Liquid Gold

Well our first honey harvest for the season is in. So far we have honey from one hive but there are hopes of more we will just have to see how to bees do this summer. Its going quick so if you want to order some let us know.

The honey is in each of these "rows" each one is called a frame, the entire box of ten frames is called a super.

This is what the honey frames look like when you take them out. The white covering over the honey cells is called cappings. We cut that off so we can get the honey to come out.

See the honey with the cappings off of it?

Naomi teaching Leviah just what to do. It didn't take her long to get it once she tasted it.

Some cappings cut off, we just use a bread knife to cut them off, some day we will get a nice heated knife to do it.

Now we put two frames in the extractor and spin them for a few minutes per side. this makes the honey shoot out onto the sides and then we let it out a spout at the bottom. the best part is the spinning makes a breeze of honey air.

Here is the final harvest.

A real Pole "barn"

This morning we started what will be our first structure on the property. We spent many hours a few weeks back harvesting cedar logs off the property. Today we put them to use. We are making a true pole structure, it is going to be 16x10. We wanted to go for 20x10 but it is really hard to find a tree that is 20' and also manageable. Plus 16' fits better if we need to use dimensional lumber, 8' sections are the cheapest dimension. So here it is in pictures the way that I like to see things.

Three post in back will the high side, at 8.5'

Diggin the holes, is not so bad in the nice sandy soil, every time i go to dig a hole i thank the good L-rd for the soil not being the same as the red clay in my backyard. we will see how it is for growing stuff later.

this picture is just to funny, notice the giant log going in, in the background. and the cutie with a shoe that has come undone

all six in the ground, ange with a machette...

chain saw on a ladder...

back beam up, not sure what you call that in this kind of construction...header???

cutting grooves for front beams

Front beam going up, the log had a small bend in it, but we fixed that.

look at the smile on that guy...good times

Took us from 9 until about 12:00 or so to get that done. at that point it was around 95 and time to retreat for the day.

Any ideas for roofs? We are thinking about going with the traditional tin roof, i would eventually like to make a wood shingle roof but that will have to be some time when i have a lot of time.

Not so still in the night.

The bees have officially found a spot on the land. The mighty stand assembled last Sunday has been put to good use. Last night Lane & Drew, after dark (in hopes of keeping all the field bees who would be snug in bed for the night), toted all seven of their combined hives to their new & hopefully permanent & comfortable home. Apparently, however, they were not docile. In fact, they were quite riled up & stung Drew & Lane numerous times through their bee suits! So, if you were wondering when bees sleep--they don't. Apparently they stay buzz-y into the wee hours! ;)

Since Drew didn't get to see them in the dark & because the first part of our 'drive way' was installed this morning & because we needed milk from a conveniently located dairy, we took a drive out. We forgot the camera so all we have to document are these not so great shots from what appears to be the worst cell-phone camera ever. Major thumbs down on that one Droid...

But, both the driveway & the bees really help pull things together, like a physical signature on the property--we're there to stay!

We keep discovering great things, plant life, etc. One of which is a plethora of blackberries. One variety is ripening right now & we've enjoyed munching on them when we take a second to find them. This weekend should prove a fruitful harvest, should you want a bowl for yourselves. (earlier=better as the heat is imminent for the weekend).

You could Stand on It

This weekend on the farm...

So we are going to be weekend farmers for a little bit. Like i have said on previous posts it turns out there is a lot to a farm, a lot of things that need to be built, dug, cut down, drilled, spread out, and stood up. Once we get a few of those done we will be able to live out there a little more of the week and hopefully one day, everyday.

Enough of that. we built a be hive stand this weekend that as my good buddy put it you could park a fire truck on ( and he is a fireman so he should know). It should hold roughly fourteen hives which will be a good start, we are hoping to go into next spring with about that many if not a few more. So we can seriously start getting some of that golden goodness. We used some store bought lumber, concrete and cedar posts. We spent a few hours last week harvesting cedar trees from the woods and we used two of them to make our four, four foot posts to hold the stands with.

While we did that the girls picked black berries from the field and helped sabba and sophta start the peach orchard. They also planted some raspberry bushes. so in a few years we should hopefully be getting something from them. The one thing that we have read from all homesteaders who are looking into hind's sight is that you should start all the perennials as soon as possible. Which i will tell you after reading that and before having land i though ok that is what i will do. But when you get out there and your to do list is pages long and all you want to do is get some of the things done so you can do the things you really want to do, you realize you may never get to planting those perennials. with that being said, if anyone wants to come and plant perennials you let us know, you are always more than welcome.

so here comes the events in pictures:

cedar post, chain saw milled

gotta have a straight and level line

by the end of the day, twenty four feet of hive stands

Leviah approves with an icy thumbs up!

Looking for blackberries

Garden fence coming along

the orchard

Driveway/parking area coming soon, the pipes are here