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Yesterday I harvested honey from four of our five hives. The process of harvesting honey is pretty straightforward, actually. Since we don't use any chemicals in our hives, we spray our fume board with essential oils that bees don't like, which drives them to the bottom of the hives. This allows us to remove the honey supers without disturbing the bees too much. After the supers are removed, we remove each frame, cut the cappings off and place the frames in the extractor. We have a totally non-fancy, hand crank, four frame extractor that we bought used a few years ago. After the honey is spun out of the frames, we strain it into 5 gallon buckets. We harvested 70 lbs from the hives. Add that to the 90 lbs we harvested earlier this year, and I think that we did pretty well this season.

Yarn along-- FINALLY!

I've been following Jinny from Simple Things for a while, but I'm just getting the time to participate in the Yarn Along. Yah! Well, gotta go-- it's time to feed the 7 week old!

Catch-up, politics, rock bottom rant

After doing a bit of soul searching, I decided that I need to commit to updating my blog or abandoning it. So, I'm going to commit to writing at least twice a week. I've been coveting the Wednesday knitting/writing updates on blogs that I read, and I long to participate fully in homesteading discussions, so I guess that I need to stop being a blog vouyer and get on with it.

Since I've last written, dear daughter was born, Thanksgiving came and went, and I bought a cow milk share.

I purchased and read "Nourishing Traditions." I'd been sitting on the sidelines of the raw milk debate for a few years. After watching so many 6 year old girls start puberty early (yeah, seriously), I stopped drinking cow milk. I have sensitive skin, so I started buying hand-crafted, hypoallergenic soap a few years ago at a farmer's market, and once I discovered the healing properties of goat milk soap, I decided to make my own. Last year I talked hubby into letting me buy goats, and hopefully we'll be able to breed them this year and have own own milk to drink and use for soapmaking.

It's funny how food and health decisions become political decisions. I'd not intended to find myself looking for loopholes in our food safety laws, but here I am, growing food, keeping bees and chickens, hunting, and raising milk goats. If I could keep a cow here I would, but we don't have the space yet.

I don't intend for the blog to become a political rant, but I do have to say that I was a bit peeved this morning as I listened to "Morning Edition." Several philantropists in Ohio plan to give away money in hundred dollar increments to people that they find to be in greatest need during the holiday season. One lady was interviewed and discussed how she eschewed seeking full time employment to complete her nursing degree, and as a result, she relies upon meager grants and student loans to provide for her and her children. She cried, literally cried, because she couldn't afford tv for her kids. If she is awarded the money, she said, she'd pay her cable, internet, and phone bill. Yeah, the government provided food assistance, she said, and yeah, the kids are clothed, but she can't afford cable tv. CABLE TV??? Since when is television an American right? I can't help but think that we really haven't reached "the bottom" because as long as people still have cell phones, internet, and cable, we're not that bad off. Stuff is bad, really BAD, when they dig up their front yard, get a few pigs, and string up clothes lines in the kitchen to reduce the power bill. Cable? Apparently we have a long way to go before we hit the economic rock bottom.

Transitions, transitions

Today was my last day at work. I'm nervous about the birth and labor (typical first time mom stuff), but I'm excited to be able to stay at home and really dedicate time, effort, and energy to the animals,gardening, food preparation, and my crafts.

I've spent a lot of time lately reading various blogs. Soulemama, Sew Liberated, Craftmama, Farmama, Heavenly Homemakers, Clover Lane, Thy Hand Hath Provide, and others have really inspired me.

How do those women DO it all, though? It's all I can do to wake up and get in a good cup of coffee before I 'm exhausted! Then again, I've felt that work has been getting in the way of my life for quite some time, so I finally have the opportunity to create a life that is closer to where I am philosophically and spiritually.

So, here I sit on the cusp of a new phase in my life. I have lots of cyber models to aspire to. Hopefully I can do my part to transition my family to a lifestyle that is sustainable, wholesome, and in line with our values. :-)

What was I thinkin?

I decided, in my infinite wisdom, to check on the bees today. Yeah... All 6 of them. Well, I'm 5 months pregnant and it was about 90 billion degrees outside, and I decide to put on coveralls and a mask and go out and play with bees. Sometimes I have to wonder about myself.

Tomorrow, we're having a yard sale to purge some of the multitude of stuff that we seem to have crammed in our house. I'm totally looking forward to the purge and have managed NOT to have developed an irrational far of parting with my things. Then again, most of the stuff that I'm selling is books, so I'm really not too connected with what I'm selling. I hope to make a few bucks, and intend to donate the books that don't sell to our local library. See-- it's win-win!

American Farmland Trust: No Farms No Food - Friends of Farmland

American Farmland Trust: No Farms No Food - Friends of Farmland

Garden-- put up or shut up

Well, the garden isn't going as well as I'd like this year. I'm engaged in an ongoing battle with the moles and voles. They are, btw, winning. I'd made glorious plans to process and can tomatoes by the case to use as tomato sauce and for stewing, but it doesn't look as if I will get enough from the vines for that purpose.

The cucumbers have been doing well, but we're in desperate need of a good rain. It's been dry here. The Roma II beans that I planted haven't come up, but the Kentucky Wonders seem to be doing fine. I'd wanted to put up some Romas, but I guess I'll have to settle for good, old fashioned string beans this year. I'll have to plant more KY Wonders if I plan to have anything to can this fall!

I still love the goat milk soap that I made a few months ago. Next time I plan to add oatmeal and a bit of lavender.

Goals this summer/harvesting season is to put up/preserve:

-peaches (canned in light syrup)
-pears (stewed)
-apples (apple butter, stewed)
- potatoes (put up one bushel)
- cherries (dry)
- corn (freeze)
- Dixie/Pinkeyed purple hull peas (freeze)
- garlic
- Kentucky Wonder string beans
-tomatoes (stewed, sauce)
-cucumbers (bread and butter pickles, dill pickles)
- harvest honey

So far, I've:
- canned 18 pints of peaches
- frozen 32 quarts of corn
- dried and stored 10 lbs of garlic
- harvested 75lbs of honey

I have a long way to go!