First Snow Of The Season

So last Friday we got a bit of snow...

It was quite a bit for us! We first got a solid layer of ice on Thursday afternoon, then about 6" of snow on top of that. We were prepared in case we lost power, but thankfully we kept our power all weekend long. Normally the ice is what gets us when the limbs get really heavy and fall off onto the power lines, but we didn't get enough ice to weigh down the branches.

The chickens refused to leave their coop on Friday and were pretty grumpy being stuck inside.

"You expect me to come out there?!"

Even some of the guineas hung out in the coop all day long. Finally on Saturday, a few of the chickens ventured out once I made a path for them and threw out some scratch. A few more braved the snow yesterday, and today it seems like everyone is used to the snow and decided to leave the coop to stretch their legs a bit.

Duchess is in her element when it snows, and she had so much fun running around in all the fluffy snow. And apparently eating it as well.

I was worried about Emma kitty, so I brought her inside into the guest room for a few days. But she seemed like she really wanted to get back outside, so yesterday I took her back out. At first she didn't like the snow on her paws, but before I knew it she was running around in the snow having a blast. I've been keeping an eye on her, but she is doing great outside and seems content to be back where she is happiest.

Did you get any snow over the weekend?

~Tammy

PS - Today Sue is posting her recipe in our Christmas Cookie Tag series. Head on over here to see what she is sharing with us!

Shared with Saturday's Critters, Maple Hill Hop  

Homemade Living: Hand-Me-Down Christmas Decorating

As soon as Thanksgiving was over, I got to work on my Christmas decorating. I like a really festive, cozy look for the holidays, but don't want to go too over the top. And with our kitten, Gizmo, around this year we can't do too much anyway because he is into everything! My solution for crazy Gizmo was to put as much as possible out of his reach, and place ornaments in bowls instead of hanging them from a tree.

Most of the decorations I like to put out this time of year were passed down to me from my grandma so it's very much a hand-me-down Christmas, which is just the way I like it.

This is on top of the vintage cabinet in the bathroom where Gizmo can't reach! I got the cute elf ornament and vintage ornament beside it from my grandma, and I created a small display with my bottle brush trees and some epsom salt. I also put our little silver tree with red ornaments up here. It's our first tree we ever bought as a married couple and I love putting it out every year.

I placed some red ornaments in an old colander handed down from my grandma, and changed out our glass mannequin head's summer hat for a winter sock cap (we call her Sheila haha). Sheila is kind of an eccentric part of our decor, but I love her! I also placed garland and ornaments on top of the mantle with some ornaments below in my egg bucket. Pinecones inside a picnic basket look so festive, and my cute reindeer from David's grandma completes the scene. This mantle is where our electric fireplace goes, but we took it out when we were installing the new floors and haven't replaced it yet. But I kind of like it empty!

When I was visiting my grandma yesterday we took a trip up to her attic. She has so much stuff she's collected over the years and is trying to give it away, so I always leave her house with a few things to bring home. She gave me this gorgeous quilt that she made herself many years ago when my grandpa had to work late nights. She worked on quilts to give her something to do and keep herself busy. I just love pieces with history behind them - so special! I also brought home some cute vintage ornaments that I strung up on the headboard as a garland. Our "headboard" is actually just two old shutters that David's grandpa was throwing out that we attached horizontally to the wall behind the bed!

My grandma also gave me this ceramic tree a few years back and I love putting it out each Christmas. And last year, she gave us a silver tree with a color wheel! We put that up this year and so far Gizmo hasn't messed with it too much, so I think we'll be able to keep it up. I've caught him just sitting and watching the colors change as the wheel turns. I think he's mesmerized by it!

Have you begun your holiday decorating yet?

~Tammy

This week in the Homemade Living series, I am joined by Mary and Jackie in posting about how we incorporate homemade items into our lives. Next week Daisy, Staci, and Sue will be up. If you have some free time, please check out the other posts in this weekly series!

Christmas Cookie Tag: Hershey Kiss Peanut Butter Blossoms

I'm so excited to share with you my first post in the Christmas Cookie Tag series! These peanut butter blossoms are definitely my all-time favorite cookies to bake during the holidays for several reasons, the main one being nostalgia. Growing up, I would bake these cookies with my mom each year and I always looked forward to it. The whole process was fun, from unwrapping each kiss to rolling the dough and covering it with sugar and finally topping each cookie fresh from the oven with a single kiss.

Hershey Kiss Peanut Butter Blossom Cookies
Recipe from Hershey's
Makes up to 48 cookies

Ingredients:
24-48 Hershey kiss chocolates (I made my cookies big so I only used about 24 kisses)
1/2 cup shortening
3/4 cup creamy peanut butter
1/3 cup granulated sugar
1/3 cup packed light brown sugar
1 egg
2 T milk
1 t vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 t baking soda
1/2 t salt
Additional granulated sugar in a bowl

Directions:
1) Heat oven to 375 degrees F. Beat shortening and peanut butter in a large bowl until blended. Add 1/3 cup granulated sugar and brown sugar, beat until fluffy. Add egg, milk, and vanilla; beat well. Stir together flour, baking soda, and salt; gradually beat into peanut butter mixture.
2) Roll dough between your hands to shape into 1-inch balls. Roll each ball in granulated sugar, then place on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper (do not flatten the cookies).
3) Bake 8-10 minutes or until lightly browned. Immediately press a chocolate kiss candy into the center of each cookie (the cookies will crack around the edges). Remove to wire rack to cool completely.

Once the cookies cool, the kisses are still a bit melted so when you get to the center of each cookie it is heaven. The combination of slightly melted chocolate with the warm crinkly peanut butter cookie is just out of this world. If you've never tried these and you like peanut butter and chocolate, do yourself a favor and bake up a batch tonight. You won't be disappointed!

If you'll remember, the fun of this series is that each blogger gets to tag the next person to post her recipe. So my job is to tag Daisy from Maple Hill 101 for her cookie recipe on Thursday. Daisy, you're it!

~Tammy

Shared with Holiday Cookie Hop, Fill the Cookie Jar, Down Home Blog Hop 

Prepare Your Beehive For Winter In 4 Steps

Since bringing home our bees this past spring, we have really enjoyed getting to know more about bees and what it takes to keep the hive healthy and happy. We feel like we have learned a lot so far, but I know we haven't even scratched the surface of everything we need to know. Sometimes it feels daunting, but we are just educating ourselves as we go along and hoping for the best.

It is starting to get much colder here (with the exception of some warmer days this week) so we have begun to prepare our hive for the winter. During the colder months, the bees don't leave the hive at all. Instead, they all form a tight cluster around the queen to lock in the warmth and keep her alive. They do need honey to survive the winter, and one main reason for hives not making it through the winter is starvation. So it is essential that your bees have enough to eat and that you help them as much as you can to keep the hive warm and free from invading pests.

Here's how we prepared our hive for winter.

Step 1 - Remove any extra honey supers.

The honey that is harvested each year is taken from the honey super. If the bees fill up the upper and lower deeps with honey, typically that is enough to sustain the hive over the winter and anything in the super is surplus honey that is safe to take.

However, we have decided to leave all the honey in the super since this is our first winter with bees and we want to be sure they have as much honey as possible. We did remove one of the supers that did not have any honey in it to reduce the space that has to be kept warm within the hive and help out the bees a little bit.

Step 2 - Replace the entrance reducer and install a mouse guard.

During the summer we took the entrance reducer out to help with ventilation in the hive, but in the winter it needs to be replaced. It helps keep the hive warm and also prevents any intruders from entering the hive. We used a piece of hardware cloth we had lying around to create a mouse guard over the entrance. Apparently mice really like to invade hives during the winter!

We will probably reduce the entrance size down even further.

Step 3 - Create a windbreak.

We decide to stack some bales of straw around the hive to help insulate and serve as a windbreak. We left the entrance of the hive open of course, but placed the straw around the other three sides.

Step 4 - If there is not enough honey, feed your bees.

We were able to get into the hive for a quick inspection yesterday since it was really warm, and noticed that a lot of the honey in the super was already gone. Since there wasn't much left, we need to feed our bees. When it's not too cold, you can feed a sugar syrup to the bees. However, when the temperatures dip below freezing, it is advised to feed sugar candy or fondant because the sugar syrup might freeze.

Searching for honey.

In addition to these four steps, some beekeepers also medicate their hive to prevent mites and certain other diseases. We felt kind of overwhelmed with all the opinions out there on medicating, and have not treated our hive at all yet this year. This is one area we definitely need to research more.

Do you keep bees? Have you prepared your hives for winter yet?

~Tammy

PS - Don't forget - today is the first day in our Christmas Cookie Tag series! Head on over to Jackie's blog to see what she has to offer today.

Shared with Maple Hill Hop