Out of Practice

 Been a long while since last I shook this branch.  The view hasn't changed much from over the top of this monitor.  A cold wind straightens some prayer flags strung between the hickory.  A thin layer of ice preceded a snow bent falling.  My dogs preferring to hangout in front of the wood stove today.  Their trip to the neighbors pond was scrubbed from the agenda.

Grilled some chicken breasts and a couple of tenderloin medallions that needed to be rescued.  I always feel like we will run out of food.  A quirky thought that I honestly can't put a finger on for reason. Theresa will be slipping in soon.  The dinner prep should be a very nice surprise.  I've neglected cooking nearly as much as writing on this blog.

Spring To Summer

I started my summer vacation a few weeks early this year.  Usually reserved for mid-July,  I started in early June.  We went to the John Hartford Memorial Festival in Bean Blossom, Indiana the first week of the month.  What an awesome collection of people and music!

I came home to a fishing trip with my friend John.  We caught one to three pound bass from a private lake like I'd never caught fish before.  It was a total blast!

Moving my vacation up in the calendar has put me in a good spot to really keep ahead of our garden. That is a first for us.  It's normally a catch up game by July and the weeds have usually won.

My second year of keeping bees has been a real learning experience.  Last year I didn't harvest any honey from my two packaged bee start-ups.  I'm fairly certain that that was a good decision considering the original two colonies and the splits and new hives we now have.

I've started building all my woodenware.  That has cut my costs way down and I feel like I can expand to around eight total hives.  That would be about as large an apiary as I would care to manage.  There is so much more I have to learn about trying to keep up with the bees.

Yesterday I pulled a few frames from the medium supers and ended up with a little over one and a half gallons of very dark, buttery rich honey.

Fresh Start