Mercury Down

Hello from the farm! It’s a good day here on the farm, a much welcomed, much-needed break from the high temperatures! I can’t and won’t complain about yesterday’s dark cloud that hung above us bringing whopper waves of storms lasting into the wee hours of the morning. Knew the thunderboomers, lightning strikes and flooding would usher in cooler temps.
Our area has been under excessive heat warnings, temps in the triple digits and just miserable. Temperatures not fit for man nor beast. The animals have been miserable. The chickens and goats panting, searching for the coolest, shady spot that may offer a bit of relief.
Morning Mom, It’s Milking Time
What do I find when I opened the front door? Louise lounging on the front porch in the cool of the morning waiting for milking time.
Around here when the animals get out, I don’t worry. They don’t run away from home they come to the front door and knock.

Swimmer Pup
Not sure if I mentioned our litter of Great Pyrenees pups. They were born early May. When they were a few days old, we noticed that one of the pups had not progressed as well as its littermates and took the pup to the vet. Turns out he had a slight case of what she referred to as Swimmer Pup. A condition of his gaining weight too fast, staying attached to his mother in nursing position more than normal (his front legs extended to his sides and back legs pointed directly behind him, flat chested and looked like a walrus). Correcting the problem involved puppy therapy. Pulling his legs up under his body, working with him in getting back on his feet so to speak. Homer is doing exceptionally well, still a bit flat chested but out and about doing all things puppies do on a farm.

Time To Go
It seems like yesterday that this year’s feeder pigs were delivered. Actually it was 5 months ago. They have a month to finish out, then they are off! We have booked the processing appointment.

Those are mainly white pigs, now muddy brown. That is how they kept cool, cover themselves in mud.

Eating Green
Have you ever watched the Planet Green Channel? We have a free month preview of it right now. We subscribe to a very basic package on satellite, the smallest, least expensive our provider offers actually. Each month they offer free previews of different channels in hopes of luring you into ordering and subscribing to the more expensive package that free channel you just watched all month, then it suddenly disappeared and you can’t live without happens to be a part of. Any hoo, a program listing on Planet Green caught my attention. It’s Emeril and his new "green" cooking show. Can’t remember the name of the program off the top of my head. He has partnered with Whole Food Market in this program. If you like Emeril you’ll like it. A question was posed to Emeril about how long he had been cooking "Green". ( It sometimes amazes me how odd these questions are.) I was impressed with Emeril explaining that cooking "Green" is nothing new, it’s been around a long time and it was actually known as sustainability.
Another "Green Food" program took you on a tour of a farmers market, explaining the journey that food took from farm to table. Explaining that most food traveled 1300 miles before ending up on your table. I asked the better half (an over the road trucker) how far he thought most food traveled before ending up at the local grocer. He guesstimated 750 miles. He was even surprised at the distance food traveled.
So do you ever wonder what happens to your food while traveling that 1300 miles?