that hasn't even been successfully conceived yet.
People sometimes wonder why horses are expensive.
There is your answer.
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And that is August on the farm -And it isn't even September yet.
If you enjoy these glimpses into life on our farm, read more about it, on today's Substack:
https://www.malone.news/p/homesteading-august-farm-and-life
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