I have barn cats, so I must be a real farmer

As of 5:00 this evening, we are the proud "owners" of three feral barn cats!  We have a serious mice/voles/moles problem, and since our pet cat Itch is 16 years old and strictly an indoor kind of lady, we decided that barn cats would be the best solution.  We found a rescue group that spays/neuters and rehomes feral cats, so we called them up and a day later, have three.  For the next week, they'll be in a large dog crate in our barn, so that they get used to being here.  Then, we'll let them out of the crate and hope they don't take off.  I think it's a great idea for feral cats, since they would otherwise be euthanized at a shelter.  So hopefully they'll work out.  I think Bullet is going to resent the competition for chipmunk hunting (which he is terrible at, but loves very much), but I'm looking forward to seeing fewer vole holes near my garden and fruit trees.

Now, our animal total is up to 26 (20 chickens, 2 dogs, and 4 cats).  For one month of farming, I'd say that's a healthy start.  Also, about names, we are planning on naming the barn cats, but haven't landed on anything yet.  The names they came with are Oreo (which I think is the name of every black and white cat that passes through a shelter), Persephone and Pam.  I kind of like a barn cat named Pam, but the other two are still up in the air.

Two of the barn cats, before I scared them too much by getting closer



Close up of the two females - the second is behind the first, and this is about as much as I've seen of her in total

Today, in addition to getting our barn cats, I also decided to brave the squash field to pick bugs and take a census of my surviving plants.  Out of my original 21 hills, I have 14 viable plants (I thinned each hill today, the seven missing hills had no plants left).  I was surprised and happy to see that the squash bugs don't seem to have found the squash field, although they have found my summer squash, zucchini and giant pumpkins.  The cucumber beetles are still active on my squash plants, but they don't seem to be doing significant damage at this point.

Candy Roaster 1

Candy Roaster 2

Giant pumpkin (no longer the less dead giant pumpkin, as the more dead plant is now officially dead)

Lumina Pumpkin 1

Lumina Pumpkin 2

Lumina Pumpkin 3

Nutty Delica

Rouge Vif d'Etampes Pumpkin 1

Rouge Vif d'Etampes Pumpkin 2

Rouge Vif d'Etampes pumpkin 3

Spaghetti squash

Sweet dumpling squash 1

Sweet dumpling squash 2

Sweet dumpling squash 3

Uncle David's Dakota Dessert Squash

So, the summary of squash and pumpkins planted versus what remains as of today is:

Giant Pumpkins:  2 planted, 1 remaining
Nutty Delica squash:  1 planted, 1 remaining
Sweet dumpling squash:  4  planted, 3 remaining
Spaghetti squash:  4 planted, 1 remaining (so sad)
Candy roaster squash:  2 planted, 2 remaining
Uncle David's Dakota Dessert squash:  3 planted, 1 remaining (and it's a very small one)
Rouge vif d'Etampes squash:  3 planted, 3 remaining
Lumina pumpkins:  3 planted, 3 remaining

Some of the varieties that I was most excited for (spaghetti squash and the uncle david's dakota dessert squash), have not thrived, but I should still have a good number of plants for this year.  My resolution for the next few weeks is to be more attentive to the squash field, in hopes that I don't lose any more plants.