Shut the Barn Door!

There is an old saying about shutting the barn door after the horses have gotten out.  That is pretty much how we spent last weekend, shutting a few barn doors and scolding ourselves for not doing it just a little bit sooner.

Those of you that follow us on Instagram or Facebook, know that this guy has been making a regular appearance on the farm.  A little less amusing was the unseen bear that got into the bees.  Time to close the barn door - or in this case put up an electric fence.

Ralph, the porcupine, likes to sample the, not quite ripe, peaches one bite and one branch at a time.

A close up of what the bear left. We put the hive back together, left the honey for the bees to clean up, and are hoping they can rebuild in time for winter.

While Ralph was slowly trying each peach to find the very best one, the unnamed and unseen bear ate all the honey, and probably a lot of bees.  It was too late for our top bar hive, but we strung electric fence around our Langstroth hive, the peach trees, some blueberry bushes and the chickens.  The chickens thought this was great since it doubled their home range and gave them access to some good ground peaches. 

Our blended chicken family.

Speaking of chickens, we made our broody hen happy a couple weeks ago.  When we realized she had been sitting on eggs for over 4 weeks, we decided to facilitate day old chick adoption.    The initial result was a confused hen (“hey, didn’t we skip a step?”) and some confused day-old chicks (“hey, where did you come from?”).  After a very short adjustment period, we have a very happy chicken family.  [Chicken biology note:  Chickens normally hatch after 21 days.  Letting them go much longer than that in a hot chicken coop can result is something very smelly if those rotten eggs burst.]

The rest of the month will be spent putting finishing touches on the new chicken coop so we can move the girls to the lower field and away from peaches and blueberries.  We anticipate some hot days in the kitchen the next few weeks.  We’ll post photos of us canning peaches, freezing away more squash, and putting up the bushels of tomatoes that are about to come in.

August does indeed bring change.  This time next month we will be busy making lots of delicious maple products for some upcoming festivals and holidays.  We will also be “getting in the woods” as JP says.  We had a few down trees from the remains of Isaias and fall is a great time to walk the lines and start preparing for a new season.  We wish you and your family health, happiness, and August’s garden bounty. 

Stay Safe,

Kim, Kelly, and Deb