Saturday, July 31, 2010

Long Live The Queen



We have a New Queen!!! She's the one in the middle with the long abdomen. Thank the Lord!!! I was really getting scared!! she hasn't started laying much, but she will. Now, hopefully, we can get our hive population back up before winter hits. There has been a definite population drop, you can tell almost instantly. The life span of a honeybee is not very long. We were without a queen for about a month, which means that there were no new bees for a month. Needless to say, it's a good thing we've got a queen!

Here is a full frontal shot of the garden I've been promising for the past month! We're getting to the last days of it now. The corn has all been harvested and put up. The zucchini and squash are done producing, Thank God! We didn't get many purple hull peas this year, which is really disappointing to me because I LIVE for purple hull peas during the winter. I don't have any in my freezer! I think that it has something to do with our garden pest, Templeton, as The Man so kindly calls it. I call it a pain in the you know what! It needs to be eliminated...hopefully it hasn't reproduced. Yes, it is a field RAT!!! Not a mouse, but a rat and it enjoys purple hull peas as much as I do. We need to get the .22 out and have some target practice!



That's about it in our world. Been a some-what lazy weekend so far. The Man was busting up firewood yesterday and moving it all in the barn. Don't know if I told you or not but we invested in a good wood-burning fireplace the other weekend. Now we have to stock pile wood. I was in the house cleaning and cooking. Made some good chili and a blueberry buckle. It was all YUMMY!!!!! Today I have to cut the grass and put up laundry. Yep, I'm busy!!! I think I'm going to try to get in the studio and work. I realized the other day that I've only got it for another couple of months before I have to pack everything up and move in all the baby stuff! It's bittersweet.

Well, I think that's it for now. I'll be back this week with an update....got a baby doc appointment!!! Until then, Ya'll have a GREAT day!!!

Saturday, July 24, 2010

Bye Bye First Trimester

Well it's my last week of my first trimester and I'm feeling energy return to my body. Today the high is supposed to be 100 degrees!!! Needless to say, we're staying inside today. I'm in the process of making Paczki (pronounced PONCH-KI), Polish yeast doughnuts, per The Man's request. Let me tell you it is VERY difficult to make these without a heavy duty mixer. I've had to mix the dough my hand! At least my bi-seps have benefited from this. Oh how I wish I had a fairy godmother who would give me all the small things that I truly need, like a mixer. Oh well....maybe I could put one on the baby's registry. After all, it will be a Polish child and I'm sure it will want Paczki as soon as it is able to eat "real" food. Wishful thinking right.

I've been "putting up" veggies all this week. I've made 2 batches of salsa, which turned out AMAZING, and we've started putting up the corn, also AMAZING. We've put up about 8lbs of corn so far and we've still got 3 rows to go! I think I'll end up finishing that today. The tomatoes are starting to come around in more quantity so I'll be canning those as well. Poppa and Step-Mommie bought me a pressure caner so I think I'll use that for the tomatoes, just to see how it works. Hopefully we'll be harvesting another round of purple hull peas!! Now these are my favorite. Last year I put up a bunch but this year they're not producing like they should. I'm hoping that it's just taking a bit of time. I really want a freezer full of peas come winter. We've already been freezing squash and zucchini, which I am sick of seeing. I don't think we'll be planting those next year!! We've had too much!

Everything else is coming along well. The beans are the next thing to harvest hopefully in the next week or so and the watermelon and cantaloupe will be soon after that. Hopefully it will cool off enough for me to get out to the garden and take some pictures! Seems I haven't been doing that lately. Sorry.

I guess I'll stop talking about the garden now. Unfortunately that's about the most exciting thing going on right now. Pathetic, I know. My life revolves around The Farm and The Baby. Since there's not much news about The Baby, its all about the garden. Well, I think my dough needs to be punched down and I'm gonna get some other baking done that I've been meaning to do. So I will leave you all in peace! Maybe, just maybe I'll take some pictures of the yummies and post them tomorrow! Ya'll have a good one!

Wednesday, July 14, 2010

Just Checking In

I have been so tired lately that I've completely neglected making a new post. Sorry about that. The Farm has been buzzing lately....literally. We found out that our queen bee has died and the hive is all in a flutter. They are trying to rear s new queen as we speak. I pray that their efforts are fruitful. We have been busy caring for them lately. I got stung for the first time...they got me twice in the thigh and let me tell you those little girls can pack a punch. They have been more aggressive now that they are queen-less, they're not too happy about that. I will keep you posted on their progress.

The Farm is also buzzing with company this week. My sister and brother in law are visiting from North Carolina this week. We have missed them so much...its been great having them here. My parents in law and other sister in law will be here tomorrow....yep we will have a house full. It'll be nice visiting with everyone. We are going to be out and about tomorrow so I will be posting some pictures shortly.

Other than that life is good, except for the constant sleepyness, heart burn, and waking up three times a night to pee. Just found out that Mabel is coming home tomorrow. She's going to help me out with the garden and putting up all those veggies since I just can't find the energy to do it. I'm really excited to see her....I miss her so much.

Well I guess that's about it for now. Yall have a good one!U

Sunday, July 4, 2010

Happy Independence Day

Good morning! I hope that everyone has had a wonderful weekend. We haven't been doing much here at The Farm. I wasn't feeling well yesterday so I didn't do much of anything. I'm feeling much better today so I'll start cleaning up soon. Don't really have plans for today...just The Man and I. We'll probably grill out something later on. Other than its going to be a regular day around here.

Not much else going on. Planning for a visit from my in-laws in a couple a weeks. They are planning on coming on the 16th. It will be the whole family...mom, dad, little sister, middle sister and her husband. The middle sister and her husband are planning on staying a week while everyone else is only staying the weekend. I'm looking forward to spending time with them. We don't get to see each other often so its always fun when we are together.

I'm also getting ready for our annual Sister Sister Sleep over. My mother, aunt, sister, and I get together for one night and spend quality time. We eat, drink, and have a blast! This year we will be having it at my aunt's house since The Man is here at our house. Last year we had sister sister Christmas Eve and we had a blast. We decided that it should be held at another time during the year because Christmas is so hectic. We haven't set a date yet but it will be this summer. I'm excited and I've got a lot of things planned for it. I will keep you posted on how things develope.

Other than that life is simple. Gearing up for canning season to begin. I've been putting up plenty of zuchinni and squash. Well, I guess I should stop typing and get to work. Ya'll have a great day.