Catching up

 If you are wondering why there have been no posts in July and August, I (Teresa) was very sick in July with what turned out (after almost a week in hospital at the end of the month) to be two tick borne diseases, Lyme and babesiosis. If you are as unfamiliar as I was with the second one, there were parasites multiplying and destroying my red blood cells, causing fevers of 103 F 39 C, and I was very sick. Three weeks after getting out of the hospital I am almost feeling normal. I had a lot of naps for a while. 

Everyone is doing fine in Ukraine, I hear there are a couple new orphan guys coming to the farm this week. The wheat was harvested in early July and now they are making corn silage. Here's a few photos.

I believe Max was trying to show Garry how tall the corn crop is this year. It looks good. 

Last week they were selling cheese at a nearby village for a festival, and the booth looked great. That's one of the two ladies that helps Elena make cheese, Oleg and Elena. You can see the labels- Garry's farm- on the cheese and the front of the booth. 

Here's a few photos from a birthday picnic.

I still haven't met little Sofia. She turned one in July. 

Drive time

 Garry and I just returned home from a ten day drive to New Jersey and back. His niece was getting married on Friday, and we arrived the Sunday before at my dad's house. My two sisters came out and we went through a lot of the stuff in the house. Amazing that we got through as much as we did, because if you stop and read old letters from the 1970's, WWII and the Civil War, it slows you down. 

We brought home a variety of things, including a rocking chair that was my great grandmothers and a table that belonged to my mothers aunt that I plan to refinish. The pickup truck was full!

It was nice to spend time with family, his father, all of Garry's siblings (in photo above) and many of the nieces and nephews were out for the wedding and the beach party the next day. 

Everything is fine in the village, the crops are growing and all are safe. We got a cute video of baby Sofia crawling around recently. Vlad in the army had a recent injury and was in hospital, it didn't sound too serious. He received a heroism medal and a promotion earlier this year. Here's a couple photos from the village church and a picnic after earlier this month.

Hello

 It's been a while, we have been at the lake a lot. Everyone is fine here and the program in Ukraine is doing fine also. The village is still safe, the crops are growing. They even had the local school kids tour the farm one day in May. 

Cheese and other products

 Here's a sample of some of the cheese products the farm in Ukraine is selling. They take orders online and deliver every week to the two nearby cities, Zaporosia and Dnipro.

That braided one is the type that's smoked in the first photos, it's a salty smoked string cheese, and makes a tasty snack! Here's some cheese in the packaging, ready for delivery. The ones that start with M are mozzarella. 

You may notice that they have labels with Ferma Garry on! or Farmer Garry, Garry's farm. Garry said he brought a label home, but he lost it somewhere. I can't decided if he's a little embarrassed or a little proud that they named it after him. 

 Looks like there's some butter in there, they make that also. Here's some other products they sell, along with whole roasting chickens. The kolbassa is made of beef, chicken or a mixture.  Some ladies from the village come help make the vereniki (you might say perogies) they sell those frozen.

Spring planting

 We have enjoyed watching the ice melt on the lake at the cottage over the last week. Garry is ready to get the boat back in the water to go fishing every morning. Or as soon as he helps the boys get the corn planted on the farm in Manitoba.

Amazingly, since most years, we plant in Ukraine weeks before here, Max is just getting the fields cultivated and ready to plant sunflowers and corn in Ukraine.

 He said they haven't have three dry days in a row since Garry left. However, he is very excited about how good the new alfalfa seeding looks that was planted in mid- March when Garry was there. 

Of course, only a farmer can appreciate seeing those tiny plants. Apparently the rain was good for the alfalfa.

And the oats, too. 

They did finish the second side of the barn roof.

Home again

 Garry, Steve and Jo arrived safely, and on time in Winnipeg last week Wednesday afternoon, I picked them up at the  airport and after we dropped them at their house, headed home to the farm. Garry was in bed by seven pm, 24 hours after he awoke to go to the airport in Budapest. 

I had thought I had posted that last week, but I guess not! We had a busy time after he got home, celebrating Easter a week late on Friday and Saturday with the family. All of the grandkids were here on Saturday for the egg hunt at uncle Seth and Jonah's after breakfast and dinner at our place. Almost all the snow had melted and everyone had a good time.

Sunday after church, Garry and I went out to the cottage. He enjoyed walking out in front of the cottage to go ice fishing, although it got more difficult by Wednesday afternoon. He had a ladder on the edge of the lake to get to the ice, since the shoreline ice was disappearing. Anyway, he'd caught lunch and decided he would wait until we can take the boat out on the lake to fish again.

We were heading back to the farm anyway, Garry is off to Saskatchewan this weekend with most of the boys for a basketball tournament at Matt's and I am babysitting today because the other boys insisted Micah had to go with them and Crystal is at a craft fair in Morris today with her soap.

Garry is mostly over jetlag and his cold that affected most of his trip. He's pleased with the results of his trip, the progress on the barn and how everything is going in the village and with the students and staff. The power was never out while he was there, the stores  and restaurants are open and busy in the cities.

Uber-ing to Budapest

 Garry left Ukraine via a Sprinter van, it cost 40 euro to get picked up at his hotel in Uzgorod and delivered  to his hotel in Budapest. It took about 11 hours, first they picked up other passengers in Uzgorod and drove to the border. It took about 4 hours to cross the border this time (remember the seven hours it took in December?) and then they were on their way, but got stuck in a traffic jam about 69 kilometers from Budapest. 

It was about three more hours in the van to get there, first they dropped all the other passengers. He did pass our friend Jessica on the highway, they waved at each other on the Hungarian highway, he was sitting in the front seat. She had left our friends Steve and Jo at the hotel and they checked in around 3 pm. Garry got there around ten. 

They plan a nice tour in Budapest today, and have a flight at 6:30 am Wednesday morning to Frankfurt, then on to Toronto and finally Winnipeg at 4 pm, the same day, through the magic of time zones.

It finally stopped raining in the village, Max sent this photo of one side of the barn with the roof finished.