Teeter Totter Day

I first called this entry RollerCoaster Day, but that's far too dramatic for the kind of day it was.  It was actually more up than down, but to make it fun, I am going to write this entry in the form of a game I learned a couple years ago called "Fortunately/Unfortunately".  Usually played by a group of people taking turns creating a fictional and ridiculous storyline, this version is less dramatic and more truthful.
Fortunately our summer student, Dylan, started work today.  He is a good kid with just the right balance of cautious and curious.  He and Wendell will be a great duo.
Unfortunately Mark's Mom is still not feeling her best after a small health scare with her heart that does not seem to be improving with time and rest.
Fortunately, the hay we cut yesterday is drying wonderfully and we didn't get the thunderstorms called for last night/this morning.
Unfortunately, it is very very dry again and we need some rain.
Fortunately it is calling for rain this week and hopefully we will have the hay up tomorrow so 'let 'er come!' as they say.
Unfortunately the hay crop is very thin and we will have to make second cut at some point, or source it elsewhere.  We will know better after tomorrow.
Fortunately, our chickens are doing well and the first batch is ready for market.  The fox lights that we invested in seem to doing the trick.  Knock on wood as you read that. 
Unfortunately we do not have a secure time/date booked with the abbattoir for the next week or so.
Fortunately we won't need to worry about booking times and dates much longer as we are planning an on-farm chicken processing line very soon!!!
Unfortunately the health dept. keeps trying to send the provincial 'guidelines' to our house phone rather than the fax line, so we have yet to read those.
Fortunately they're only 'guidelines'! hahahah!  just joking. (kind of). :)
Unfortunately, Mark is still waiting on his new cultivator.  It is coming from Holland and was apparently in Montreal last Monday, but is yet to arrive. It is already about three months late and Mark has had to cultivate (and is currently, as I write this cultivating) the beans with the old one, in which he must go 2 mph in a tractor whose air conditioning went last week. 
Fortunately, the beans are looking great and we're already one cultivation ahead of where we were last year!
Unfortunately, our barley crop is a sad story.  One of Mark's tasks this morning was to call the Crop Insurance agent and have a look at our barley fields which are a very pretty, but nauseating shade of yellow, from a sea of mustard plants. 
Fortunately, we've never had a mustard problem before.
Unfortunately, the manure that we were so excited to be sourcing from the hog farmer was FULL of mustard.  Apparently, our dream of coming full circle and getting the manure from the animals who ate our feed and bedded on our straw was about a year out of balance and we received bed pack from a mustard-heavy crop of straw. 
Fortunately, the crop insurance guy was accommodating and was able to figure out some compensation if we destroy it now.
Unfortunately, it was certified seed and not just common stuff, so is a bit of a hit to the books, but
fortunately we will be taking care of the mustard now and not fighting it for years to come.
Unfortunately, it means losing the barley and more importantly, the field peas.
Fortunately, it means planting buckwheat and having buckwheat seed for future green manure crops since our fertility sources are a bit in flux at this point.
Unfortunately, the wonderful organic manure was not exactly the dream we thought it was.
Fortunately, the crop insurance guy was very complimentary about our other fields and commended Mark on his management skills.
Unfortunately I am daily bothered by our federal government and the absolutely insane things they do, including but not limited to always putting supply management on the negotiating table and slowly killing the environment in favour of dirty oil.
Fortunately, silly Bev Oda stepped down today which is just one less Harper minion in the House.  yay!

So it was a bit of an up and downer, but overall, not terrible.  Could have been worse for sure.  Duncan seems to be recovered and will be hitting the pasture this week.  That means I have to separate the lambs left and two old ladies I do not want to get bred as we will be shipping/killing them soon.  I have worked out the details of that yet, but hopefully Duncan will get busy right away and it won't have to be for long.  After his scare last week, I'm sure he's eager to put some mileage under his belt before something else happens. 

The kids have been exhausted since last week and only today did we manage to get a nap in.  By the sounds of it though, the nap may have ruined bedtime, so I'd best to wrangle 'em.

Hope this finds you enjoying summer however you like best.

-Sally