New Blog Series: How We Homestead

I just wanted to pop in to let you guys know about a new five-week blog series I will be taking part in. Staci from Life At Cobble Hill Farm had the great idea of starting a series to highlight homesteaders all at different stages in their journey and asked me to participate!

I will be joined by Staci, Meg from Little Homestead, Daisy from Maple Hill 101, and Amber from Making A Home. We will be posting each Wednesday for five weeks starting May 15th about different homesteading topics including what led us to the path we are on now and what we envision for our future.

I am really excited for this series and can't wait to share more of our story with you. I hope you will check out my post each Wednesday and also all the other bloggers' posts to get an idea of what homesteading looks like at different stages on the path to self-sufficiency.

Thanks so much for stopping by and have a great Mother's Day weekend!

~Tammy

Feathered Friend Friday: The Chicks' New Digs

The chicks are nearly five weeks old now (how did that happen?!) and getting bigger everyday. I have raised several flocks of chicks but I am always amazed each time at how fast they grow, and how stinky they get! We originally had the chicks in a small wash basin of sorts in the guest room. When they outgrew that we moved them into a bigger tub in the garage. When they outgrew that, we moved them into the shower in the guest bathroom. And now, they've outgrown that! So outside to the coop they go.

Our other chickens sleep in a different coop close by, so the chicks have this one all to themselves until they are big enough to mix in with the flock. I hooked up the heat lamp just in case they need it because they aren't quite fully feathered yet and it still gets a little chilly at night here. But so far they haven't seemed to need any extra warmth.

In a few more weeks, after they are used to the coop, we will let them outside to roam around a small enclosed area. There is a little run attached to this coop that is separate from the main chicken run, but they will all be able to see each other. This is a very important step in integrating flocks - letting them get used to each other for a while through a fence before you put them all together.

They are still quite a ways away from being integrated with the main flock, but for now, they are at least hearing the other chickens and getting used to the sound of roosters and guineas! This will definitely help to make their transition into the main flock as seamless as can be.

~Tammy

Clearing The Camera

Here are some recent photos that I'd like to share. To see more photo posts, click here.

Evening walk through the woods.



Jasper loves to sit on the organ bench.



Goldie making it hard to use the computer.



David at his day job. Directing the band for the movie themed spring concert!



Found our first guinea nest of the season! Guinea toast here we come.



Just before her shave. Sheep or dog? I guess that's the point :)



David's birthday cake - extra tall dark chocolate cake. It was so good!



In my element. For me, it doesn't get any better than this.


Hope you've enjoyed a slice of our homestead.

~Tammy

Shared with Rurality Blog Hop, Tuesday Muse  

Hive Inspection

Over the weekend, we had a chance to open up our beehive again and we were very happy to see that things are progressing nicely! We observed a good pattern of healthy, capped brood and lots of multi-colored pollen. We weren't able to locate the queen, but the presence of capped brood is a good sign that she is laying and doing her job well. The bees had drawn out comb on seven of the ten frames, so it was already time to put on a second deep hive body to give them more room to expand.

After taking off the outer cover and hive top feeder, we saw there was quite a bit of burr comb on top of the frames, so David scraped the excess comb off using the hive tool so that he could get to the frames more easily. We are saving all of the bits of comb that we scrape off along the way so that we can melt it down to render the wax for all sorts of things like candles and lip balm!

The first time we opened up the hive the bees seemed more than a little agitated at our interruption. I was really scared to be honest, so I stayed back while David did all the work. This visit went much more smoothly, and I actually got up close and checked out the frames. I was the designated smoker while David pulled out each frame for us to examine. The bees were definitely more calm this time around, probably because they have had time to get used to their new environment and also because we used more smoke. All in all, we were pleased and felt really good after this inspection!

After everything was closed up, I had a chance to reflect on the visit to the hive and make an entry in our bee book.

We thought it would be a good idea to keep a bee journal and write down our observations from each visit to the hive. As beginning beekeepers, I think this will really help us to understand our hive more and it will serve us for years to come. It will be a great resource to look back on and help us plan for future years of beekeeping.

After this successful inspection, I can't wait to get into the hive again and take a closer look. Maybe I'll even do some of the heavy lifting next time around and let David be the smoker!

~Tammy

PS - My friend Cindy over at Old Time Farmhouse has featured our homestead today on this month's Farm Fresh Feature! I am was so excited to have this opportunity and I think the post turned out really well. I'd appreciate it if you would hop over to Cindy's blog and check it out. You can view the post by clicking here. Thanks so much for your support!

Shared with From The Farm Blog Hop