Loving the beautiful weather here on the farm! Everything is blooming and the grass is so green! Although the thought of mowing season is a little LESS than appealing! I love the first few times, getting everything all clipped and neat. Then, as summer progresses, the bloom leaves the rose so to speak and mowing becomes a chore and trimming a real pain!!
But for now, YAY GRASS!! It is so much better than the snow, ice and mud! I really think that Spring is my favorite season. Well, minus the storms and tornadoes! Boo tornadoes!
Speaking of Spring, these are some of the blooms here on the farm, some smell so yummy! Some, while beautiful, actually smell kinda icky..Tricky little boogers, draw you in with their beauty, and them BAM! Stinkiness!
Pear blooms! They actually kinda stink..
Apple blossoms! Smell divine!
Texas Roses, so so I have been told. So pretty!
Narcissus? Not really sure, but so pretty, and smell so good!
Tiny little hyacinth, so purply!
Animals here are also enjoying the green grass and warmer temps. As usual spring brings all sorts of energy and friskiness. The calves are running around, the cows are hopefully all expecting new little bundles of joy this summer/fall. Taz, having done his job, is just hanging out waiting for his next assignment!
Ellie come lately saying "LET ME IN!!"
Flossie having breakfast!
T-Bone!
Cow kisses!
Busy Busy Busy, These little guys are really bringing in the pollen!
BUZZ!
Busy as well...Bees!
Sadly out of the three hives we started with last spring. only one made it through the winter. I am so bummed! I love the bees, even when they are stinkers and sting me! Losing two hives was not only sad, but very frustrating! I thought all was well, but it seems one starved during the winter, and the other is sort of a mystery. They had more than enough honey, but they were very weak and we found them in a small cluster in the center of the hive..dead or barely alive. There was only a handful of bees where a few weeks before was a busy hive. Robber bees had also moved in and decimated what was left. I did manage to thwart their efforts at taking all the honey, but still it was so upsetting. I have ordered two nucs to install this summer from a local Apiary, so wish me luck! I am determined not to give up!
Come on in little bees!
With Spring comes a overabundance of eggs! Lots and lots of eggs! I made a pound cake and an angel food cake to use up some of the excess. The family was divided on their opinions of the cakes. They either really liked it, or disliked it and used it as an opportunity to tease me unmercifully about how much they disliked the cakes, lol Darn family...But again! I will not be swayed, I WILL make more of these cakes! Naysayers beware, this farm will again be graced with a the fluffy goodness of angel food, and the oh so heaviness of a well flavored pound cake! I will say though, the pound cakes should be many pound cakes, those things are massive!
Pound cake and cooling Angel Food cake!
TaDa!! The angel food cake freshly unpanned!
Now see, they do not look so bad, and they were pretty tasty! And no Pud'nin..you may not wash the car with the angel food cake..or use the pound cake as a jack stand..
Well. as uninformative as it is, I hope you enjoyed this post. Maybe with the end of winter there will be cool stuff to write about other than busting my booty on ice and snow! New cow babies on the way and gardens to plant! Leave a comment to let me know you were here and if you enjoyed the post!
Have a blessed day! Thanks for stopping by!
We finally got the garden in! Yay! Well, actually three gardens. I swear that I better get something out of all this work, or I am just going to move to town and live in an apartment! Not really, but sheesh, all that work is hard to do when the year goes to heck in a handbag and you barely have anything to harvest!
Pud'nin always makes sure that everything is ready when I need it and I sure am thankful! There is NO way I could even have a small garden without him and his trusty tractor! Thank you Pud'nin!
Now, I will say, a communication snafu created a bit of a mess! I had Pud'nin move an old bale of hay by the garden to use as mulch last year. HE thought I meant I wanted it spread ON the garden and tilled in...So, off he went and it tangled all in the tiller. We had to spend a while getting it all pulled out and things running smoothly again! Well, live and learn! So, always tell your Pud'nin EXACTLY what you want..hehe!
This is the smallest of the three gardens. I have some lettuce, tomatoes, squash, kale, peppers, peanuts, onions, and two kinds of beans planted here. Basically the same things as in the bigger ones but in smaller amounts.
This is the big garden that Pud'nin made me last year because the one we had used for so many years was just so cloddy and filled with clay! It is MUCH better! I did plant the potatoes, cucumbers, and popcorn here, along with the usual. I am super excited to see how the popcorn does. I have never grown it before!
Here is the cloddy beast of a garden! This year it is totally planted in corn. Well, except for two rows of Cream Peas. So, basically 4250 feet of Ambrosia sweet corn! It is just nothing but clods, it is awful and I get so aggravated whenever I have to plant here..
We have also been working on cleaning a few frames for another bee hive. It is a hand crampy job! But in the end it is nice to see that you can actually take something that looks like this...
And make it look like THIS! Much better. Now only what seems like a billion left to clean!
Well, that is a small look into what has been going on at the Backwards Homestead these days! Coming soon, Strawberry Jam and then Blackberry cobbler! Yummy! Leave a comment so I know you stopped by! Till next time!
The last post was about getting the hives ready, and the bees arriving. Now we are going to get the bees off my kitchen table and out to their new homes! I have to admit, I was pretty nervous about taking the bees, who were tucked away in a little screen box, and releasing them into the hive. I mean really, if you believe what you see in the movies, all bees will instantly attack and turn you into a lumpy, bumpy, calamine covered mess!
But, Dad said no, that that was not going to be the case, lol My bees were going to love me, and I was going to love my bees. He was right of course!
Eat up little bees! I made sure they had a little more sugar water before we took them outside, They were so hungry!
Eat up little bees! Big things are on the way!
After they had a snack we took them out in the yard. The packages were attached by two wooden strips and we needed to separate them so we could put them IN the hives. If you have never met my Dad, let me tell you, he does not mess around! He is like Sonic the Hedgehog, zipping here and there, so I did not have time to be scared! I was too buys just trying to keep up with him!
Prying!
Dad and his trusty pocket knife! I swear I thought he was going to lose a finger! Those cages were really stuck together, but I guess you would not want them coming apart in the mail. Yikes!
Prying some more!
Finally!
And with a crack! It happened, the two cages were separated and we were ready to take them to the hives.
The Bee Whisperer!
Here is Dad packing his box to the hives. Dad is so gentle with the bees, and they just ride along buzzing softly! He really is the Bee Whisperer!
Here you go little bees! Home sweet hive!
Here we have walked out to the hives and now we open them up. I am starting to get a bit nervous. After all, we are about to release thousands of bees.Dad is cool as a cucumber! For me it is a normal reaction to start slapping and slinging when a bee lands on you, but Dad says that is bad, lol That we need to move slowly and gently, and they bees will not get upset. They just want to check us out!
Yikes! Look out! That is one sharp knife!
Here is Dad with his knife again,! That thing s a multi purpose tool I tell you! I will say, he did end up bleeding just a tad. We were glad that bees were not like sharks, and go crazy over a drop of blood, lol
Tada!
We have the cage open, and now you can see the can of sugar water included to keep the bees fed while they are in transit. We will also leave it in the hive for a while so they can have easy food while they build their combs and learn the best places to forage.
Easy now!
Now, how DO you get that can out?! Dads knife of course! What else?
Here is a video of us taking the jar out, and also the queen in her cage. A little warning, I look terrible, AND, I talk really fast. Especially when I am excited! Ok...so I talk REALLY fast all the time..
See! How cool is that!! So after that, we put the lid back on the top box and wait for them to get out of the package. Then they will get busy and liberate their queen! It took three days for both queens to be freed and get to work laying eggs. Here they are down in the frames pulling out the wax out to make combs. I imagine the queen is somewhere in there busy laying eggs. Yay!!
Aww!
I go out and check on them often to make sure all is well. Then a few days ago I took the top box off the one hive, gave them an entrance feeder, and now they are doing awesome! They are out foraging so they can bringing back lots of pollen and nectar. Here are a few of them returning to the hive!
Landing gear down!
Incoming!
The other hive was a bit testy when I checked on it about noon. There was a small hole in the top box and they decided that was the entrance. So instead of coming and going out the front, they were buzzing in and out the hole in the back of the hive. Dad came by today to check on everything and make sure all was well, and I was so glad!! He took the top box off the testy confused hive and we installed their entrance feeder. They were so thrown off that a bunch of them balled up where their "entrance" used to be and were looking around all lost. BUT, Dad assured me they would find the right door, and they did. When I checked them before bed they were all tucked away in their hives doing what bees do at night! Maybe watch B movies?. Hehe
Well, there you go! I am so enjoying my awesome Beeventure and I hope you are finding it as cool as I am! I will definitley keep you updated with their progress. :)
Early June we will be getting a nuc of bees. Yea, that is 5 frames filled with all stages of bees! Woo Hoo! Of course I will bring you along with me for the experience! So keep an eye out, we have some exciting summer plans here on the Backwards Homestead!
Shout out to Katrina for taking all these awesome pics and videos! Her, Pud'nin and Joy were all there cheering us on during the process. Quietly of course! LOL!
Also, Leave a comment and let me know you were here, I love hearing from anyone who happens to stop by!. :)
We have been wanting bees here on the farm for SO long! But truthfully, the thought was a bit intimidating! I mean, we have all see those movies, with the people trapped in their cars by an angry swarm of killer bees...I did not want to be those people! Besides, it is a given that if you have bees, you WILL be stung. *Shivers* But, the more I learned about bees, and the more I realized that as a whole, the world needs more bees! So, I ordered the bees...and waited!
To get a package of bees, you usually have to order in the fall, and then they will come in the spring when the nectar flow is at a peak. This allows your bees to get a good start towards building the stores of honey that will feed them through their first winter in their new home! So the first step after ordering, is to get the hive ready.
I was so blessed to have my Dad help me with all things Bee! Growing up some of my earliest memories are my Dad taking care of his bees. So I knew that I HAD to have him help me through this exciting project. The hives I have, were actually HIS that I am sure he actually built. They are priceless to me!
Here is a picture of Dad and I at Lees wedding. He is such an amazing man. Love you Dad! Without all his help I am sure my beeventure would not have been a disaster!
Ok, for this post I am going to go through all the steps we went through to get the hives ready for the new tenants! Then, next I will detail the process of putting the bees INTO the hive and their first few weeks.
Now, to get the hives ready for the bees! First, I had to go through and put fresh wax sheets in each of the frames. I had one hive sitting out in the field for a couple of years hoping that a swarm might see it and make it their new home. But, no such luck, lol SO, since the bees would not come to the hive on their own, we decided to bring them in ourselves..Here are the old wax sheets.They were pretty brittle and mice had been having a snack it seems! Bad mice! Not to mention there was all sorts of pill bugs and creepy crawlies living inside. Eww!
Crickly!
Easy now! Do not want to break that tiny little wood thingy!
So I had to pry this little strip of wood off the top of the frame. It
will go back on to hold the wax sheet on the frame. I will admit, I was
pretty nervous as I am quite the queen of mishaps when I am doing stuff like
this..Not exactly a job for someone who has been told that they go about things like a bull in a china shop.
And peeeeel!
Ooooh! Cool! The wax sheets smell SO good! Almost hard not to take a bite! Look at those cute little hexagons! I will say, some people do NOT add the wax sheets, butI like to think it gives the bees a head start on making their comb. They will take this wax base, and draw it up until it looks like a traditional honeycomb. Bees are just so darn talented!
The wax sheets, also called the "foundation) has little wires that butt up against the top of the frame to help hold them in securely. This also helped me keep them straight.
Ok, now to put the little wood strip back on...hmm
Then, I replaced the little strip, making sure that it is nice and secure and the wax sheet is centered and straight. I was finally getting a little more confident by this point after doing half of the frames. Back in the hive they go! Easy peasy!
Putting the wax into the frames!
Half way done! Don't they look cute all nestled in the hive body.
All done! Ready for the BEES!
Dad cleaned an extra hive body that will go on top of the hive. It had been sitting out behind the shop so it was pretty dusty! I will put the sugar water can there and let the bees have a little room while they work to free the queen.
Dad cleaning the top boxes
The next apart is to get the hive all set up. It has to be clean and
level so the bees will build comb that is straight. Bees build straight
down. If the hive is not level, then the bees may build a crooked comb
that can stick all of your frames together, YUK!!
Has to be JUST SO!
And then the top box
Perfection!
And here they are! The star attraction!
Bees are sent through the mail. Yes! Through the MAIL!! I got the call that they had arrived and we quickly went to get them so we could feed them since the trip is hard on them. Although, the Apiary adds a really big can of sugar water to tide them over during their journey. See how they are all balled up? They are clustered around the sugar water, and also, in the middle of that pile of bees is their QUEEN! She is safely ensconced in her little cage along with approximately 6 attendants. After all, she is the Queen!
Look! You can see the can of sugar water there in the middle!
So, I had bees. Now what?!?! I did what I do to everything, I fed them! Woohoo! I made a sugar water solution and painted it on the sides of the cage. They LOVED it! You could actually hear the change, they started buzzing happily as their little tongues sucked up the yummy sweetness!
So, now we have the hive ready, and the bees are here, and now it is time to get them IN the hive! Whew! This has been quite the adventure! Stay tuned and the next post will tell you how we got all these bees, into the hive and settled! I sure hope this has been as interesting to you as it has been for me. I am beyond happy! Go bees!
