To Be or Not Two Bee?

The FARM would love to welcome to the family a new hive of bees!

Our bees arrived a week ago, and as it would happen, Number One was not here to install his new honey makers. SO, I had take care of it. I have been to all the classes and took 20 pages of notes, paid close attention in class, bought the bee helmet and netting, even watched how to install bees in two hives the morning of our hive installation.

I WAS TERRIFIED!~

But..... I DID IT! And I LIKED it! After it was all over I found that it had been invigorating to be in the midst of 10,500 bees leaving their small shipping box and get shaken into their new digs. Not one sting :)

Now, without further adieu, I would like to introduce to you, our new clan of bees: Alice, Avery, Adele, Amy, Alvin, Armond, Alex, Bill, Betty, Barb, Bailey, Bren, Chris, Candie, Caleb, Colby, Connie, Collette, Carrie, Denise, Donna, Danny, Danielle.................... Yvette, and Zolanda!

She's Got Them Eating Out of the Palm of Her Hand!

The first two days were difficult as the girls were getting used to their new digs. They wouldn't eat or drink, were extremely nervous around everyone, and basically just not happy.

Biscuit has spent LOTS of hours in the barn gaining their trust and today; a breakthrough!

Welcome to the Family!

The FAM would like to welcome: Sophie and Cassie - French Alpine Goats!

Both are very pregnant and due at the beginning of May.

Meet Cassie

And Sophie

She looks like she swallowed a 2x4 sideways!

Caution: Wide Load!

He Is Risen!

Have a wonderful Ressurection Day! May Father Bless you all.

FarmMom

Just Insert Goats

Well, the Farm Team has come together to bring the old chicken coop into submission and become a Goat Barn! Ta-da!!!

Hay manger built, nursery tweaked and installed (Thanks Tamra and Craig from Busy Acres Farm), leashes made, and new sliding barn door put up. Also, the drainage issue has hopefully been solved with some clever landscaping from a friend!

Biscuit had the ideas, Number One, assisted by younger brother E-Man, built them to specs. Great job working together kids :) Happy FarmMom!

On Your Mark, Get Set........GOat!

Biscuit is finally getting her goats! She has completely cleaned out the old chicken coop (chickens are all gone, for now) and has made the grain barn ready to accept that long awaited Goat Feed!

A few changes need to be made to make the old coop - a 12x15 cinder-block building - ready for the ladies. On Friday, a friend with a tractor will come and grade the slope to prevent the annual thaw from flooding the building. A shopping trip to pick up a couple of milking items, then off to the farm to pick up her girls!

The Farm is a-Buzz!

Spring is coming! This year we are adding a bee hive. Number One and I have signed up for a series of Bee Keeping classes with a local Master Beekeeper. Yesterday was the second in the series and we came home with a lovely hive...some assembly required!

Number One is up to the challenge of building the hive and when he is finished it should look like the one in this photo, which was taken at Bee Class.

Even Sappier Than Before!

As posted earlier, I love the Maple Sap Run season! I am a bit discouraged this year because the sap started so early that we missed some of it. The weather has not been optimal for consistent running.

While at our local Farm Store, I inquired about others reporting the success of the maple season. I learned that everyone seems to be experiencing the same results. I actually found this somewhat encouraging, only because I didn't feel like such a complete failure! Two VERY IMPORTANT tidbits of info came out of that conversation that is as valuable as the maple run this year, though.

1. Put in your taps the weekend before Valentine's Day for our area. That way, no matter when the season actually starts, we won't miss any of it!

2. When we find a bucketful of frozen sap, don't bother to boil it down. Throw out the ice chunk! This really perplexed me! All the frozen liquid is nearly pure water - the very stuff that we boil out of it! All the good sweet sugary content does not freeze and is at the bottom. I think I heard the Angels singing this fact out loud at that moment!

I knew that pure maple syrup won't freeze, but never really thought about the sap.

I thought we were ready this year.....next year we will be even "readyier"

Another Sappy Story!

This year for the Maple Sap Run we were more prepared than ever before! Having battled with old milk jugs for collection in the past, we decided to up the ante and buy "real" maple collecting buckets. Of course, that our local Farm Store had them dirt-cheap certinly sealed the deal of the big investment!

Normally, new buckets cost in the $25.00/ea range. I found them for $6.50/each! I picked up 12 new-to-us buckets and lids. We also improved the collection by adding in some "line" to hook several trees or taps into one bucket.

The Maple business really belongs to Number One. He decided to let Trink help with the run, so she has three of her own trees. They are located in the driveway - which I love! I absolutely love the sight of maple buckets this time of year - SPRING is on its way!

He's no Rocky, Bullwinkle!

Every year we get at least one flying squirrel in the house. This year we had four - all in the same week! Our two cats, Fred and Ginger, were on the scene immediately, which was a great advantage to Number One and his "Squirrelanator 2000.1" whacking device. They kept it cornered and immobilized until back-up arrived.

The first varmint was discovered by Trink when it ran across her face while she was stuck under her bed. Poor thing, she screamed like a little girl, which made everyone else's blood run cold! Number One ran in to the rescue and the rodent attempted to climb up his camoflaged pants (he did not scream like a little girl - I'm so proud!) He quickly grabbbed a piece of PVC and let the little rat have it!

The "Squirrelanator 2000.1" now has four marks on it.

Second Summer Garden

Our garden this year is coming along quite nicely! We learned so many things from last year's garden, our first, that we were able to make some changes in placement and even added some things!

We increased the size this year by about six feet. I tried to plant a few more veggies, but instead I have more room between rows so I can use our Brand New, 30 year old rototiller we found for sale on the side of the road. The outer blades come off so that we can till between rows to keep the weeds at bay. It didn't quite work out like I planned on that aspect, but the idea is a good one I plan to use later.

I am trying my hand at paper mulching or lasagna gardening. Everytime I hear the latter term, I think that I should have everything needed to make lasagna, including the macaroni bush! It is actually a technique where newspaper, soil, and grass clippings are layered to mulch the garden and keep weeds away. I'm still learning.

I planted some new veggies that I am so very excited about! I have some pie pumpkins, three kinds of tomatoes, herbs, and tomatillos!

Because it didn't come naturally, I have made it my mission to paint my thumb green. So, I am reading and learning all I can. Perhaps I can just wear some pretty gloves and fool the garden!

A Garden Paradise

Back in the day, before I raised so many kids and weeds, we used to garden every summer. The "me" part of we used to do the maintenance and harvesting, while the "he" part of we was in charge of getting the ground ready and planning where everything would go.

This year, I was on my own for ground-breaking and planning. One would think that with all the years of wathcing it be done, that I would be ready. Not so. I refer now the phenomenon of going to the same place week after week as a passenger, then suddenly driving oneself to the destination only to realize you don't remember the way!

Number 1 and I found a place to rent a roto-tiller and brougt it back home ready to break ground on our own. I had used a tiller before, but only long enough to frustrate Hubby and have him take back the controls.

Tilling actually went fairly quickly and was a little easier than I had thought it would be. We covered the whole garden in black plastic for a couple weeks to kill any weed seeds that had been churned up. That method worked very well!

Planting time came and we put it some potatoes and onions. I was proud of us to remember how to properly set potato eyes into the ground and mound the rows. A few weeks later a very nice friend stopped by to help get the rest of paradise planted.

We have lovely pole beans, squashes, broccoli, lettuces, asparagus, tomatoes, peppers, and radishes! I love going out every morning to check on my little babies to see how they are growing.

Biscuit designed a fine scare-crow, and Trink put up a scary little tiki man. Number 1 built a tee-pee for the pole beans, and E-man was on worm patrol to make sure there were plenty around!

Today, we harvested our first radishes! Boy they grow fast - only 24 days from seed!
I can hardly wait to start canning our own veggies this summer!

Busy with a capital OMG!

I have obviously been way too busy! I have not even posted in three months! Homeschooling is wrapped up for the year, other than maintenance reading and writing. We are in full-swing summer mode.

To me full-swing summer mode means: easing into the morning, picnicking at the lake, afternoon bike riding, evening salads (read NO Cooking!)and gardening, lightning bug hunts. Whoa! That's horse language for stop! That does not look like MY full-swing summer mode at all!

Number 1 is carriage driving (mom is planning summer camp!), Biscuit is riding as often as possible getting ready for horse camp, E-Man is baseball superstar riding horseback whenever he can to get ready for horse camp, and Trink is wondering when she'll get a turn, too! The two olders are also serving as grooms for other riders this summer. Of course there are festivals and fairs the kiddos are signed up for one event or another, in addition, they are trading barn chores for riding/driving privileges!

Where is the lake, bikes, picnics, bugs???? Although this is not the kind of summer I dream of with no responsibilities, we are having a blast doing these other fun things.

Of course we blend in chore time, friend time, nature club, and ice-cream. Perhaps I can slip in some more blog time, as well!

Happy Summer y'all, Ayuh!

Maple Sugaring Update

We boiled down the last of our maple sap today and pulled out the last tap. I combined all the syrup together and planned to can it for later. I didn't have a jar small enough! The grand total came to just 1 cup of syrup! It was still very worth the effort of trying it this year!

We tapped a total of four trees and checked for sap every day for three weeks. Sometimes we only brought in 1/2 a gallon of sap. Twice we got just over one gallon of sap! I will definitely do this again next year!

Improvement ideas for next year:
- Trees will be positively identified in the fall and marked.
- I will purchase more taps right now for next year.
- I will look into boiling the sap down outside on a stove(to avoid too much sticky moisture in the house).

I'm already excited about next maple sugaring season. Now I just need to plan that "perfect" meal to feature that hard earned mapley perfection!

Whistling Dixie

Every farm (and kid) should have a dog, right? I have definitely been the hold-out in our family. We would have had a dog a long time ago if it had not been for the fact that I didn't WANT a dog!

Well, times are changing and our farm now has a dog! She's a three year old Wheaten Terrier from the Humane Society. Her breed is known for herding, protecting chickens and eggs, and hunting. She is gentle and seemingly very smart.

She came to us with her name and it suits her very well. Dixie is very sweet and we are very happy to have her sharing our home!

Sap Today, Syrup Tomorrow! - (maybe)

After a week of not-so-cooperative weather, the sap buckets were only half full. However, still very excited about the maple adventure, I boiled it down! We only tapped two trees with one bucket on each tree, so there was only about a gallon of sap. I decided to use my indoor woodstove and put the pot with sap on top and left it overnight. (I actually started it on my electric stove, but quickly moved it over to the free heat!)



The next morning, more than half had been boiled away! According to the book, we should boil down most of the sap until it becomes syrup-y and the correct temperature, of course! Our family needed to be gone from home for the day, so the pot just sat for the day off the stove. One more night over low heat and WE HAVE SYRUP!!

Pancakes were certainly on the menu for breakfast, and the maple syrup tasted fantastic! Even better than I imagined. There was just one problem. There are six people in our family and enough syrup for just TWO!



It takes about 40 gallons of sap to get about one gallon of syrup - so with just ONE gallon of sap, we got about TWO ounces of syrup! I guess we wait for more sap!!! Please HURRY!

The "yolk's" on us!

I'm learning a lot about chickens and the eggs they lay. As I have posted about before, we get a variety of colors; greenish/blue, white, and different browns. We also get a few with more than one yolk in them!

They come out quite large and occasionally we get to hear the hen who lays it! She really makes a squawk in that nesting box - I can feel her pain (I myself had enormous children!)

Sometimes when the kids come back from gathering eggs, they will tell of eggs without shells! They are always broken open, usually by the hens themselves. The kids just scoop it out of the nesting box and throw it into the compost. But recently, they found a whole egg without its shell.



Today, the neighbor's dog got into the chicken run and killed a few of our hens. It was a sad event. Being thrifty and trying to make the most of the farming/homesteading lifestyle, we salvaged the meat. During the "salvage" we discovered another type of unusual egg - one not yet laid!

I guess the joke's on us this time!

A sappy story...

The maple sap is running in New England!....or so I have heard. We decided that we wanted to give it try, so I did what every "from away-er" does. I bought a book. Now I know everything there is to know, right? First on the list is to identify the sugar maple tree......in the fall. What? But, it is now late February and the sap runs, NOW! OOPS. Okay, plan B. Fortunately for our family, Number 1 has a few skills and comes through for us. He has pointed out what we are absolutely, almost fairly certain, sure to be six sugar maple trees.

Okay, now what? I bought a few taps. We decided to use some plastic water jugs (they were free) to collect the sap, this will really keep our costs down.






Number 1 is drilling in the maple tree, while Trink and E-Man look on.

Today was THE day to install the taps! After re-reading the book to make sure of how and where to put the taps, we realized that the tree diameter must be at least ten inches. Uh-oh, all the trees that Number 1 found are NOT that big. Well, he was able to find two other that were big enough.

So, with taps installed and jugs attached, all we have to do is wait! I can already taste that syrup!

Hobos, Veggies, and Trink

My littlest daughter, Trink, has a heart for the ministry. Trink is six. She is our family's cheerleader and biggest snuggler and absolutely loves to laugh! All of this information is background for a couple of funny things I wanted to share. It is based on "Kids say the darnedest things!" theory.

Months ago, my older children began discussion on Hobos. Being homeschoolers, we dove right it to discover the origin of the term Hobo. We learned that there are many theories of the origin, also they had their own community, culture and even language! While studying, Trink realized that Hobos didn't have a home of their own. Of course the rest of the family took that point for granted, but it gave her a tremendous idea.

Our family had been in deep discussion over what our farm would be, what should we raise or sell or grow, etc. Trink KNEW that she had solved two problems with her marvelous idea. We should have a HOBO Farm! They could just set up tents in our fields and we would take care of them! Problem solved!

I mentioned that Trink loves to laugh. In our family, when we are tickling, it is called "getting out your go-guffles" which generally live and breed in one's armpits. The term was coined by my great-grandfather. Trink truly enjoys having her go-guffles removed. They must be removed regularly in order to prevent an over-abundance of them. During a recent "removal" Trink was evidently thinking of her future. She announced quite out-of-the-blue that "You know, Muma, when I get married......." What? When you get married, what??...I thought. "You will have to bring the vegetables!"

Vegetables???!! I'm confused. It turned out that she could not bear the thought that once she was married, I could no longer get out her go-guffles, and she just couldn't bring herself to tell me!

I didn't bother to hide my laugh!

A Mission to Lima

Biscuit and I were able to accompany my parents on a mission trip to Lima, Peru at the end of January. It was a wonderful experience that will never be forgotten!


The House of Hope Ministries (HOH), based in Chesapeake, VA has, been feeding the kids in Peru and other parts of the world for over a decade. HOH does not just send the much needed money, but they take an active part in helping to build feeding centers or sometimes homes. Occasionally, HOH will bring a medical team and offer free clinics. They also offer spiritual guidance when asked and give support in anyway they can to the ministry that has already been established by the Peruvian People.

My parents have been traveling to Lima for about 10 years and so I have seen many pictures of the work being done there. I can easily see where Father has moved and the prosperity that has come through the faithfulness of HIS people. I did not need be there from the beginning to witness the changes.

Churches have sprung up as a natural progression of the feeding centers and on this particular trip, three of the churches were holding VBS. It works much like in the U.S. only in another language!! We were able to help out with the kids and also with feeding. Many of the kids will recieve their only meals from these centers!

Biscuit had the opportunity to teach her Lip Balm recipe at one of the centers. It is the hope that the teenagers will be able to make and sell Lip Balms for themselves. It was a fun experience for Biscuit and the teens seemed to enjoy it also!

As Biscuit is such a wonderful cook and is always looking for a new recipe or neat experience, she quickly grabben an opportunity that presented itself. She was allowed to help prepare the meal for the Vacation Bible School attendees. The kitchens are VERY different than she is used to!



I am greatful for the experience for myself, but it was special because I got to share it with my parents and daughter!