The big event of the week had very little to do with us but it happened here. A calf was born on Monday while our neighbour’s cows were in our paddock. It was especially amazing to watch it walking soon after, even if a little wobbly. On Tuesday morning all was thankfully fine. Then that afternoon there was incredibly loud mooing: the calf was on our driveway on the wrong side of the (electric) fence! And Mum was not at all happy! A worried call to our neighbour (the owner) followed and I waited, nervously watching the curious calf and hoping it wouldn’t decide to venture further. After our neighbour arrived and we had a quick pat, she and Alex tried unsuccessfully to direct it back under the fence (which it seemed to remember was electrified). Eventually they managed to hoist it onto the cattle ramp and down the race to join the rest of the herd. I was relieved when the herd (of which two others are pregnant) were moved closer to home that evening!

There were two other welcome arrivals: a second frog in the polytunnel and a ladybug in the chamomile. I’d like to give them a food map of our garden! It seem that there might be less aphids and slugs in the tunnel, though it’s hard to say if it’s drier weather or extra predators. We also discovered what happened to the mice that were eating our peas and beans a couple of months ago: they’ve been living under the tarp in the back corner that was killing off the green manure. And two have become four. Because we’ve been successfully sowing peas and beans directly in the garden without them being eaten, I’d assumed that the mice had moved on. Now I wonder what they’ve been eating instead…

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I missed Alex on Saturday morning when I had harvest solo. It’s certainly easier as two people: partly for the extra hands but also for deciding about quantities and prices given that we are still inexperienced (and Alex is somewhat more decisive than me…). The harvest was a bit smaller than usual partly because I ran out of time and partly because we’re still getting past our seed-raising/compost problem. But in the afternoon I received a text from the shop: almost everything had already sold! Hopefully it’s a sign of things to come and there’s more interest as our production is getting back on track.

The vegetables seem to have been doing a lot better with warmer weather (helped by Alex’s water infrastructure of course). And two hot days this week saw some good growth spurts. The broad beans are fully loaded, peas are coming along (though we didn’t plant enough of any single variety so we’ve been eating them, which is a good second-best) and the tomatoes and zucchini are growing well. We finally put mulch on the berry patch, which we should have done weeks ago. It will keep the soil moist and hopefully help the compost break down faster. We’re not sure what’s going on with the cucumbers, which started off looking healthy then became pale and sad. We haven’t grown them before so some more research and back-up planting is scheduled for next week.

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