A few good things

We were without internet or phone connection for 25 hours on Friday, which always throws a kink in my day. This time though it was a force electronic vacation. It was kind of nice. It allowed me to enjoy being outside and I read a lot, too.

Our Bettys are now laying up to 13 eggs, although one hen hasn't quite figure the whole nest idea yet. Kevin finds a smashed one lying on the floor nearly every morning. It appears this particular hen can't be bother to move from her perch to lay her egg. This is not a smart chicken, I'm afraid.

I planted some more lettuce, spinach and arugula. Our squash are taking over our garden and are getting really big. Our onions are talking their sweet time, though... just like the last batch. It seems like it takes three months for them to get to a point where they suddenly shoot up. My herb garden needs serious cutting back. It's hard to believe it looked so sparse just a few months ago. Our baby trout are growing, too!

It's been raining pretty consistently every afternoon the last couple of days... although our friends in Santa Maria told us they've had very little rain in their town (only 11 km away). The micro-climates continue to amaze us. Yesterday, our friends Maritza and Rolando came up for a visit. They're planning to take a trip to Canada in September, but as Costa Ricans, they have to apply to a visa. It's a lot of work and since all the forms are in English, we offered to help them filled them out. Applying for a visa is almost as much work as when we had to gather our information to come to Costa Rica. All for a two-week vacation. Crazy! They'll need a vacation from all the stress the application process is causing. Anyway, while they were here, it started to poor and the river rose and was getting dirty. Kevin was in the middle of taking pictures of all their documents so I went up to close the gate to the aqueduct system. As I was cleaning the smallest grate, I fumbled and let go of it right over the rushing river... it got washed away with the strong current. Ooops. So Kevin created a new grate which works even better than the one I lost. I knew he would.

Oh, and big news... well, big news as far as I'm concerned. We're now exchanging eggs for raw milk! I've been wanting to get my hands on raw milk since we've been here, but it's not actually as easy to find as one would think with so many dairy farmers in our midst. Most sell to larger companies and all milk is accounted for. Well our friend and neighbour, Elly and Abel, have enough milk right now to exchange 15 eggs for 2 L of milk. Why I've been wanting to get raw milk is that most of the issues with dairy products is that when the milk goes through all the processing, it removes the fat, the enzymes that promote good digestion, and all the good bacteria. So, I want to try it out. I also want the cream that forms on top to put in my coffee. Yum! So raw milk, homemade yogurt, homemade cheese, and fresh butter... I love this life.