Ahhh. It feels like the days of harvest have begun. For the month of July, we broke the record (set in 1926) for the least amount of rain in a month at only 3/10ths of an inch! To make up for it, we have started off August with a bang!!! For the last two days it has poured all afternoon and late into the night. The first day, some areas around town reported as much as 3". I think we got even more yesterday, and it looks like the storms around about to start in again!!! Thank you Lord, for the much needed moisture! I am hoping that this will boost the second half of the summer garden production. Despite the lack of rain (until recently) the chokecherry bushes are surprisingly full. There are four places we like to pick wild chokecherries. Last night, in the rain, we picked about half the berries from one spot and this is what we got:
I wash them and then spread them all out on cookie sheets and freeze them. Later I will juice them and can the juice. Then I have juice ready to make jelly throughout the year. Jelly is really the only thing I know of that you can make out of chokecherries. I have heard of making chokecherry wine, but I have never tried it.
On another harvest note. I went to collect the honey from one of the hives I help take care of, but there was almost no honey. I think the drought has really taken its toll on the bees. We will get a little though, and there are more hives to check.
Well, I got it all done, with hubby's help! I couldn't have done it without him.
Four loaves of bread, three quarts of green beans and twenty-seven bottles of wine. We only drink about a bottle a week, so this will last us just about FOREVER!!!
I've spoken much of the ranch I ride at, of my "adopted family," of Wings Like Eagles, and of my "brother" who is going to the Olympics (he happened to leave for Bejing yesterday!); All of these are one in the same. The Bremer family is my adopted family who run the horse camp Wings Like Eagles where I get to ride regularly and give riding lessons and it is their son, Eli Bremer, who is competing in this year's olympic games (he competes in men's modern pentathlon. You can check him out at NBC.com)
All that said, Duncan and Michele (Bremer) woke up two nights ago to the donkey braying wildly. Duncan grabbed his gun (typical rancher response) and ran out side to see what was going on. He found a mountain lion crouching over its fresh kill, one of the sheep! (Here in Colorado, and I'm sure many other states as well, it is legal to kill any animal that is a threat to your own farm or ranch animals or livelyhood without having a license for that animal.) I'm sure Duncan's heart was pounding as he raised his riffle to aim. Deep breathe... Steady.... BOOM!
Well, first of all, I guess it isn't really a corn field exactly. It's more of a corn patch. But as I was watering my grapes , which are near the corn. I noticed a loud buzzing. I turned around and this is what I saw:
Bees all over the corn tassles!!! I don't have any of my bees at my house yet, so these are just wild bees, but it was still fun to see.
Gotta start school with the girls. Busy day ahead: shopping for more canning jars, canning about four quarts of green beans, shopping for new tennis shoes (since my old ones were ruined in the oil), out to the wine shop to buy a bunch of wine bottles to bottle our wine which is ready, and of course my regular daily chores (make bread, vacuum, etc.) Today is hubby's day off, but he won't be able to come with me on my errands because he has jury duty today.
Because! it is too dark (even with flashlights) to really see what one is doing or any of the bees that are trying to protect their hive. And, at night, ALL the bees are home and not busy working. It is especially hard when one is standing on a bucket to reach some more bee frames on a high shelf and the lid of the bucket breaks and one falls into five gallons of used motor oil!!! The oil splashed (splashed is not really an acurate description, but anyhow...) all the way up to my chest! So I litterally had to throw away my socks, shoes, and clothes! I have needed new shoes anyways for quite a few years, so now I have a reasonable excuse to get new ones!
Happy Trails!
P.S. Motor oil leaves quite the ring around the tub!
Well, I got six pints of glazed carrots put up yesterday, but one of my jars cracked in the canner. I don't think I had the jars hot enough when I put them in. Oh well, it's a lesson learned. The glaze was very simple - just one cup of orange juice, two cups of water, and two cups of packed brown sugar. Even hubby really liked it!
We have a sick chick... I think. I've never had chickens before, so I'm not exactly sure how to tell if a chick is sick. But I have had other sick animals, and they just seem to be not themselves when they're sick. Poor Fur Ball doesn't run all around and scratch and fly and fight over bugs like the others. Today she just sleeps. She will occasionally preen her feathers (which I take as a good sign) and get up and peck around for bugs a little. Her overall appearance is very good. Her eyes are bright and she is still perky looking, even if she doesn't act perky. She likes to be somewhat near the other chicks, but seperates herself somewhat. I was going to seperate her from the others so that they don't get whatever she's got, but she just hollered and hollered when I seperated her, and I didn't want her to give up on life just because she was alone. All in all she doesn't seem too sickly, so I'm taking a chance and leaving her with the rest of them. Any advice anyone?
I've learned that one shouldn't use used frames in your bee hive, that is, unless you've cleaned them up. Otherwise you risk the spread of possible disease to your hives. SO.... We have been spending an hour here and there scraping all the wax off the old frames and pushing out the foudation (the sheet that the bees build their comb on). Then you have to bake the frames at 250 degrees to kill off any bacteria or disease. Each super (box that you stack to make a hive) has 9 or 10 frames and each hive has at least four supers and I have four hives. That 160 frames, ten at a time, one hour per ten frames. We'll be busy for a while!
Here is what the frames look like in my oven. Too bad you can't smell it too! All that bees wax, mmmm!!
Well, I'm all alone All three of my girls are having a "sleep over" at grandma and grandpa's house. Hubby isn't home from work yet and just called to say that he has to go help his brother move an air hocky table from one house to another and will be a good while longer. I know most women would be thrilled at a quiet moment, but I guess I'm just not used to it. I love having my sweet girls with me.
Three more quarts of green beans are cooling in the pressure canner!
We start school this Monday. I don't usually like to start until late August, but since we've joined a home school group that meets on Fridays and the girls don't like having to do school after we get home from school group, we decided to start a month early and then only do our regular school work Monday through Thursday. I'm not sure how I'll get the whole garden put up while we are doing school, but if it doesn't work, it just doesn't work! We'll just have to do school on Fridays I guess.
Ah, the first "put up" of the season! The quarts of green beans. I would love to have at least 52 quarts, but I will have to replant if I'm gonna get that much. The weather cooperated with my early start this year, so I might have time to plant a second time.
And here are a few of the chicks. I couldn't get good pictures of all of them because the little suckers are getting so fast!!!
This is Midnight
This is Red. I just love the her facial coloration.
And this is Fur Ball. She has really neat facial markings too!
You know, I just realized last night that I've kinda taken on a lot this year. The first thing I did was to plant a very small vinyard, which will take me a great deal of learning to know how to prune and train and care for throughout the years.
Then we got chickens, another learning curve. I know they are still only a little over a week old right now, but still, I've had to learn a lot! AND I already have someone who wants to buy fresh eggs from us! (I'm gonna need more hens!).
These two things along aren't too much, and neither require much daily effort, but what makes it all slightly overwhelming is that I've also taken on bees. I've been interested in keeping a hive for the last few years. I've prayed and prayed that God would provide me with a hive (I didn't think I'd ever be able to save up the $400 to buy a hive and the bees for it) and He did, bees and all. Actually He happened to provide my best friends with a dozen hives, and she knows nothing about beekeeping. She said that if I taught her what I know (which is very little) and help her figure out where to learn more that she would give me a complete hive, bees and all! God is soooo awesome!!!
So, there I was sitting at the PPBKA (Pikes Peak Bee Keepers Association) meeting last night with my friend learning about veroa mites and skunk attacks and pollen patties, and I thought to myself, "Wow, this is a lot of information!" Now, I'm not a perfectionist. I don't intend to keep my bees perfectly so that I "maximize production," but I do want to keep the little suckers alive. So in addition to learning to keep a vinyard, and learning to keep chickens, I am learning to keep bees. Hmm, I just realized that everything I am taking on pertains to food!
Well, the JW's surprised me and came on Friday! I was just heading out the door so it helped make it quick. She asked if I had anything I would like to discuss with them, and I said no, that I didn't think we would see eye to eye. She asked what about, and I said that Jesus is God. Of course JW's admit that He is a god, just not The God. Well, we went round and round (it never got heated, which I was thankful for) and when she said she would like to come back at a better time. I said there was no need. I did say that if anything I said struck a chord with her and she had any questions for me, then she was welcome to come back. She gave me sort of a funny look. They won't be back. After they left, I was looking at a web site that I kinda like and found a great article on talking to JW's!!! It was just what I had need....only a few hours too late.
I went to the farmer's market today for the first time ever! What fun. I went expecting not to buy any produce because I have heard how high the prices are (I rarely buy any fresh produce because it is out of our grocery budget), but oh it was sooo tempting! Fresh corn, peaches, cherries, apricots, wild mushrooms, local honey,... I did pick up a loaf of bread because hubby requested sandiwiches for lunch today and I didn't have anytime to make bread! MMmmm, delicious!!!
My last remaining cucumber plant survived the night!!! However, it did suffer an attack. It wasn't cut off at the base, but rather the top was lobbed off. I will have to dust the WHOLE plant with DE today. Nothing else has suffered but I will DE everything just in case.
Be warned - the following pictures are brutal and may be difficult for some to bear.
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These were cucumbers! But now.... oh, the pain! CUTWORMS........DIE!!!!
Today I will be fashioning paper collars laced with diatemacious earth. Does anyone know what other plants I need to protect (are succeptable to cutworms)?
We finally got our chicks!!! They are Black sex links. All the females are black and the males are white. Ours are all females since we can't have roosters in city limits. There names are Furr Ball, Midnight, Sweetie Pie, Georgette, Red, and there is one left without a name. And no, they are not eating yogurt. I converted a big yogurt container into a temporary chick feeder.
Update.....The no-name chick is now Felicity
I want to thank all of you who have given me wisdom regarding the JW's that have been coming to my house. I think it is right, just as some of you have said, that I do not invite them into my home - " If anyone comes to you and does not bring this teaching [of both the Father and the Son vs. 9], do not take him into your house or welcome him." 2 John 10
1 John 5:19,20 has also spoken to me regarding the JW's. It says, "We know that we are children of God, and that the whole world is under the control of the evil one. We know also that the Son of God has come and has given us understanding, so that we may know him who is true. And we are in him who is true - even in his Son Jesus Christ. He is the true God and eternal life."
We've been being frequented by a couple of Jehovah's Witnesses lately. We've talked briefly, though I haven't invited them in. I have never heard of a Jehovah's Witness being converted to the Christian faith. I was wondering if any of you have ever successfully witnessed to a JW. I think the next time the JW's come over I will say (though I'm not sure how to get to this point) that if Jesus is not God, they do not believe in the Trinity and do not believe that Jesus is God, then he cannot have been perfect. And if he was not perfect, then his sacrifice for us was meaningless. It was just as if I were to die for mankind - a nice gesture, but that's about all. Of course, they don't believe that anybody goes to hell either. So I'm not exactly sure what they think Jesus died to save us from.
Any wisdom? They usually stop by our house on Thursday, so I could use some Godly advice by then.
Well, things are shaping up in the garden. So far we've eaten lettuce, radishes, and snap peas! Here's what we're still waiting on:
The corn is now knee high, and there is some squash in there too (I don't know what kind yet, it just grew. Oooh, suprise gardening! What fun!)
Green beans.
Broccoli
Tomatoes. The tomato towers are four feet tall, so the tomatos are about 2 feet right now. I'll have to add another two feet of cage to the top. Four feet just isn't going to be enough space!
I am working out a few bugs on my blog and I figured out my picture problem!!! The picture I decided to experiment with is this one - my favorite picture of hubby! Oh those eyes!!! Sigh........swoon!
Happy Trails!
P.S. this is not our house. it is a friends getaway mountian cabin.
Friday, June 27, 2008 - The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly
The Good:
Have you ever seen it rain while the sun is shining? There is hardly a more perfect evening than the rain veiling the mountains just enough to see each and every layer of them. It almost looks like the Great Smoky Mountains, but better because of their impressive height. Not only that, but you can see each and every shimmering raindrop as they cascade down from... well, I don't always no where the come from because often there are no clouds directly overhead. The rain must be blowing in from somewhere.
The Bad:
Little One, bless her heart - she's had a fever and a full body rash for the last two days-, just announced to me that she doesn't want to be a cowgirl when she grows up. Gasp! "Why not!" I ask in that surely you don't mean that tone of voice. "I want to be a spy!" Her eyes shimmer. Now I have to admit, I spent an entire summer as a "spy" after I read the book Harriet the Spy when I was a little girl. But I got over it. Being a cowgirl, I'll never get over that! I'm sure she'll come around eventually
The Ugly:
Like I said, poor Little One has an entire body rash, as does Itty Bitty in accompaniment to her own fever. I too have a fever, but no rash. Itty Bitty, however, also has the worst diaper rash ever! It actually bled. She had no rash when she went to bed, but she had a messy diaper in the night and for some reason it must have been terribly acidic because it just burned her sweet, chubby bum to blisters. She got some diaper free time in the warm, sunny outdoors this afternoon, but it didn't completely clear it up. And I've got a cluster of cold sores on my lower lip the size of Pikes Peak with all her lesser peaks. UGLY! And man alive does it ever hurt!
Wednesday, June 25, 2008 - Black Beauties and Chick Waterer
I am getting chicks tomorrow! I am getting six Black Beauties. They are a cross between Rhode Island Reds and Barred Rocks. I made a homemade chick waterer by taking a big lemon juice bottle and punching two small holes about 1/4 inch up from the bottom. Covering the holes with my fingers, I fill up the bottle and put the lid on tightly. Then I set it in a miniature pie plate. The water comes out the holes until the plate is full. Then the pressure on the outside of the holes seems to be enough to stop the water from coming out until the water is lowered. I think it will work. It is in test phase on our kitchen counter right now. I took pictures of it, but now matter how I resize it, I still get a pop-up saying there is not enough room for the picture. I just don't get it. Any thoughts or wisdom on raising chicks without a single piece of store bought equipment or on how I might fix my picture problem, please drop me a note!
Welcome to our farmette-ette-ette-ette (9000 sq foot city lot). Come on in! I may not stop what I'm doing while you're visiting, but feel free to join in. Mi casa es su casa!
All three of my girls are having a "sleep over" at grandma and grandpa's house. Hubby isn't home from work yet and just called to say that he has to go help his brother move an air hocky table from one house to another and will be a good while longer. 
