Welcome to our inaugural blog post. Our intention is to give you a little peek into each week on our farm, along some fun stories and neat photos. Enjoy!
Wow, what a week on the farm! It's hard to believe that exactly two weeks ago we were in a blizzard warning, and now the snow is melted and the frost is out of the ground enough for us to drive on the fields. Thank you, sunshine, heat and wind. Amazingly, we are also enjoying the last of the pie pumpkins from this past harvest.
This week included the biggest event of picking up and hiving our bees. We also sadly learned that our one surviving hive did NOT make the last few weeks' very cold temps and snow. We are looking into purchasing another package of bees to make up for the loss. More on the bees below. Friday we picked up the bees from our supplier, and Saturday we spent the day preparing the hive sites and hives for the new packages of bees. We had to take down a dead Elm tree next to the hive, and thankfully it fell in a planned area outside of the electric fence. The bees were hived without issue and now the real fun and adventure begins.
We also are enjoying watching the rhubarb come up - and quickly at that! It's only a matter of time before those plants become huge red stalks with "elephant ear" leaves. We enjoy making rhubarb sauce, rhubarb juice, and delicious things that include the name "strawberry-rhubarb".
The next week will include working to beat the weeds and vegetation overgrowth, cleaning up gardens and brush piles, and looking into our upcoming meat chicken operation. Stay tuned for more fun and have a great week!
The Elm tree fell within a feet or so of our fence and hives. Thanks to some foresight and common sense we were able to make everything work out without issue.