I am discontinuing the blog on this site and moving it to a new site.  This should help me be a more consistetn blogger as well as allow me to post about animal health as well has things we do on the farm.  I am very excited about this new venture.  I will continue to update this site with the animals we are adding to the farm and the animals we have for sale.  So for those of you who are monitoring for a specific animal, keep checking back.  For those who would like to follow the blog, please find us at http://homevettips.com

Spring is always my time of promises:

I will weed/check the gardens every day

I will work the bees every week.

I will ride/work the horses on a regular basis.

Fall is when I assess my success.

Not so good with the garden this year.  I didn't feel like I had a good plan or a good start.  Some things are crowded and other things didn't survive.  I'm giving up on blueberries because I just can't get my clay based soil acidic enough to keep them alive.  Couple this with a hot, dry summer and I lost all of the blueberries that I had planted last year.  

I was pretty good with the bees and, after a bit of a tumultuous start with the weather (very cool, wet spring across the south and midwest slowed the production and shipment of bees) and losing a package immediately upon placing (I later replaced with a nuc) all 4 hives have made it through the summer and produced excess honey for harvesting.  Next, I will make sure they have a full deep and medium of honey and treat for mites then cross fingers that the upcoming winter is short.  

I have definitely increased my riding.  I've been wanting to average 3 rides a week and usually get at least 2 rides in.  Last week, we rode over 40 miles (at least 25 in one day) and the horse acted like he had done nothing.  We are ready for a limited distance ride this fall and, hopefully, some 50 mile rides next spring.  I am hoping to help a friend out through her first 100 mile ride later in the fall as well.  That will remind me of the work it takes to get a horse to 100 miles as well as keeping it happy and sound through the ride.  And it relieves her of the stress of dealing with a long ride and having to worry about the care of her horse in camp.  My plan is to do the Western States Trail Ride (aka the Tevis) in 2013.

There are a lot of changes in the wind.  Some good, some challenging.  All I can continue to do is work hard, be strong,  and continue to learn and grow.  Until next time....

So,

  A few years ago I decided to try my hand at a new hobby.  In my quest to establish a self sufficient life (just in case) I decided that we needed some kind of sugar source.  We are not a tropical climate so growing sugar cane was not an option, so I decided to have a go at beekeeping.

It has been a challenging journey fraught with heartache, frustration, success and triumph.  I have met a lot of wonderful people both in the hobby and interested in the fate of our honey bees.  The first year I immediately lost one package (they were not happy with the brand new hive and went to friendlier climes).  Then I lost the queen in another hive.  Somehow I ended up getting a nuc from a beekeeper closer to the Ohio River and went into that first winter with 2 hives.  The original package hive didn't make it but the nuc came though the winter and gave me a lot of honey the second year.  We tried again with 3 more packages (to make 4 total hives), got 3 hives to the fall then lost all of the hives in the winter.  This year I started with 4 packages but one absconded so I purchased a nuc.  So I currently have 4 hives.

Beekeeping is alot like farming any type of product.  You are at the mercy of the weather.  We had an extremely wet (the wettest on record) cool spring followed by excessively dry, hot humid summer.  We have not had any rain fall since late May.  Our fruit trees didn't flower at all in the spring and it seemed that a lot of other wild plants were the same.  Farmers had a very difficult time getting their crops in the field, further signalling a sign of trouble for the bees.  Bees rely on both pollen (protein source) as well as nectar from flowers.  If either one of those is not available, no brood is hatched and fewer bees fly.  It was a bit of a depressing late spring/early summer with a lot of beekeepers saying they were feeding their bees because there was no honey to be had.

That all changed this week!  The honey flow is on!  Don Popp pinged me last night and asked me if I had checked my hives b/c the bees were making honey.  Sure enough, when I checked tonight, all 4 hives were full and I was able to put another honey super on.  I went from thinking I would focus on getting all 4 hives into winter (and hopefullly start them strong in the spring) to thinking I might actually have some honey to harvest this year.  I am very excited.

I am doing my best to become a bee keeper, not a bee haver.  It has been way more work than I anticipated, but it has been a great learning experience and a fun hobby.  I hope that more people consider beekeeping as a worthwhile skill set in the future and they themselves become beekeeper.  It is a hobby of old men (and women).  When I look around my beekeeper meetings, I see alot of experience and not a lot of people coming to learn.  Hopefully we can start a trend of new, young beekeepers. Happy farming!

  For those of you who have business (or personal) websites and you are not using Google Analytics, you are missing out.  It is a free program that tracks the visitors to your websites.  Since last month, we have had visitors from 7 countries stop our pages.  Pretty cool when you think someone in Slovenia is checking out the website.  Now, are they going to buy anything, probably not.  However, I hope that they are spending time, admiring our animals and learning a little bit about how a small farm in America is run.  It's neat how the web ties us all together.

We just loaded the last 2 heifers into the trailer this morning and wished them bon voyage.  Not to worry thought, we are still expecting 2 calves this year and our herd will once again increase.  I also need to get busy identifying new cows to add to the herd as our girls are getting a bit mature.  They are still looking healthy and maintaining excellent body condition, but we need to start planning for the future.  We are still looking to sell our senior herd bull, JR.  He is priced really low if anyone is interested an inexpensive way to start your own mini beltie herd.  

It's in the 70's today and sunny with low humidity.  In other words, a perfect day to work the bees.  So, I shall get up off of the couch and head outside.  

Well,

  It has been a while since I posted.  I've been thinking of a lot of things to tell everyone then I'd get home, do my chores and pass out in bed.  Ergo, not a lot of computer time.  But things are rocking right along.  The meat chickens are scheduled to go to the butcher this week (anybody looking for some free range chickens for the table, contact me).  The hay is ready to be cut.  The fruits and veggies have been planted.  Our annual trek to the big box hardware stores have brought us 16 new fruit trees, which also have been planted.  I'm considering putting a bee hive in the middle of the back orchard next year.  I'll have to think about that.  

  I love irises.  They are about done for the season but they are beautiful plants.  They spread (choking out the weeds) and they have the most wonderful flowers in every color imaginable.  I've been driving to and from work and admiring all the brilliant palates of blue, orange, yellow and red.  I want to stop at each clump and dig up a bulb to add to my iris collection.  I believe that would be frowned upon however.  

  The kid has graduated and will be heading back to Italy this weekend.  So, I'll have to find other things to distract me over the coming weekends.  I'm thinking it's time to add some girls to the herd of cows.  We have 3 cows and they are all getting older (8-10 years old) and while they look great and continue to produce beautiful calves, this too shall end.  I'd also like to replace JR as we have sold alot of his offspring and I would like to be able to offer existing clients some new genetics.  So maybe in the next few weeks, you will be seeing new faces on the website.  

  I hope everyone is enjoying summer (as it quickly bypased spring... 3 weeks ago I was standing outside at noon and it was in the 50's, now we are in the 90's and it is extremely humid).  It has done quite a number on all of the critters here, but we continue to survive.   Here's hoping your tomorrow is better than your today.