Why is any day better than another, when all daylight in the year is from the sun? By the Lord’s decision they were distinguished, and he appointed the different seasons and feasts; Some of them he exalted and hallowed, and some of them he made ordinary days.
Ecclesiasticus (Sirach ) 33:7-9
There are no ordinary days in summer. In July we really feel the hallowed days of golden summer, especially this year. May was so rainy and cool. June consisted of days of rain and flooding. July came to prove that yes we are in summer!
Certain flowers are beginning to bloom. Strawberries are here( yummy) and the sun of July is drying out hay fields so the crop of second-cut hay we’ll store for winter is looking promising indeed. The horses have totally shed their winter coats and look so sleek and shiny in the pastures. The goats, Shadow and Gus, are happily munching grass and weeds under the apple trees. Pip is enjoying his pond swims to cool down after running in the fields. The baby birds have left their nests and are flying about the barn, still not ready to totally leave their parents but getting braver every day as they fly a little further into the wood. Our chickens are laying eggs with abandon. Everyone, everything is flourishing. And in the warm early mornings, one breathes a collective sigh with all of creation. “Life is as it should be.”
Summer at the Farm is busy. Visitors and friends come to visit and stay with us to feel the healing earth beneath them. Joy is abundant and we are grateful.
The horses and goats will be getting their physicals ie: dental exams, inoculations, hoof trims, etc. Our therapy horse Diamond suffers from asthma so special attention will be given to his lungs and medication to help his airways will be renewed and reviewed by our Veterinarian, Dr. Bonney from Annabessacook Large animal office in Winthrop.
All our animals on the Farm welcome visitors, however, our “stars” are our horses. Everyone loves to spend time with them. Cleaning their water buckets and giving them showers to cool off is a fun July activity. Everyone gets wet and it causes lots of giggles!
Spending time with friends
Bodie and Diamond mowing the lawn. Environmentally friendly and one doesn’t have to rake up grass clippings!
Annie and Diamond practicing the extended trot!
The gardens are coming along. After a rough start from a cold May and a very wet June, plants are blooming! We have had strawberries, sugar peas, and Kale, and the flowers are blooming, especially our snapdragons, whose bright colors are loved by the neighbor’s honey bees.
Our pumpkins are coming along well. This wet weather caused a flurry of beetles to munch their leaves and destroy their large yellow blossoms. We are organic farmers so we are unable to use traditional pesticides to eradicate them and the effects of this can be devastating. However, we enter the gardens at dusk and early morning with buckets of hot soapy water and flick them off the leaves and pick them off the blossoms and drop them into the buckets which kills them. Though very time-consuming this technique is very effective and keeps the bees, our native pollinators, safe, and the pumpkin vines healthy.
Our pumpkins are very important to us as every Fall we have an Open House at Ephphatha Farm and we have a pumpkin giveaway and other items for sale to help raise funds for our programs and for care for our animals.
This year’s Open House, Fundraiser, and Pumpkin giveaway is Saturday, September 30th, from 10:00 am – 1:00 pm. Please stop by! Although this is a fundraiser for our programs (which enable all individuals, with or without challenges, to access healing agricultural activities and animals) this is also a community-building experience, where friends come together to share the harvest and enjoy time with each other. It’s a wonderful time. Please come!
Well, I’m off to do evening chores. The frogs are singing in the pond and the crickets are starting to hum and the fireflies are lighting my path.
Happy July everyone! Enjoy these Golden Hallowed Days!
