So these are some of the freedom chicks the morning after their release.  They are clearly nervous.  The others were hiding in the crate I moved them in.  But since they seem to be adapting well and integrating with the older, more experienced chicks.

I noticed that Diddley, my friendliest sheep, has lost a front tooth.  His winning smile is not quite the same.

He is ten years old now and starting to show his age.

For dinner Friday, after Tom came home I made Tangy Pomegranate Meatballs.  But first, the day prior, I had to make Pomegranate Molasses as there is none available here to purchase.  It involved simmering pomegranate juice, sugar and lemon juice until it reduced from 4 cups to ~ 1 cup, stirring every 10 minutes.  It took me about 2 hours.  Here it is almost done.

So Friday I took 1/2 cup of the molasses and added it to 2# of our ground beef, a grated onion, allspice, pepper, salt, and pine nuts.  Then you make meatballs and bake them.  They were a little moist coming out of the oven so I placed them on paper towels.  This is roughly half of them after baking.

And I still have 1/2 cup of molasses left.

They were surprisingly good, not sweet or that tangy even, but different.  We had them with rice and vegetables.  Tom said to make them again, but he would like a sauce to go with them.

In other farm news, the peas are starting to form.  It looks like we will have a decent pea harvest this year.

And for the first time ever, we have sweet peas!

I have tried before but never had any luck.

Tom is wondering why I am growing flowers in our vegetable garden, but I think they are pretty.

Our strawberries are dwindling, but the raspberries are starting to kick in.  It is always nice to finish the morning animal chores and then eat berries as you pick them.  It reminds me of a summer visit I took to a high school friend’s aunt’s farm in Grass Valley, California.  We would get up and pick berries for breakfast.  Their farm was another of the influences that made me want to be a farmer.

I also pick my salad ingredients every day for lunch.  It is all such a blessing.

Finally here is my annual knee high photo, this time from the fifth of July.

But honestly most of out corn this year is not knee high yet.  We have had a cool and wet spring and early summer.

PS  I worked yesterday, and our little county experienced quite a lot of holiday trauma and tragedy.  Tom stayed home and tried to keep our animals calm and the farm safe.  Each year I dislike how our Independence Da is celebrated more and more.  It is like a war zone here.  At least we didn’t find any scared loose dogs running down our busy road this year, But my understanding is that there is one hiding in the woods.  So sad.