2nd attempt. Skool keeps glitching and I lose the entire post (yesterday's took 3 tries). A few days ago we had frost and today it will be 93F. Now that most of the big events out of the way, this week will be focused on farm stuff, getting ready for summer heat and catching up on everything that got put on the back burner for the last 2 months. I scored a mulberry bush and a Mexican lime bush from the dying plant shelf at the nursery, so those have been transplanted and are doing great. I have to figure out more permanent deer protection for the mulberry, since the deer have eaten my current bush down to sticks. Watering everything with buckets is already not sustainable, so I am trying to figure out a better strategy. I am definitely limiting myself on planting because of it. I probably will move the perennial plants to a more shady spot to reduce water demand. Harvesting: Eggs!!! The little ducks are finally laying, which is great since the big duck is starting to taper off. We have a fridge full, so it is time to scramble and freeze for later. Chamomile, thyme and mallow. Every year I seem to be adding one more "weed" to the food list. Mallow was once a garden nemesis, and now it is a crop to harvest. It can be dried and used as a nutritive tea like nettle (safe for daily use). The catnip is getting out of control again, so I might hack it back if I have time. The goats are getting dangerously bored, so I hope to get them out grazing fire breaks this week. My hay guy up the road harvested early, so I have to go pick it up (153 bales) in the evenings. I have missed the summer schedule. I work outside/run goats in the morning and evening and take a nap midday. It is getting light out at 430am right now and stays light until 930 pm. Long days, but totally worth it. What is on your list for this week? Any burning gardening questions? Image: one of the goslings pruning the oregano. They are like puppies, and chewing on everything!

My biz buddy @Amy Joy is running a gut reset challenge this week. It uses REALLY low lift steps to benefit your gut health (so very important!). It is mostly asynchronous, so no time zone math required. Join her here https://www.skool.com/natural-energy-solutions-9028/about?ref=45e1ddf2f4cf40ebbe509ff975ee77b2 Not an affiliate, just supportive of good stuff.

On top of all of the end of the school year activities this week, and our house getting norovirus, our 4H club hosted their first fundraiser. Our club is tiny, only 6 families and most have just one kid involved. We hosted a pie making contest attached to a community event in our village. This also included selling pie and baked potatoes. And a parade float.... I'm the assistant leader for the club. My main role for the club is keeping everyone organized and announcing the schedules for the week. This is not something I am inherently good at, and have had to learn tricks over time as I started nursing school, and since. Over the last two days I realized how much I have learned about this, while watching our main club leader. She has decades of experience, but I watched her trying to run too many mental trains on too many tracks at once. I saw her literally running in circles trying to hold every piece simultaneously. And the thing that struck me was how familiar that looked. If she could put that effort into one or two things at once, she would be unstoppable! I used to run my life the same way. Trying to run too many things from my memory and a pile of lists (if I was lucky), and flying by the seat of my pants. (Gotta love undiagnosed ADHD). Nursing school, running a livestock operation, raising a child, homeschooling, and navigating my husband's serious health issues forced me to learn quickly that my brain could not be the only place my systems lived. Today I am putting together checklists for what we actually used or wished we had. I am updating the list of sponsors for thank you cards , and who to ask again next year. I will write a list of roles (as it actually happened) and improved timelines for their tasks. I now have canva templates for advertising for next year. These will sit in a docs folder attached to a Gmail account I started just for the event. No more trying to remember months later. This closes the mental tab, and my brain can move forward guilt free. It seems like overkill, but the extra hour it will take today, will save a TON of bandwidth next spring, because next spring won't be less chaotic.

Sharing our learning curves so we can accelerate! What lesson or wisdom did you gain the hard way this week?!?