November Greetings

As of today, the tomatoes have been picked clean in the garden.  We've enjoyed the tomoatoes fresh from the garden since June.  The Burpee cherry tomato plants have been prolific producers.  The size of these tomatoes have been from small cough drop size to golf ball size and the taste has been fantastic.

I have about 25-30 green tomatoes sitting on the kitchen counter to work into our meals over the next week.  I'm thinking fried green tomatoes.   We still have a lettuce mix that is producing some awesome tasting salads and the bok choy and garlic are fantastic.

Rooster Fred II has gone to a new home.  Fred I and Fred II were engaging in combat and the girls were caught between two roosters fighting for dominance over the flock.  Fred II went home with a middle school student who loves chickens.  Fred II will be free-ranging and he should love that.  My two barnevelder hens are laying beautiful brown eggs.  I have high hopes for my chickens now that we have the extra rooster removed from the flock dynamics.  Fred (no longer need to designate Fred I or Fred II) and his girls will have a much happier home.

I'm not really sure what my neighbor men think of me naming my animals after them.  Our closest neighbor is Charlie Johnson.  Our shorkie's name is Charley.  I'm outside yelling at the dog, "Here Charley, come here Charley."  Our neighbor three doors down (these are country-sized three doors down) is Fred.  I've named my rooster Fred as well.  Fred, our neighbor, passed before we had Fred the Rooster.  The next animal we bring home will be named Don.  Don Browning is the funniest neighbor ever and would get a kick out of a goat being named after him.  Just saying.

I really wanted to get into the hive yesterday to check on the small hive beetle trap, fill-up the sugar water and check on the general condition of the bees.  I was out and about town though and by the time I got back home, the temperature was already below 60 degrees F.  Opening the hive below 60 degrees is a no go for me.  So I left it alone until today.

I have ordered a new, semi-permanent electric fence for the chickens and bees.  The fence is on back-order until late November, early December.  It will increase the range for the chickens to about 1/4 an acre.

Hubby and I have discussed taking some cuttings of his Mom's chestnut tree to plant in our garden.  That chestnut tree is a prolific producer year after year.  Since his parent's home is on the market for sale, it would be one thing to help remember the place where he grew up.

We are almost ready for power outages due to weather related events in our area.  We have a gasoline generator on back order.  Once we have it, we're getting an electric chain saw to use with it.  Can't wait to get the electric chain saw as I have many large tree limbs to cut and burn.  We have our power outage/emergency supplies ready as well.  We will never be caught without extra lights, water and food like we were the week of the April tornados in 2011.

Here at 2-dog Farm, we wish you Happy Thanksgiving!

Homegrown Goodness

Homegrown goodness from the garden: lettuce mix, cherry tomatoes and turnips (I treat them like radishes in a salad).  Yum!  Don't know how long I'll get the fresh produce but it sure is appreciated and it sure is good!

Catch-up weekend

My oldest daughter spent about two weeks with us during October.  She went with me to Montgomery Alabama to attend the Alabama Beekeepers Annual Meeting.  The meeting was well done; there was plenty of information for the beginner as well as the experienced hobbyist.  Both of the State Bee Hive Inspectors were present and answered many concerns of the more commercial beekeepers.  My daughter was pumped about bees; she was ready to get back to the house and help me.  Well, that was until the bees got a bit aggressive.  She wasn't stung but I had removed one of the frames to go from 10 frames to 9 frames in the hive.  I made the mistake of moving the frame into my outside shed.  We forgot about it and started to clean out the shed, organizing, getting rid of unneeded items, cleaning.  First one bee found the frame, then five bees, and it grew until there were about 30 bees dive-bombing us trying to get to the frame that had their scent on it.  I finally broke out the Bee-Go and sprayed the shed.  That seemed to stop the frenzy from building any further.  Wow,  it was very impressive show of how quickly they mass.

We are hearing coyotes at night yipping.  I think we have a pack along the bluff, which is good.  The wild turkey flock needs thinning.   I've seen one coyote along the bluff.  I was on the deck and it was down below.  It was very large and had a very intense stare as it decided if I was food and worth a run and grab meal or if I could eat it. It finally lopped away.  I will never, ever call them dogs - they are predators through and through.  Due to hearing the coyotes' yipping at night, I went out to test my solar powered electric fence today.  I also cleared the fence line from all debris.  The fence will be replaced soon - I bought it from Premier and it has been a very good deterrent.  This is its fourth year.  Nothing will deter a predator all the time but the electric fence and consistent daily presence of human smells seems to help keep the raccoons, possums, deer, neighbor's dogs and so far (fingers-crossed) the coyotes outside.

My roosters have learned to crow!  A full, robust cockle-doodle do crow.  I am so proud.  Unlike the wild roosters in Hawaii that crow from sundown to sunup, my roosters are crowing at about 7 a.m. each day.  Hope it stays that way.  The roosters are no longer juveniles.  They are swaggering around the chicken yard now.  I hope I have raised them so they do not attack me.  Hopefully they will have some fear and caution of humans.

Have a glorious weekend!

Apis mellifera L. - good information to know from a beginning beekeeper

Here is a list of information for a beginning beekeeper:

Buy at least two reference books:  1) First Lessons in Beekeeping by Keith S. DeLaplane available through Dadant.com for about $7.50 and 2) The Beekeeper's Handbook by Diana Sammataro and Alphonse Avitabile for about $30 from many online sources.

The above suggested reference books are How-To guides.  If you want beekeeping broken down even more, purchase Beekeeping for Dummies by Howland Blackiston.  Finally, an encyclopeida of beekeeping is found with the compact but hefty:  The ABC & XYZ of Bee Culture for about $50.

These four books form your core beekeeping library.  Read them, re-read them and then read them again.  Once you have absorbed the knowledge,  you will realize that beekeeping can be done a hundred different ways within these guidelines.

Buy new hives.  There are some unethical beekeepers who will offer their diseased hives for sale.  DO NOT BUY USED HIVES unless you know the person and/or there are multiple beekeepers who will vouch for the beekeeper's integrity and honesty.  Nothing is worse than bringing home another bee yards problems.  New hives run about $170.00 and can be purchased fully assembled and ready to place in the bee yard.  Once you begin to be more knowledgeable, you can buy parts, assemble the hives and frames yourself or even make your own.  But please do not do any of this until you have experience under your belt.

Mark and register your hives.  In Alabama, every beekeeper is required to register their hive(s) with the State of Alabama.  You will need to determine a mark for your hives and mark every single component of the hive.  Going back to the previous bullet, there are unethical beekeepers who will steal hives.  It is a long shot to recover your hive because it can be identified with your mark but without a mark, you can guarantee it cannot be traced back to you.

Buy quality package bees with a queen.  I prefer the American bees with the super hygenic queens from R. Weaver Apiaries in Texas.  A package with the queen runs about $115.  Your package for next spring needs to be ordered no later than November 1st of the current year.  First dibs on the available packages go to long-standing orders from commercial beekeepers.  Once those orders are filled, the hobbyist/new beekeepers orders are filled.  Expect your package around mid-April (earliest) to mid-May (latest).  No one can guarantee when the packages will ship.  These are living animals who produce as they see fit.  All types of problems can prevent your bees from shipping.  Be ready to install them within 24 hours of receipt into the hive.  Plan on feeding them throughout the spring, summer, fall and winter until the next honey flow at the end of the following winter.

You will kill a hive through stupidity or unintentional neglect.  It will happen.  You learn and move on.

Have a hive tracking system.  Use a notebook or an on-line software tool such as Hive Tracks, which is free.  You want to know the condition of the hive every time you open it.  You will want to know when you last treated for tracheal mites or varroa mites or hive beetles.  You will want to track how much comb/brood you see and the general condition of the hive.

Plan on harvesting honey on the hottest day of the year - in a full beekeeper's suit with veil.  You will sweat, it is work, get in and out of the hive as quickly as possible.  The honey needs to be extracted from the frames as quickly as possible due to hive beetles, moths and a host of other problem insects that will slime your honey comb.

Lastly, you will be stung.  Again and again depending on the length of time you have the hive open and in various locations.   The bees can get up your sleeves or pants legs if you have not secured them closed.  They love inside your fingers.   It does hurt.  For most people, it is not a major event.  "Oh, I've been stung",  is what you think and you continue working the hive.  It swells, it itches, you get the stinger out and you move on.  Remember you are invading their home; what would your reaction be if someone invaded your home?

I encourage young people to pursue a beekeeping hobby.  When I attend these state meetings, I see an age range of 45 - 75.  I want to see more young people.  Yes, it takes time to be a beekeeper:  about one half hour a week per hive.  More in the summertime when one harvests the honey.  You can keep bees anywhere there is at least a ten foot clearance for the bees to get out of the hive and fly up and off to find pollen and nectar.  Garden balcony, rooftop, back yards are some of the locations a beehive can be set up.  If you have gardens nearby, your yield will increase dramatically due to the bees.

Fall 2012

 Charley, the Shorkie, ready for his daily constitutional around the farm.

 Our seasonal entrance greeter = Happy Halloween!

 The surviving barnevelders posing for a group picture.  Two roosters and two hens.  Very good flyers!  Very slow to mature.  No eggs yet and the roosters have a non-irritating crow.

 A new eight frame hive set up beside the older ten frame hive.  Added feeder between cover and hive body.  Hive has low winter reserves - trying to fatten up the hive over the next 4 weeks before we get hit with winter temps.

 My fruit tree row.  It was a brutal summer and I'm thankful that the trees are still surviving.

 My blackberries that need to be moved to a raised bed.

 My raised beds.  Still getting peppers, tomatoes, lettuce.

 Garlic and bokchoy growing.

 The mama fig tree.

 Spectacular fall color!

 On  my wish list  - a chain saw!

Our daily walk is done - Charley is ready to go back inside.  Wet feet  & all.

Varroa Mites and Hive Beetles and the Alabama Beekeepers Association Annual Meeting

I am processing a varroa mite count in my hive to determine whether this honeybee pest is at a level that poses a danger to the health of the hive.  I do this by placing a sticky board under the screened bottom board and count how many mites fall onto it after 24 hours.

http://www.ars.usda.gov/is/pr/2009/090701.htm

Once the results are known, standard beekeeping practice is to treat the hive.  However, one beekeeper says hogwash.  Even if the count is 50 mites or less (the number where treatment is not recommended), a hive could still have a significant number of mites that are larvae stage in the drone cells.  He recommends an entirely different method for determining the number of mites:

Varroa Mites

I like the photography method and plan on trying it before making any treatment decisions.  Of course, the best treatment is to have a strong hygienic queen bee, which the American bees are known to be, and letting the bees take care of the mites.

I did have hive beetles when I opened my hive yesterday.  Another pest, #@!!!#.  It is not the adult hive beetle that is the problem, it is the larvae that they lay in the honeybees cell that can destroy the hive.  The treatment for this is to eliminate as many hive beetles as possible.  But the traps vary in ease of management as well as effectiveness.  I think I want this type of beetle trap - it is reusable and seems very effective.

Hive Beetle Treatment and Trap


Finally, the Alabama Beekeepers Association Annual Meeting is next weekend in Montgomery AL.  My oldest daughter, who is currently living in Japan, will be home visiting and attending the meeting with me.  I'm taking time to enjoy her visit plus learn more about honeybee hive management.  I have also signed up to become a certified beekeeper by taking the first step:  Apprentice Beekeeper.  There are four steps:

1) Must be a registered beekeeper in Alabama and their hives must be registered with the Alabama Dept of Agriculture and Industries.  Beekeeping is a highly regulated industry - with reason - it is a food product.  You cannot keep hives with registering them with the state.  It costs all of $10 to register.

2)  Must own at least one colony of honey bees for at least one year before taking the exams.  My hive was started in May this year.  I'm well on my way.

3)  Must score a 70% or higher on a written exam:  there is a reading list, beekeeping classes, materials provided for reference.

4) Must score a 70% or higher on a practical exam by: describing the physical parts of the beehive, igniting and properly using a smoker, recognizing the various stages of brood, differentiating castes and honey cells, describing the layout of the brood nest (placement of honey, pollen, brood), recognizing propolis and its functions.

After I complete the Apprentice Beekeeper certification, then I am to move to the next level of certification.  The culmination of several years of study and practice results in Master Beekeeper certification.

Fall Cornucopia of Sacred Music

One of  my passions is music.  When I was small, music was the one thing that spoke truly to me.  It was one reason why I so enjoyed Church.  There was the rhythm, the words and the flow of heavenly sounds melting together whenever I went to Church.  To this day, it speaks to me and tells me that there is beauty on heaven and earth created by God for us to enjoy.

If I could do one thing over in my life, it would be to study music in college and pursue a musical career like music therapy or music education plus my farming.  It is always one of my life's regrets that I did not.  When we were testing for careers in high school, I tested highly into music therapy.  It was a new career field.   When I mentioned it to my parents, they were highly amused.  My Step-Mom thought it was funny because she didn't like me to sing.  I had a "bad" voice.  That comment was a major hang-up for me for years!  My voice was bad?

But since everything was a struggle at that time between my Step-Mom and me, I didn't press (whine) to be allowed to go into the band.  I did elect to study business in college.  I wanted to be better situated in life than my parents.  I didn't want the constant money fights.

Now I encourage every student to study a band instrument because I missed that opportunity.  Should have, could have, would have, if only, whateva', right?  Get over it, I tried, I truly tried.  But life has a way of leading you back to where you should be.

How many times have I dreamed of teaching a little boy or girl their first Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star on the piano, guiding their little fingers to play the melody.  Or helping a person recovering from a stroke enjoy a moment of music again.  Music is healing, it is the universal language.  I don't need to understand Chinese when a Chinese person plays a beautiful Mozart piece.

I remember my cousins had a gospel music family quartet that toured to the different churches on weekends and I always thought that was so great.  What a great way to earn extra money as a family.

Over the years, whenever my kids took music lessons, I did too.  I learned to play the flute as my daughter learned to play the french horn.  I took piano lessons as an adult.  When my daughter joined the Church Choir at 15, I did too.  I had to be there anyway because she couldn't drive yet.  Time was the biggest constraint.  Trying to balance my career against everything else that was needed of me was a constant pull.

I stayed in the choir, grateful that they allowed me to sing.  I tried to not call attention to my bad voice.  Recently I started voice lessons.  I have seen a big improvement in my voice quality during this time. I am as pleased as punch with my progress; I am certain I have damaged my voice teacher's ears. And I wish for more time to study and practice.  But I do what I can do with the time I have.  My voice is not operatic or distinctive like Celine's but it holds a tune true.  Solo performing in front of people is one of my biggest phobia's that I am trying to conquer.

Which leads me to this, my choir is presenting a Fall Cornucopia of Sacred Music and I am singing Amazing Grace and The Lone Wild Bird.   It is a beautiful line up of songs, both familiar and new.  Ya'll are welcome to come:  October 13th, 6:30 p.m. at Our Lady Queen of the Universe Catholic Church in Huntsville, AL.

Happy October!

Two more 3' x 6' raised bed gardens were set up this weekend.  One is now filled with bok choy seed and garlic.  The other is still in a pending stage because it needs more soil.  It will be my blackberry garden.  Garden soil for vegetables, fruits and flowers needs to be carefully considered.  The soil on our land is stony, lots of clay and little nutrients.  I've tried to build it and make it more loomy but it takes just too darn long.  The composter I use for garden debris and kitchen scraps and the hen house mulch also cannot keep up with my demand for gardening soil.  I used about 1/3 of the composter soil as the base for both new gardens.   I've been buying Miracle-Gro garden soil to fill the raised beds.  It does do a fantastic job of supporting the plants throughout their life and the production volume based on this summer's tomatoes is great. Some of the volume may be attributed to the composted soil mixed in with the bought soil.

My other two raised bed gardens continue to produce:  lettuce, turnip greens, cherry tomatoes and peppers.  I have installed a cold frame  canopy over one of the raised beds in order to have four seasons of vegetables.

Cold Frame

Our consumption of home-grown fall vegetables has increased to the point that I no longer need to buy salad greens at the store.  The mescali mix of lettuce is just awesome.  It grows very well and seems highly bug resistance.  My turnip greens were gorgeous and tasty and then the patch was hit by pests over night.  They decimated the crop.  I am trying to decide whether to pull the skeleton greens out and start over or wait and see what the plants do with the secondary leafs and roots.  I did break-out the organic bug spray solution, NEEM.

Organic Pest Control

The deer are back.  They have babies with them.  Turkeys, deers and raccoons, oh my!  Wish I had a organic pest control for them.  The turkeys also had a bumper crop of offspring this year.  Now our turkey population is around 150 birds that roost in our mature oak trees hanging over Limestone Creek. It is very hard to hunt them as they disperse throughout the homes in the neighborhood.  Can't shoot a neighbor or a pet!  The deer are nuisances in the garden and graze the undergrowth around the trees to nothing.  They compact soil and love to eat my greens.

They are lucky critters though; my hubby and I have converted to vegetaranism due to my gout.  Red meat, fish, shellfish, turkey, chicken - all meat - have been given up.  We have also cut our consumption of beer and wine to nothing.  (I did enjoy a $12 glass of merlot this weekend when we ate out).  So far, no further gout attacks.  My hubby has lost fifteen pounds and I have lost eight pounds since we became all veggie-lovers.

My Dad loved bitter mustard greens.  His way of planting his fall garden was to dump his turnip green seeds and his mustard green seeds together, till up the garden and then broadcast the seeds by thowing them in handfuls like baseballs at the ground.  He would have a half acre of greens.  I hated the taste of mustard greens; still do.  But Dad would always have a pot of greens on the stove, bacon grease flavored, with buttermilk in the frig and cornbread in the iron skillet ready to go.  I think the greens, buttermilk and cornbread combo kept his blood pressure down, his arteries clear and his overall health as hearty as an ox.

Fall is in the Air in North Alabama

It has been a brutal triple digit summer.  The temperatures have been unbearable and the humidity worse.  Finally, after such a hot summer, it has cooled down.  This morning the temperature was a wonderful 62 degrees Farenheit.  Fall is in the air.  If I needed anymore evidence to confirm this fact, the black walnut tree is dropping its baseball sized nuts, which litter the side yard and the tree leaves are showing some change in color.  I have never, ever been so glad for Fall.

I did get my Fall garden planted and it has sprouted.  I really, really recommend raised bed gardening.  It was my first year for it, and it was hugely successful.  I will be moving my blackberry plants into one this fall.  It is very hard to allow the blackberries uncrowded growth area in the lawn.  My biggest struggle is keeping weeds from choking them out after berry season is over.  So I am setting up at least two more six foot raised beds and transplanting my blackberries.

I also read that mountain laurel honey while safe for bees is poisonous to humans.  It can cause paralysis of the throat if eaten.  This highly concerns me because I propagated a thicket of native mountain laurel after my Master Gardener classes on native plants and it is thriving.  Unfortunately I will be cutting it down this fall to avoid honey tainted with mountain laurel.

My American bees are doing great.   I added a new small hive on top of the two brooder boxes.  I  highly recommend this variety of bees; they have done well in their first triple digit summer.  It was a bit rough at the start as the queen wanted to swarm and I had to take preventative measures by picking her up and depositing her back in the hive.  It was a mess of bees following her pheromones back into the hive.  Since then, they have settled into their Langstroth hive and really gotten into the business of making home and brood.  I will be attending the Alabama Beekeepers Association Annual Meeting in Montgomery in October with my oldest daughter.  They will have so many speakers and classes that I don't know which ones to take.  It will be great!

Finally I lost two hens this summer.  Prissy, the white Orphington, died from the heat stress.  And my little Buckeye was killed by a predator.  Sad but such is life and we go on.

Catching up Farm Chores

I have spent almost six months taking care of my Step-Mom's final wishes per her written will.  We are a week away from the six month probate period mandated by the State of Alabama.  The house and farm have been sold; the personal belongings discarded, distributed or sold.  Some of the farm implements were traded in return for hauling off trash.  In all there was over six tons of trash removed from their home and tractor sheds.  The sheer volume of trash is indescribable.  The one contractual condition to selling the property was that all trash, inside and out, had to be removed.  It was a nightmare but it is done.  The closing was yesterday.

Now I'm left to try to get my small farm in order.  My Parents' farm was so filthy with rat droppings that I threw away two pairs of my work shoes.  I have my work boots left to wear out and about the farm.  I ran out early this morning to pick the garden clean, feed the chickens and gather their eggs.  We are still getting cherry tomatoes, cukes and squash, which we enjoy with our meals.  Then I  ran up to the feed & seed store for layer pellets, scratch, pine stall shavings and fall seed to plant now for pumpkins and turnips.  My garden, in spite of my absence, has done very well even though we had triple digit temperatures and a severe lack of rain. This morning we had home-grown scrambled eggs, fresh cherry tomatoes, fresh figs and blackberry compote for breakfast.  My long-time goal of raising what we eat is a reality.

I need to plant my fall garden sometime this weekend and begin to clean my own home and get rid of things no longer needed or used.  Both my husband and I have a recurring nightmare that we become like my parents and become pack-rats.  We are both culling through our possessions and getting rid of anything extraneous.

Today we also begin the process of moving  my Mother-in-Law into a nursing home.  She doesn't want to go but we are concerned about her living by herself.  Her companion care has been less that satisfactory lately and her safety and health are big concerns.  Then we begin the process of selling her home.

When I was a little girl, I thought adults had it made.  I had no idea what life as an adult comprised.  The responsibility for end of life issues is mind-numbing and never ending.  Some of my siblings live too far away to help, one refused to help and my sister has been a blessing through this last few weeks.  I couldn't have managed all I have done without her, her husband, and my husband's support.

Happy Birthday to my Oldest Daughter

My hubby and I raised two beautiful, intelligent, kind and independent daughters.  My oldest daughter celebrates her 30th birthday on July 16th in Japan.  She has lived in Japan for a little over one year now and writes about it on her blog: http://barajasjapan.blogspot.com.  She gives insightful commentary about life in Japan and how it differs from the U.S. both the good and the bad.  This is the first year I haven't sent her a gift of something on her birthday - money or a present or a card.  I have been so involved in estate business and work and trying to maintain my "farm" that I haven't stepped into a store in ages or shopped online or done anything much for myself.  I want her to know that I love her and I am so proud of her and can't wait to see her again!  Much Love to you my Dear Daughter and Happy Birthday!  I'll make up for it later - promise!

Taking care of Estate business

My sister and I with much support from our husbands have been spending almost every weekend cleaning up the parents' home and property for the estate yard sale.  Their home sold As-Is due to some very bad building decisions regarding the add-on sunroom's roof slope.  That area of the house leaks severely and the parents were too sick to care much and my brother who lived with them and was their primarily caretaker really didn't have the time or knowledge to fix it.  So now the area has mold and would not pass any FHA or traditional loan inspection.  Thank goodness that we were given a blessing from a buyer who purchased the property as it was for cash.  There is only one condition to the sale: all trash is to be removed.  And that is the nightmare my sister and I are currently trying to deal with.  The parents were married 50 years and never, ever threw anything away.  My brother lived with them for about 12 years and also never, ever threw anything away.  It is a mess trying to clean and sort and decide what is trash and what may have resale value.  My brother-in-law found a very large rattlesnake skin in the tractor shed.  Needless to say where I am not going any longer.  We were given another blessing from a family business associate who took all the canning jars, including the ones filled in 1998 and are still full.  In return my sister and I have one less thing to empty and clean.  I will be creating and posting an e-book on what I have learned about the probate process in Alabama.  I hope to upload it to either Amazon or i-Tunes.  I found the resources available to deal with this process lacking.  No one should have to pay a lawyer to know this information.

Home-grown goodness

 One of my long-time goals has been to have enough fresh produce and eggs to subsist without going to the grocery store.  I get to mark this one off my list as DONE, DID IT.  I planted cherry tomatoes this year and cukes and the plants, from Burpee's Garden, are producing like crazy.  Add fresh egg salad to the supper menu with bread from the local thrift store that gives it to you - yes, gives it to you for FREE. I had a supper that I've dreamed about for years.  Good for you and home-grown.

More picture updates

Peck examining her nest box on the outside.  The new chicken house has two nests in its side.

My modified chicken waterer turned into a gravity feeder.  Cutting holes beside the seam of the thick plastic was tough but well worth the effort.  I can fill it up and don't have to worry about feeding the chickens for about a week.

Using a Langstroth hive this year.  These are my unpackaged American bees from Draper's Apiary.

The front pasture with my raised beds, the composter, the old hen house and kenyan hive.  Gardening and yard work consume most my time this spring.

Update in Pictures

As promised, an update with photos.  The speckled sussex hen Peck enjoys her new Ware Chicken house and run.  She is inspecting the nest.  She is a very broody hen!  Can't wait to introduce Rooster Fred to Peck, Penney and Prissy!

My daughters visiting me over Easter.  I was so happy to have time off work to enjoy Easter Sunday and Easter Monday with my girls!

American Bees arrived Thursday a.m.  More of my girls!

Oil Baroness

Growing up in Alabama I heard about oil rich relatives in Mississippi who left mineral rights as an inheritance to our grandmother.  Every few years my Dad would talk about getting a letter from an oil company seeking to lease the mineral rights or a natural gas company wanting to drill on the land where our family retained the mineral rights.  The total amount of money my Dad received was a few hundred dollars for granting those rights.  My Dad was always hopeful that they'd strike a productive vein of oil or gas and then we'd be like the Beverly Hillbillies.

There is a new process called FRACKING that drills deeper than the traditional straight down till you strike an oil pocket.  Fracking's environmental effects are not known yet.  I receive a letter from a representative of an oil company seeking rights to drill using the Fracking method across the land we own in Mississippi.  They are highly confident that they will hit oil.

Our land is in Clark County Mississippi sitting between two productive oil fields.  The Company is 99.9% certain they will have a productive oil well in 2 years.  If so, then for the next 30 years I will receive a monthly stipend.  Not much, no going to Beverly Hills but it will pay for chicken feed.

Chickens Update

My oldest daughter was home for a visit.  She lives in Japan currently where her husband is a sailor for the U.S. Navy.  While she was home the chicks arrived.  There was one dead on arrival and then two more died within the next 48 hours.  I don't know why.  The remaining five are thriving and their pin feathers are getting longer and they look less like fluffy chicks and more like young chickens.  There is a brief cute fuzzy stage for chicks where you look at them and just go "AWWWWW".  They are beyond that now.  I believe I have two Freds and three Henriettas.

My niece, Jima, put together the Ware chicken house and run for me.  I am very impressed with how easy it was for a pregnant woman to put together by herself.  She put it together in less than 4 hours and I was able to move it from its staging location, our carport, to its permanent location in the new pasture I created for the older hens, Pick, Prissy and Penney.  The new chicken house was a bargain at PetCo's online store and was about two-third the cost of the one I bought from My Pet Chicken.

I need to scrub the older coop and recondition it for the younger chickens.  I will need to separate the younger chicks from the older ones for a bit before pasturing them together.  Flock dynamics.

Pictures of everything soon.

Poor hatch for my chickens

As reported previously, I am anticipating an increase to my homestead poultry flock.  In particular introducing Fred the Rooster to the girls, Penny, Prissy and Pick.  My original flock of red speckled Sussex hens was decimated by  the many predators we have around the house.  Attacks from hawks, dogs, coyotes, racs, and possums left only three fairly street smart hens who now look to the sky and take cover if they see a circling shadow.  Everything likes to eat chicken and the hens were so friendly that they would walk right up to the predator and allow the predator sufficient time to snatch and run.  I understand now the importance of a rooster.  As annoying as roosters can be they are definite plus for my flock's protection.  Having grown up with very territorial roosters who attacked anything moving, I wanted to decrease the likelihood of the rooster attacking humans by getting a more stable breed.  I decided on a double laced barnevelder for its dark brown eggs, for the stability of its roosters and as a declining heritage breed.

I ordered a straight hatch where the number of male to female chickens is a crapshoot.  Out of eight chickens it could be half and half (best outcome), all male (worst outcome) or anything in between.  Because of the order problem encountered, I know exactly what I will be getting now.  I will be getting three roosters and three hen barnevelders and two buckeye hens.  The original hatch date came and went and the company I order from, My Pet Chicken, called me to let me know the hatch for the type of chicken I ordered was not very successful and they could not fulfill all orders for the breed at that time.  Future hatches were a big question mark.  They worked with me to provide substitute hatch dates and other types of chickens.  I have nothing but praise for how they handled the situation.  Buckeyes have always interested me because an Ohio woman developed the breed.


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/buckeye_chicken

I wish I could come up with a breed of chickens that are friendly, quiet (including the roosters) but able to better fend for themselves against predators as well as egg productive.  Why hasn't anyone tried to develop a rooster that has a soft, non irritating crow?  Or they use their crow only as a protective device?

http//en.wikipedia.org/wiki/barnevelder

I have enjoyed watching my three remaining hens chase bugs in the mornings and afternoons.  They make crazy eights in the yard chasing the winged things launching out of the grass and their craws are full of squirmy things.  Makes me happy knowing that they are happy.

Springtime in North Alabama

North Alabama is outdoing itself for beauty this Spring.  It is unbelievably warm and the pollen count is so high.  Need more days off work to enjoy it like these last two days.  But I work to fund what I enjoy so it's off to work I go, hi-ho-hi-ho.

Digging in Dirt

One of my goals is to plant more fruit trees for fresh produce.  Honey flow is another important consideration - my bees need to eat!  Getting the honey flow started in the springtime requires flowering  trees.  The first trees in our area to flower are the oaks around the end of January, early February and then the elms, maples and finally the dogwood and fruit trees.  I need flowering trees for the bees to last throughout the springtime and early summer until there are sufficient grasses and other plants to provide nectar.  Finally blocking the ugly metal building that my neighbor put in their side yard that faces my bee yard is another reason for my new pear trees.  I'm digging in dirt this weekend.  Care to join me?

Using Chickens as my Pest Control Cops this Year?

Prissy, Penny and Peck are laying an egg a day now that the daylight hours have hit ten or more in the Alabama early springtime.  The weather is warmer that it needs to be.  We had a wet and warm winter with very few days below freezing.  This means that bugs will be in excess since weather is a key controller of insects in our area.  I'm thinking about enclosing the raised beds in the chicken yard.  I have three very hard working and hungry chickens who are about the best bug control I have.  If they peck a ripe tomato trying to get off a ugly worm, so what?  They have just eliminated one of the worse pests to the home garden.  I've heard it works if one is willing to sacrifice some produce in return for their bug hunting abilities.  Serious thought is being given to it.  I think it would work.

Glorious Beautiful Day after Storms

Today is a beautiful day; the bad weather from yesterday is gone.  Our house and animals are fine and the cluck club are safe in their chicken yard.  Other homeowners and farmers in the area are not so fortunate.  There were several tornadoes around us yesterday.  My work dismissed about 10:00 a.m. but I was unable to get on the road because the roads to my house were blocked due to emergency vehicles trying to assess damage.  It was scary; it is always scary when bad weather happens.

On the sunny side today.  I put together the galvanized steel raised vegetable beds and secured both with stakes into the ground before the storms hit.  These are really, really big vegetable beds, 3 ft x 6 ft by 10 in, and I know I do not have enough compost yet to fill both.  This is where ingenuity will help.  I do have an electric mulching lawnmower and I purposely did not rake/burn leaves this fall.  So I will be gathering more organic matter this month along with the overwintered chicken house pine mulch that should be hot and ready for the beds.   The beds will empty my compost pile as well.  I'm keeping my fingers crossed that I'll have just enough to fill both beds before I need to plant.

I am sick

I am sick and feel craptastic.  I am staying away from work.  I work to fund what I truly enjoy - farming, gardening, animals and nature.  Unfortunately, I am not a good sick person.  I tend to make everyone around me miserable when I am sick.  So sorry for the lack of posts, I am trying really hard to get well.

Shiitake Mushroom Plugs Planted

I was able to drill holes into the oak limbs and plant the shiitake mushroom plugs finally.  I have great hope that we have a harvest that lasts many years as the mushroom plugs spread into the rotting oak limbs.  Wikkipedia Shiitake Mushroom

My Dad's Garlic

The family and I met out at my Dad's and Mom's house yesterday to begin the process of culling and cleaning up their personal property.  The sibling rule was that we could have one item not specified in the will if the other two agreed.  My sister wanted just about everything she saw.  She walked away with the jelly safe and all the Christmas decorations as well as a queen/full size head board and bed frame, Dad's rubber boots and waders, some linens for the bed and Dad's rubber floater.  She also got most of her personal property that was intermingled with the estate's personal property.  All told, she had four pickup truck loads.

I dug up some of my Dad's elephant garlic that had naturalized throughout his old gardens, took an old hickory stick that he had carved into a walking cane and a stone that he had smoothed into a fake Indian artifact to sell to stupid tourists, a Christmas wreath I had made for the family when I was thirteen and four cement blocks.  Now you can see the difference between my sister and I.  She has the hoarding instincts of both parents.  I can't even imagine where she will put the stuff she took.  Most of it was Mom's very old Christmas decorations.  When I got home last night, the cement blocks were set up to hold the Langstroth hive, the garlic was pulled apart and planted, the wreath went into storage until Christmas, the fake Indian artifact was put on a shelf and the cane awaits me in the carport should I ever have need of it; it will be my snake poker, rat whacker stick.

We filled up a 3300 pound trash container which amounted to half their carport yesterday.  They saved frozen dinner trays, all empty containers like coffee tins, vegetable cans, wine bottles, plastic cups, you name it and they had it.  It was covered in rat poop.  A rat leaped out of the lumber that Cody and Trent, my nephews, were moving and dived in Cody's truck engine.  My Uncle Doug came over to work on the old truck that I signed over to him; it was the first new truck my Dad had ever owned.  For a bit, it was wonderfully crazy again - just like when Steve and Arthur, my brothers and their family, lived nearby.  I didn't realize how much I missed that kind of family interaction.

We had a trash fire going for all the cardboard boxes that they saved and roasted hot dogs over the open flames.  Shannon, my brother's wife, made delicious homemade cookies.  Yum!   It was a good start toward the cleanup of their personal property.  It was such a fun and successful day that we talked a bit about having Easter at the old place - one last time before it sells, if it hasn't sold by then.

Rain today and cold but gloriously nothing to "Have" to get done.  A day to worship and then enjoy with my hubby.  Praise be and Glory to God!

Langstroth Hive has Arrived

The Langstroth hive that I ordered from Long Lane Honey Bee Farms because it was a complete beginner's hive, fully assembled with two large supers (for the hive), one small super (for me), 30 frames ready to hang with wax inset and painted with a top has arrived here at 2-Dog Farm.  All for a little over $200.  I have scrubbed my top bar hive with bleach, killed a few overwintering japanese beetles in it and have it ready to go as well.  I will move both the Langstroth hive and the top bar hive into a permanent bee yard and set up a solar water fountain for them close by.

Yesterday I was up on top of our roof cleaning gutters.  We have sprung a leak in our kitchen ceiling.  This is the same place that the roof debris from winter storms gathers and sits.  Our gutters were completely clogged with leaves and sticks.  I am not a great heights person:  I have a fear of falling but it was a warm sunny day and you could see the creek below the bluff and it was such a gorgeous view.

Still waiting to get out to plant vegetables.  My clover is doing great.  Hope the nitrogen it adds to the soil really makes the garden take off once planted.

Happy Birthday to Me!

I am 56 years old tomorrow, 2/11/2012.  This is the first year without my Dad and Step Mom.  We always celebrated at Red Lobster (they loved Red Lobster!).  My Step-Mom, Polly, was born 1/7/1936; Dad was born 1/21/1926 and I was born 2/11/1956: we were 20 years and 30 years apart.  What nice round numbers!

I miss them but I wouldn't wish them back for anything in the world.  God bless them and I love them so much. If memories are forever, then I have many, many years of wonderful and loving birthdays to remember.

The last birthday we spent together, I stopped by Red Lobster and ordered our birthday meal to go.  Dad ate very little.  He was already in his rapid death decline.  He said he could have the rest of it for his next meal.  In actuality, he never finished it.  Mom enjoyed her shrimp very much.  My brother and sister and her hubby joined us and we pulled chairs in from the florida room to eat on.  Mom and Dad were both pretty much confined to the living room couch at this point and we wanted to eat with them.  The TV was on and it was the ever present Bonanza that was Mom's favorite show.  She watched back to back episodes whenever they were on.  It was a sweet birthday.

Three years prior to this birthday, we all met at Red Lobster for lunch.  Dad, Mom and my hubby all got some type of flu sitting there.  By the time we left, all three were running high temperatures and had body aches.  That was not a great birthday.

Five years ago my Dad and Step Mom were in much better health and we met for our birthdays at Red Lobster.  Dad flirted with the waitress, Mom chastised him for being a dirty old man and we laughed and joked and had a wonderful meal.

Maybe I'll go to Red Lobster for dinner this weekend.  I'll have Dad and Mom with me, in my head.  It will be lovely

Beekeeping Symposium

Auburn University and the Alabama Cooperative Extension System hosted about 420 beekeepers from across the state on Saturday, 2/4/12.  In my opinion, it was wildly successful.  They had three tracks in each of the break-out sessions geared to the beginning beekeeper, to the backyard hobbyist and the more commercial beekeeper.  Vendors from several companies brought plenty of material for sale and the food was great.  I learned much and appreciated, in particular, Dr. Tew's dynamic opening session.  Beekeeping Symposium.

Auburn University is about 4 hours away from our home and the drive down through heavy, torrential rain and then again on the way home was made slightly better by the warm and sunny weather that greeted us in Auburn.  75 degrees and sunny is hard to beat.  Mike did antique hunting while I attended the beekeeping classes and then met me for lunch in Auburn's AgBusiness arena.   There was a live beehive demo during lunch that was great.  Beekeepers are friendly folks and love to mentor newbees like myself.

One of the county extension apiary agents will be in contact with me before I make the decision to burn my hive due to American foulbrood.  They were doubtful that this disease would manifest itself in a first year hive.  Only 2% of all hives contact foulbrood.  So I hope the apiary agent helps me rule out foulbrood so I can reuse my hive.

After all the Auburn sessions, I am ready to invest in more hives and bees.  My package bees from Draper's arrive the week of April 23rd.  I want to order two more top bar hives and at least one Langstroth_hive, which is geared more toward commercial beekeepers.  Commercial beekeeper is my description for any beekeeper who wants more honey than they can use themselves and they want to make a profit in producing it.

Mike and I stayed one night at the very well run The Hotel at Auburn University. I highly recommend it to any other travelers to Auburn University.  We managed to do a little sight-seeing; we found the Toomer's Corner trees that the man poisoned, Toomer's Corner Oak Trees in the news, and the famed Jordan-O'Hare football stadium and last but not least, Tiger Rags, where you can find unique Auburn Tiger T-shirts not found anywhere else.

All in all, excluding the heavy rain downpours, it was a great weekend!  I am armed with knowledge and ready to establish a new bee yard!

The red clover seed has sprouted, my To-Do list and Pesticides

I' m always excited to see any seed that I broadcast sprout.  The red clover is up and creating a blanket of green in my future garden.  I'm amazed to see the little bright green seedlings in the otherwise dull brown field.  The red clover will fix nitrogen back into the soil and is a bee food source.


Winter in North Alabama has been extremely mild.  We've had boat loads of rain and temperatures above freezing for most days. Purely from a farmer's point of view, I'm disappointed.  Freezing temperatures over several weeks would help control pests this coming spring and summer.


My to-do list for the rest of January and February:
Prune my fig, my red ornamental maple, and my ornamental floral bushes
Spray with a dormant oil to kill over-wintering insects and diseases
Spray with lime sulphur to backup the dormant oil
Sharpen and clean my trimmers, lawnmower and garden tools
Do a soil test.
Resist the urge to till my garden while the ground is so wet (resist, resist, resist!)
Keep my electric lawnmower charged even though I'm not using it (yet)
The urge to use my electric lawnmower to mulch is strong (I may not be able to resist this one!)
Set up my new gardens, which do not require tilling, using my compost and chicken-doo.


My Dad was a child of the 30's.  He was born January 21st, 1926, but he was educated in the 30's and 40's.  I point this out because he was a strong believer in pesticides and during this time period chemical manufacturers were turning out numerous patents for their chemicals and spending cash on the products' marketing for public use.  He used so many different pesticides when he farmed that I cannot believe he did not have any cancers.  I sometimes wonder if  Mother's cancer was caused by the environmental heavy uses of pesticides in the U.S. during this time.  


Dad eventually became a believer in organic farming: picking off bugs from the garden, turning up soil on a mild day prior to a freeze to let the winter cold kill the pests.  But I remember white dusted gardens covered in 1-naphthyl methylcarbamate, Carbayl for short, that killed any bad or good insect it touched.  The popular name for this chemical is "Sevin Dust" and it is quickly eliminated by vertebrates causing no harm, or so the literature reads.  I don't believe it.  


I try very hard to limit my use of any chemical in the garden or yard.  In 1984, the largest industrial accident in the world occurred.  It  killed 11,000 people and injured 500,000 people (yes, those zeros are correct), in Bhophal India during the production of this insecticide.  Scary.


Lime sulphur found its way on my shelf because it is used by bonsai enthusiasts to age trees by creating white deadwood.  It is painted on with a brush.  It is a pesticide that when applied carefully kills insects that overwinter on trees and in the soil surrounding the tree.  It is also an effective treatment, when carefully diluted, for mange on dogs and ringworm.   And it stinks.  All pesticides should smell like this one - rotten eggs.  The odor alone warns one to leave it alone.

The spore- forming Paenibacillus larvae

American Foulbrood is an beekeepers nightmare.  Total hive destruction is recommended.  Since my ignorance is immense, I asked my science teacher hubby if I can use the school microscope to positively identify the spore.  Here is a link to Center for Disease Control American Foulbrood spore pictures.  This is what I expect  to find under the microscope from a scraping off the inside of the top bar hive.  I'm eager for the Auburn beekeeping conference to discuss the issue with the beekeepers and experts there prior to totally burning all parts of my hive and ordering a new one for this year (or two as my beekeeping instructor told me last year, always have at least two hives so if one goes odd, you can see what the other is doing).

Top bar hive bee management You Tube link

Enjoy a top bar hive beekeeper as he 

 works with his bees.  I continue to consider how to manage the American foulbrood that infected my hive at the end of the summer and destroyed my hive.  The disease is a bacteria that can infest a hive for 40 years.  It takes fire and bleach to destroy it and terramycin to treat it before it kills the hive.  Unfortunately, the honey is not for human consumption for up to six weeks after treatment.  The suggestion is to destroy the hive, treat the underlying area and get a new hive.  This is one bad bee killer.

How Green Are You?

Some questions to help determine how green you are:
1)  You are cooking and must peel and chop onions and then flat leaf parsley to add to your dish.  Do you:

1.    Throw into your garbage the onion peels and parsley stems?
2.    Throw into your sink garbage disposal the onion peels and parsley stems?
3.    Throw into your compost bin the onion peels and parsley stems?
4.    Throw the onion peels into a freezer bag for later  use as a natural egg dye and add the parsley stems to a freezer container for a later stew/soup pot.

If you answered # 3, then you are green; if you answered # 4, you are greenest.

2)  You are cleaning kitchen counter surfaces and for your cleaner, you are using:

1. Bleach?
2. A commercial, off the shelf cleaner?
3. White vinegar and water with a dab of lemon juice?

If you answered # 3, then you are green.

3)  Newspaper can be:

1. Disposed of with the daily garbage?
2. Separated into the paper bin for recyclables?
3. Saved in bulk and donated to the local animal shelter for their use?
4. Mulched into your garden, used for craft paper, used for lining your chicken nesting boxes?

If you answered # 2, you are green; if you answered # 3, you are greener; if you answered # 4, you are greenest!  

4)  When updating your wardrobe, do you:

1. Go buy new off the shelf clothes in the latest fashion?
2. Go to the local thrift stores and find good clothes even though it may be a previous year's fashion?
3. Find something great at a thrift store and modify it to look unique for you?
4. Swap clothes with a like-minded, like-sized friend?

If you answered #2, you are green; if you answered # 3 you are greener; if you answered # 4, you are greenest.

Today is beautiful in North Alabama with a bright blue sky and plenty of sunshine.  Hope to get out and charge up my electric lawnmower and sweep out my shed and crack some hickory nuts for a hickory nut torte!

Auburn University Beekeeping Symposium

My dearest hubby and I are motoring down to Auburn University to attend a day long symposium for beekeepers.  I can't wait to hear about the honey bee's evolving role in the green movement, to get more information about Alabama's new master beekeeper program, to understand the role of bee colonies and have a sustainable backyard (bluff for me) where bees play a vital role.  Plus I get to pick the brains of some of the state's best entomologists and plant pathologists.  Can't wait.

In the meantime, I've placed my spring order for new bees and their queen.  Instead of an Italian honeybee queen, I've ordered an American hybrid called All American Queen.  I've also broken a "rule" of the local beekeeping society by ordering my bees out of state:  Draper's Bees.  We'll see.  The last ones failed to clean their hives soon enough to eliminate the cells infected with foulbrood. I'm hoping this hybrid will do a better job.  From the Draper web site, here is their description of their All American Queens:  Gentle, do not boil out of the hive when it is opened, low swarming tendency, quick build up of the hive, adapted to all weather conditions, keep a very clean, neat and orderly hive.

More spring time planning

I've decided on a rooster.  Finally, after two years I found a rooster that I'm willing to bring into our farm life.  It will be a day old chick and delivered about March 19th.  Its name will be Fred.  Fred the Rooster will actually be Fred the Roosters.  I have ordered a straight run, which means about a 50/50 mix of hens to roosters.  With the minimum run of 8, I will likely have 4 roosters and 4 hens.  This is fine since predators will take over half the new flock.  My plan is to put the young cockerel in with the 3 older hens once he is old enough to withstand their dominant personalities.  Hens without a rooster tend toward the bossy side.  At least one of the hens will take on male characteristics.  Penny, my beauty Sussex hen, is the most rooster-like.

I have accepted that roosters are necessary for the health of a flock.  Roosters will often turn away a predator, sometimes sacrificing his life for the hens.  I also plan to raise babies and then begin to encourage the best characteristics for my little farm flock.  I need quiet, friendly, egg-productive birds.

My Dad used to bring home fighting roosters and release them to forage for themselves.  This meant turning a corner of the house and coming face to spurs with the rooster attacking you and then running like crazy to escape it.  Once I had had enough.  I mean, come on, can't I go outside in peace?  So I beat that rooster until its wattle and comb were black and it was on the ground with its eyes closed.  I was certain I had killed it.  Nope, it got up and wobbled away to live another day.  I believe we finally did put it to good use by eating it (sorry to offend any vegans but it was one mean, ornery rooster!)

Anyway, my memories of roosters made me very hesitant to introduce any here at 2-Dog Farm.  Keeping my fingers crossed that Fred will be a worthy addition to our Farm.

Red Clover

The next seven days in North Alabama are to be wet, wet and more wet:  http://www.waff.com/weather.  If I can manage it between rain showers, I'm sowing red clover seed in my pasture/garden area. Clover is critical to fix nitrogen back into the soil after vegetables take it out; you can also fix nitrogen back into the soil by planting peas.  Clover is a good food source for bees.

City dwelling people feel red clover is a weed.  If one defines a weed as a plant growing in an unwanted area, say a city lawn, then that is correct - it is a weed if it is growing in a lawn of zoysia grass.  However, clover is one of the most important plants known to man.  It is a much maligned plant in recent years; however, there is an old American saying that "a man who plants clover is a king".  Without clover our soil would fail to grow healthy food for us.  All mankind would suffer.  It is an easy cover crop to grow here in the South and it is a favorite food of foraging animals like deer and cow.

Additionally, red clover is a medicinal plant for humans.  Read this article at the University of Maryland web site regarding Red Clover as alternative medicine.  If nothing else I hope you try growing some clover just for the fun of it.  It is an easy plant to grow and the clover flower while small is still very pretty.

Little Dogs who watch over you at Night

There is a new blessing in my life; who knew that my Hubby and I would ever sleep with an animal?  We are definitely getting more daring in our dotage.  My Mom and my Hubby's Mom allowed NO INSIDE ANIMALS, E-V-E-R.  It was enough to have stinky boys messing up the house; girls rock so  no stinky girls but always stinky boys!  Mike and I have had an inside dog, Brody, since our oldest daughter's sophomore year of college.  What a delight an inside pet brings to your life!  However, Brody suffered post traumatic stress disorder from a very bad leg fracture in his young "before - us" life.  He enjoys being kenneled at night and makes nary a fuss about it.  Unlike the new kid on the block, Charley, who hates being kenneled at night and makes such a big ruckus about it that we've let him out.  And it has been wonderful.  I feel so protected.  Caesar  Milan (the Dog Whisperer) says that all dogs must feel that they are working at some type of job in order to be happy.  Charley is so much more content.  He keeps watch over us and Brody each night.  He is the perfect little dog; ...well, almost.  He still has some poot and pee issues to resolve, but we're working on it.

Sewing Machines

I ordered my first computerized sewing machine before Christmas and finally received it (after Christmas!).  I am so pumped.  This is a machine that will be well used immediately.  I have aprons, pj bottoms and quilt tops to make.  Not to mention next year's gifts!

I sewed most of my clothes growing up.  Being part of a large family, we just couldn't afford to budget much for clothes.  I was signed up to take advanced sewing classes in junior high school; these classes were where you made your own patterns.  I can't wait to get started sewing again.  

Planning Spring Gardens

Today in North Alabama we have a brilliant blue sky with a bone-chilling wind.  It feels barely above freezing today.  Definitely a coat-worthy day.  Temperatures make working outside for very long difficult.  Not to worry though because I am toasty warm inside and planning my spring gardens.  I have just ordered:
Burpee's Boost Collection because it promises "best in class" for taste and nutritional oomph and

3X6 Galvanized Steel Raised Bed because tilling gardens is so in the past.  My spring gardens will all be raised beds with the wonderful compost from the chickens filling up most of the beds.

And finally I ordered two pear trees that will be planted to the side of the chicken pens and after a few years make great pear preserves for us.