The Bees Have Arrived

Our bees arrived 5/12.  We picked them up in cardboard boxes which we were told that they could easily chew their way out of.  The first colony Chris and Jackson installed was very active and made a lot of buzzing.  The second colony was very docile and were so easy to manipulate. They got them into the hive and no one go stung.

Link to a video of Chris and Jackson putting the bees in their new hive:

https://docs.google.com/leaf?id=0B6-5ytpMyIOAODMxMjU4ODAtODgzNS00NmRlLTliMGMtNjBjYmQ0M2ZhZWU3&hl=en&authkey=CNiL14kM

On another topic,  remember when Chris' stihl chainsaw got stolen.  Well he got a new one about 6 weeks age.  Today it got ran over with the end loader.  What a mess! He took it into Tommy the chainsaw man (who looks eerily like Robert DeNiro) and it would cost more to fix it than to buy a new one,  so we have purchased our 3rd new chainsaw. 

The garden is doing great,  we are up to our ears in lettuce and some is actually going to seed.   I need to get on the ball and prune it back some.  Things are looking green and healthy,  except the strawberries which are looking red and healthy!

We think we will be living at Watermark Woods in less than a week.  WooHoo!!!

Robbed Again

We are very sad to report that the theif has struck again.  This time they took our game camera.  At least we got a few cool photos. 

We have been very busy the past couple of weeks.  With Chris home all the time,  a lot is getting accomplished.  He and our excavator Ron, located and uncovered the septic system.  It looks to be in good shape and hopefully the county will approve it for use.  Ron and Chris have also began the excavation for a barn.  Chris has been working hard to nail down quotes from the masonry, framers and roofers so that we can get the barn built and have a place to store our stuff.

The garden is coming along nicely.  The strawberries are thriving and have loads of blooms.  The asparagus I transplanted last fall is pokeing thru.  Peas and beans are about 4in high and I can almost taste them already!  The lettuce should be ready any day now.  It is so hard to have patience.  Tomatos, peppers, broccoli, artichokes and herbs are all in.  Lots more seeds to go in this week.

Our current house is only ours for 4 more weeks.  We have gotten into full packing mode and have started trying to sell a lot of our furniture.  The pool is open and warm so the boys have been squeezing in every spare minute of swim time they can before we move. 

So things are moving along and we promise to do our best to keep the blog updated, but things are happening so fast. 

BeeKeepers

Last weekend Sara, RJ And Tyler Garcia came and helped us clean out the attic portion of the house.  We had a great time just playing around out there and the weather was fantastic.

Beekeeper Jackson

Beekeeper Cooper in his improvised suit.

This week is a bit cooler,  and we have spent Saturday at the beekeeper field day.  We have officially finished our class and are certified beekeepers.  Our new bee colony should arrive in the next few weeks and we are anxiously awaiting the arrival of our new tenants.

Sunday promises warmer weather and we plan to hike the woods to plant the 100 native red bud and dogwood trees we got from the county extension office.  We also hope to dig the hole for our new mailbox and a new entrance gate.

We receive our official certificate and sign from the National Wildlife Federation and we are now a certified wild life habitat.  We are still waiting on the results of the Audubon Society's survey of the land.

Chris is working hard on quotes for the well and looking in to possibly building a pole barn to store our furniture in the event that we do end up moving out there.  Thank goodness he does not have to work at a real job right now because he is really busy!

Albino

We have been doing lots of work but nothing that makes a big impact.  Chris has spent the last couple of weeks preparing for the bees.  He built some heavy duty hive stands and we installed them at Watermark Woods last weekend.  Chris worked in the woods clearing brush and other things.  I spent quite a bit of time in the garden cleaning things ups and getting ready for more planting.

The lettuces have poked their heads thru the soil and I am having dreams of fresh salad.  This past weekend brought a chance of snow, but we saw very little of that, however it was quite chilly so we stayed home.

We did have the good fortune to capture the resident albino deer in the game camera. 

Welcome Spring!!

What a fantastic weekend!  Saturday we spent the entire day cleaning up the yard at home and Sunday we spent the day at Watermark Woods.  We replaced one of the chainsaws and the gas hedger so we were anxious to get to work!

Chris cleared some brush around the deer stand.  We really like that area because it is right along the creek and it would make such a pretty picnic spot someday.  As we were standing along the edge of the creek admiring the water flow,  Chris noticed green handlebars across the creek.  We discovered it was a lawn mower.  That is just so typical of the things we find.  It was as if it quit working so they just left it where it was.

Jackson and I worked the garden.  We got 6 of the 12 beds turned over and ready for planting and we dug rows for corn at the rear of the garden.  Then we planted peas, limas, and fava beans.  We also dug outside the garden fence and planted a row of flowers.  Jackson scoped out a great spot in the woods and we planted mushroom spores.  Unfortunately none of the native herbs we planted last fall survived.  Next week is the native plant sale so maybe we can stock up and re-plant. 

Chris also hung some blue bird boxes by the garden.  On our way out we fixed the front gate and we were able to lock things up as we left.  Hopefully we have seen the last of those pesky thieves.

Below are some photos from our new deer camera.

Sorry for the lapse in postings.....

So much has been going on that I just don't want to post all the bad stuff so I'll start with the good stuff. 

Beekeeping class is going well and all four of us are enjoying it.  Our hives were delivered last week and the bees should be here in April or May.  Chris, Jackson and Cooper spent all of last weekend assembling and painting the equipment.  We all look so cute in our beekeeping costumes. 

We sold the tractor,  what a load off! We got almost what we paid for it so we are really pleased.  Now we can keep our eyes peeled for a smaller, newer model.  This time 4-WD will be a must!

All the seeds arrived for the garden this year.  I hope to plant lettuce this weekend and peas and beans next weekend.  We are supposed to have great weather both Saturday and Sunday so it will be a great weekend to work.

We put up the game camera(thanks Jim and Marie) and got a few shots of deer and a nice photo of four humans walking away! 

We are also working on getting certified as an Audubon Wildlife Sanctuary.  Wouldn't that be a cool thing?!

I am so glad I listed the good stuff first,  because now I realize there is more good than bad ;)

It has been really crummy weather and lots of rain on the weekends.  So we have not been out there as much as we'd like and the progress is slow.  After getting so much done in the fall it is a little depressing to have such little progress now.

Two weeks ago we were out for a hike and realized someone had gotten into our shed.  The took all our nice Stihl chainsaws, Stihl gas hedge trimmer, and loads of tools.  That was a big blow for us, both financially and mentally.  It is hard to think of some crook on our land and going thru our stuff.  There is so much more they could have taken so we are lucky, and we have insurance. 

Hopefully, over the next few weeks we will have a renewed energy and get lots accomplished. 

Winter aaaahs

Just spending time pouring over the seed catalogs and waiting for things to thaw.