Grapes Have Leaves

Today I was watching/listening to a program and heard someone make a comment.  The conversation was about a recipe that used grape leaves.  This person commented they didn't even know grapes have a leaves.  So I let my mind ponder on that a moment.

Yes, grapes grow on a vine that has leaves.  Being close to my own food source it seems foreign to imagine someone would think that milk and eggs come from the grocery store.  Chicken, beef, pork and fish are found in the refrigerated area at the store. Vegetables are stored in bins and bread on shelves. Right?

Harland and I have followed the Survivor TV series for several years now.  We laugh when the show provides live chicken for the contestants in their camp.  On several occasions they have killed the hen and keep the rooster.  Even though we have seen this several times we are always amazed.  So many people do not know a hen will lay eggs without the presence of a rooster.  So if they had killed the rooster instead of the hen they would still have a hen laying eggs and still have a protein food source.

The move away from the family farm has resulted in a society that does not know and not enough people care where good affordable food comes from.  As the number of family farms dwindle every decade I wonder who will supply food for the multitudes.  As usual it will be the adage, 'You don't know what you've got until it's gone'.  My mom and dad never owned a farm.  We lived near farms and at different times rented farm houses.  As a child I was always aware of farm life.  I always knew milk came from cows and corn came from fields and so on.

As a result some have no empathy for the people who work hard to bring food our tables.  I believe some even look down upon those who live in rural settings as well as the farmer.  I don't believe in any way most people know how hard the work is for a farmer.  Or the sense of responsibility they feel about providing the worlds food.  Their work continues when the weather is cold or hot, fair or cloudy.   Every years crop is an investment with no guarantee of a fruitful outcome.  I personally have grumbled about food prices at the grocery store.  But trust me in most cases the farmer is not the getting the benefit of most of the increase in food cost.

You can blame that on rising production costs, mainly fuel.  Fuel costs touch every aspect of farm life.  The cost to plant seed, fertilize and harvest food, bring feed for livestock to the farm, take livestock and foodstuffs to the market and process food for consumption.

On a personal note, I find being closer to my food source gives me an appreciation for the land, the soil, the dirt.  I love to smell the air after the soil in the fields and gardens have been turned over.  There is something beautiful about the order of perfectly laid out rows of crops in gardens and fields.  I love seeing the dots of cows and other stock against rolling hillsides of green pastures.  Even though our farm only produces a few cows, chickens, bees and our own garden I love being part of farm life.  I think everyone should have an opportunity to experience it.  Even if they don't enjoy being part of the farm experience, everyone should know where their food comes from.  I plan to make sure all of my grandchildren learn milk comes from a cow and does not magically appear on the grocery store shelves!  I challenge everyone else to do likewise!

Oh Beautiful Day

Oh Beautiful Day,

What a pretty morning!  We had a hard rain yesterday evening which made it a little muggy today.  But overall it was a nice day here at the farm.  We are still living in the construction zone.  But everything is moving along a bit faster even with the rain.  Franklin and Butch have just about finished rocking under the porch.  We had to cover everything up with tarps before the rain yesterday.  The steps going out the front are finished now.  Bill is working on the shop at the barn.  The electrical went in today.  I think the overhead lights should go up tomorrow.  Then the door.  After the wall is finished, Bill will work on the cover for the walkway. Just a little longer is what I keep telling myself.

The garden is underway.  We have already harvested the broccoli.  I love fresh broccoli.  I told Harland he could go ahead and chop the plants down.  But he said he wanted to leave it a little longer.  Since then he has picked two more times.  So now I'm glad he didn't.  The green peas should be ready just any day.  We've had some regular rain so that should make them plump up pretty quick.  We cut one head of cabbage this past weekend and it was really good too.  The potatoes are starting to bloom and the beans are starting to vine now.  Harland has been trying to keep the tomatoes contained in the cages, but they are being unruly.  Tucking them in is an everyday chore.  The lettuce is starting to get leggy and will be going to seed before to long.  It doesn't like the hot days.

I gotta get down in the pantry and fix the rest of my dollies to slide the jars under the cabinets.  I have everything I need to get it done.  It's been on my to do list for a while now and I need to get it done before I get busy with everything else.  I still have my brunswick stew sitting on the counter.  So it will be in my way if I don't get the dollies done soon.  I got the railing painted so Harland or Bill can finish the additional cabinets down there.  Hopefully now it will be easier to get to everything.

I'm still trying to get weeding done in the flower beds.  Soon as I get most of it done, its time to start all over again.  I'm not sure my climatis vine is going to make it here at the end of the walkway.  It still has some green on it, but didn't come out of the winter like it should have.  I think I need to move it.  The trees above have grown and leaved out a lot more.  I don't think it gets the sunshine there that it once did.  A move might do it some good.  All of the flower beds at that end of the house will have to change anyway once the new walkway is finished.

Today I let my little silkie rooster (Jack) out of his pen.  The pen is really small and I think it was stressing him out.  He's been separated from Jill while she was sitting.  She had nine chicks a couple of weeks ago.  So he's been up for about a month.  Anyway, I felt sorry for him and let him out for the day.  Now he is missing.  I think that darn red tail hawk got him while I was at the house working in the flower beds.  Last time I saw him he was in the shed and under the trailer.  He had clucked around under there all morning.  So not sure what become of him unless it was the hawk. :(

I took one frame of honey from my bee hive.  I don't have an extractor so it's been a very slow process letting the honey drip from the frame.  We had biscuits with honey this weekend.  It was so good.  I guess considering what we have eaten, I probably got close to a quart out of that frame.  I'm just going to give the rest of it back to the bees.  Just had to try some since I won't get a honey crop this first year.  Maybe next year!

Most of my kids were with me for Mother's Day this year.  Audrey and Jon couldn't get away.  We had a great visit and my mom came up so she could see the great grandbabies.  Of course Harland and Charlie couldn't wait to get to the barn after lunch.  I think it was just an excuse to go get some snacks, ummm I mean dessert from the fridge.  I think it was a nutty buddy.

The girls will be here with us for a few days next week.  JoCasta and Wayne are going to a wedding and taking a few days to go to the beach.  But, I         think we will have more fun!

Bella was out and enjoying the walk in her stroller.  She is always a happy girl.

Mom's mothers day gift.  I got one too, but her's was the prettiest!

Bee Happy!

Bee Happy!

Last year Harland and I made new friends, Melvin and Shirley Kidd.  They are beekeepers and Melvin also makes wooden ware for hives.  We needed bees to pollinate our fruit trees in the orchard.  So Melvin moved in his bees.  They have been visiting for a couple of spring blooms now.  I have been watching some of the most interesting and beneficial insects in the world.  I have also observed Melvin in several challenging situations trying to capture swarms from his hives.  Not to mention that they have shared the beautiful and delicious honey from their hives.

This spring when Melvin and Shirley were here to check out a new swarm they let me suit up so I could get in a little closer to see the differences in the worker bees, the drones and the queen.  I was enthralled.  I wanted some of my own bees.  But, I wanted to study some before jumping in with insects that have stingers!  There is so much to learn!  Before heading to the beach with mom last month, I found a hive of bees for sale on Craigslist.  I called and asked a lot of questions.  But should have already been on the road to the beach so I let it go.  Unknown to me Harland called the guy back and bought the hive for me.  They are called Carniolian (pronounced Car Knee O Lee N)

The hive was delivered on Friday before I came home on Saturday with Charlotte.  All week I wanted to get in there and check them out.  But I had Charlotte for the week and didn't want to lose a minute of our time with her here.  So I tabled it all week.  I still had to buy all my protective apparel and gear!  In the meantime, a friend offered a swarm hive that was captured this spring.  Harland, Charlotte and myself went to pick it up on Monday night.  We were supposed to go on Sunday night, but we spent the evening in the emergency room with Charlotte.  Oouch!

So I then had two bee hives!  Finally I got all my gear and dove into the hives to have a look see.  Amazing, to see the inside of a hive.  I found the queen in one of my hives.  I was afraid I wouldn't be able to find her in all those bees.  Thousands and thousands of worker bees lots of drones and one little queen.  Although you can go out on the Internet and look at pictures, nothing can compare to seeing her amongst all the workers.  If she reveals herself, there is no doubt,  when you see her you know who she is.  Long and slender a little larger than the worker bees.  She is everything to the hive.  They cannot survive without her.  Oddly enough, she cannot survive without her hive.   She lays between 2000 and 3000 eggs a day!  She doesn't even have time to eat, drink or take care of her personal hygiene.  The workers feed her and attend to her every need.

The hive loves and adores her!  But in the event she is no longer able to lay eggs or she doesn't perform to the hives expectations, it's off with her head.  Not literally, but they do push her from the hive and she will swarm with a portion of the hive.  Or they will kill her.  The hive can even produce a new queen from eggs that are less than 3 days old by feeding it royal jelly.  All eggs laid are exactly the same.  The only difference between a worker and a queen is eating the royal jelly.  In contrast, a worker bee lives approximately 30 to 35 days.  A queen can live up to 5 years.  I want some of that royal jelly!  Anyway, I am sure I will be sharing more bee facts with you going forward.  I just wanted to share with you my interest in beekeeping.

Several years ago, I was stung on the foot by a Japanese hornet.  Hateful insects.  It is one of the most painful experiences you could imagine.  It felt like I stepped on a hot nail.  I could feel the burn as the venom went up and through me.  I cried and cried.  It hurt so bad that after a couple of hours past I was still hurting so bad I could not sleep.  I got out of bed and laid down on the sofa so I would not keep Harland awake, because I could not be still in the bed.  After I laid down, my feet began to itch, then my legs, then my belly, arms, neck and face.  I woke Harland up to tell him, he said turn on the lights and as soon as he saw me he said put your clothes on I am taking you to the emergency room.  I was covered in whelps.  I had reacted to the hornet sting.  It's called  anaphylactic shock.  The doctors told me that since I reacted to the hornet I would probably react to any sting or bite....and the next time I was stung, I did.  Several years later I was stung by a wasp.  I got an ambulance ride to the hospital for that.  Now it seems like I am a wasp magnet.  If you see this big guy (in the picture above) run the opposite direction because he is bad news.  Also the enemy of the honey  bee.  I have watched them grab one of my bees in mid air and fly off with it.  Poor bee!

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2002/10/1025_021025_GiantHornets.html

Now you are probably wondering why I want to play with honey bees!  Well I do wear a full suit.  Harland says I look like I am walking on the moon or an alien when I am wearing it.  It is not 100%, but pretty protective.  So my second time in the hives I was stung.  But I did not react and have to use my epi pen!  I didn't want to be stung of course.  But I was so relieved  that I didn't react.  Now I can follow my interest and enjoy working and learning about my honey bees.  So far I have been stung twice.  Amazingly, bee stings do not hurt as bad as wasp stings and definitely nothing like a Japanese hornet.  I still keep my epi pen with me when I am out there.  Just in case!  I hope you enjoy the pictures of my bees.  We are looking forward to the bees sharing a little of their honey with us!

After The Rain

After the Rain

As I was looking out the kitchen window late this afternoon the sun was breaking through the clouds.  The pasture behind the house was streaked with the rays of the sun.  You could see the remaining moisture in the air  as the sun reflected off the rising steam.  I walked outside with my camera.  The air was so fresh.

Ever wonder where that smell comes from?  That fresh after the rain smell.  Or around a waterfall or moving water.  It comes from negative ions.  Before a storm there is a build up of positive ions (not good for you, also called free radicals).   Negative ions are good for you!  They improve your mood and uplift your spirit.  Not only mentally, but they affect you physically as well.  Just like positive ions can affect you before a storm by making your bones ache if you have arthritis.  Positive ions can also contribute to stuffy noses and many more physical ailments.  They can even increase irritability, tension and depression.  I learned a lot while I was reading about the effects of positive and negative ions on honey bees.

So as I was walking around with my camera I got a big charge from the negative ions.  It felt really good and smelled good too.  I thought I would just share some of my pictures.

Enjoy!

In The Garden

In The Garden,

Yesterday morning I cut the broccoli in Harland's garden in the sprinkling rain.  I think he said there were 38 plants.  I had my wagon full to overflowing.  I wheeled it up to the basement door so I could get them into the pantry.  So I spent the remainder of the day soaking them in salt water, parboiling, cooling them down, drying and flash freezing the florets.  I don't like to leave a lot of stalk on the florets.  I think I had about 10 gallon bags to go in the freezer.  Then when we are ready to eat we just pull out the amount we need from the bag.

The flowers have just been beautiful here on the farm this spring.  When Charlotte was here she loved stopping to look at them and picking them as we went back and forth to the barn.  Since we had a mild winter it seems as though we have had a long spring.  Unlike the normal fast warm up we have had a good bit of cool weather and some gray days.  Looks like this morning will be like yesterday's cool, gray and wet with rain forecasted for later today.  Maybe I can get some of my potted flowers in the ground before it rains?  Also rains means no work on the brick laying for the porch!

Saturday Jill my little white silkie hen hatched 9 tiny little chicks. Eight of them were silkies and one was a barred rock cochen.  Three of the barred rock cochens did not hatch.  I wish Charlotte could have been here when they hatched.  She would have been so excited.  But she can see them this weekend when she comes with her mom, dad and Bella.  Three of Cooper's ladies have decided they need to sit on some eggs.  So once again our friend Gary has provided some of his Rhode Island Red and Black Copper Maran cross eggs.  I slipped them under the girls yesterday evening.  The girls were not happy to see me.  They let me know they did not appreciate I was disrupting their rest on the nest.  If everything goes well we should have around 21 chicks in 21 days.

Harland's red cow he calls Red Bird had a calf Sunday.  Harland said it was a bull calf but I haven't seen him yet.  I like to get out and see them within a couple of days.  You can usually creep up and pet them while they are on the ground.  I doubt Red Bird will let me do that with her baby.  She's always been skiddish and gets the wide eyed look on her face whenever you get close to her.  But I will try to get a picture of him when the weather clears up and I can get my camera outside.

Harland has an Amarylis flower planted in his garden along the driveway.  I never knew you could plant them outside and would have told him you can't.  I am glad I didn't know because it made it through the winter and it is blooming and just beautiful.  It was one of his mom's.   He has several of her flowers planted along the driveway.  Mums, daffodils and a piece of some kind of shrub, maybe some sort of holly.  Probably some more but I can't remember what is out there unless they are blooming.  He has a green thumb but doesn't want anyone to know that he likes flowers.  He thinks they will think he is a sissy.  But, I think a lot of guys like flowers.  There is just something fun about playing in the dirt!


We had a few bee swarms this spring.  I think three.  Melvin Kidd has a couple of hives here on the farm.  The  source of two of the swarms.  I caught a few pics of him as he was in a pickle trying to get one of the swarms out of our pear tree.

That's the first one that has gone that high here on the farm.  They usually pick the same peach tree right in front of the hives.  That's the tree in the bottom two pictures.

Audrey, Amber and JoCasta I forgot to tell you.  They tore down the motel next to the Yahtzman.  They are building a Mexican Restaurant. It will be nice to have a restaurant close by the condo!  Hope it's a good one!

So It's Been A While

Hello Friends,

So....it's been a while since I've posted on my blog.  I will try to give you the run down of events since March.  As you know my last post was just after we had Charlotte and Bella here at the farm.  Right before they left I started with a sore throat and head cold and moved on to my chest.  After that I basically coughed for the next 6 weeks.  I originally thought that JoCasta gave me her cold/virus.  Then attributed it to the break in the weather and allergies.  But I finally went to the doctor and took a round of antibiotics.  I felt better within 3 days and finally got well.

We finally finished the retaining wall.   Harland's rock smoker/grill is finished and he laid the last of the stones on the patio.  The stone work is finished around the bottom of our house. It looks great!  (Pictures later)  So then we decided we wanted to extend the stonework around the front porch.  In order to do that it must be blocked first.  So that is where we currently are.  Still in construction mode.  I also wanted more shelves in the pantry, so Bill is working on that and it should take long.  We should be finished long before canning time. Once the stonework is finished under the porch they will start on a bridge from the porch to the area where we park.  We have a drainage problem along the walkway on that end.  This will resolve that problem.  I am excited about seeing the end results!

I went to the beach with mom mid April and had a good visit with her.  The temperature was cold the whole time.  But, I still enjoyed seeing the ocean.  We walked alot and had a good time.  On the way home I stopped and picked up Charlotte and brought her back to the farm for a week.  It was a great time for all of us.  She was up every morning ready to go to the barn.  Again the weather was still to chilly and we had some gray days, but we went out and spent a great deal of time at the barn.  She played in her sandpile that Papa fixed for her.  She was crazy about her rabbits that Papa gave them for Easter.  We ended up bringing them back to the house in a small cage I found at the cattle sale in Wilkesboro.  We held them every morning and every evening and some in between.
While she was here she had a little accident that involved a trip to the emergency room, scaring us all.  Three stitches above her eye, but I think and hope it will fade away soon.  Just another story to tell about a visit to Nana and Papa's.

We did some farming and planting some seeds.  She even took a little farming project home with her.  Some beans, cucumbers and flowers.  She was excited about Daddy helping her plant them at her house.  It's been about 10 days so she should have most of them germinating by now.  I haven't talked with her to see if they have.  I will have to give her a call.

Bella had her six months birthday in April.  She is so precious and beautiful and is the happiest baby.  I hope I get to see her this month.  I feel like I did when Charlotte was that age, that her first year is going so fast and it is slipping away from me.  I think a need a whole week of her, but will settle for a good weekend visit.

We had a great visit with our very good friends from Missouri, Skeet and Judy Davis.  I took Judy to the cattle sale.  It was so fun seeing it through someone else's eyes.  We walked every row and she had to look at everything.  We even bought jars that we forgot to go back and get.  I had to go the next Monday to see if I could find the lady and pick them up.  She was there and we recovered our jars, yeah!  Skeet and Harland talked cows and horses and solved all the world's problems over the week.  I can't believe all the stuff Judy was able to get in their van to haul back to MO.  Besides the usual of their luggage and personal effects, I can't even remember everything, but here's an example....Two rabbits in a cage, a dog, post hole digger, apples, jars, a large ammo box, a cooler, a 6 hole chicken nest and oh so much more!!!!  Too funny!
We always have a lot of fun with them.

Well, I have several more things to catch you up on, but will save them for another post.