News from the homestead: Stopping to smell the flowers
As summer quickly draws to a close, I can honestly look back (through the haze of exhaustion) and say…”whew! that was a lot of work (and a lot of fun!)” Now Mike and I are looking forward to taking some time to relax, refresh, and renew before the start of the hectic fall and holiday seasons. But preparing for time off requires a whole lot of time on! So this month, I’ll share a few updates, then it’s back to work making sure we can take some time off and smell the flowers instead of the fowl during our bit of end of summer respite.
Coop news
Our eight chicks are now as big as our adult hens and have been fully integrated into the existing flock. Mike suffered a small mishap when one of the raucous youngsters flew off the nesting bar one night directly into his face! Mike allows the hens to sit on his shoulders and often they get very excited to see their breathing perch come into the coop. This time, young–and aptly named–Jitters was a little too exuberant and Mike was a little too distracted. The missed shoulder landing caused some mild facial cuts for Mike and an accelerated heartrate for them both.
Meanwhile, egg production is down in the flock in general as the dog days of summer tend to reduce their output. We’re still waiting to see if new chick Spanky is a roo or a hen. Mike said he heard a starter crow once, but so far that pubescent noise hasn’t been replicated. We’ll know if Spanky lays an egg soon that our suspicion was off and the would-be he is actually a she. Our flock count is 32 at present, and our eight spring chicks have all been given names to fit their unique personalities: Spanky, Darla, Jitters, Willow, Buttercup, Luna, Oreo, and Mellie.
Hive side
The bees are doing great despite a super dry summer that prematurely dried up a lot of their food sources earlier in the season than we hoped. I’ll be removing the honey supers soon and that will give me an indication of how many hours I’ll be spending at my honey extractor after our return.
The hive of Carnolian bees that at the beginning of the season I feared would not survive due to a weak queen have come back strong after a getting the hive queen-right. And I have gotten a lot less stings this bee season which makes this beekeeper particularly happy—and less swollen. All is well in the apiary.
Garden envy
My vegetable garden once again proved to be my nemesis. I just can’t seem to get my thumbs to be the right shade (or any shade really) of green. So it’s off to the farmer’s markets to buy produce that I will use to satisfy my late summer and fall canning rituals. I did have success with my medicinal plants and have a great supply of comfrey, burdock, mullein, yarrow, elderflower, peppermint, rosemary, and sage to use in my tinctures, salves and other natural remedies. My family swears by my elderberry syrup and I planted ten new elderberry trees on the property so I can meet the growing demand for future years.
I picked tons of wild black raspberries and my freezer is full of red raspberries to supply future jelly making weekends. And Mike took great care of our orchard so we’re looking forward to our pear, apple and grape harvest in the coming months.
Living my great life
August marks our anniversary of our decision to uproot our easy, turn-key residence and enter an exciting new adventure and lifestyle. So far, God has smiled on us, filled us with wonder, taught us new lessons galore, and blessed us with gifts too numerous to mention.
Next month I’ll regale you with tales of our break from Wittbrich Acres and our adventures smelling the flowers in a different venue. Until then, may peace, harmony and gratitude guide your days as they do our life here on the homestead.
