*chick inn news

These first two pictures are both of Gwendolyn Wendell.  We purchased Gwendolyn as a pullet, but turns out we got a rooster, Wendell - Surprise!  His name is now Wendell.   He is a most beautiful rooster, he is a Black Copper Maran.  For now, both Wendell and Husan (our other rooster) are getting along nicely.

 These are our youngest bunch of chickens as well as the broad breasted turkeys. 

Eric loves his turkeys.  He is on the hunt for a blue slate turkey to add to our bunch.  This is one of the two broad breasted bronze turkeys that we are raising for meat.  

 Husan had an unfortunate event just a few days ago.  Momma was bringing some table scraps out to the flock and Husan felt it necessary to flock my mother!  I could hardly believe it when she came in and told me.  He should really be watching his actions from here on out.. He not only spurred her about 5 times down the back of her little legs, he also pecked a hole (I mean it was small, but a hole nonetheless) in the side of her leg before he spurred her.  Unbelievable.

 This is a photo I took during the choral performance one evening. It really does look like the are in a chorus doesn't it? They are all ready for sleep. 

 When we added this Silver Laced Wynadotte to our flock, she was TINY and younger in age of any of our chickens. Eric dubbed her "Dot", so it was. Dot is very partial to the turkeys and can often be found right by the turkey's side. 

 The white chicken is a result of an Easter Egger egg having been fertilized by Mr. Baggins our Light Brahma rooster.  We are still not sure if this one will be a rooster or pullet. The large buff chicken is a Orpington  and one of my favorites. She is like that kids you went to school with that was twice your size. She is awkward looking among the other chicks her age.  I think we will name her Hilda or Gertrude, or .... what can we name her? 

This red one to the right is a Welsummer hen and the cute little black front and center is a mix of a Black Australorpe and our Buff Brahma rooster.  She is a pretty little thing isn't she?

 Our heritage breed turkeys have just graduated into a larger roaming area in order to start free ranging habits and instincts.  We had to trim their feathers this morning due to many of them taking flight right over the fence.

*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

*mail call

This morning started as most of my weekday mornings start, I was awakened by the tone that was belting out from my phone. I had in mind that after I was finished feeding all the farm animals that I would lay back down since I haven't rested well the last few nights. That plan was shortly shot down when I received a phone call from the post office informing me that our turkey poults had arrived.

You see, we ordered turkeys that would be delivered the first week of May, but the hatchery called me a few days ago asking if we were ready for the little critters. I told her only if she could add in a crested polish (since I honestly do not think Spaz is going to :( recover.) She said she would try to get one in the package and that is all I heard from her. So this morning when my phone rang and it displayed ---- Post Office, I knew that my plans were not going to hold. No I did not get to lay back down, but instead I was off getting baby turkeys. After arriving back home I had to set up their brooder... tis the life I live. And how very blessed I am to live it!

I fear to tell you the number of "birds" (turkeys and chickens) we have here on our farm now, lest you might pass out! OK, so brace yourself: 57 in all. We just invested in 15 poults in order that we might raise them to healthy, lean, meat options for those in our community who are interested. We have 3 committed to customers already and are looking for a few more who would like a range free, hormone free, antibiotic free turkey for their Thanksgiving or Christmas table or for just daily eating needs.  We will soon cull our chicken flock as well in order to get some chickens in the freezer.  We will be increasing our egg customers in the summer once our younger chicks reach maturity, currently we sell  4 dozen a week at $4 per dozen, hopefully adding at least 3 more customers. 

The turkeys we chose are the heritage breeds and it is our desire to keep a pair in order that we will be able to continue to hatch out our own turkeys in the future.  May your day be full of peeps, cause mine sure is! Peeep, peeep, pep!

*long, hard, busy, rewarding days

This week, no this month, has been super busy. It is a good busy.  From the time the sunrises until the time it sets, my days are brimming over with things that need to be done.   This is the way Zeke wants all of his days to begin and end.  Zeke is one of our Russian Blue barn cats who also doubles as a Russian Blue garden cat.