Out to the Sapphire mine we drove then up to the pit itself. We were on top of a hill standing on ancient bedrock where the sapphires end up lying right above. Russ shows you where to dig and how to use the shaker boxes to sift out the concentrates.

We made a good team, I dug buckets and J sifted. The 4 of us got our 3 buckets we were after filled in about half an hour. Russ was impressed with how fast we did it, but we are farmers who live in the dirt. Not like most of the "urbanites"...

As were were nearing filling our last buckets another family arrived and we were soon out of their way on the way back to the shop.

Those bags are where some real gems are found. They are concentrate bags from the various areas. S is for the Spokane bar where we were digging, the E is from the Eldorado pit, and the ML is from the Mother Lode pit. $50, $75, and $100 respectively and $10 per bucket we dug, we got one of the Mother Lode bags.

Done at the mine we headed back through Helena and out the 12 towards home. Broadwater Hot Springs is literally right next to the highway but screened nicely. Soaking was super nice and I was in the hottest pool and did numerous lengthy cold plunges. Enough to the point I calmed my breathing within a few breaths.

After soaking for a while and the boys went swimming in the lap pool we went inside for lunch in the restaurant.

We were on the road for home by 2pm.

We hit Missoula for gas on the west side around 3pm.

Then hit Lake CDA by 4pm.

So as not to have to cook for dinner when we got home we went to Hop Mountain for dinner. It was a nice way to finish off our trip, in a familiar spot.

It was nice to be home but the work began right away.

The boys found a hen with a clutch of chicks in the sheep pen so the big process began in this order of catching her, them, and getting them all in the brooder.

Sometimes you can't get them all in one go so it helps when most are in the brooder since then the missing ones get all cheepy and loud.

It did just that. So we have 11 chicks with the hen in the brooder.

The garden needed attention badly. The peas were huge and HAD to be picked. I went through both sides of the row and ended up with 7 pounds in the bag. I went to put them in the cooler and found the cooler had borked and was at 81F. I had to mess with the Coolbot to get the A/C to start again. It had been off for about 30 hours but the temps were bad for about 24. The produce I have in there doesn't look too bad though.

The boys worked on the beans rows as they were/are loaded and got about 3 pounds. I got the squash picked and ended up with 13.25 pounds. The Table Dainty go from dainty to jumbo while you are looking at them.

Watched the R&M episode then we all just crashed. We had soaked mid day so were fine. I slept for absolute shit last night, my shoulder is fucked and I was awake at 3am then gave up trying by 4am and got up. Today I have to finish harvesting in the garden, make the rounds of everything else, looks like potatoes are ready to start digging in places, and I'll pop open our ML bag to start looking through.

^Affiliate/Referral Link^

For more information about our farm:
Fleming Family Farm
FLEMING FAMILY FARM, LLC
Sustainable & Organic Methods | Heirloom Produce

All images are original works of Fleming Family Farm unless otherwise notated and credited.

If you find this post useful or entertaining, your support is greatly appreciated by upvoting, following, and sharing!

You can Also Find Me On:

Donations or Tips

[email protected]



Zap Me ⚡️ ᛒᛏᚲ

---