How the time flies! I’ve been meaning to get this out for a while, so I made myself sit down and do it tonight rather than let it get further back.
July 11, 2026
Evan and Garrett had a great time building play forts and ‘having a sleep over’ in the living room.
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The ducks are very excited about their pools in the morning when I fill them back up.
This turkey poult had some trouble hatching. We helped it out of its shell, but it wasn’t standing very well. Eventually, it failed to thrive and passed on. The turkey eggs have about a 50% or less hatch rate in our experience, even with mama turkey sitting on them.
12 July 2026
Goat shenanigans!
Look at me. Look at how awesome I am!
We did get three other turkey poults to hatch, though! They all did great and went on to find new homes!
Randal with Alan at Family Dinner!
13 July 2026
Randal loves to build! He’s working on his magnet tile pup house.
14 July 2026
Randal equips himself for battle, while we sort out old clothes.
Then it was off to Costco!
Mandatory Pizza break!
Arya found the Avocado Chair. Fortunately, we didn’t get it.
Randal shows how he would use the bubble blaster.
Checking out the sheds to see about extra rooms for the kids.
Fun times were had by all!
15 July 2026
More Swimming!
16 July 2026
Randal tagged along to swim practice.
I made another loaf of sourdough; working on my recipe!
17 July 2026
Swim practice in the morning!
Checking the crumb of the loaf. I found that with the way I’m doing the loaf, I can’t do an autolyse, I need to do a fermentolyse, and incorporate all of the starter right away.
Ice cream!
18 July 2026
More animal chores!
Art class in the morning!
Evan at his swim meet!
19 July 2026
Silly time!
Sad goat time. The goats got something, we think it was the Bradford Pear, which is now slated to be cut down, and the does were not doing so well. This kicked off several days of interventions for us, eventually getting to where we were drenching them with hydration solution and baking soda.
Of course, the pool has to randomly spring a leak at that time, too.
Garrett talks about what he wants for his upcoming birthday!
20 July 2026
Garrett and Randal went along to music lesson. The highlight of their day is ‘spending their own money’ on lollipops.
The play kitchen at the library is always a big hit!
21 July 2026
How many chickens can fit in one box?
22 July 2026
Captain America shows off his moves!
Garrett went to get his first time in the dentist’s chair for a cleaning experience!
Randal wanted to know why he wasn’t getting in the chair after Garrett.
23 July 2026
Morning milking!
He’s ready for college.
Sourdough rye loaf I made. Came out alright I thought. My test audience thought it was too sour and a bit crusty, so I will try again.
Running the goat milk through a cream separator. It was some learning, but I think I got the hang of it!
24 July 2026
Candid camera captures Meagan and Arya milking the goats.
Meagan made a cake for Randal’s birthday party. Randal approved of it.
#goats #chickens #summer #homestead #homeschool #sourdough
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