Sometimes it seems as though all we do is work on the farm. It’s hard to relax when everywhere you look, you see more things to be done. Which is why we’re having Work Wednesday on Thursday!

I don’t think I turned on my laptop even once this past week. Between the wall-scraping and the supply storage unit we built, and the garden work, we were busy from early until late. At least the weather held, until Wednesday morning when we had showers. And it was much cooler, thank goodness.

The big news is the garden—we’re putting in a watering system which, while it’s not exactly what I envisioned, will do nicely for the time being. We’ve got our mainline hose, and soaker hoses running down the crop rows. I think I already mentioned those awesome timers by Orkin—I can set watering for a particular time, to last however long I need, and it has a rain delay switch too.

Next year, the soaker hoses will be replaced with PVC pipe, in sections, so they can be lifted up and over when it’s time to plow. The mainline hose will also be replaced with PVC pipe, running under the driveway from the three spigots in the pasture. A more permanent system.

We’ve also discussed the pasture area. We have a nice, slightly sloping section on the opposite side of the drive from the garden. Scattered mature trees, water, and nice grass. Cows are on the agenda next year, beef and milk. And maybe a pigpen.

See, just like in a garden, you aren’t going to grow things you won’t eat—that’s a lot of hard labor for not much return. So we pretty much nixed the idea of goats. Sure, they’re cute, but I’m not going to milk a goat and I certainly don’t want to eat one!

It comes down to this: is the animal useful? Even a horse . . . well, that might be useful at some point, certainly if SHTF, so maybe a work horse. I always wanted a Clydesdale . . .