We have been busy utilizing our produce. A lot of the fruit we are fermenting including the apples, pears, plums and blueberries.  Here is one of my plum wine carboys going crazy!

I have been creative with my eating, trying to use all of our fresh vegetables.  Every lunch I have a salad with our lettuce, tomatoes, and cucumbers.  Last night I made a Savory Clafoutis with our swiss chard, dill and eggs.  It was really good.

I have been feeding the critters with some of the produce too.  Here are some incredibly large turnips I have been giving them.

And here is one of the red mammoth fodder beets that I grew for them that I have been giving them.

The grass isn’t really growing with the lack of rain and all the smoke blocking the sun so it is nice to offer them additional feed.

Tom racked up some fallen apples and Asian pears.

He started by feeding them to the goats, but the donkeys really wanted some too.

He did give some to the donkeys and then fed them to the pigs and the cows.  Here is the video he took of the cows enjoying them.

It is a busy time of year, now hampered by the unhealthy levels of smoke.  I am not liking 2020.  It is just one thing after another.

Health Update (only for those who are interested):

Speaking of 2020 sucking, my health has not been good.  But a slight glimmer of hope is that my rheumatologist started me on prednisone again, and my knee warmth and swelling improved as did my sweats, palpitations and shortness of breath.  Due to my improvement with the steroids he started me on methotrexate last week.  I am dropping down on the prednisone dose, and my knee is swollen and warm again, and my sweats are worsening again.  But so far my heart and breathing are still improved.  Last week I had a brain MRI to look for a cause for my right facial numbness.  It just had some mild non-specific white matter changes that could be related to small vessel disease, diabetes, hypertension, vasculitis or MS.  I do not have diabetes or hypertension.  I still do wonder about a vasculitis from COVID but can’t confirm it.  But no obvious cause for the numbness, which is some good news.  I had my 7th negative COVID test on Monday, and today had pulmonary function testing.  It showed evidence of some restrictive lung disease and gas diffusion issues (FVC 73% and DLCO 75% of predicted).  I have a follow up appointment with my pulmonologist later in the month to understand this better.  But maybe, just maybe, I will get a diagnosis.  That is what I am hoping for at this point.