The fig tree wasn't a dud after all!

Happy Saturday friends!

All kinds of things happening here at the end of summer. We found out that our fig tree isn't a dud after all! What?? All these years it's been stuck behind a wall of trees, still producing and ripening fruit that tasted...green. It was on my list to take out this fall. This year was a bumper crop:

I've always heard that term but had never seen what it meant. It's double or maybe even triple its normal output. And...as I was walking by the tree the other day, I noticed that the ripe fig color was different than other years, kind of pink. Huh. I picked one, squished it open, and tasted it...OMG!

It took me a few days of wondering before I realized that it had been behind those trees the last time I tasted it and last year and this year it was in full sun. I missed out on last year's figs in my ignorance, but I'm doing the happy dance about this year's! Just bought some crackers and chevre, and plan on cutting some figs in half, carmalizing in a bit of butter and having a yummy little snack. Brad wants to make preserves!

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I'm working on keeping my YouTube channel up to date with new videos from the ranch. If you haven't yet, go subscribe so you get notified! Here's a recent one: Summer thunderstorm with the herd

And if you keep an eye on my YouTube, you'll see a deer swimming in the pond, a dragonfly that sends me a special song message, and the sweetest little video (all are scheduled over this upcoming week) with this squirrel eating a ripe fig in my fig tree:

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Last weekend was super productive. I decided to brave the heat on Saturday and pot up all of my water propagations from this year, it was an all day affair:

Sweetness kept me company...kinda:

All my water babies:

Then while I was at it, repotted a bunch of things that really needed fresh new soil and a bigger pot:

Minnie the Ficus was a tree I bought last year on Marketplace. She REALLY needed a new pot...once I got her out of her old one! Brad and I wrestled and tugged until we finally got it out. I was hoping to not have to break the pot, or her, yay:

And as I was loosening the roots to put into the bigger white pot, I found this:

What in the world? I have no idea why anyone would plant a tree on top of an upside down plastic pot...? Poor Minnie the Ficus had grown all the way around it and had I not started untangling, I would never have discovered it!

The huge peace lily from Mom's funeral had gotten so big that I decided to split it into two, still large, pots:

Can you believe she's been in heaven for four years this coming November? Me either.

I've started bringing in some of my plants so I can bring others out and give them a chance at real light too. As I do, I realize, good god, I have another whole round of repotting to do! Maybe, just maybe, I have too many plants? Is that a thing?

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I also finished up the 45x12' hugelkulture bed I've been working on for what...a month I think? Ridiculously large. After 20 tractor scoops of my topsoil and compost mix, smoothing with a rake:

and probably the same amount of wood chips, that part is done:

Now...time to squish it all down so I can plant. Last time I created a bed, I drove over it with the golf cart at this stage, and that was perfect. But this is a taller bed! I wasn't sure what I was going to do, until Brad offered to do it because he thought it looked like fun. Here it is almost a week later...I will have to give him a deadline of tonight (Friday as I write this) so I can start planting this weekend! 

I have said "this weekend" for FOUR WEEKS. Will it happen this weekend? Stay tuned...

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The upper pasture is looking a little different these days. This was last weekend:

And now this:

What happened? This whole area, with it's four farms, used to own the big white barn together back in the 80s. Over time, ownership changed with the barn and our farm and that's when someone realized that it might have been important to put fencing on property lines. Whoops. The big white barn is owned by someone else now and they decided to reclaim their section of our upper pasture and this week the fence went in, pretty, straight, new, and covered in creosote so it lasts another 40 years. Our herd will have a little less space but good fences make good neighbors :-)

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Speaking of fences, this is why we chain gates, not just trust that the latch will be enough for rowdy goats:

Luckily it was chained shut since the goat's pasture was opened for the horses over night:

That would have been B. A. D. bad if the goats had gotten out. (They are in that pen at night for coyote protection.) The ponies and donkeys would have been in the goat barn eating all their hay and the goats would have had nowhere to go, gulp. 

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HOW TO WORK WITH ME

Equine Partnered Coaching! With horses (early morning appointments in the summer), without horses, or online, your choice. 

Neurofeedback Train your brain to calm and ease. The most common response I hear about neurofeedback is, "I'm so much less reactive in my life!" It really does smooth out the sharp spikes. Super helpful if your world feels harsh and spiky right now. 

Reiki Another way to facilitate relaxation, calm, healing. If the weather is nice, you can choose outside, or outside in the herd (this is an early morning appointment) and of course in my office is always available :-)

And Women's Circles! I've updated my website yet again so read up and then contact me if you want to talk about joining a Women's Circle!

Wednesday Women's Circle has a waiting list, I will add you to it if you'd like. Newer people do indeed get in occasionally, as sometimes the people higher on the list end up with upcoming vacations, too busy at work, or just life is life-ing. 

Tuesday Women's Circle, runs 11am—1pm,  contact  me if you're interested in the next group, it starts in September.

Monday online art class via Zoom. Ongoing, every Monday, 7:30-9pmET. $35 There isn't a public link for this one but you can contact me for the supply list and link here. I teach you something fun in watercolor or mixed media. It's a low key, jammies kind of class. Right now it's small so you get more one on one instruction if you want it. 

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Hope you all have a great week!

Thank you for reading :-)

All of my art and writing is made with human intelligence!

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