S'isch zum Baimschneida.

This is how you say you're just about to lose it, in my Southern corner of Germany. It is also how I feel about the snow. Yes, yes, we're nearing spring, and we sprang forward and hope springs eternal.

But that snow, it is hard to remember how much of it there is. I took my kids to the sledding hill, and went to look for the bench to sit on. As it turns out, a person with a daintier behind than mine could just about perch on the six inches of its backrest that stuck out of the solidly packed white mass.

Back to the title, it literally translates to 'It causes one to prune the trees' and that is just what I did this weekend. No ladder needed, I could get to the 10 feet tall branches of our old apple tree that needed a trim.

OK, in the end things were a little sketchy, but the job got done, nobody got hurt, and the tree is in better shape than before. I am calling it the official beginning of the outdoor gardening season.

Sewing and sowing

What does one do in this season, too cold to go out, to snowy to play ball?

You sew and you plan. The Babee sewed her very first garment, the simplest of skirts in the simplest of fabrics - fleece. Suited to the arctic temps out there! Think she looks a little bit proud?

Last Christmas, the kids received a 3/4 size sewing machine, it has seen a lot of use by little hands, making the littlest projects...

The biggest kid creates the tiniest projects.

And sowing - is of course not happening yet, but in the planning stages. My order to Baker Creek Heirloom seeds went out yesterday. Spring has got to be on its way.

Taking stock of the ever building inventory...

How do we do it?

It's winter and we're near Boston. How do we do it??? I am starting to wonder that myself but here are a few photos of the menagerie, and how we handle them.

Besides their insulated coop, the chickens have a dug out for fresh air. At this point, it is covered from the top by a small roof and from one side by a wall of snow, so they're pretty sheltered. As long as they have straw to stand on, they don't mind the cold. I have 11 hens in a coop that is sized for 8, so I try my hardest to give them a bit of extra room.

 

Inside, they have a heat lamp in a ceramic fitting, and that is regulated by a thermo-cube. It turns on when the temp goes too close to freezing, and keeps the water in the waterer from going solid.
The waterer is a clever gadget, made from a rubbermaid container and a pair of aqua miser nipples. This way, the water stays clean and doesn't spill, and the chickens don't need that much of it. Sadly, they really prefer to drink from a regular dish, so we take them fresh water every day, but it is good to have a backup plan that is always available and never dirty or spilled.

They have a lamp that is on a timer, giving them the illusion of longer days, and keeping them laying steadily through this their first winter. Being first years, they would likely lay anyway, but who doesn't like a bit of bright light in the winter? Since we have the heat generation on a separate circuit, I use a CFL lightbulb to save energy. I will keep this one running through the March equinox.

The bees have gotten fall feedings, and then a candy board and are wrapped for winter. It is do or die time for them. The only help they get from me now is that I shovel their entrances. I don't want melt water to run from the entrance boards into the hives, where it could create indoor icicles under the wrong conditions. Getting through the winter for the bees is all about thermodynamics. They eat only to stay warm, and every time they have to expend energy to dry up a mess of water, or to re-heat the hive after a curious beek has opened it, it brings them a little closer to starvation.

In front of the hives (pre-shoveling), you see a bunch of dead bees. This is actually a good sign. Bees are diligent undertakers, and when they have casualties in the hive, they do their best to dispose of them outside, a bit away from the hive. Only a healthy hive has extra energy to devote to this daunting task, though. I have been very impressed with how far from the hive the bodies have been dumped, giving the harsh conditions around here these days!

So here we are, and wait, and wonder if it is time to build an ark, for when spring will finally arrive?

{this moment}

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{this moment}

A Friday SouleMama ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember. If you're inspired to do the same, leave a link to your 'moment' in the comments for all to find and see 

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We've had a visitor

I went out last night to close the door to the hen house, and on the small layer of fresh snow, I found a little bit of a calling card:

I went inside to gather those children who were home, and they gathered a flashlight and a tracking field guide. The Possums are back. Or more likely, they never left.

If you know our history with possums, some is less cute than others. Luckily our chicken coop and run has never been breached because one thing is for sure: It's one wild life around here.

{this moment}

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{this moment}

A Friday SouleMama ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember. If you're inspired to do the same, leave a link to your 'moment' in the comments for all to find and see 

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Ring in the new!

A Happy New Year to my select (two or three) readers! This delinquent blogger is having a great start to the year. Here are a few of the things that make my life bright and wonderful right now. At first I wrote 'all the things', but then realized that I would never be able to finish that post. So here we go with a little list:

The seed catalogs have come in and the oogling and heated discussing with friends has commenced. Locals, know that NOFA is putting together bulk orders. Murray McMurray has sent is most tempting publication. I ordered two packages of bees, one destined for a hopeful endeavor: I am working to help establish an observation bee hive at Drumlin Farm.

Meanwhile, the girls (the human girls) are humming as they work and play, and are still excited for snow and winter. The feathered girls are less enthusiastic as they hate to touch snow with their feet, but they are laying, laying!

The fireplace his humming, too, the fan putting out a lot of heat which we need today!

Life is good.

Stay calm and remain purple

Here's a secret I'd like to tell. I love Advent better than Christmas. Advent's the journey, the seeking, the waiting. I have to give credit to my parents, who really did a nice job building that sense of anticipation, with the decorations slowly increasing over the weeks, only to culminate in the fully decorated Christmas tree that appeared in our house no sooner than on Christmas eve, around 5pm. This is the time, as I will have you know, when the Christ child delivers presents to German children. It must be that Baby Jesus, Santa and Father Frost and whoever else is in on this global game of sneaking and scheming, have split up the geographical areas and delivery times to make it all feasible? That is what I tell my children to explain the difference in my culture growing up, and theirs, which needed to match that of their school mates and friends.

But back to Advent. I like to have an advent wreath or other seasonal vehicle for four candles every year. We usually craft it together now, the kids are old enough to help. This year's version recycled the log tea light stands the husband made last year:

And back to the meaning of it all. We shall light one candle more each week, as we wait. And wait we will. With music, hot cider, cookies, and reading stories of St. Nicholas. In this sea of red and green and golden and glitter and shiny instant gratification, we are going to:

{this moment}

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{this moment}

A Friday SouleMama ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember. If you're inspired to do the same, leave a link to your 'moment' in the comments for all to find and see 

.......

That's a wrap

This has been a weird bee season for me. I had split my 2 hives into three earlier in the summer, and things had been going fairly well before August. But after we came back from our travels, again, there was no honey in those supers and two of the hives were very light on stores. One of them was in the middle of what might have been a supersedure, or the remainder of a hive after a swarm had left, hard to tell. No honey, no brood, no queen, I think they may have swarmed. I tried not to mess up the existing swarm cells and decided to feed heavy syrup to support them. Alas, a new queen never did make it, and the hive succumbed to some crazy robbing attacks. I ended up finding a ton of drowned yellowjackets in the feeder. They came in the bottom entrance and fought their way all the way up to the top feeder, so that was not a good sign at all. I watched that hive slowly die and cleaned it up today.

Very not very fun, seeing this pile of dead bees. Sigh. 

I had made some candy boards, just to prop up the two other hives and add them to my layer structure that worked well last winter. Here they are. It's basically a 2in frame the size of a super, with 1/2in hardware cloth as a bottom. In that, I smeared a mix of sugar (10lbs), water (2 cups) and a tad of vinegar (2/3 Tbsp) and HoneyBeeHealthy, which dried into a solid mass. I blocked out holes so the bees can access the top entrance and for condensation to go through the hole in the inner cover, like so:

I put this candy board on top of the 2 deep super I'm trying to overwinter. Then followed the inner cover, and on top of that goes an empty super filled with straw. I staple window screen to the bottom to keep the straw in place. You see the straw boxes in the front, but the hive next to it still has the feeder on. I took that off, with almost a gallon of syrup left in it. Lesson: Bees can only take syrup during warm weather, and that seems to run out around the middle of October around here.

Then on top of that, I put the outer cover. The whole sandwich tower was then wrapped in roofing paper. A job much easier done by 2 people, but today I was alone and wasn't feeling well to begin with. The bees don't like the stapler and who can blame them. They also don't like scary large flaps of tar paper flopping around in front of their entrance. I just don't like doing this job because it requires me to let go, lose control, let them do their thing. For me as the beekeeper, it's just wait and see from now on until March. Nothing more I can do for them.

You see in the foreground an empty top feeder that the bees were cleaning up. After a while I had the distinct impression that the robbers were back and I ended up blocking the top entrances with some wadded up paper towel. Because that entrance leads straight to the candy!
You can also see some clever stacks of that kind of plastic board that lawn signs are made of. A friend gave them to me to slide under my screen bottom boards. I like that solution, didn't require picking up those heavy deep supers to close up the bottom, plus they seem pretty good for insulation!

So hopefully, this is it for bee season in my own yard. Just like last year, I don't feel particularly confident, but only time and the kind of winter we will have will tell.... Luckily I'm the praying type.

Slippers for a Sneezing Girl

My oldest had asked for slippers just like mine:

I was working on them, but then she came down with some crazy flu-like plague and it seemed only right to hurry up a bit and finish them. I went for 'chunky' and modified my original pattern (which was already a bit modified starting from this pattern), the outcome was pretty slouchy.

I make the sole out of a layer of felt (outside) and one of fleece (inside), and then I put patches of leather on the parts that need anti-slip. I hand-stitch around the outside. On the first try, I used a pretty blanket stitch but that turned out not to wear well, so now I go with the more functional, if plain look.

If I do it again, I will know where to decrease a bit more to get a better shape... But I still like them enough and she seems willing to wear them ... and hopefully warming her feet will make her better quickly!

The light is gone! Let there be light!

Yes, yes, another cold front is upon us. The residual snow is plentiful but has turned into icy mess which is not fun to ski or walk on. That's the bad news. The good news, though, is that we're nearing the equinox at a quick clip and I decided to take the timed light out of the hen house. They weren't laying anyway, so why waste the electricity, right? I did leave the heat lamp, so they have water (neat, not on the rocks, just like their mama) to drink. They look so ratty and worn out after winter - yet I got two brown eggs this morning. Spring IS coming. Nature knows it. I see the outward signs in the form of buckets nailed to trees, and the spring lambs my two younger kids introduced me to today. They go to a nature/farm based preschool and always have the inside scoop. From them, I learned it's time to plant marigold seeds, should you be so lucky as to have a greenhouse. For us here, there will be a few more weeks of patience required before we get there. Soon enough a box of peeping baby chicks will arrive at the post office for our next big spring milestone, and we can't wait.

 

 

January Jailbreak

The chickens are beyond relieved to be able to go stretch their legs in this warm spell. It's a soggy mess but it sure beats being cooped up under several feet of snow ... quite literally.

I was at the feed store yesterday, planning the arrival of my next set - thinking I'll raise six this year, after this last year's complete and utter failure. Looking at the hens, I like variety. Thinking of some new Ameraucanas, since my two are not laying well at all, and possibly Barred Rocks, which I've never raised. I'd love another Speckled Sussex, if I can get my hands on one. I am thinking of not getting any more light colored hens - they have been so much more susceptible to predator problems, probably because they're so much easier to see when it's dark. Think chicken camouflage!

Ah, spring, ever so deceptively, is in the air. Every year I fall into the same trap - I smell spring in the air, my friends and I talk seeds, I get ready for baby chicks, and then.... it takes oh so long for spring to actually get here. As a sort of antidote, I splurged on a new XC skiing outfit, equipped to handle trail blazing in the woods. We'll see how long I'll get to use that.

Bee Alive!

On this very warm and sunny weekend, I was able to observe some modest signs of life in both bee hives.

Oh happy day! By no means out of the woods, I'm still glad to see that at least some of the bees made it through the ghastly cold of the recent weeks. It's very hard for this type A beekeeper to just trust and have faith, waiting for spring and then seeing what unfolds... especially as there may be another shortage of package bees... Patience! Bee patient. Inhale......exhale..... stick tight to your community when the going gets tough .... take a cleansing flight if the weather is nice. I have so much to learn from the bees.

A skate on the Wild Side

Well hello! I'm back from my holiday hiatus. In case you've missed me, I feel most honored and apologetic, in case you've never noticed, I feel relieved. Part of the reason for the hiatus is that I am really sensitive to seasonal changes in the light and as such, I get into a slump every year, just at the worst time, right before Christmas and the solstice.

Enter some decent snow, a few skiing excursions, and time off with the whole family, and I'm soo much better already. Only half an hour more light in the day, and I'm a different person altogether. In that spirit, I continue to try pretty hard to get the kids outside, if the weather allows at all. I worked on getting used XC ski gear for the whole family (check!), and started scoping out wild ice skating places earlier in the week when it was ridiculously cold. Success! We went for a test skate yesterday, and today after the oldest came home on the bus, went for the real deal. I dare say a grand time was had by all, including the 3-year-old babee, who apparently just needed a challenge. In the rink, she refused to skate on her own, but out in the wilderness, she discovered her wild side!

What a difference a day of reasonable winter weather makes! I do hope we get some more snow, but if not, I'll be happy as long as the ice stays safe....