After harvesting honey, I set everything except the extractor out on our back porch for the bees to clean up. It didn’t take long for a few foragers to find the stash and within an hour the porch was a-buzz with hundreds of bees. Within a day they had the beeswax and frames picked clean … Continue reading Beeswax harvest
Honey Harvest
I’ve been doing checks on my hives every week or two and watching the stores of honey grow. Finally I decided there was enough to try to harvest some this year. On the morning of my harvest, I suited up and went through my boxes. I found four frames almost complete in my hive and … Continue reading Honey Harvest
My First Hive Check
We got our bees just over a week ago. I gave them a little time to settle in before disturbing them with a hive check, but yesterday it was due. I got my smoker going and suited up. The weather was perfect - sunny and warm enough for the bees to be comfortable and for … Continue reading My First Hive Check
Busy Season Begins
It’s a difficult choice between spring and summer but if I had to choose, I think I’d say this time of the year is the busiest season here on the farm. We have so much going on right now: baby birds of all sorts, fattening meat birds, plant starts inside and out, weeds everywhere, mulch … Continue reading Busy Season Begins
Waiting for Goslings
Our guardian geese started laying eggs not long after they settled in here at the farm. I uncovered several eggs on accident one day while raking up some straw in the run. One of the geese had simply pulled apart a bale stored there and made it into a huge ground nest. The eggs were … Continue reading Waiting for Goslings
Less Can Be More
This plate is a summary of so many things. It’s homemade Buckwheat Milk Bread that I baked yesterday cooked in eggs I collected from our chickens, birds that I tended with care. It’s maple syrup that I boiled down from sap that I collected from trees that grow on this property that we call “ours.” … Continue reading Less Can Be More
Rabbit Love
Love can take many shapes and sizes. My newest love is a Holland Lop buck I've taken to calling Stormy. He is the softest, most chill and snuggly boy. He's only five months old, but nearly full grown. We got him from a rabbitry about an hour and a half from our home, in Kentucky. … Continue reading Rabbit Love
Cheep Cheep
We welcomed 30 Cornish Cross (meat bird) chicks, 6 Americana (green egg layers) chicks, 6 Noir Maran (dark brown egg layers) chicks and 6 French Guinea keets to the farm several weeks ago. As with all the birds in our flock, we picked these babes up as day-old chicks from our local hatchery - Mount … Continue reading Cheep Cheep
Learning with Quail
Last winter we hatched quail in my classroom and had surprising success. They grew quickly and began laying eggs in about 2 months. Every step with the quail was a learning experience for me. They are ground nesting so their housing and egg laying is different than chickens. They don’t roost together and have almost … Continue reading Learning with Quail
New Furry Friends at the Farm
My 14-year old son Oliver was offered two female Holland Lop rabbits by a friend of his that no longer wanted them. He asked if we could take them so he could try out a little rabbit business. I’ve also been thinking about raising rabbits as a meat source so I was game to try … Continue reading New Furry Friends at the Farm