News from the homestead: Birthday abundance
For most of my youth, my late August birthday was not necessarily a welcome annual event. Rather, it represented the fast-approaching end of summer and return to school for myself and my siblings. It brought the end to our summer-long road trip travelling the country with our educator parents and exploring our great nation from of the back of a station wagon and later from our cramped tow-behind trailer. Those trips were the glory days of our family’s year, something we all looked forward to every summer. It seemed to me as a child, that we just loaded up and went where the road took us. Mom and Dad, always mindful that learning came in all forms, usually had a plan to include a visit to some historical reference spot that at least one of us would be learning about in the coming academic season.
But by the time my birthday rolled around at the end of August, we were all getting ready to start our respective school years. My parents returned to lead their next bevy of students and us kids to resume our formal classroom education. The last week of August was filled with back-to-school preparations, supply sorting, passing down too-small uniforms and desperately trying to hang on to the memories of our weeks on the road and the new friends we made along our route.
As an adult, I’d have to say my birthdays became more of a reason to celebrate and less of an unpleasant summer deadline. Few (if any) could eclipse my “diamond birthday” of 2024. For those of you who are unfamiliar (as I was, until my granddaughter Kaia educated me!), a diamond birthday occurs when a person’s age matches the last two digits of their birth year.
It’s been one fast year since we first laid eyes on what has become Wittbrich Acres and one of the wildest and most abundant adventures of our lifetimes. I like to say my diamond birthday “present” changed our lives and set us on a course neither Mike or I anticipated, planned, or ever even expected at this later-stage of life. At the beginning of my birth-month we were content in our neighborhood home of more than 20 years. By the end of my birth-month, we had begun the process of packing up our orderly existence and thrusting ourselves into the chaos of the unknown on our four-acre property in the country.
Without a doubt my last my birthday ceased to mean an ending to anything, rather it represented a whole new beginning to practically everything. Summer may still be in the waning stages, children are still preparing for return to school, and now my birthday is forever reserved as a celebration of renewal. While our official one-year anniversary of moving in isn’t until early October, August is now the memorialized as the month when our life picture was inexorably altered. The extraordinary gift of Wittbrich Acres has continued to deliver abundance well beyond my birthday.
Subtractions and additions
Sadly, this month we said goodbye to two of our legacy hens. Sunshine and Sweetie Pie have moved on to the great flock beyond in what has sadly become a familiar ritual of passing of old hens. On a happier note, we adopted two hens from a woman who was retiring as a chicken tender and needed to rehome them. Although they don’t appear to be inclined to increase our egg count so far, we’ve taken them under wing and given them a new roost. Egg production in general has been exceedingly low during the long hot days of August and I’m beginning to wonder if the hens haven’t figured out that they get well fed and much loved regardless of their output. The majority of the 34 hens we now support seem to have declared retirement and are satisfied to eat and lounge around in a pretty cushy arrangement complete with abundant treats and excited visitors.
Nectar dearth and a wrinkle reducer
Besides being the beginning of the end of summer fun, August also has the distinction of bringing the nectar dearth for honey bees. Most of the abundant nectar sources have stopped producing, and thousands of bees start moving into survival mode as the honey flow creeps toward its eventual full-stop. That makes them a little ornery and a lot more defensive. As robber bees from other hives attempt to steal precious reserves and more worker bees take on the task of guarding the home hive, extra care in the bee yard is required. I am on high alert when approaching the hives and I’ve been limiting my inspections to only when necessary. I’ve got seven boxes of honey frames filled to various levels of liquid indulgence waiting for our neighborhood extraction day sometime during the next two weeks. I have no idea how much honey to expect, but I’m grateful for every drop.
My bees work very hard, never take a day off, and only sting me in the face when I’m not paying attention — yup, that happened! All I can say is a bee sting to the face hurts like heck, but on an up note, the swelling temporarily reduces wrinkles giving me a youthful, plump glow that makes my pending birthday number seem over-stated. There’s a reach for a benefit if ever I wrote one!
Making peace with the weeds
As I’ve shared, my garden has been a disaster only eclipsed by my delusion of suddenly developing a green thumb. I’ve now pivoted from fighting with the weeds. I’ve begun gathering the prolific gallant soldier weeds that took over my garden to make lemonade out of them…well maybe not lemonade. I’ve learned that various weeds I have in abundance in my garden actually have various medicinal uses and I intend to embrace them. Gallant solider for example can be used to treat stings and wounds as a topical salve, something I could put to good use. I also have goldenrod, echinacea, and various other wild growing plants that I’ve begun researching their use in traditional medicine. In dried form, some are great for common respiratory or digestive issues with the chickens which will certainly be good to explore.
This month I also rendered a good supply of beeswax to use in my soon-to-be-attempted salves and balms and to coat my hive frames with next spring. And from my abundant raspberry plants, I extracted enough juice to make 28 jars of raspberry jelly. Two firsts to add to my long list from the past 11 months. My tomatoes are painfully small and anemic, but I still plan to make a few jars of sauce with them. And I’ve gathered pears from the orchard to attempt my hand at preserving them (another first!) for a cold-weather holiday treat when we need a warm summer reminder.
Wittbrich Acres continues to give me gifts every day, making every day I’m blessed to be here feel like my birthday. This land and this home have chased away the feeling that my birthday marked an end to the fun and replaced it with renewal, abundance, and gratitude in great and small ways.
If any of you have experience with making good stuff out of flowering weeds, I’d love to learn from you! Reach out to me at tami@toyourwealth.com with any tips, suggestions, or warnings. Until next month, may your days be filled with peace, harmony, and gratitude.
