The garden is in full bloom! Or at least, what's left of it. A buck, who has become a regular, has taken care of all of our tastiest greens. So, no beets, chard, or spinach. Oddly, he left the romaine alone. He must be a nice buck. Hungry, but nice. We've already harvested our onions. We've been sneaking lots of tasty new potatoes, and the tomatillos have numerous blooms!

Unfortunately, our broccoli didn't put on any heads to speak of. And a nasty storm took out around 40 hills of potatoes, and nearly wiped out all of our tomatoes. I've had it with severe weather. Because this is the pits. What's a Minnesota summer without tomatoes?

A few weeks ago, we had a great surprise for my family. Aaron, Jodi and the kids plus mom and dad all came out for the fourth of July weekend. I thought I'd try to see if Mary could fly out too from NYC. We were in luck! We were able to secure a ticket at the last minute to get Mary to MPS and Dan and I came to pick her up and drive her back to the farm. All this without letting any of the other family know. We just let them arrive to find her sitting in the kitchen. It was so great, and by far the best money we've spent in a long, long time. The weekend was full of laughing and lounging with family. There is nothing better.



Ah, how conVEEENient. A handy brother who was willing to fix our sagging barn. Soon to be home for sheep and their babies!



Dad's priceless face. Too bad I didn't get mom's. That was scream to wake the neighbors (a happy scream that is).



Auntie Mary and Toby bonding over Muppets musin (mana mana was the weekend favorite). Toby's got this new "buddhist monk" doo. All he needs is a saffron robe.




Cousin Mania!