Garden, repairs and other updates with a little bit of faith thrown in

Today was on of those days of cleaning and cleaning up.  After visiting Dude at his work and eating lunch, I came home and began cleaning and mopping.  Dude usually does all the floors but I thought I would surprise him today (hope he doesn't faint ...wink).   
Otherwise here is an update from around the homestead.

Gardens 

I am doing my darnedest to lose weight. If you started homesteading to lose weight well, it doesn't happen by magic. I bought a fitbit to count my steps.  Shooooey! I had to get moving. You tend to stand in one place or sit in one place most of the day gardening. Now, putting up fences is strenuous but not something done every day.  Chores still need to be done, weeding, canning, stalls cleaned and coops need cleaning but I needed to add steps. So I have been walking or hiking every day. 

To keep cool I made some mint and lemon water.  It is so tasty.  Grin...I only use that word tasty because a friend of mine hates the word, thinks it is used with a lack of imagination...so tasty, tasty, tasty it is.  *smile*

Picked my first tomato of the year.  Despite it's size it was deeeeeeeeeelish!

Oh, the poor greenhouse took quite a beating this week with all our storms. The cover will need to be replaced before winter. If you want to have a laugh, be here on the day these two old farts attempt to cover a rather large greenhouse. 

Repairs
Besides the greenhouse needing repairs we did fix the broody hen's home after Monday's storm. 

We covered the pump-house in plastic until the tin for the roof comes in. 

Bees
Just like every year, we lost a hive just after they sprayed the alfalfa field with insecticide. Thank goodness the other hive is very strong. 

 The birds... well, they are doing just fine, thank you very much. 

Kindness of the day 

One of the ranchers shared some of his sweet corn with us tonight.  Thank you Chad!

Faith 
Today is the feast of St Mary Magdalene.   Now, I'm not sure if she was a prostitute, a woman of ill-repute or  just someone with issues (well, she did have seven demons excised from her) but I do know she was strong and courageous.  She stayed along side with Jesus, the Twelve and Mary.  They say she was a disciple to the disciples. She knew she would be judged but continued to be there anyway.  She was there to end.  Mary had strength and loyalty. She was there at the foot of the cross when others were no where to be found.  We admire saints because they continued their faith when it difficult to carry on.  And her story shows that God's love can change anything and anyone. 

Spring-like weather

We have been experiencing spring-like weather and even got to a new high yesterday of 72*!  But we live in Colorado and know that this is only temporary.  Our snowiest month - March- is yet to come.

Today I took advantage of the warm weather and took the goats for a "Goat Prayer Walk".  It is time to walk out in nature, pray and be with the goats. It starts with grabbing a rosary.  We have them hanging at the backdoor. Even if you don't know the rosary, you can grab one , pray and meditate on the beads. Before you know it you are lost in prayer and beauty of the day.

The snow finally melted yesterday but the goats, used to hanging out at the barn, were very slow at getting up. Skippy ran right out to be with me.

Since it was our first walk since last fall the boys got a little frisky and kept running up and ramming in front of me.  I got knocked around a bit but we have to start all over in walking etiquette. They were just so happy and excited. We will give them a pass the first couple of walks.

Before heading in I checked on the new chicks. They are doing well.  Plus I got some spinach, lettuce and radishes for a dinner salad.

As you can see I had cut some lettuce at the beginning of the week.

We wash lettuce and wrap it in paper towel to keep them fresh and crisp.

We added carrots we had also picked at the beginning of the week.

I used to think you had to slather a salad in blue cheese dressing or ranch dressing but every time I go to my mom's house she always serves a wonderful simple salad .

She serves individual salads in wooden bowls that she has rubbed with garlic.  Then dresses the salad with a simple vinaigrette of oil, vinegar, lemon, garlic, pinch of sugar and salt and pepper. It's what I made for dinner tonight. 

 While I was busy in the greenhouse, Dude went to check on the bees.  We are those silly fun people that think bees are adorable.  When he brought the camera in to download the pictures we ohhhh'd and awww'd like proud grandparents.  As you can see, they are healthy and ready for spring to be here.

Time to pin a back for a quilt and get ready to head to the city for work. ...boo. BUT...TGIF!

Beekeeping... how I got started and what do you do in winter.

I fell in love with beekeeping the second my family got their first hive back in the late sixties, early seventies in NC. My dad had always wanted bees and it was my mom who gave him the gift of bees.

Driving down a dirt road in the family station wagon we ended up at a peanut farm just after the sun had gone down.  I could barely contain my excitement. This was the coolest thing I had ever been a part of.  We picked up two hives, each were  clamped together with braces and the entrances sealed shut with a wooden bar.  These bees were not escaping and I was far from being afraid.  These were my dad’s first hives. They were Italian bees.  We drove home without an incident and I was fascinated watching my dad set them up not too far from our house in the back yard. I knew right then and there I would have my own hives one day.

We teased my dad about the way he kept bees. He had no mentor and gathered information from books and by trial and error.  When it came time to retrieve the honey he would line up whomever of his six kids willing and brave enough to be handed a frame of honey and tell us, “ walk straight to the house, do not stop, do not panic and put these in the kitchen.”  I can’t believe we did it this way now but we did, without problems and straight into the kitchen. Later my dad would take a heated knife, uncap the wax and cut squares from the frames. Most of the time he just put these square pieces of wax full of honey in a mason jar. Other times my father was extremely unconventional, slicing a piece of comb full of honey and place it right in a cut off pair of brand new panty hose and then squeeze them until all the honey had been extracted. We laugh about this now but back then we thought this was just the way it was done.

Today our swarms are delivered by mail, picked up from a drop-off location or collected as swarms in trees or buildings.

The first bees I ever owned were Buckfast bees for their extreme gentleness. They were developed by a monk in 1920’s by Brother Adam of Buckfast Abbey in England. Many argue whether they are a race or hybrid bee but being one of little knowledge in the genetics of bees I got them because they were mellow and at the time, easy to get. I raised them in my backyard in Denver, Co  and never lost a hive in over five years until one day they swarmed.  I have also tried Starline, Midnight and Italian. My hives for the last 4 years have been Italian. Thank goodness I have never experience the Varroa mite (a parasite that latches onto the bees suppressing their immune system – a huge threat in today’s hives) -, I do medicate. I have lost many hives to colony collapse, moths and mice.  Colony collapse is very sad and moths are gross – they lay eggs and the larvae make their way through the hive making a mess and basically take over a somewhat weak hive.

People have asked what bees do now that it is winter. We start in the fall by making sure the hives have enough honey to keep the bees going for the winter. We never take the two bottom supers leaving those for brood and food for the bees. The bees form a ball or cluster of bees  keeping  the center of the ball at 92-94*. They reve up their metabolism to keep the hive warm and they do this with honey. The ball of bees move the cluster to get to the honey. We have lost weak hives that had honey but didn’t have the strength to move everyone to get to it.   We do use bales of hay as a wind break around our hives. There is not a lot to do during the winter. Most people build more hives or frames during the winter. It is also a good time to catch up on reading and learning as much as you can about bees.  We are were able to take classes from the botanical gardens in the winter about beekeeping.

For now we will look forward to spring and ordering more bees.

A view from the hives.  This is the alfalfa field .

Looking toward home.