I'm a Bee Haver not a Bee Keeper

Yes that is four deep supers stacked on top of each other.  I have created a problem with my bee housing that keeps getting worse.  When we brought my one hive in from the coriander field pollination last month I couldn't wait to get it to my *bee yard* in the walnut orchard behind the house.  Bill helped me put it on a nice pallet, we cleared the area around it...I drug out a rocking chair my friend dropped off for me to give to another friend (sorry Paula)...  Anyway, the next day I go to lift the top off the hive and discover there is no inner cover and there are only 5 frames in the super and the bees had built free-form comb.  The comb was hanging from top to bottom and my quick look counted at least 3 of these hanging combs.  I took the lid w/comb and placed it above an empty super thinking I had some research to do.  I ended up spending several weeks watching YouTube videos of people handling bees, putting wild hives into box hives, capturing swarms, etc. etc.  I also ordered more frames, queen excluder, inner cover and a brush from Mann Lake thinking everything would be here in a couple days (Mann Lake in Woodland is 45 minutes away.)..well they send the stuff from their East Coast operation: even tho they had the items in Woodland!  So today I go out to the bee yard all decked out with my fake bee suit, smoker smoking...lift the top preparing to cut the comb and reattach to empty frames and place in another super...again...it did not go well...the comb is heavy and I can barely lift it, let alone try cut the comb.  I flipped the top upside down and the bees immediately went wild!  I smoked them several times, calmed them down, but still was not able to have the courage to cut the comb.  I ended up putting a super with new frames in the third position...first position has a few frames and some bees...the second super has a queen excluder and 5 frames, then I placed the cover with the comb in an empty super on top of the third...I'm hoping they all fly away to a better bee keeper and I can start all over again and get the right equipment and not depend on my husband and his *friends* to get the right stuff!  Yes that is 2 cinder blocks on top of the fourth super...the comb was about 3 inches longer than the super: I squashed it down...and YES the bees are totally PISSED!  I was out there from 8 a.m. until 12 noon and accomplished not a damn thing.  I have not given up though.  I will have several new hives and will be ordering new bees and a couple queens in the spring.  I hope the ladies I have recover from my man-handling...but I wouldn't blame them if they just packed up and left.

                                    

These are the elderberries I picked from the side of the road while going into town.  I took a pair of scissors and clipped them right into the bucket.  Funny little berries...I've seen them my whole life and never eaten one.  I'm making a syrup and jelly.  I read they are good for colds and flu...I will make about 4 quarts of juice and 6 pints of jelly.

                                           

Still have to pick the peaches on the old tiny bent tree next to the driveway...I have never had any good peaches off of that tree in the 30 years I have lived here.  But this year I watered and paid attention and we now have some pretty nice peaches.  Tessa made a peach cobbler yesterday and said it was delicious.

I have run out of pantry storage in the house and catering storage too!  The steel shelving will go into the old bedroom downstairs and become the new food storage room...I have 2 stainless steel rolling carts, too.  The blue salad bar cambro will be next years fresh produce stand in front of the house and the 3 brown rolling cambros will be sold via craigslist or ebay.  Too much stuff and too much to do!

I'm Sing'n the Cabin Canning Blues!

And The Sauce Begins

The cabin weekend was terrific!  Paula used up all of the old quilt blocks I've made over the years and made curtains/Roman Shades for the cabin!  I made tons and tons of tomato sauce and canned whole tomatoes.  I took 3 huge lugs up and came down with lots of full jars, but I still have a lug and a half to do!  Tomorrow I can the rest.  I would have liked to do it today, but this a.m. I went over to the Business and Visitors Center and packed up my office and removed all of my commercial kitchen equipment...I had lots of help and it only took one hour.  I now feel FREE!  The Community Garden will be managed by me via email and once a week visits, I'll do the Chamber e-blasts from home and go to the offices only when needed...YEAH!

August is for Prozac

Last night at the Farmers Market I had to ask one of the Vendors the date..."August 9th"....absolutely NO WAY!  Have I been zoned out for over a week...snap out of it!  I'm pretty sure I have adult ADD...no I'm serious...totally focused for one minute, easily distracted the next...jump from one project to the next...and ALWAYS loosing track of time.  I wonder if there's a pill for that...took Prozac for a year...loved how it kept my thoughts corralled in and narrowed...I actually visualized this file cabinet in my brain and as each task was finished I filed it...really terrific...then we had a family crisis and my brain refused to handle it..it was like I stepped back and was watching my life as a movie and I had no personal/emotional connection. I quit taking the Prozac, handled *the elephant in the room* and never went back on the *pill*...there are many days I miss it...but it didn't let me be the crazy ADD me that I truly am...and being a wife, mother and friend requires dealing with herds of elephants in the room!

Canned Sam's first batch of tomatoes...would love to do 3 times more...but that requires going to the field and picking them...ow my aching back...suggested to Sam he pull off 2 or 3 lugs from the sorting machine he just rolled his eyes: I'm sure he's just too busy to help his old ma out...we'll see.

Hatched out 4 baby chicks in the incubator: what an adventure: felt like I was the mother hen.  I tried to graft them onto my broody hen, but after a bit she refused to take them...so I've got them under a brood light her in the house (I'll be taking them to the cabin this weekend).  I have another 6 eggs in the incubator I hope hatch out...then we should have plenty of chickens.  I will be keeping a rooster and see if we can raise chicks the natural (lazy) way.

I canned up apple sauce, peaches, plums and pickles.  I still have a bunch of Granny Smiths and Asian Pears from Paula's...I just love having a friend with an AWESOME orchard!!  I bought a couple pounds of Gala apples at the Market and will add them to my next batch of Granny Smith applesauce and no sugar.  I have some small Heirloom cherry tomatoes in the dehydrator.  I made a batch of Claire's pickles and altho I'm sure they will taste great...they turned out wrinkled...I processed them in a water bath instead of just putting in the hot vinegar and sealing...I'm going to do another batch not processed.

The Garden is looking good.  I have a melon a day and they taste great, but I have discovered I'm not that crazy about melons.  I feel I wasted a lot of garden space planting what I thought I should plant instead of things I like...it's something amateur do and I'm no amateur.  So next year I get my melons at the Farmers Markets and Bills fields.  I will grow pole beans on the fences and buy at the FM for canning.  No cukes, cantaloupe, watermelon, zucchini, crooknecks and just a couple winter squash.  More beets, celery, Brussels, broccoli, cauliflower, peas, strawberries, potatoes, peanuts, chicken feed, garlic, herbs and just a few heirloom tomatoes.

Well the reason for my down and out mood is my friend Nancy didn't cut it in the Peace Corps.  I was really planning on living vicariously through her adventure and I am very disappointed . Enough said on that subject.

I have wasted this whole day doing bits of laundry, web surfing and snacking of fresh fruits and vegetables from last night's Market.  It is 4:00 p.m. and I will now shut off this damn computer, check the bees, chickens, garden and clean out the little pickup so I can pack and race up to the cabin tomorrow afternoon.  I will have a day to myself, then Paula up on Thursday, Dee Dee Friday and Nancy Friday late afternoon.