This week is about clearing out what doesn't belong for the future. This is a off week for the garden. The 4th moon quarter is about rest and pulling weeds. Again, I love using the moon phases because it creates a structure and rhythm that makes it less overwhelming. Even rest is built in. On Sunday I got my first Azure Standard order (10/10 recommend ). In it were a few new medicinal plants I have wanted to try growing for years (Tsuli basil, burdock, astralagus, and elecampne. I also got replacements for the comfrey and raspberry plants that died 2 years ago. ) I also got bulk bags of organic whole oats and barley to try a fodder system for the critters. Everyone but the cat and dog can eat fodder (sprouted grasses). Our frozen season is so long (September to mid June) that I have not had a ton of success yet, but I have some new ideas to try. My goal for this growing season is finding home grown systems for producing my own animal feed. We have stormy weather all week, so I am working indoors. I am decluttering old homeschool stuff, and other rooms that have accumulated random extras over the last 5 years. The space needs to be used for the stuff we do use regularly. Taxes were submitted for the farm and family. Once there is a break in the weather, there are some monster sized Scotch thistle that need to be removed and fed to the goats. What is on your gardening radar this week?

This video was really popular in my social media, so I am sharing here. I added a few more (what was supposed to be) girl ducks and the drakes were violent towards them. So the new ducks have their own space and Sweet Pea gets the boys to herself. It is mostly working. Pancake is still her favorite, but he and Waffles now have a common enemy so they are getting along again. They got a pool this week, and it has been a hit.

Since we have folks all over N America and beyond, here is a quick question. What season are you experiencing this weekend? Or is it Autumn where you live?

We are supposed to get snow or freezing rain this weekend, but for the moment I am enjoying the flowers that started blooming today. For almost 16 years I was either in apartments or moving too often for perennials, and so once we moved to this area I finally got a chance to plant flowers. Then we moved again and I had to start over. I planted these 3 years ago and they are really filling out now. I am excited that once the well and septic are done at the farm, these guys can get moved into a permanent place while still leaving behind some for the next family to enjoy. Septic field areas should not be used for food plants, but they make a great spot for non-woody perennial or self seeding flowers like tulips, Iris, poppy, daisy, rubekia, lilly, yarrow and more. Even though you are not eating them, they bring in and feed pollinators that will then pollinate nearby food plants.