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it sets level and slide the glass out. It may take a little practice. I use a piece of tape to hold the sides together. It helps to keep the shape until you put the soil in. Make sure these touch each other in the water tray to help with support. Otherwise, they will fall over when the plants get tall and sometimes when they are watered too much. Hope this helps.

Our weather here in NY has turned really cool at night. Down into the sixties. Last week, we had a night at 54. Brrrrrr. Its still August. Our problem this year has been the daytime heat. Our corn was planted at 3 different stages and it all ripened at the same time. So did a lot of our berries. We usually have a 3 week spread of berries at the farmers markets, and this year we are lucky to get two. Other than that, we are very busy with getting the crops in and putting up the food for the coming winter. Winter squashes are ripe here already and that portends a cold winter coming. Maybe not a lot of snow, but really cold. Pumpkins will be ready in two weeks, and that's to early as well.

Changing the chickens around. Butchering the older flock and putting the two year olds into their pen; this years flock will be put in where the pullets from last year were. Young roosters will become roasters. Really nice when done on a wood stove overnight. Stuffed with a nice apple dressing. Yum!!! Leftovers become chicken pot pie and then on down into chicken stew. Nothing wasted. Even the bones get reused in the mulch pile. Bonemeal is great for the gardens.

Goats are drying off for the season. Several are bred. More babies for the early springtime. We had a ram with flystrike this year. Didn't get him sheared quick enough. Flies laid their eggs in the old wool and maggots quickly started burrowing under the skin. He is now recovering, but he is shedding his old skin and will have to spend the winter in the barn due to not having any wool to keep warm with outside. We keep him covered with olive oil to keep the skin moist. Otherwise it will crack open and allow more flies to lay their eggs on him. Also have to watch and cutoff any skin that hangs down, as that will allow the flies a place to hide their eggs as well. If their are open lesions, and there always are, we are putting Neosporin on to help the skin heal and topically it helps to stop some of the pain as well.

Elderberries are ripening here and we will be starting a new batch of elderberry wine soon. It really helps to keep us warm when we come in from the cold in the winter. Just a little 2 ounce glass a night helps a lot. We like it and its easy to make.

Starting with a new breed of chickens. These are houdans. They have a topknot of feathers on their little heads and they are so cute. They are mottled and are supposed to be black and white all over. These seem to be black and white, but in large patches instead of all over. Oh well, they are small yet and may change as they grow. It will be interesting to see how they turn out. I may show them at the state fair next year. My Easter egg chickens are all growing very well. We just had a new hatch. One of the wild ones went and had 7 chicks. Just brought them out of the nest yesterday. Brings our total chickens to about 95. Well, its now after 9pm and time to go relax and sleep. Tomorrow is another farmers market. Take care and have a great week.

Thank you for the newsletter, when I have time its so relaxing to read it. Kathy