Will wins the beaver war!

After weeks of persistence, and tearing out several inches of the beaver dam at least twice a day, and tearing out several inches of re-built dam, Will has gotten the water level in the creek down to where he is able to again resume building his bridge to the other side of our land. So today he’s busy hauling big rocks down and setting railroad ties and rock across the base of the piers to hold them solid and keep the current from washing away the gravel he will put in on top of it to support the end of the bridge frame (which is waiting patiently next to the piers).

We’ve been working on the barn and it’s looking good. Will finished putting in the ledger boards to support the rafters yesterday, so now we have to cut the big support beams for the hay loft floor. Those logs are real heavy and have to be flat-sided on our new Hud-Son sawmill. We’re anxious to give it a good workout. I really love to cut boards on it. It cuts so fast! I’ve made a lot of boards with a chainsaw, freehand, but this is SO much easier and faster.

Meanwhile, I’ve been finishing tilling the garden and staking and caging the last of the tomatoes. Whew. We planted over 75 plants this year. Maybe next year it’ll be less? We can’t seem to resist planting several new-to-us varieties every year! Each one looks great and some are already setting tomatoes.

And talk about peppers! Will’s hoop house worked wonders for our peppers this year. We’ve already got several nearly ready to eat and hundreds and hundreds setting on the strong plants. Usually this happens along about the end of August! So we’re really excited. Definitely another hoop house for the melons next year.

An elderly friend of a friend sold me her old cream separator, which is just like the one I had years ago when we milked cows. It’s in need of a good cleaning, but seems to be in working shape. She was happy it would be used for another family cow. I’m happy to have it. Not only will we be weaning Lace’s calf pretty soon (who is drinking all her milk!), but our goat kids will also be weaned, so I’ll have lots of milk to make butter and cheeses. Hooray!

The garden looks great…except for the mighty weed crop, of course, but I’m hoping for a cooler day  to till and weed a lot; it’s been in the 90’s — pant pant! Who said Minnesota was all snow and ice? — Jackie