These cinder blocks will now absorb the bulk of the weight for our front porch steps.

So far, Aurora is thrilled at my decision to dry Artemesia off. I started the attempt nearly a week ago, but I'm pretty sure our doe is still making just as much milk...only her daughter's getting to drink it all instead of sharing with us humans. Hmmm.... Maybe I need to rethink my dry-down plan.

About a week and a half ago, Artemesia finally decided it was time to wean us. I say "us" because she not only stopped letting Aurora drink endlessly at the milk bar, she also started stamping uncomfortably as I milked her in the morning.

I could easily have pushed through the minor grumpiness, but I figured Artemesia had already done a pretty awesome job as a first freshener. We've enjoyed 17.5 gallons of her milk and her kids have probably gotten twice that much. Time to let her rest for a while so she'll be back in good shape for her Halloweenish breeding.

We got really lucky, with the only significant rain of the last month falling the weekend after my big oat-planting push. Thanks to the wild moisture, the cover crops are up and growing this week, their beds already a nearly complete sea of green.

Planting and mulching 96 garlic bulbs while the morning shade is still in tact.

I've decided to treat my funky tummy as a science-fair project. Here's the summary so far, with technical terms purposefully left out.

Hypothesis 1: Bad bugs took over my gut.

• Experimental protocol: A week of heavy-duty antibiotics followed by a bug-friendly diet heavy in probiotics and bland carbs (brown rice, steamed vegetables, bananas) combined with daily fiber pills.
  
• Results: After a bit of initial improvement, tummy still funky.
• Conclusion: Bugs are not the issue or are not the only issue.
• Note for further study: When I'm off farm and don't take along a fiber pill, I seem to have my best days.
  

Hypothesis 2: Inflamed gut never gets a chance to heal because I keep stuffing irritating, high-fiber food down my gullet.

• Experimental protocol: Low-fiber diet of foods that haven't inflamed my gut in the past (hard-boiled eggs, yogurt, bananas, low-fat hotdogs, chicken breast, tuna) in small meals for breakfast through mid afternoon, then juiced fruits and vegetables for supper to give my gut an extended relaxation period. Imodium as needed to slow things down.
• Results: I'm only two days in, but early signs are very positive.
  

By the way, I continue to appreciate everyone's kind words and good energy! Hopefully I'll be back to having fun homesteading information to report in the near future.

The dump bed on the Kubota X900 is a good height for easy wheelbarrow loading.

There's something about the autumnal equinox that makes me want to tunnel into the earth. Without realizing it, we repeated our Bristol Caverns visit on nearly the same date as last year. Does that make it a tradition?