Final garden update. All was not lost in the garden as I had once thought. We have potatoes! Lots and lots of potatoes, big ones and small ones. Purple and Yukon gold. Approximately 6 five gallon buckets full. Storage could be an issue as we live in a trailer house that is notorious for spoiling potatoes. I'll have to stash them in a few different places and hope for the best. Oh and a ice cream pail of carrots, my favorite.
All else in the garden was considered a loss - produce wise. We learned that weeds will take over an unattended garden, springs can be too cool and wet for good green beans and finally giant sunflowers will shade out squashes. speaking of sunflowers they were also a success, all grew well over 7 feet and eventually flowered.
We just finished 'Operation fewer winter chores' by selling 5 goats and 10 chickens. The barn is half filled with small square hay bales and the other half is for the few critters we will care for this winter. That would include 2 goats, 1 pony and about 12 chickens. Hopefully the smaller space will be easier to keep everyone warm and my goats should be much easier to catch.
On a personal note: Kidlet was born July 25th healthy baby boy. Now at just over 2 months he is growing like a weed and we are getting to see his first smiles.