The Dog (and Cat) Days of Summer!
It’s been an incredibly hot summer, but our plants are doing great, as are our animals. We often talk about our dogs – Dallas and Cage, but we’ve never mentioned our cats at the farm!
Here’s a picture taken recently of our “Feline Matron In Residence” at the farm with one of her latest 7 kittens! She’s got quite the personality, is quite the mommy and for you cat lovers out there, you’ll know what I mean when I say she “runs the show” behind the scenes.
Here’s a pic of our dog, Cage, taking a breather and wearing his new CH Farm logo cap. This cap is tan-colored, but he prefers the white. He says the white is more complimentary for his natural color. He told me to tell everyone that he’s sorry he missed seeing you this season! He was quite sure when we talked that if he’d been there, we would’ve had plenty of berries for everyone! He’s really looking forward to seeing everyone next year.
And while we’re talking about dogs, here’s a pic of Dallas, our golden retriever who passed away two years ago at the young age of 7, after a valiant 1 year battle with lymphoma. We wanted to share with our fellow dog lovers a study conducted in conjunction with the AKC Canine Health Foundation about progress on treating lymphoma in dogs!
We went through all the treatments as advised by K-State Vet School Guidelines and did everything we could to keep him going and comfortable. Dallas’s death was a huge loss for our family and to me personally. You can read more about our wonderful companion here. Maybe this study will provide some hope for those out there whose canine companions develop lymphoma. We sure hope so!
Caring for and keeping animals reminds us that it’s not just our own bodies we need to protect and pursue health for – they need it too! In this article from Indiana University (“Soil Samples Reveal Urban Mercury Footprints”), the specter of mercury as a pollutant drifting into residential yards back east is being looked at, which is cause for concern for man’s best friend and any other pets you or I may own.
It would be irresponsible to directly connect Dallas’s cancer and ultimate passing with any chemicals used in our yard (where he played for almost 7 years). Yet, it still begs the question and it’s something we don’t think about much…
What’s in the soil of our yards? Is there anything harmful there we should be concerned about? If you have a lawn service, as many do, what exactly are they spraying/broadcasting on your yard?
As a result of Dallas’s passing 2 years ago we adapted the natural organic program from the farm and began using it on our lawn and landscape at our home in Andover. It took some work and adjustment, but it was well worth it. Here are some shots of our yard this year – the results speak for themselves.
Even in this heat, the lawn and landscape is looking robust and strong compared to the conventionally maintained yards all around us.
And guess what? Cage isn’t running around picking up anything harmful on his paws that we’ve put down! What a great feeling to know that we’re not introducing anything harmful into his environment and we can still enjoy the beauty of a well maintained and healthy lawn and landscape.
We’ll be writing more about this in an upcoming email newsletter and blog post and will invite any of you who wish, to contact us regarding switching your lawn and landscape to the natural organic program we use.
