One of those summers

    Yep it has been one of those summers.

                           A summer I am ready to be done with.  

A summer where nothing has gone as planned.

My first OH NO, happened with the bees.

My bees didn't survive the winter.

                                     

We had ordered another swarm in December with hopes of starting another hive this spring.

The new swarm went into the old hive.

But the queen was dead when I went to release her after a few days.

I spent a whole day scrambling to find another queen.

She arrived a few days later in all of her glory.

Thats her in the little cage

It wasn't long after her introduction into the hive I knew something wasn't right.

The bees didn't like their new queen.

The bees left.

I got my garden planted probably the earliest I ever have.

Things were growing good!

Then the rains came.

My poor little garden was flooded out at least 3 times.

What did grow the deer decided to munch on.

Then the weeds took over again!

I mowed most of it over yesterday.

Just a few tomato plants and peppers remain.

The pipeliner is still working out of town.

I spend a lot of time driving between home and the camper.

On one of my stays at the camper I forgot to put my new sour dough starter in the fridge.

Sadly when I returned home it had become a big jar of green mold!

YUCK!

Of course there has been a lot of fun summer time too!

The grandson loves camper time.

We go to the beach almost everyday he is here.

That other furry thing in the picture is our new addition to the family.

We brought Red home June 14th.

He is a fox red labrador.

Oh what was I thinking with a 2 year old trying to potty train 

plus a dog!

Thankfully he likes to travel.

He will make a great pipeline puppy!

And he is growing fast!

He has already found his favorite spot to sit

Between rains storms,

I even managed to get some strawberries and cherries picked for jam.

Hoping thats enough to get us through the winter.

Even though this wasn't the summer I had imagined 

last winter,

a bountiful garden, garden canned veggies lining the shelves, 

and an endless supply of honey to slather on fresh baked bread.

It could always be a whole lot worse, right?

That is why I have made this my motto for the rest of my summer,

There is always so much to be thankful for!

Liz

so

Getting caught up

I really haven't meant to be gone this long, really.

It just seems sometimes the more you do the further

you get behind!

So many projects on the get it done list!

All the wonderful rain continues to make my garden grow

and also the weeds!

UGH, I can hardly keep up!

Between the mowing and weeding

it has become the never ending job!

The Little Man loves all of the rain!

He has spent hours throwing rocks into his own little pond.

And of course what little boy doesn't love to run their 

trucks through all of the puddles?

Can you believe I may have finally gotten caught up?

The garden is weeded, the yard is mowed, and the

flower beds look in pretty good shape.

Just in time too!

The pipeliner informed me we would be heading out for 

the rest of the summer.

So much for the weeded garden and mowed yard!

Maybe next year.

Liz

Starting the Starter Again!

While scrolling through my pinterest pages a few weeks ago,

I came to my sour dough starter pins.

I thought why don't I start another starter.

The pipeliners schedule will keep us home most of the summer.

If we have to go out of town it will be in the camper and the starter can come along too!

(airport security really frown upon bringing sourdough starter on the plane)

I had researched starters when I first got interested in the idea.

I know I even posted something on my blog.

I selected and ordered a starter from Carls Friends

It came alive fast.

I baked fresh bread, rolls, cupcakes and scones from the various

recipes I found online.

Mmmmm they were so good!

Then we moved and I let it die!

The other day my new batch of sour dough starter arrived in the mail.

I was so excited to get my new batch going!

It was very active the next day!

Today I switched it over to a bigger jar.

It is already bubbling away!

I am so excited to start making sour dough bread again, plus all of the yummy pancakes I used to make with it.

Does anybody else keep a sour dough starter on hand?

Do you have any great sour dough recipes?

I would love for you to share!

I will post an entry of my first sour dough creation when starter

becomes ready.

Liz

Linking up with Simple Saturdays Blog Hop

Rainy Days

I am pretty sure the old wives tale goes like this, 

April showers bring May flowers.

But its not April,

its May!

And we have had day after day of showers!

 My May flowers look like this,

With all of the rain it has been a challenge trying to mow.

There are puddles everywhere!

Look at all of the mud where our new grass should be growing.

Behind the mud is the garden waiting to be planted.

There is a row of potatoes that popped through over the weekend.

I started to dig and divide hostas before the gully washer arrived.

They will have to wait a little longer to find their new homes.

My Mothers Day basket seems to love all of the raindrops!

Look at tonights sunset!

That sure looks promising!

Red sky at night, sailors delight.

When we see a red sky at night, this means that the setting sun is sending its light through a high concentration of dust particles. This usually indicates high pressure and stable air coming in from the west. Basically good weather will follow.

Lets hope this old wives tale holds true!

Liz

The Chicks!

I can hardly believe how fast time goes by.

Another flip of the calender page

and its May!

This spring is already full of projects on the farm.

(whats new right?)

The most fun thing that has happened so far around here is the

chickens!

I bought this coop off of craigslist last summer for a steal!

The pipeliner did a wonderful job painting it for me!

The inside was all ready for some action!

But heading into winter we weren't sure it was the right time

to get any hens.

Then this spring a neighbor down the road called to tell

me she was moving,

would I be interested in her 4 chickens?

Well of course I would!

They moved right into the coop without any problems!

Actually they loved it so much in there they hardly came out for the

first week or so!

The grandson is just thrilled with them!

He tells them thank you for the eggs after each collection.

We recently purchased 6 Rhode Island Reds to add to the coop.

It will be awhile before they can forage the yard for bugs or 

lay any eggs.

I am so happy for our new additions to the farm!

And they seem to be happy too!

Liz

My bees

This was our second winter for our little bee hive

 that we inherited when we bought this property.

Remember our awesome honey harvest from last fall?

We were hopeful that our bees would survive another winter.

After all they survived the horrid cold of 2013.

I felt pretty confident when we came home from Michigan and there were dead bees outside of the hive.

That means they were keeping up housecleaning or hive cleaning,

kicking the dead bees out of the hive.

But as the temperatures began to warm and I saw no activity around the hive or heard no sounds in the hive I began 

to worry.

Sadly my fears were confirmed when I took the hive apart.

What was left of the hive had died.

I can tell condensation had occurred inside the hive do to the mold.

The empty cells suggest starvation.

Even though a few boards over were filled with honey.

It made me sad!

Thankfully we had ordered another queen and swarm late last fall.

Our intentions were to start another hive.

But now we would be replacing our old hive.

The new swarm arrived last Friday by UPS.

I always wonder what the drivers think when they deliver a package like this!

And it just so happened I was attending my first meeting of the

local bee keepers association that night.

I had so many question about how to add the bees to an old hive.

Can I use the same frames?

Do they need to be cleaned or will the new bees take care of it?

Where does the queen get released at?

I had watched a dozen or so u-tube videos on the process,

but there is nothing better then some experienced bee keepers

to pass along their knowledge.

On Saturday the pipeliner and put on our bee suits

to begin the introduction of the swarm to our hive.

The pipeliner dumped the bees into the hive while I took pictures.

The queen is in her own little cage that is inserted first in between the frames.

There is a piece of "candy" that separates her from the rest 

of the bees.

The queen slowly releases a pheromone that makes the rest of the bees want to eat the candy to get to her.

When the candy is gone the queen is released down into the hive

to begin her work.

This takes about 3 or 4 days.

Today I am going to open the hive to make sure the queen has 

been released.

I should have done this a couple of days ago,

but we have had some really windy days.

Not a good idea to mess with bees when its windy!

I still have SO much to learn about this whole bee keeping thing!

I am really glad I found the local bee keeping association in my area.

I would recommend anybody wanting to get started in raising bees

to find their local chapter and start attending meetings.

There is nothing better then advice from others!

Remember the bees are starting to become active and are on the

hunt for pollen.

Liz

Linking up to The Homeacre Hop

Apple Dumplings

It seems that since we returned from Michigan

our lives have just been filled with business.

First was getting ready for my parents 50th Anniversary party.

Then came Easter.

It was my turn to host.

We entertained 24 people on beautiful, sunny Sunday!

Glad we have lots of room to roam!

This week was a little bit calmer.

I finally got to thumb through some cookbooks I had picked up

at a thrift store last winter.

I found a fun recipe for some leftover apples that were in the fridge.

They are called apple dumplings.

But I felt like I was making some version of a cinnamon role.

All though the dough is more of a pie crust.

They look like an apple stuffed cinnamon role.

Then you spoon this yummy mixture over the top!

They smelled  divine while baking!

They come out with a nice crusty side, and a warm, caramel center.

We enjoyed them with a big scoop of vanilla ice cream while warm.

I enjoyed another one cold with a hot cup of coffee the next morning!

I can't wait to try some more recipes out of this cookbook!

Liz