August 2015

It is a tribute year out here on our farm.  That means grasshoppers.  They came just as we left for Taiwan.  Our friend Alfred saw most of the devastation.  We got very little fruit from the trees and several trees were stripped.  Many small ones might be dead.  We won't know until the rains come.  Oddly, the courtyard was one of the worst places.  I have hypothesized that I must have brought a plant container in that was full of grasshopper eggs.  Hundreds in such a small space.  Many very special plants were killed like my jacaranda tree and various cactus and jade plants.  :(  They don't seem to like Ashwaganda so that survived.  

These years are very hard to bear.  You work so hard to get things going and fall into the belief that they will remain.  But grasshoppers are a great teacher in letting go.  On the bright side, I have very litte weeding to due this Fall.  And the bermuda grass has taken over in many places that are now full sun due to the stripped larger plants.  I don't know if this is good but it is what it is.  

Beabea our oldest goat got an abscess while we were away.  It grew to the size of an orange.  I called the vet and he came out and lanced and drained it 3 days ago.  I am giving her penicillin and applying antibiotic ointment.  The drained fluid smelled extremely foul.  But she is doing much better.  She never seemed really sick, but now that she has it drained and healing, her energy is way up.  We still don't have chickens but we want to get some by Fall. 

There are so many things coming up for us this year and into 2016.  We are opening our clinic, Tehama Natural Health in Jan. 2016 in Red Bluff which will offer acupuncture, herbs, and health coaching.  One of our children is starting high school (eek!) and of course we always have 10 things we want to work on at our farm.   I don't know if I mentioned it here on this blog but we converted the kids playshed to my office/shed.  I love it.  Hope you are enjoying the summer where ever you are.  :)