Wednesday, January 14, 2015

Spring....Right???

Well it felt that way yesterday. The sun was out with clear skies and fairly warm temperatures, in the high 50's. So Don and I decided we could go out and do something. You know like GARDENING. Well it felt good but wrong thing to do. We got some garden beds cleaned up, planted some Chinquapin seeds and planted some grass seed in the horses paddock. It felt good to be outside since we both have been battling colds but this morning I woke up to a terrific headache and I think it is now a full blown sinus infection. Oh well I will live through it. but what a beautiful day......

Tuesday, January 6, 2015

Bee's, Bee's and more Bee's

The weather was so nice today I was able to go out and check our two bee hives. I was so happy to find both doing very well. The Carniolan hive is doing much better than the new hygienic hive. The hygienic hive is the one that got attacked by the bear, so considering that, the hive is doing well. I was able to feed one of the hives but couldn't get to the feeder in the other hive as I checked the hives by me self. Unfortunately Don was not up to par. Our youngest son came to visit us over the new years holidays and our granddaughter had a terrible cold and Don got it. So when he is feeling better we can work that hive together. Don made some blanket boxes for the hives this year and they are working beautifully. They kept the hives warmer and I found very little moisture in the hives. Living where we do, we get a lot of rain and moisture from due and fog. This can cause the hives to mold if not taken care of. The blanket boxes had pine shavings in them. The bee's looked healthy and were very active. I was very happy to see this, I guess I am just a worry wart. Sorry there are no pictures, still working those glitches out. Hopefully we can start adding pictures soon. We still need to get the mason bees in and cleaned up before spring starts. We need to wash them up and then put them in the fridge for safe keeping. When spring comes we can take them out of the fridge and put them in the box so they can hatch naturally. When spring hits this year we hope to have a happy bee farm....

Thursday, January 1, 2015

Happy New Year

I am starting out the new year with a post in hopes that I will be able to keep up with it this year. My goal is to add more recipes, hobby ideas and crafts updates. Hoping I can either get my camera fixed or buy a new one and get my computer running like it should be. Lots of plans for this year on the homestead. Our first and biggest project will be to add a new greenhouse. One that is a bit bigger than the one we have now. Up here on the mountain our growing season is short so a new greenhouse will help to extend that growing season. I have a table cloth that I have been working on and hope to get more done if not finished by next Christmas as it is a Christmas table cloth. Starting to work on my tole painting again and would like to try to paint some rocks this year. Needless to say there is a lot on the list and probably won't get it all accomplished but we can try.
Hope all will have a good new year and best wishes for your project list.