Yeah for the bees - Eleagnus is in bloom!



Far view of the beehives Fall 2012

In the Spring of 2012, Chris bought three beehives (3 nucs - 1 with a queen, 2 without) and we set them up on the north side of the property facing the southern sun.  It is now fall and the one with the queen is doing great, one of the nucs is doing okay and one did not make it. 

The right one did not make it. 

Some of the struggles we have had is how much to intervene.  Chris and I want really strong bees and we want really strong bees to make more strong bees.  We have seen a lot of die off that appears to be pesticide poisoning and Chris started off giving them sugar water and then decided that even that would be too much intervention.  We have no intentions of harvesting honey from any hive unless we are sure they can make it so probably we will look spring to see if there is any to spare.  But it is nerve racking to see the summer blooms die and having no nectar for bees to forage.  Until the other day.  The air was thick with a flowery sweet scent and I walked over to the Eleagnus run that the park planted in front of our yard across the drive.  It was in full bloom and thick with honey bees. There is almost a mile of this stuff along our drive. Most people are scared of the invasiveness of the Eleagnus but from our point of view....YIPEE!



Picture of scale of Eleagnus - it runs along the drive for almost a mile

Honey bee on the Eleagnus










Jeruselum artichokes are blooming

September 10, 2012

Apollo the chicken god

Can you believe that this chick... 

Is now this rooster?





Apollo (started off as Iris before she became a he) is a gorgeous Silver Pencil Rock Cockrel.  This has to be the luckiest rooster on the planet.  So when we got our 12 chicks on Easter, we planned on harvesting all but one rooster.  We figured we would like one more than all the rest and that lucky rooster would be spared to take care of the remaining females.  Not only did Apollo win, but he was the ONLY rooster!  He now has a harem of 11 beautiful young hens (only 1 he is related to in any way) to protect and serve - and serve - and serve - and serve!  He is a chicken god.  You can't see it in the picture very well but he has enormous feet.  And he is a really nice bird.  Win for everyone indeed.



Milkweed or Dogbane?...that is the question!

So the catepillar has been identified as the tiger moth catepillar which feeds mostly on milkweed or dogbane.  Milkweed = good, Dogbane = bad.  I'm leaning towards milkweed on this one but I would have to return to the patch and break the stem to see if it is hollow (milkweed) or filled with milky white creamy stuff (dogbane) to be sure.  If it is milkweed...I read it is delightful!

Best cocoon picture ever!

Culain enjoying a beautiful Sunday afternoon!

Walnut Harvest: September 9th, 2012

Daddy with his baby girl Vivian

Today Chris wanted to try his hand at black walnut harvesting.  It's a messy job and I am glad he wanted to do it this year!  He walked around and collected the freshest walnuts that recently dropped from the trees.  He also harvested the spent ones in the hopes of discarding them to a different location to help minimize the black walnut toxicity. We definitely see a difference in the garden with the plants that are located closest to the walnut trees.  We had tomato plants growing one year that looked like it could be in that Verizon commercial showing the bars.  They were in a line with one end near the tree where the growth was very small and unproductive - leading further away to large, more productive plants.  

Here is how we harvest walnuts at the Blue House...

Taking the husk off the walnut

Step 1:  Only harvest fresh walnuts on the ground.  Completely green in color.
Step 2:  Use some sort of mallet/hammer (Chris used a brick hammer and I used a maul in past years) to break through the husk/hull and remove nut
Step 3:  Remove as much of the yellow fibrous material as possible (WEAR GLOVES and old clothes unless you like permanent stains on everything)
Step 4:  Lay walnuts out to dry in the sun for a few days.  Make sure they are completely dry before you put them up for long-term storage.
Step 5:  Let them cure for about a month before eating them.

Sunflower Harvest - September 8, 2012

Sunflowers were planted behind a row of corn that has already been harvested.

Sunflower harvest time!  I read that when the yellow petals drop, and the back of the sunflower turns pale yellow, and you can see the seed heads pretty good, then it's time to harvest for drying.  I think we are a little late (what's new?!!!) but it should be a nice start in getting some sunflower seeds for us and the birds.  This is definitely something I hope gets expanded at the blue house in the future.  Sunflowers everywhere!  We planted a lot more than actually came up but the birds kept taking them out before they got big.  But the row planted in with the corn actually made it through the scratch fest.

Drying upside down in the bunkhouse

It's difficult to keep this caption PG rated!

So today was harvest day.  Chris cut them with two feet of stem remaining and I hung them up in the bunkhouse to dry.  I'm not sure what will happen from there...seed-wise I mean.  I keep thinking I am going to walk into the bunkhouse and seeds are going to be all over the floor.  I figure I can just sweep them up.  The magic of having chickens.  They don't care where the seeds have been!