This place was home for many, many posts. I loved this place, but I needed more. I shopped around and decided this is where I belong. However, I'm still crying over how much I miss this little spot. Please, please come visit me.......I can't blog without you!
Coal Creek Farm
My sister and I and our poor husbands are going away for the weekend....together. We might be going somewhere to re-enact the sinking of The Titanic, or not. I don't really know how to tell you where we're going, except it's crazy, so it should feel very normal and not at all weird. We might be getting a heavy dose of counseling because after trying to combine our blogs I was searching through the Yellow Pages for Blog Counselors....there's a market there people, if you are a counselor reprint your business cards now with blog counseling available.
My new blog Coal Creek Farm is sitting there waiting for me to work on it some more. I would love to hear what you think so far, what you would like to see and if I should make any changes. It's a bit like I dumped clean laundry on the floor and can't find any hangers. So, I'll take advice, but I may not be physically able to implement anything right away. There is a learning curve......I'm at the bottom.
Okay, line up your chickens and give them a big peck for me and I want you to know, you are my favorite reader, yes you are. Oh, the arrogance, it's what keeps me going. Love, love, bye, bye, kiss, kiss, hug, hug.
Mud.
Clay has talked about having bees for years. He lucked out this year when the gentleman farmer that sold us our pigs informed us that he was moving and we offered to buy a couple of his hives from him. Also, Clay works with a young architect that has been dabbling in bees since he was a teenager and Clay peppers him with questions that fueled his desire to get into the apiary business sooner than later.
The young architect let Clay borrow his bee suit so he could take a look inside the hives without getting stung to death. The young architect is just a tad smaller than Clay which is obvious when you see how we had to duct tape the suit and around his ankles and wrists. Clay felt a bit trapped. Have I ever mentioned that Clay is horribly claustrophobic? He hates the feeling of being trapped.
Note that little orange tool in Clay's pocket. That is called a hive tool and it is crucial when you want to open a hive, especially one that hasn't been opened all winter because the bees glue everything shut with something called propolis or bee-glue or virgin wax.
He's suited up and protected from any stinging bees. The next step is to create some smoke to sedate the bees before opening the hive. We don't have a smoker yet, so we created one in a metal coffee can. Not the best solution, but it worked, mostly because it was a cool windy day the the bees weren't very active.
Dryer lint and leaves make a good smoke. Kansas wind makes it difficult to start a fire.
But that same Kansas wind was very helpful blowing the smoke into the hive. A little smoke into the entrance below and then....
take off the lid. The smaller white box on top is where we will collect the honey, it's called a super. The lower two boxes are where the bees live and work and breed and most importantly, it's where the queen reigns.
All of these things have names like supers, boxes, brooder, nukes, blah, blah, blah. I would fail a test right now, so bear with me as I learn. Clay is using his hive tool to take out all the things that the bees will build wax comb on and then insert golden honey, we call them frames.
The frames come with wax or plastic bases that have a hexagonal shape embedded on them. The bees build their wax directly on top of the hexagon grid. You can see a bit of the yellow wax that has already been built on top of the white plastic grid.
Down in the that oval shaped hole you can see the bees. Clay blew a few more puffs of smoke in the top of the hive so I could rush over and take these photos.
After taking out all the grids Clay loosens the top. The bees glue down everything. That is why you have to have a hive tool.
I can't remember what this board is called but it can be used to invert a jar of sugar syrup inside the hive to feed the bees and you can place a little one way door in the oval to keep bees in one part of the hive.
It was glued down pretty tight. The bees were calm and stayed inside the hive because it was incredibly windy and a tad chilly. You should never open the hive if it's below 55 degrees F.
There are approximately 40,000 bees in this hive. They could product up to 50 pounds of honey.
The brown specks are the bees. Clay was contemplating his next move. This was the first time he had opened the hive and he was excited and nervous.
In the end he decided it was too darn windy to take out any of the frames inside the hive for fear he would find the queen and she would blow away. So he removed the wooden board with the oval hole and inserted a queen excluder which looks like a metal grate. You can see it lying on the ground on top of the white lid. It allows the worker bees to crawl up to the top super and make honey but the queen is too big to get through the grate, so she stays below to lay eggs.
Here's what we have spent on our bees thus far:
$200- for two completely built hives includes two queen excluders, only one hive had live bees.
$50- to attend a bee conference and become members of the Kansas Beekeepers Association which sends out newsletters and crucial information for beginners.
We still need to buy a suit for Clay ($70-90), hive tool($5-7) and new bees for the second hive ($????).
Stay tuned I'm trying to get another post written about our hive that died.
We have four pigs this year. Unless you want to count our dog as a pig, then we have five. We bought them from the same gentleman that we had purchased from last year. He likes to keep his pigs until they are 10-12 weeks old and they weigh 40-50 pounds. We paid $50 per pig. This year we will keep one and breed her because our gentleman farmer is moving to another state. If all goes well we will have little piggies in December.
Pigs are very curious animals, they have to put their mouth on everything in case there is even the slightest chance that something could be edible.
If I prop my foot up on the rails they will come over and give my shoe a taste which is okay now that they are little, but when they get big, OUCH! You don't want the pigs tasting you, it hurts.
Preacher's tail was too much for the girls, they all had to give it a taste. This is why you clip pigs tails when they are born, otherwise they will chew off each others tails, not pretty. The pigs will be bigger than Preacher in a few weeks and I don't think he'll want to try to play with them anymore, because they will CRUSH him.
We used our old trampoline net to shade the pen. A sunburned pig is a miserable pig. Right now it's too cold to make mud for the girls so we put dry hay in their bedding pen and shade them from the morning sun and they keep each other warm and dry.
We bought 900 pounds of feed from a mill. We have had the pigs one week and they have eaten 125 pounds, so that feed won't last long.
This year we plan on purchasing all our feed from the mill in bulk to keep our cost down. We are also going to keep a better record of how much all our farm projects cost in hopes of being able to budget for next year.
Mmmmm, bacon.
Right now I find myself wanting to answer the much too common question, "How are you?" with "WE"RE JUST SO BUSY!" and then I want to punch myself in my crooked nostrils. Because I think that answer is over used and tells people to stay away and not ask anything of me......um, so maybe I should use it more often, der.
I have lots of critters that are requiring my attention. So, a bullet point post is all I have in me.
*We have 18 meat birds in the basement that creep me out and eat more food than I ever imagined. Which also means they poop more, which means I am constantly cleaning out their cage.
*We have two baby turkeys that I have nearly scared to death when I do my turkey call.
*We also have 21 chicks of various kinds peeping their little beaks off in another pen in the basement.
*Did I mention the turken? We got one turken also known as a naked neck. One of my chicken loving friends recommended it, so we got one to see if we like turkens.
*For those of you that have trouble with math, that adds up to 41 birds in my basement.
*We have one rooster and five hens left from our flock last year out in our chicken coop.
*I am getting one egg a day. It's very irritating. I had to buy eggs last week. Dad blab ricken frig grrrr CHICKENS!
*Mark your calendars on May 2nd we are planning to butcher the 18 meat birds (and possibly the lazy hens in the coop). I will post all the gory details right here for your viewing pleasure.
*Jean, Ellen is alive and well and yes, she spends most of her time hiding in the dark corners of our house to avoid being the subject of a blog post. The boys, however, wish I would post about them everyday.
*We went to the first of two beginning bee keeper classes. I'll try to post about that soon.
*One of our hives is dead. We're trying to decide if we should get a new queen this year or wait. There are so many details in the apiary business. I had no idea how much work bees can bee...hee hee. Also, it's not a cheap hobby. More on all that later.
*For the third time I hung out laundry and then started to burn sticks and brush. My clothes all smelled like smoke. I had to wash them again. This does nothing to help make my life easier or prove to others that I have any brains.
*I've planted peas, beets, lettuce, spinach, onions and herbs. I desperately need to get potatoes in the ground.
*We had a violent wind storm here all day yesterday and last night. I was certain our barn roof was going to be torn off and splintered all over the field, but it's still intact. I honestly don't know how it survived.
*That's it for now, gotta run, cause, you know, I'm so bus....er, I mean, uh, um, I got some stuff to do and then after that, some more stuff, and then my stuff has stuff to do, and then I'm gonna stuff some stuff in my stuffer.
*Now line up all your critters and give them a big hug and kiss for me and for the sake of the baby turkey's don't gobble.
You really do bring them home in a box, like they're dinner. I have 41 chickens in my basement right now. More photos of them later.
Our fair city gives away compost every year. They charge $10 if you want them to dump a big scoop in the back of your truck. I'd say that's a good deal.
The two glowing orbs were a surprise. I'm not sure if I'll be able to use them in the garden beds. Also, you should have seen my bathtub that night. It looked like I had unloaded the entire contents of the truck into it.
My boys worked really hard tearing apart the remaining bits of our shed that was blown to bits.
Boys and hammers, they go together like pie and ice cream.
They took out all the nails and reused them to build.......
this lovely raised bed. I have to tell you, it drives the Architect crazy not to use pretty wood that's perfectly straight, but repurposing what we have is FREE and since we are the cheapest people in the world right now we find ourselves saying, "that'll do" quite a bit.
We bought two beehives this year. Preacher was fascinated by them and has already been stung a couple of times because he tries to catch them as they fly out of the hive. Silly dog. This is the hive that we put by the orchard.
We have one very active hive and one hive that we are certain all the bees are dead. We'll buy a new queen and try to split the good hive. I say that like I know what I'm doing, but in fact this is all new to us. We'll be attending a bee conference this week to learn as much as we can about bees and honey. This is the active hive, we put it back by Ramone's old vehicles in hopes that our honey will have a nice rusty flavor. Do I have to say I'm kidding for you city folk? Okay, I'm kidding, we put it back there so the cows wouldn't be lonely.
Our pond has filled up nicely. Maybe we should get ducks. Do you think ducks would like a mud hold the size of a jacuzzi? No? Well, Preacher loves it.
Preacher also love the pigs. He thinks we got them just for him. Today, he got in their pen, lined up an ate a meal with them. It was weird, our dog thinks he's a pig.
Isaac, my 7yo, took these photos.
He was trying to make it look like he had a giant hand reaching out to touch the pigs. He's a very goofy little boy, or did you already guess that?
My goodness, it's amazing I am able to type. I've been gardening the last two days and my hands, back, neck, legs....okay my entire body is really sore.
Which means that for the last five months I have not moved a single muscle and now I'm paying for it.
We are so busy, so I'm just going to give you a run down and hopefully get some photos up later.
- built new raised beds
- hauled home a truck load of compost
- trimmed trees
- burned brush
- got baby chicks
- got more baby chicks
- got turkeys
- got two bee hives
- four pigs are being delivered on Tuesday
I'm exhausted.
Goodnight.
It was the brunette that braved another visit to Coal Creek Farm. The poor dear can't live without me. Sometimes she'll email me a picture of herself in an outfit and ask, "Does this go together?". She's an only child and I'm bossy enough to say, "Don't ever wear that skirt again. Throw it in the trash now!" And she usually listens to me.
And her husband, I swear, he is my little brothah from anothah mothah He acts so much like my dad it's frightening. I think he and my dad are about the same size too. Wittle, wittle, tiny guys with lots of spit and vinegar.
But, the best thing about these two are......
(April, I'm lovin' the black socks with the sweat pants, classy girl!)
ugh, how cute is he? He's so tiny compared to my boys. He's three years old and wearing a sweater that my boys out grew before they were two!
And he talks. Oh, Lord, does he talk. It doesn't seem right that such a tiny little baby should be saying so many words. I kept scooping him up and loving on him. I just couldn't stop kissing and hugging him no matter how many times he said, "Put me down! I wipe off yo kiss!" 
Right before they left to go back home.....
I decided I couldn't live without.....
EATING HIM ALL UP!!!! He was delicious.
My kids are too old and stringy! You know, they taste a little gamey.
These are the only after pictures I can find of the porch furniture. You can see the before here.
I probably don't have to explain why there is dog hair, mud and Lord knows what else on those cushions.
Good thing he's so sweet. PREACHER, GET DOWN!!!
Stay tuned, I'm going to post photos of our visitors from this weekend and there might be a shot of my hair too. Muwhahahaha, MUWHAHAHAHA!
A couple weeks after we moved to Coal Creek Farm two of my dearest friends drove from St. Louis to make sure I was going to be okay living in Kansas again. They also thought they were going to help me unpack my house and get me organized. But, what they didn't quite understand was that my mom and dad were so incredibly happy to have us back in Kansas that in a matter of two days they had all my boxes unpacked, my kitchen set up and the beds made. I think they wanted us to feel like we never left and for GOD'S SAKE DON'T MOVE AGAIN!!!!
So, when my girlfriends showed up they were ready to work on something and they chose to re-do my porch furniture since I had this great new porch.
I sure wasn't gonna tell them that was a bad idea. Who am I to turn down free labor?
It was really bothering all of us that I had this pretty porch and none of the furniture matched. It was a bit sad.
We decided to spray paint all the wicker black, much to Clay's discouragement. No matter how many times I said, "Black is the new white!" he did not want us to paint that furniture.
We painted it anyway.
And we painted.......
and we painted. I think we went through ten or twelve cans of paint and our hands were crippled by the end.
Still having fun with the project we headed off to the fabric store to pick out what we wanted for the cushions. Two of us had some trouble staying focused.
One of us was getting a bit tired of being in the fabric store and was questioning her decision of coming to Kansas in the first place. We spent at least two hours picking out just the right fabric. When we got back home I found a bunch of old fabric that I loved and we used it instead. Uh..whooooops.
We stayed up until the wee hours of the morning a couple nights in a row to get the cushions done. With the aid of some wine, coffee, internet access and maybe a bit of Southern Comfort we kept ourselves on task.
And then I turned into a ninety-four year old man with stringy blond hair.
We wondered if we'd ever get those stupid cushions done and we decided visiting April in Kansas is exhausting.
We did get the cushions finished and they looked great for about two months. Then my kids and animals took over and well....yeah.
I sure wish my girlfriends would come back and sew me up some new covers, but that might be pushing my luck.
One of these girls has decided to brave the trip again. I can't wait to see her. Can you guess which one is dumb enough to come back? I won't make her sew, but I am going to make her do some gardening.
