Hives and Coffee

We had quite the eventful weekend. We attending our beekeeping school - something that we've both been looking so forward to, for a few reasons. We learned that we know more than we think we know, we learned more of what we didn't know and we feel more comfortable than we ever have about adding bees to the farm...and we picked up our hives! That's right - we picked up two full kits (with tops, inner covers, bases etc.), along with two additional brooder boxes and four honey supers - we should be all set in getting these bees settled in and producing honey. We've heard mixed opinions on a honey harvest - some people have said we can expect a small honey harvest this fall and others say we should leave the honey with the bees...I say, we let the bees guide us. No sense in stripping them of their food, just to spend the winter wondering if they have enough food - but if they go crazy gangbusters and have enough yummy goodness to share with us...then we will gladly take a bit of honey off the top. This past weekend, we were able to build the two main brooder boxes with all the necessary pieces to get our hives up and running - we'll build the additional pieces as we have time.

Drake, Master Carpenter

Hammering in the frame foundation.

Ratta tap tap...

More frame building.

Look at that beautiful completed frame - can't wait until these are covered with bee brood.

Fancy beewear!

Cora modeling my bee jacket lol.

Oh, wow - the living room was quite the mess.

Stuff was all over the place.

Cora is helping hammer a brooder box together.

Building our hives, lid and brooder boxes.

Mark and Drake putting together the boxes.

Proud father and son moment.

Look at that awesome completed hive! We have two just like this and will be adding additional brooder boxes and honey supers.

We are officially ready for our honey bees. We'll be getting two nucs in the middle of April.

In addition to becoming bee hive owners this past weekend, we also were surprised by (yet another) new baby!!! This one is a buck Oberhasli/Angora cross. His name is Coffee and he is Itty Bitty's baby. He is absolutely adorable. He and his Mama have figure out the whole nursing thing, all by theirselves. He is just as sweet as can be.

Mama Itty and Baby Coffee...I love his smirk in this photo.

Time to eat!

Coffee

Coffee!!!

Coffee!!!!!

Coffee!!!!!!!

Coffeeeeeeee!!!!!

Itty and apparently something I'm going to need more of around here...COFFEE!!! LOL

I'm going to knock on wood while I write this, but we've had four mamas give birth to six babies and everyone has done amazing. I'm so proud of all of my girls and their beautiful babies. Soon we'll be milking Mabel and Flora (once we wean the babies) and we'll be able to have milk and cheese (and soap?!) from our backyard. We'll also be shearing the fiber animals in about a month or so - before the hot weather rolls in.
Milk, soap, cheese, honey, fiber...soon chickens will be here for meat and eggs...this place...it grows on ya'

Spinning, Spiles and Kindness

With all the excitement about Mabel and Frankie's babies, I forgot to show my first finished piece of spun-by-me yarn! I've already decided what the first two pieces will be once I get to using our own animals' fiber - the first will be some time of art piece to show off our first animals on the farm - I'll hang it in the house and admire it forever. The second piece will be something for someone very special in my life. He's the one that helped me make my dream of owning a farm come true. That being said, I decided to make myself a little something with the purchased roving that I spun. So...I decided I needed a new hat! That's the original intention of that purple roving was a hat for me - the gray and lighter purple were roving I bought at JoAnns, just to play around with. I'm happy with what I created though. It's fascinating to me to watch something turn from a blob of fiber to yarn to a crocheted wearable piece. Love it!

This is just as I had completed it - one day, hopefully, I'll be wearing a homespun, hand knit sweater to match.

Here's another picture - after someone (Mark) was being so so wonderfully helpful - after Frankie pooed on my hat (I was helping her nurse and she decided to poo on my hat, after I laid in on the ground - my fault) - he decided to wash...and dry my hat. What happens to wool when it is dried in a dryer? Felt. The hat shrunk a bit - but I got it stretched back out and it looks super cute. 

In the second picture, you'll notice that I'm in a classroom. I asked Mark if he'd like me to bring little Sweet Pea into his class for a little show and tell. Since we can't just say "here's a goat, come pet it" - where's the learning in that? We also brought in the spinning wheel, fiber and carders etc. The kids were so excited to touch everything...they are 1st graders...so there were lots of questions, lots of comments...lots of AWWWWWwwwwwwWWWWWs when I got Sweet Pea of the her travel pen. LOL I love it! At the end of the day, I held her as we walked to the bus lines for bus duty and got stopped a million times on the way - Mark and I were quite popular yesterday. I sometimes wish I could just do stuff like that all day...teach children about animals and farms and everything that I've learned over the past few years. I would want to be an everyday teacher - more like a traveling teacher that just teaches about special themes and helps support the main teachers. Maybe I'll win the lottery and be able to do something like that....one day. Sweet Pea behaved perfectly - so snuggly and cute, letting everyone pet her and love on her...but it was obvious when she was ready to go home and go back to her mama. It was really cute - as soon as Frankie heard me get out of the car, she baaad really loud and Sweet Pea heard her and responded with a loud baaaaaaaaaaa - and back and forth they went until I got Sweet Pea back in the pen. Immediately Sweet Pea went to nurse and Frankie wanted to clean the smell of all those yucky humans off their baby. Oh! I also wanted to share something else...the amazing kindness of some of the people in my life. About two weeks ago, on Facebook, I put it out in the universe that we were looking for spiles (the taps that go into trees for Maple Syruping) - we were thinking of buying a kit, but they are over $100 and we just didn't have the funds. I was looking for a place around here that we could buy just a couple spiles and couldn't find anything in this area. So thinking that maybe someone knows a guy who knows a guy, I thought I'd just put it out and see what came back. This past Wednesday, I received a box from UPS - it was clinking...hmmm what is this strange sound?? I opened it up and realized that my awesome cousin, James (I call him Jimmy, because I've known him since birth) and his beautiful wife, Kim, had sent me 25 spiles! 25!!!! Man, how cool is that!??!?!!??!?! Looks like I've got some tapping to do. Another awesome thing - my friend Alysia sent me the cutest little heart shaped planter that has hens and chickens plants in it. I absolutely love it. I wish I had more money and time to show the people around me how much I love them and that I'm always thinking about them and I appreciate them. I guess that's why I make them macaroni and cheese?!?!?!?! LOL