*busy busy little bees

Bees are buzzing all around!  You may recall if you have been reading for a while, that we added our first hive to our farm property a little over a year ago.  Here in our small town we have the blessing of a local bee supply store with a very knowledgeable gentleman who is excited to share and help new bee keepers get started.  Beekeeping has been quite fascinating for Eric and I.  We have fallen in love with the whole process of beekeeping.  Well I will speak for myself, I love it!  I feel most happy when I am working our hives. 

Early this spring, a year later we decided to split our hive (this is important to do to a strong, large hive - or they will split on their own).  We split our Rosemary Hive and then we had it plus the split, Lavender Hive.  I have never seen a live swarm. A swarm is when a over crowded hive naturally "splits".  Part of the bees and the queen will leave to find a new home.  One day I was out checking out our two hives.. and I look over head in a nearby tree and see a swarm of bees!  On that day I marked off one of the things to do on my "bucket list".  I captured the hive and that is the story of how we now have three hives, Sage Hive.   This year our goal was to add one more rich vibrant hive to our property.  We had added two hives, but they were all  just starting to thrive - our main that had been split, the split and now this swarm.   Early on in the year we had put in an order for a nuc of bees from the local beekeeper.  I did pick them up several weeks after I caught the swarm and we now have 4 hives on our little farm property.  I have named the hives after some favorite herbs: Rosemary Hive, Lavender Hive, Sage Hive and Basil Hive.

 Isn't their work just fascinating? Amazing!  One of our hives will be ready to harvest in a month or so maybe.  You see the frame above has the comb all drawn out and nearly full of honey.  They have started to cap the top part of this frame. This means it is done! Of course, the whole frame will need to be capped before we steal harvest it.

We are new to beekeeping, meaning before a year ago, we did not keep bees. Honestly before a year ago, I had not even given it thought.  We are novices with 4 hives, in one year. If we can do it, you can do it!  We have read, researched and read more. Digested it. Now we are putting it into action.   We have 6 acres of land and our bees sit on the back portion off to one side. However, I know a man in Ft. Walton Beach Fl who lives IN the city limits on a small lot with houses on both sides of him who has 4 hives in his little urban back yard.  Never a problem that he can report of.   Have you thought of keeping bees? Considered it?  As I have said before, you wont regret it!

Isn't he cute? This is my dear hubby.  I first worked the hive alone simply because my dear hubby was still in another state finishing up a job before he could join the family here in Florida.  I never work the hives now without him. It is one of those things we do together. I love that!  I can be a bit of a control freak.. so when he first started helping me, I didn't want to listen to anything he had to say.. as if I was a master?  That is not the case now at all, we now work together like the bees in the hive themselves. Just another benefit!

*finding myself and reporting a finished project!

A week has passed since I was last here. I have really enjoyed blogging and I have tried to get back into a rhythm but am still struggling. Sometimes I am simply too busy and have a bunch I can share, then when I finally do get to the point of sharing.. there is so much to share I don't know where to start. So, I don't. I enjoy that I have readers, some that I know and many that I don't. The fact is, I write for friends and family who wish to keep in touch with us and I am committed to pulling myself up by the bootstraps and get back on the blogging track as soon as I can!

 A week ago, I shared with you all in my excitement over setting in a quilt. I did get to the machine several times this week in the evenings and I FINISHED the kaleidoscope quilt.   This quilt was machine pieced, machine quilted and I also put the binding on with a decorative stitch on my machine.  It is really nice to have a project finished especially one that was started several years ago.   Can I get an Amen?!  I am off to pull out the next unfinished project. Oh wait, I started a new quilt today.. I will tell you all about that one tomorrow!

*april showers brings may flowers

These are a few of the potatoes we planted a few months ago.  We have had an abundance of rain this past week, so with this in mind I dug some of the potatoes to see if they were mature enough to dig.  I certainly did not want them to start to rot in the overly moist soil.  Turns out... they were ready!  I planted the potatoes (100lbs) over a course of a months, so we have some that are still producing.  I have decided that I like growing white potatoes better, because of the larger production per plant.  The white potatoes were also much larger then the red ones as well.

This is one of the many beautiful sun flower's that popped up in our gardens. This one had  about 7 blooms on the one stalk.  It was gorgeous.  Here are a few more that I have captured as well...

FIGS!  I planted this fig tree last year! Imagine my delight when I counted 18 little figs this year!

Lady bug, Lady bug thanks for visiting our gardens.

Once the beautiful golden colors have faded away, another beauty lies beneath. I really think the sunflower is beautiful with the contrast of the green around the edge of the flower with the grey seed heads. 

I have been quite busy. On some days I feel like a one legged man in a but kicking contest (one of my best friends sayings.. when I say it I feel close to her), anyway spring to late fall is a busy time around these parts. It doesn't matter if my thyroid is producing as it should (energy level up or down), or if I have a cold or any other aliment - plants still produce, grass and weeds grow exponentially.   As I said earlier, we dug about 1/4 of our potatoes, our first squash were picked this week, we continue to harvest asparagus daily (YUM) as well as snow peas. 

Happy Gardening!

*have a great weekend