Wendell Berry is the poet of farmer and nature dweller alike. He is my favorite writer, poet, fiction, nonfiction, and I’m excited to say he liked my tweet. For World Poetry Day, I linked to the Mad Farmer Liberation Front: Ask the questions that have no answers. Wendell Berry Mad Farmer Liberation Front https://t.co/JPDN0LOPyP #WorldPoetryDay —… Continue reading Birds, Bees and Wendell Berry
Category: Tending
Cautiously Optimistic
In my last bee post in June, I mentioned the weak hive. My remedy of putting in a few frames of brood from my other hive did not work. The next time I went into the hive, it had been heavily invaded with wax moths. There evil invaders take advantage of weak hives. Normally, the… Continue reading Cautiously Optimistic
Suddenly Spring!
A gorgeous Saturday and the big job was to do the first post-winter bee hive checkin. I’ve been watching the hives for the past month or so and seeing lots of activity. They’ve been on the to do list for awhile but when I had time, the weather was too rainy, or windy, or cold.… Continue reading Suddenly Spring!
An Autumn Update
This morning was one of those mornings that have me questioning the farming life. It was about 20 degrees when I headed out for the chores. Fortunately, I am prepared for such mornings with lots of warm clothes from long underwear to boots to hat and gloves. And the animals seemed no worse for wear,… Continue reading An Autumn Update
This Week in Pigs..and more
We got the first freeze of the season two nights ago. That’s the end of the squash plants but we were able to have a least a short crop of yellow squash this fall. Now, we are into winter crops: greens like collards, kale and mustard and root vegetables including sweet potatoes and turnips. The… Continue reading This Week in Pigs..and more
Piglets!
Some video for your enjoyment:
Piglets!
I am writing this entry from the pig pen. And, I will be attending today’s board meeting from the same place. I declared this a “family emergency” and want to spend every minute with our first set of piglets. Ten adorable babies were born yesterday to Macintosh, our full blooded Tamworth sow. We knew she… Continue reading Piglets!
Taking the Bad with the Good
July has arrived, and the rain has finally stopped. An early tropical storm in June soaked the place and then it just seemed to keep raining. We lost the early squash and zucchini plants that had just started to produce. Some of my flower seeds came up (you can always count on zinnias!) but others… Continue reading Taking the Bad with the Good
Bee Journal
Checking hives has been on my to do list, but it’s been raining non stop since last Friday. Today, I finally donned the suite, fired up the smoker (I still need to work on that), and headed out to the hives. The first bit of exciting news is that I am pretty sure I saw… Continue reading Bee Journal
Bee Journal
I worked on the hives today. My main mission was to fill feeders and look for queen cells in the hive we split off last week. Neither hive needed food so the nectar flow must be sustaining them. My bee mentors tell me that if they don’t need the food, they won’t take it. I… Continue reading Bee Journal