the year of the buck..

ahhh...the life of a barn cat.

our third and final doe kidded this am...twin bucklings. that makes 4 bucklings this year, no doelings. what's up with that?!
this is the doe that got attacked by bees last year..she stills looks mangy from itike and mike...i think all our kids are named after junk food this year...brownie, oreo, ike & mikethe garden is going like gang busters! i have baby summer squash and zukes that should be ready to pick in a week or less. i am drooling with excitement!
the potatoes are bursting through the mulch, the onions have taken hold and the tomatoes are starting to get over their shyness of being in the dirt as opposed to the green house.

onions, onions/potatoes, potatoes, potatoes, zukes/summer squash/okra,4 rows of corn (can't see for the weeds), tomatoes

greg re-tilled the final garden area. i'll be planting like crazy over there tomorrow. the final tomato seedlings, plus a few winter squashes...butternut and spaghetti. also, i need to get the sweet potatoes in soon. they have finally rooted enough i think. i started them myself this year. very easy but next year, i need to start at the end of january i think as it is a slow process.

on the way home from market today, i shouted out 'holy shit!' as i drove by a bee swarm about 10' away from the road. they were on a stake that was hammered into a straw bale for erosion control. it looked like a giant corn dog, very odd which is probably why it caught my eye. i raced on home, we unloaded the truck, threw in the bee gear and raced off again. this is our 5th capture, 3rd this year and greg's best yet i think.our very sophisticated tool for capturing bees...a saw.waiting for the bees to settle into their new digs.the farmer sprayed ammonia today. joy.

sage learned to pedal his bike this past week. nothing's going to stop him now!

hand extraction

this is what i did to extract the honey. remember, i'm no expert, this is my first attempt at doing this and i most likely did it wrong but it worked. in the future, we hope to not butcher the comb. greg will be taking the foundations out of the frames to fix the errors so it didn't really matter this time around...

first, i took a knife and cut off the comb. you can see the honey pouring down the front of the comb. yum!


this is what it looked like in the pan. a pile of comb and lots of yummy honey.


before and after shot of the frames. the foundation has been scraped clean. i used a metal spatula to scrape them down gently after cutting off the comb.


next, i poured the honey into a funnel lined with a gerber baby diaper (they suck for diapering but are excellent in the kitchen!). the honey ran through and collected in the glass measuring bowl. the first frame i heated gently on the stove to melt the wax but the other 9, i did in this manner and it worked just as well.


i tried to not put the wax parts in the strainer. instead, i tossed those into a stock pot with a lid. it is now sitting outside in the sun. yesterday, we had no sun. hopefully it will cooperate more and melt the wax enough to separate the rest of the honey out.


in answer to the preserving question, since the combs weren't capped off, i'll be freezing the honey as a precaution. however, it won't last long because once the elderberries are ripe, i'll be making elderberry mead with it. yum!

so far, i've got about 2 gallons of honey, maybe a quart shy of that.

sweet rewards

greg had to pull the super off the hive he put on 10 days ago because he assembled the frames wrong. he did it yesterday morning and left the frames for me to take care of. in 10 days, the bees went from flat foundations to combs filled with honey and capped (in the beginning stages).



this is not bubbling from heating, it's bubbling from pouring and scraping. a giant sticky mess of goodness! when i'm done scraping the last 3 frames, i'll set the wax mixture in a stock pot with a lid on the sidewalk to extract it with the sun.

so far, i've yielded about 1 gallon and i expect when it's all done, i'll have 2 gallons. he put 3 supers on their hive and will add 2 more in the next week or two.

go bees!

between hand extracting honey and hand pitting 4 gallons of cherries, my week has been full!

what's new around here?

cherries high to the heavens!

little girls love tart pie cherries and beg for more

the bees are happy with their new super and new set-up. we'll be adding more supers this weekend to both hives. we hurried up and got this one on so the bees would be happier.

cherry picking friends forever

clover - i'll be milking her starting tomorrow morning

chamomile - they thought she was a boy and didn't disbud her so we have one with horns, hooray!

calendula? - we are still working out a name for her. i felt so bad, when we took her and left her sister, they both bawled the entire time. i almost left chamomile so i could bring her sister home with her.

swarm catching 101 - our method

to catch a swarm, we bring along the following items: bee gear (suit, hat, gloves, smoker though we don't use it), an empty hive box (filled with frames/foundation but no bees), a huge piece of cardboard, a ladder that folds out to 24', a 5 gallon bucket, clippers to clip a branch if necessary and rope.

when we get there, greg suits up while i size up the situation. then we lay the cardboard down on the ground under wherever they are and set the hive box on top.

we remove the hive cover and 3-4 frames and set those aside. we also unplug the hive opening.

depending on the height, we set up the ladder (we didn't need this step because they were so close to the ground but usually, they are 10-15' in the air) and then survey their location. we may tie rope to the branch to help hold it steady if we have to cut it. if we can cut it and bring it down safely, then we do. if not, greg tries to knock all the bees into the 5 gallon bucket, especially the queen. i think there's a hive brush that you can brush the bees in, but he just uses his gloved hands to sweep them into the bucket.

once they are safely on the ground, we dump them out of the bucket into the hive (or brush them off the branch if they are still attached). the key is to get the queen into the hive and then everyone else will follow.

once the majority is in, the frames go back in and the cover goes back on the top. we then leave them to move on in until sundown. the other night, we only had to wait about 30 minutes since we captured them at 7:30pm. by 8:00, they were settled nicely into the box.

then, we plug up the opening, load everything back into the truck and take it home. we set the bees where we want them and unplug the opening. the next morning, they wake up, check out their new digs and get to work pollinating our flowers and clover.

i keep forgetting to bring the camera get some action shots. hopefully next time i'll remember!

that's how we do it. anyone else have a different route they take?

swarm #2

we got a phone call at the end of dinner tonight...a swarm in someone's backyard. could we come get it?!

we said either we or another beekeeper would bee there shortly. we got the address, hung up and called our mentor, charlie. he threw together a hive for us and we stopped by to get it on our way out.

we got to the next town and the swarm, a small one again, was on a mulberry branch about 2' off the ground. easy-peasy.

we got most into the hive very quickly and then left it bee for about 30 minutes to allow the stragglers to go in as well. since it was close to sun down, it didn't take long at all.

when we got home and greg placed the hive next to the first swarm, he noticed the first hive had a lot of bees hanging out outside the box. seems they've already filled that puppy up. we need to get our supers STAT and hope they don't swarm in the meantime. i'll be calling kelly bees when they open in the am and order a 10 pack of supers.

we are in business!

got bees?

we just got back from capturing our very first hive. we had listed ourselves online at beesource.com awhile ago (thanks again for the link gina!). the guy had found a swarm early evening last night and went online to figure out what to do with them. he didn't want to kill them because he had heard of the shortages of bees. so, in doing a search, he stumbled on the beesource website and found us and called.

so, at the crack of dawn, we hit the snooze on the alarm 3 times and finally rolled out of bed around 6:30am. after having a leisurely cup of coffee (greg) and tea (me) we hopped in the truck and headed over there (about a 15 minute drive).

the swarm was tiny. it was about 15' or so up in a pine tree that was very scrawny which made it easy to get to although it was on sloped ground so maneuvering the ladder was a bit tricky. greg was fully clothed in his keeper's outfit, i was in a pale blue dress hovering off to the side handing him things as needed.

it was right next to the house so the wife opened a window and sat and talked to me as we watched. the bees were fairly mild. it was cool so the bees were sluggish. greg swept them into a bucket then poured them into the hive box. after sundown, we'll go back and pick up the box and bring it home.

let the beekeeping adventures begin!

(i regret to state that i forgot to bring my camera to record our efforts)

spring is back on!

weather is warming up again. i took lots of notes about what survived...good lesson for winter gardening!

what adores a good hard freeze:
-radishes
-kale
-mustard greens
-carrots
-spinach

what doesn't:
-turnips
-beets

what will hang on:
-cilantro
-lettuce
-broccoli
-tyfon

that's a fair variety to grow in a winter garden.

i just received news that we are the proud owners of a nubian buckling. he is black & brown with spots and i believe white ears! born april 16 which means we'll be bringing him home mid-june. i can't wait!! now to find a doeling or two. i'll probably have to wait until next year for that.

i'd also like to acquire a navajo churro ewe and ram (sheep) and have recently gotten some ideas on how i could make an easy temp fence to move them around. now just to find the $500 to purchase them! that may need to wait a year as well.

i've been working like crazy outdoors, mulching paths, weeding, planting...so much to do! luckily, jaden loves the outdoors and sage is content to sit and watch me work so it's been easy to do. i'm trying to pretty up the place a bit by planting lots of flowers in hopes it will be colorful for our upcoming several-times-rescheduled hand-fasting/commitment ceremony we are planning this summer. after 7 years together, we'll finally be tying the knot. of course, that means i have a HUGE list of expectations for home renovations!

our chicks are growing like crazy! i'm trying to create a way to take them outside during the day for fresh air. right now, they are in the greenhouse.

keeping bees is a no-go this year unless we are treated to another swarm. we'll be getting all the equipment though so we'll be prepared, just in case. our local beekeeper lost 14 of 25 hives over the winter so he was unable to sell us one as he had originally planned.