 |
| Mason Bee Hive |
 |
| Honeybee Hive |
Friday, March 27, 2015
The Latest Buzz
Spring is definitely here and it's bee time! Our little mason bees have been hanging out in our fridge during the winter months and are ready for their new home. I realize how bizarre that sounds, but I can assure you that if you open up our refrigerator a swarm of bees won't come flying at your face. They're actually resting in cocoons in a box until temperatures are warm enough outside for them to emerge. Keeping mason bees in a refrigerator during the winter months keeps them protected from severe weather (as if we ever actually have severe weather in western Washington) and predators. We should have set them up in their new home last month since the temperatures have been warm enough but building the barn coop and getting the garden ready for spring planting apparently took precedence. Oops! I'm hoping our mason bees are still alive in their cocoons.
Our honeybee nuc is going to be ready for pickup in a few weeks as well so last week we spent some time getting the hive ready. Last year we made the common beginner beekeeping mistake of not giving our bees enough sugar water to supplement since they didn't yet have honey stored. Lesson learned when one day we opened the hive to check on them and we found 10,000 sluggish or dead honeybees. To this day I'm not proud to admit to having starved to death 10,000 pets. Terrible. This year we are going to do it right. I hope.
Wednesday, March 18, 2015
Worms, Turnips, Barn Coops, and Drunk Dogs
There has been a lot going on at the Stinson homestead this last week! Mostly good and a little bad. I'll go against the grain and give you the good news first.
Our baby bunnies are two weeks old now and hippity hopping all around their cage. They're a little ahead of their growth schedule since there were only two bunnies as opposed to the typical nine or ten. We're not sure of their sex yet but one is brown and the other is black and they are FAT!
We also got all the big rocks picked out of the field we're going to use for corn this summer. It only took us about 3 weeks. And by the way, I'm never doing that by hand again. Kenn planted buckwheat in the field for now in order to churn up the soil a bit and give it some nutrients before we plant corn this spring.
And we got worms! Not the parasite kind, the worm bin kind. I cannot wait to use the worm juice on our plants and I'm excited to get some of our food scraps composted more quickly. This will be fantastic for our garden!
Our turnips finally went berserk, grew their bulbs and we've been eating them with our homemade hummus. We really were hoping to have these during the winter since turnips are supposed to be a cold weather crop and we grew them in the cold frame but I guess getting them in spring is better than not getting any at all!
The barn coop roof is finally up and the loft finished too. Now for the siding and doors and we'll be set! It's a good thing we've had some good weather to work on this considering our chickens and turkeys get here in April. I'd also like to camp out in the loft one night before we put the birds in there. Hanging out in that loft is like relaxing in a glorified tree house!
And then there was Remington... you realize how much you love your pets when you spend your tax refund fixing their teeth that they broke on rocks in the yard. He was pretty groggy when we brought him home from his procedure on Tuesday so of course I snapped a picture of the poor dog. He looked pretty snazzy in the green handkerchief the vet gave him for St. Patrick's day.
Our baby bunnies are two weeks old now and hippity hopping all around their cage. They're a little ahead of their growth schedule since there were only two bunnies as opposed to the typical nine or ten. We're not sure of their sex yet but one is brown and the other is black and they are FAT!
We also got all the big rocks picked out of the field we're going to use for corn this summer. It only took us about 3 weeks. And by the way, I'm never doing that by hand again. Kenn planted buckwheat in the field for now in order to churn up the soil a bit and give it some nutrients before we plant corn this spring.
 |
| Worm Bin |
And we got worms! Not the parasite kind, the worm bin kind. I cannot wait to use the worm juice on our plants and I'm excited to get some of our food scraps composted more quickly. This will be fantastic for our garden!
Our turnips finally went berserk, grew their bulbs and we've been eating them with our homemade hummus. We really were hoping to have these during the winter since turnips are supposed to be a cold weather crop and we grew them in the cold frame but I guess getting them in spring is better than not getting any at all!
 |
| Turnip |
The barn coop roof is finally up and the loft finished too. Now for the siding and doors and we'll be set! It's a good thing we've had some good weather to work on this considering our chickens and turkeys get here in April. I'd also like to camp out in the loft one night before we put the birds in there. Hanging out in that loft is like relaxing in a glorified tree house!
 |
| Kenn in the coop loft |
And then there was Remington... you realize how much you love your pets when you spend your tax refund fixing their teeth that they broke on rocks in the yard. He was pretty groggy when we brought him home from his procedure on Tuesday so of course I snapped a picture of the poor dog. He looked pretty snazzy in the green handkerchief the vet gave him for St. Patrick's day.
 |
| Remington |
Thursday, March 12, 2015
How Is This For Curb Appeal?
Our families may be wondering if Kenn and I have fallen off the planet since our last post. I can assure you that we haven't! It has been a busy couple of weeks with beautiful weather. And as many of you know, beautiful weather means a lot of work outdoors. Save the inside projects and blogging for a rainy day!
We have accomplished a lot these last few weeks from getting the roof on the barn coop up, to finally getting rocks dug out of the corn field (with the help of Remington, our German Shepherd, of course). While Kenn was putting the finishing touches on the coop roof, I worked on getting some landscaping done in front of the house. Finally some curb appeal to the Stinson homestead!
We have accomplished a lot these last few weeks from getting the roof on the barn coop up, to finally getting rocks dug out of the corn field (with the help of Remington, our German Shepherd, of course). While Kenn was putting the finishing touches on the coop roof, I worked on getting some landscaping done in front of the house. Finally some curb appeal to the Stinson homestead!
 |
| Before / After |
Monday, March 2, 2015
And Then There Were Two
We have new additions to the Stinson Farm! Momma rabbit gave birth to two squirming bunnies on Saturday and no, they don't get to have names unless you want to call them Dinner and Pot Pie.
It's an unusual thing for us to get to see the entire labor process with these rabbits. Typically the baby bunnies are all of a sudden just there one morning but this Saturday when Kenn went to check on the rabbits, this particular momma was just starting to pluck tufts of her fur out for her nest. So, Kenn and I spied on her to see what she would do and how long the whole process would take. It was pretty anti-climactic as she sat in her nest box and 10 to 15 minutes later she was out and eating her food. Kenn gave her some asparagus ends so we could distract her in order to pull the nest box out and check on the little creatures. Pictured below is what we found. Two already wiggly bunnies!
It's an unusual thing for us to get to see the entire labor process with these rabbits. Typically the baby bunnies are all of a sudden just there one morning but this Saturday when Kenn went to check on the rabbits, this particular momma was just starting to pluck tufts of her fur out for her nest. So, Kenn and I spied on her to see what she would do and how long the whole process would take. It was pretty anti-climactic as she sat in her nest box and 10 to 15 minutes later she was out and eating her food. Kenn gave her some asparagus ends so we could distract her in order to pull the nest box out and check on the little creatures. Pictured below is what we found. Two already wiggly bunnies!
 |
| Bunnies - my dad says they look like rats |
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)