Looking forward to Thanksgiving

So the day after our Scything party our neighbor let us know that they had some turkeys at the Feed Store.... So Jed and I found our way over to the feed store. They happened to have different types of heritage breeds so we picked up three Narrangansets. They've been growing like mad and flying all around the turkey/craft/chicken/crap room. This morning I found them on top of one of the dressers and then they flew into their brood box to get some food that I put out for them. Since it was a straight run we'll see what we end up with. We're hoping for a breeding pair so that we can get future turkeys. We'll eat one for this Thanksgiving and look forward to future turkey dinners. =)

Which reminds me... I need to get a list of things I want for thanksgiving so that I can make sure that they are all planted and ready to be harvested by that time...

Veggies and fruit

So far in the front we have:

Grapes (The grapist is going to grape me in the mouth)
Herbs - rue, roman chamomile, spearmint, thyme, marjoram, black sage, sage (vulgaris) , lavender
Loganberries (one berry cluster), blackberries, raspberries - in pots in the ground so that their roots don't extend too quickly.
Blueberries
Strawberries (a couple of blooms)
Almond tree (with almonds)
Apple tree (had blooms but they froze)
I just planted 3 types of pole beans and 4 types of yard-longs

For the future:
Corn, melons, watermelon, potatoes, carrots, onions, squash, and tomatoes.

I have the one bed on the far left, but I'll be adding more on the right of the tree as I would like to have an open area under the tree so that it can get as much nutrients as possible w/o me harming the roots.

Scythe-a-paloosa

Heck if I know if I spelled that correctly... Here is the email invite Jed sent out for anyone who did not get it through FB:

Come get your Peasant on!
Come rock out with your pre-industrial revolution self!

Rosie and I will be having a celebration of Pre-industrial revolution farming and food. We will be Harvesting a crop of wheat, oats and barley using the methods that where used in the medieval era. We will be cooking pork from pigs we raised and slaughtered our selves. We will also be offering free-range, cage free chicken from our own flock. Ever wanted to know how to slaughter, pluck, dress and cook our own food? Here is your chance, heck we will even let you pick a hen out yourself (kinda like the lobster tank at a really fancy restaurant, with out the price tag!). Milk a goat for your drinks and sample home made mead and cider, all from our home. There is no cost for this event but a RSVP would be nice. If you are coming from out of the area we have crash space inside or camping space outside (You can even clear your own site with a scythe or sickle if the fancy takes you). Rosie will teach and talk about home bee keeping (to anyone who holds still long enough) and Jed will off some classes and demos of blacksmithing. SCA member? Bring your armor and we can also re-enact the battle of "Angry, smelly, vikings try and take over Godric's Farm". Feel free to spread the word to anyone who may be interested in this event and can put up with Rosie and I rocking their pre-industrial world!

WOO HOO!!!! FARM PARTY!!!!

Bugger

Bugger is being weaned off of milk right now... things are not going according to her plan.

We're supposed to get up, feed her milk then put her out. We just put her out this morning and she ran back into the house screaming that we had forgotten the milk.... she's going to be one sad little goat when she realizes that she is a goat and not a cat or a human.

BTW, she was almost a goth goat. I was this close to buying her a skull and crossbone collar... but I didn't because it was made of fabric and she would have just chewed her way through her collar. I might end up just making little skulls on her leather collar anyways. =)

Happy and sad bees

The two smaller swarms ended up dying due to a freeze we had this last weekend. The temp got down to 36 degrees and they were not able to keep themselves warm. I found them still hanging onto the wax that they started drawing out just frozen in place. =( I'll have to see what I can do in the future so that any smallish swarms do not end up dying due to my inexperience.

The three other hives are thriving. I need to get back in there (hopefully tonight) and get the last queen's box out of the second of the packaged bees. They are building comb like mad and they are still thriving. They're very intent in their work and I've see the eggs so I hope to have new baby bees soon. The more I learn about bees from physically working with them the more thrilled I am.

I am having a bit of trouble with one of my hives. I used the slats that I purchased online for that one but they keep sliding off of one side and it's making their comb building get all funky. They build the comb inbetween two frames which isn't what they are supposed to do, but what are you going to do with nature? The bee bath is going well. Apparently it's already claimed the life of a wasp. I was able to fill up the water yesterday and it was nice that I did not have to go out there every day to give them more water.

I'm thinking about taking off a slat from the back fence of the bee area to allow for more sunlight to make it into the hives. I hope that works with the back neighbors. We'll see.

When I go look at the bees they are very intent in their work. They are busy, busy, busy building comb and filling in the comb with eggs and honey and nectar so that the baby bees can thrive.