Pages

Saturday, April 26, 2014

Two Year Anniversary

Today marks two years in blogging, and my 50th post. I have to say I haven't posted nearly as much as I would like or planned, but that's life. I have made so many lovely blog friends over these past two years that I tend to spend most of my "online time" reading their posts : ) Yet I can't believe it has been two years! The older I get, the faster time flies. If this is how fast time rolls by at 28, what is it going to be like at 40? Yikes!

I started out my blog with a post about our Tufted Buff Geese. We no longer have any geese. I think it was last Fall that my Mom sold them. After they multiplied and had two Father geeses to rule the roost, they started to become a rather pain in the rear when it was breeding time. We know how to avoid getting attacked, but it got really annoying that every time we walked out back (multiple times a day) we had to keep any eye on them. Plus they constantly had the dirt stirred up in the air, with their running and flapping back and forth down the pathway. So it was time they went to live on a bigger farm, where they had lots of room to flap about, and that's exactly where they went. The people that bought them had a 1 1/2 acre pond on their place. I'm sure they thought they went to goosy heaven, compared to their little plastic blue kiddie pool they had here. 

With so many things around here keeping me busy, my small garden has really gotten away from me. For those of you that think that you are the only one with weeds in your garden, take a look at mine!
I've got a lot of work ahead of me to get that mess cleaned up. I need to get my seed tomatoes planted in there soon.

Some random pictures.
Taken through a window.
This blue jay was stealing the lining from my Moms hanging basket for its nest.

Finally we have a horse trailer! Miley's not very pretty, but she will do for now.

I got to meet two book authors in a week!

Our bee guy had to take away his last hive here for almond pollination. So we finally got our own. Yay!

 I think they are happy here.





After I spent the day tending the burn pile, my Dad brought Lula Belle out to scrap the remaining embers into a pile. She's so pretty. Then we all took turns taking her for a ride around the pasture. It was very bumpy even in low gear, with all that clumpy grass.



I love the gauges. 

My Dad through the smoke.
I can't explain what he's doing, but he looks at these things like this every time he goes out into the pasture.


Kimberly

6 comments:

Jeannine said...

So glad you have bees! I really enjoy mine. I have a Top-Bar hive. They take a lot more management and yield less honey than an Langstroth, but you have a more intimate relationship with the bees because you help them manage the hive. They also can build out the comb with cells the size they want instead of building out on a plastic foundation where all cells are the same.
I usually start my garden over each year, so the weeds are just babies and so far I've stayed ahead of them. At some point I get to busy to keep up and they have their way with my garden!
Recently started a new compost pile with leaves and goat manure. It is still "hot" and won't be useful for about a year. I needed to get more dirt going since I have used up most of the soil in my first compost pile when I expanded my garden this year.
Blessings!

An At Home Daughter said...

Hi Jeannine-
Thanks for stopping by. I have actually looked into the top bar hives, and would love to have, and experiment with one in the future. We only have the one hive of bees right now. The other hive in the picture is empty. I was told by our bee guy that bee keepers don't like the top bar hives because you can't put the comb in a honey extractor, but I don't care because I would just have the one. Plus I like honey comb in the raw. I wonder if there are any benefits to people from consuming wax? I will have to look that one up.

Kimberly

Harry Flashman said...

The only person I know who raises bees besides you is Pioneer Preppy. He has been doing it a long time and is a real good resource if you need help or have questions. I used to buy honey from a beekeeper here but he died and no one else raises bees.

I like your tractor. I see those tractors posted on people's blogs, and I want to go buy one but my wife always says our land is too steep, and it will roll over and squash me.

Sarah said...

Congratulations on your two year anniversary! I always enjoy seeing what you have been up to and your lovely critters. : )

-Sarah

An At Home Daughter said...

Harry-
Your wife is probably right. A lot of people have rolled there tractors over on themselves or gotten pinned. A guy rolled his tractor over on himself in our town. I think his widow gave it away to get it out of her sight.
I have to say, it wouldn't be the best way to go.

Kimberly

An At Home Daughter said...

Sarah-
Thanks so much!