Early July homestead activities

It's July, and outrageously hot up here.  Temps have hit the upper 80s F, even the 90s down in the valley.

So what are we up to?

Chickens.  Ceredwyn has nurtured the little chicks (and ducks). Today she hauled them outside, with Owain's help, so they could get their first taste of the world.  Note image to left: that's the huge metal tub, which is a great thing indeed.
Our adult, laying hen keeps gifting us with eggs.  She's happy to let me grab 'em from under her.

Corn: two of the four rows have sprouted, hurrah!  Ceredwyn weeded the area, and is getting read to resew the two lacking rows.

Potatoes: all five plots are coming along.  Very green, dense foliage.  No sign of blight so far.

Broccoli: the main part of the plant, the bit we want to eat, has finally emerged at the heart of most of them.  We can break them off and devour the nubbly goodness right in the rows.  The heat and rain is a problem, making some "bolt" (flower) before their time, so we need to watch that.

Greens: some delicious lettuce is there, now, for our picking and munching.

Compost: starting up a new pile on the remains of an old one.  Lots of weeds and lawn clippings to add there, along with chicken-leavened straw, new and old.

Wood: I continue to saw deadfall.  Am behind schedule, due to work.  Even in this heat, I murmur to myself: winter is coming.

Electricity: no outages for a month, which is a pleasant surprise.

Internet: rock solid and fast.  (All first-time visitors need to know about our community broadband)

Children: home from school, and enjoying some time off.  They are still ruthlessly exploited for homestead labor: Gwynneth does the dishes like mad, and Owain helps with laundry and chicken-hauling.

There's more, much more, but this is a snapshot for today.