Making Progress

 As you can see our pond has really filled up with water this year. We didn't or should I say we haven't got any snow this year but lots and lots of rain. I just love this view from our yard. This picture was taken a coupe of days ago.

 As much as I love the nice weather we really needed some snow on the mountains. This is what it should look like this time of year. This picture was taken several years ago.

Quite a difference wouldn't you say...

 Our Lenten Rose is blooming very nicely this year. Lots of blooms on it. I tried to get a picture showing all of the blooms but couldn't quite get them.

 You can almost see all the blooms in the picture below.

I took this picture day before yesterday. Don and I checked the bees and they are doing very well. Bringing in pollen like crazy.

 

If you look close you can see the pollen on the legs of the bees.

 They are carrying so much pollen it was falling off of there legs on there way into the hive.

 When we were getting all the rain, Don and I took one day when there was a break and spread grass seed all over the paddock.

 We have spread about 5 large bags of seed in this area trying to get the grass to grow. I think we finally have succeeded. It is starting to grow like crazy.

Remember the tree that fell on our gate this winter during the hurricane force winds we were having. Well Don got started cutting it up into firewood for next year. Gonna be a nice addition to our wood pile.

 While Don was cutting the firewood I was working in the strawberry patch trying to get a lot of the debris out of the bed and just taking a look at what is going on. We had a few critters digging in the bed last year so we are going to have to dig up all the strawberries and fill the bed up and replant. Not looking forward to it but needs to be done.

 I had missed some of the starts and had thrown them on the ground and Don came along after he was done cutting the firewood and picked up the ones I missed and planted them in a flat to get them started. Promised some of the neighbors some starts. We will probably have a lot more when we work the bed.

 Yesterday I worked in my herb garden getting it weeded and cleaned up for the year. As I was weeding I found a whole bunch of garlic starts. Apparently I missed some garlic when I harvested last year. It is OK with me as I dug them up and separated them and replanted in different spots. Should have some garlic again this year.

 I took the fountain apart and scrubbed it down with the hose and a rag. It does look a lot better. Then I took some Iris that was being overtaken by weeds and grass, dug them up and planted them in front of the fountain. I hope they do well here.

 This is only a small patch of the garlic that I dug up. Looking forward to some fresh garlic.

Well that is all for now. We have been working hard trying to get things done early. Hope this year will bring new hope for all....

Spring Chores

 I finally got started with my spring chores today. As I was headed out the front door I saw that one of the pots that I had planted some Crocus in was starting to come really nice. The other 3 pots with bulbs planted in them are not doing as well.

Can't wait to see this when it is blooming.

Then I saw one of the Hyacinth bulbs blooming, but as you can see I really need to get into this bed and do some major weeding.

I took this picture of the Kiwi, my major chore for the day. It needed a haircut really bad. So I got out the loppers and pruners and started cutting away.

Now that is better. Can actually see the main stems. Looking pretty good. They produced pretty good last year but we didn't get them pruned early enough before they really started growing so this year I got a jump start on them.

All in all it was a pretty good day. I also got my roses pruned back and cleaned out the raspberry bed and put up a temporary fence around them to keep the deer from eating all the luscious new shoots coming up. Will need to put something more permanent up later.

All I have to do now is clean up the mess. Another chore.....did save some cuttings for starts for the neighbors.

Have a great day and don't forget to start planning your vegetable garden...

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......

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....

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.

Christmas Time

Well it is Christmas time again and the year is gone so fast I can hardly believe it. We have had a lot going on this year and I am still having trouble with my computer down loading pictures for my blog. I think I am going to have to format and reload everything. That is why I haven't been posting anything. It is very frustrating.
Our year has been a year of fun, family and of course work. Our gardens turned out great. I was finally able to grow some sweet corn. With the help of my husband and his insistence that I start the corn in the green house and transplant it was of great help. I had always heard that you shouldn't transplant corn, that it doesn't work, well let me tell you that it does. I put one or two corn seed in each pot and left it there. When they got big enough I transplanted them very carefully. They all grew except one.
This year is going to be a busy one. We are hoping to get a new greenhouse up this winter for next season. Have lots of plans for it. One day we would like to try aquaponics.
Well I am going to close with I hope all will have a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. Blessing to all.

HARVEST SEASON ABOUT OVER

Well harvest season is already about over. We really enjoyed the Apples we were able to harvest, we missed out on three of our trees, as the momma bear and her cub helped harvest those trees. They also helped themselves to a full box or honey from our beehives.
While on the subject of our Bees, we go an OK harvest of honey. two of the hives died so we are back to two hives again.
The apples we were able to save are great. We are eating the Honey Crisp Apples fresh, and making Apple Chips from the Spartan Apples. The Bosc Pears are in cold storage for now, we are going to try making some pear chips, sounded good to Janice and I.

 

It has been a while since I have posted anything, sorry, with my knee replacement and all of the harvest, time just got away from me.

 

Not too long ago we had a Tan Oak blow down, right across the gate, what a mess. Thanks to Charlie and his friend Jason came over and cut it off of the gate and driveway.

 As you can tell from the picture, it hit the gate full force, and thankfully missed the fence. It will produce some good firewood for next year.

 The goats really enjoyed eating the leaves and small twigs for about a week or maybe a little more. Now I have a huge pile of brush that I need to chip and get onto the compost pile.

Tomorrow is Thanksgiving day, wow, already. Most likely dinner will be just Charlie, Lauren, myself and Janice, this year.

 

We had Grizzly breed our Nanny's the first of November. so babies should arrive around the first week of April.

We had been letting the horses out to graze on our yard at will,  a few times this fall. They both (Flash and Dancer) decided they liked the Filbert tree leaves, we had to stop just turning them out, now they come out and go into the pasture.

I should tell you that Dancer decided to dig her own Carrots this fall. Janice had intentionally left a patch of carrots in the ground in the raised bed by the incinerator, and Dancer her likes Carrots very much decided since she was not getting her share, started digging them herself. We didn't notice right away, until we started to see pieces of Carrot laying around her dig site.

The chickens are past the moult and laying pretty well again, averaging about 5-9 eggs a day again.

 



SUMMER and GRAND CHILDREN

Janice and I love summers here on the mountain, especially when we have visits from our grand children. A week ago we had a visit from Robert and Madison, the children of our youngest son, Jon. It was a very good visit, and the Kids (no longer kids, Teens) were a big help with the chores.

We had arranged with a local girl, Hannah Hooker, to give the grand children some riding lessons while they were here. Hannah is in her last year of 4-H and is a very accomplished horse woman in her own right. They started each day by grooming the horses, before tacking up.

 Both of the horses love being groomed and handled.

 So very pretty when they are groomed.

 Hannah was very good with explaining why things were done in a certain way.

 All tacked up and ready to ride!

 Some last questions.

 It was decided between them that Robert would ride first.

 The last Picture along with this one and the next one are when they returned from their ride.

 Robert likes riding horses.

 When leaving, they walked the horses down past Charlie's place (the neighbor) then Hannah ponied Flash down the road.

 Once turned around Flash was ok about coming back without stopping and not wanting to go.

One of the days Robert and Madison were here, we all went over to Frog Lake and took a hike up the trail part way over the mountain. 

 Madison also really enjoyed riding the horses.

Nice to be home after a good ride!

 Once home Flash wanted to go immediately to the paddock.

 But that was not going to happen!

 I don't remember what the devil my phone did to get my attention.

Natasha getting ready for her first ride with Hannah.

 Hannah was not under as much pressure when Natasha was here as she has had much more opportunity to ride horses and actually has a good relationship with Flash, my, er her horse...LOL.

 Our horses really do enjoy having a job and going and doing most of the time. Flash however can be a little lazy and he was really out of shape, but with these rides he is starting to get back into shape.

 Natasha Flash and I before their ride on Natasha's first day here this summer.

 And away we go!

Natasha and Hannah walking out for their first ride, exciting!



 On their way home it appears they are riding a branch, but only in appearance.

 No, don't wave you will cover your face,... Too late!

 Whoa, Flash, you can not walk over Dancer.

Natasha finishing a very good ride.

Natasha had to show off just a little for the camera.

On Natasha's second ride with Hannah, they decided to take the trail over the mountain. When they returned Natasha was all wound up and so very excited. The ride had been perfect, wonderful day, horses were good (for the most part), and though it was a very warm day they had a lot of shade on the trail so they stayed very comfortable.

Today Janice and Natasha went for a ride and they were very happy with the actions of the horses, and on their return they gave both of the horses baths, Wow clean horses.