2013 Bee Nuc

I lost one of my hives over the winter, not sure what happened, but the hive was never as strong as the other all last season.  I ordered a nucleus, rather than a package, because a 'nuc' is already a miniature hive. The queen has already started laying eggs and the bees have already started filling the wax with honey. 

 Not one bee escaped the whole ride home!  Phew!!

 Bees are ready to fly!

The first time I got bees, I started with packages.  The queen is completely new to the hive and she lives in a little cage stopped up with a marshmallow.  The workers eat through the marshmallow releasing the queen and in turn getting used to her as their queen.  The nuc frames are weeks ahead of the packages, great for us in our high desert climate, which usually has a very late spring.  I ordered the very last pickup date so I could ensure that I could install the bees as soon as I got them home.  This spring, however, has been extremely warm and dry.  I had to pick them up 2 hours away by 9am and run the AC all the way home and get them in their new hive as soon as I pulled up the driveway. 

Front of the nuc, this screen is taken off while the bees fill the frames.  The screen is put back on the evening before the nuc is moved to the store where I picked them up.

The nuc with 4 frames and a feeder.

 Added the 4 frames to my existing super, with a pollen patty on top.

I left the nuc next to the hive, so any bees that didn't go in on the frames will find their way in.

2013 Kids

We had 8 kids this year, 4 doelings and 4 bucklings!  All births were unassisted and successful!

Hatching Chicks

All I asked "Santa" for last Christmas was for an incubator so we can start raising our own chickens.  For the last 6 years, we've tried to let our hens go broody and raise their own chicks, but our success rate is exactly ZERO!  I am participating (read: co-organizing) our local Farmers Market and decided to sell chicks, along with my soaps, strawberries, plant starts, and anything else under the sun I can think of selling.

I began gathering eggs at the beginning of March and ended up with 20 eggs to put in the 'bator.  For the first week, I forgot to check the moisture level (I now have a humidity sensor on its way) and lost hope of actually hatching any chicks. 

I took them out of the automatic turner at day 18 to let them settle and get in position to pip (or begin to break through the shell).  I increased the water level.

On the evening of day 20, our first two eggs pipped at around 11pm, and one had completely hatched around 3am (by the way, if you want a good night's sleep, DO NOT put the incubator in your bedroom...even if it's the only place that is 'safe' for them!!)  The second hatched around 7am, but honestly, I was so exhausted I didn't keep track, all I know is that the sun was up!

Over the next 2 days, 6 more chicks hatched on their own.  The final 2 chicks pipped, but could not emerge on their own, and despite all the advice, I helped them out of their shells. They survived for a couple days, but eventually did not make it.  (Note to self:  there is a reason they don't make it out of the shells!!)

Eggs that did not hatch, time to clean the incubator for the next batch.

They are all mixed with our Rhode Island Red Rooster and the hens were Americauna, Rhode Island Reds, Delawares, and Buff Orpingtons.

2013 Planting Season Begins!

We had a pretty mild winter and have been able to get an early start on our garden. 

My hubby is building more planter boxes, since the two that we used last year did so well.

I planted garlic last fall and added onions this spring.

The 3yo has her own idea of things to plant.

Pine cones

and 4"x4" pieces of wood.

:-)

Now it's my turn to fill in the boxes with compost and vermiculite....then seeds!!!

Soap Website

I've been making goat milk soap from my Nigerian Dwarf goat milk for the last year.  I started selling at our Homesteading Fair and at local farmers markets.  A friend of mine set up a website for me, yippee!!  www.highprairiehomestead.com

Saying goodbye

This week was one of the hardest for me.  I had to say good-bye to 2 of my family members. 

On Monday, I woke up to my Rottie mix, Morgan, not being able to stand or eat.  I got her as a puppy in January of 1998, she would have been 15 on December 1st. 

She had moved all over the country with me and was a great companion.  The girls and I took her to the vet, kissed, petted, and told stories about her life as she passed away.




Two days later, I lost my 94 year old Grandmother.  I had flown back to Michigan 2 weeks ago to say my good-byes to her, and I'm so glad I was able to make the trip to tell her how much I love her and what she meant to me. 

I'm actually more relieved knowing that they are no longer in pain or struggling.  They lived long, wonderful lives and they've enriched my life having been in it.  It will take awhile for me to stop going to feed Morgan or calling my Grandma for our weekly chat.

Skinning a rattler

Over the last 6 years, I've killed more than my share of rattlesnakes.  After we've buried or thrown out each one, we always say "We should have skinned it!"  or "We should try cooking it!"

Well, this year we had a bumper crop of them!!  I just killed the latest one ever in the year, usually September is when we've seen the last one, but I found one under the deck on Tuesday.  Using our machete, I pinned it down between the deck boards, but unfortunately only got it by the tail!  (Note to self:  buy another machete!!)  I know from past experience not to lift up the machete because that sucker will start moving and it's almost impossible to catch them again, and all you have is a hurt and very ticked off rattlesnake,  so I put all my weight pinning it down into the ground.  As I was doing this, the snake started striking the machete, then started climbing up the blade trying to get it's head through the deck boards.  EEEEEEEEEEKKKKKKK!   I propped the machete up with a heavy bucket so I wasn't putting myself in harm's way.  I left it overnight and it was dead by morning.  (Ok, we checked on it a million times, the kids were fascinated and I had to show my hubby when he got home!!)

After dragging it out from under the deck, we decided to skin it, so we looked up information on the net (where were we before the internet???) 

My wonderful and adventurous hubby sharpened his knife and went to work.  He cut off the head and tail where I had stabbed it.  We didn't want to mess around with the fangs and getting out the venom, too hazardous for our first try.  Some day, though, I envision having a cowboy hat with snake skin wrapped around it with the head and rattles crossing in the front.

Made a slit up its belly as neatly as he could (found out that my kitchen shears did a much better job than the steak knife).

Pulling gently, he removed the meat from the skin.

Skin pile.

I got a board and some little nails, push tacks would work well, too. I laid the skin out on a 2"x4" and tacked it in place, upside down. It reminded me of science class, pinning down the frog we were going to dissect. 

The internal organs and shape of the muscles, etc were pretty interesting.  I didn't know it was shaped like a "C", I thought it was a solid tube! 
I'll let the skin dry for a couple of days and see how it comes out!