New Growth & New Arrivals

I'm telling you it's in the water. About three weeks ago I planted the multi cultural salad bed and ended up not having one seed sprout. Last weekend I replanted the same bed the same way and this time the only difference was I have been watering with rain water. In less than a week the whole bed is full of sprouts. That affirms the reason my summer garden did not produce. It's in the water. This is what I think, this ground gets so dry and the cracks are so wide and deep, the rain water does not have enough time for the ground to do it's natural filtering process before it gets to the shallow aquifer we pump out of. In turn that brings in small amounts of herbicides and pesticides from the neighboring fields to stunt the sprouting and producing processes of the plants, and we have been drinking this stuff. I want to get it tested but I am afraid of the out come. The state might shut all the wells out here down and not let us use them.
Just one more reason the big water storage project has to put to the top of the list. Now I can really justify it.

A short update for all you cricket farmers out there, or am I the only one?
I started out with 60 crickets a few months ago and quickly lost about half of them. I come to realize human interaction was more harmful than helpful to these fragile little things. They are easier than worms as far as maintenance but more prone to die offs by just the slightest disturbance of their habitat. At least for me that is.
Now I have hundreds and hundreds in the 55 gallon aquarium. I'll get one more round of breeding before the winter gets here and I will start harvesting them for the protein.


Some friends of ours came by last night for the first time to tour the mini farm and to bring us our new pygmy buck. He is only 10 weeks old but I needed him for the colors and the new blood line. He will not be ready to breed till after winter but that is what we had in mind anyway. That will give the other nannies a little break after they kid this winter.
We did this deal on a trade. They gave me this little buck and when my now pregnant nannies drop, they will get a little buck back to have a new blood line of their own.