Our food source

We were reading a library book the other day called Farms Feed the World. It talked about where our food comes from and that we also get our clothing from cotton that grows on farms. The final page had some lines about our need to respect and support farms. We close the book and Amelie says, "Well, everyone else needs farms. We don't." To which I say, "We don't? Where do you think we get all of our food and clothing?" "Our backyard", she says. Huh. If we actually tried to feed ourselves from our backyard year round, I think she'd feel a little less smug about the situation.
I feel an "Animal, Vegetable, Miracle" experiment is in order in a few years.

Homeopathy for Mavis

Mavis, one of our hens, is getting pecked. She's lost almost all of the feathers on her neck so, at the recommendation of a good friend and colleague, I gave her a dose of Belladonna 30c. I dissolved it in a bit of water and put the cup up to her beak.


She took about three good gulps, so we'll keep our eye on her and see what happens. Watch for more Mavis updates.

All those eggs....

I bet you're wondering what we do with all those eggs. First, I'd like to set something straight. Chickens lay one egg per day (mostly). The egg color depends upon their breed, not necessarily on the color of their feathers. They don't need a rooster to lay eggs but if there is a rooster they can lay fertilized eggs that will become chicks. Without a rooster, it's just a big ole pile of tasty eggs waiting to be eaten.
We have nine chickens. We get about 6-8 eggs per day. Wondering what we do with all of these delicious beauties? If we were a little bit nicer and a little less hungry, we'd give them away. Sadly, we eat them. All of them. With five egg loving bellies in the family (six if you count Sam), eight eggs equals scrambled eggs for five. Five more eggs? Some delicious fresh pasta. Need a snack at lunch? How about a hard boiled egg? Hungry for eggs and you're not sure what to do? We now have a solution for that!

A taste of freedom and grasshopper pie

I don't know where she found the grasshoppers at this time of year, but the girls and I enjoyed a delightful green lunch, complete with a delicious grasshopper pie. We dined on green apples, kiwi, green grapes, spinach wraps, salad and broccoli cheese soup. Delicious!
With our bellies full, we came home to tackle some outdoor projects (after a few short bike trips up and down the block to stretch our legs). While Mom was doing poop duty, the girls decided that the chickens needed to stretch their legs as well. They had their first taste of freedom today in many, many months.


Everyone got lots of fresh air and plenty of dirt:

Finally, I almost forgot to mention that the bees have been ordered! We will be receiving 3lbs each of Carneolian and MN Hygienic bees on April 24th. We placed our order with Nature's Nectar in Stillwater. They have a very cool and informative blog: http://naturesnectar.blogspot.com/

Onions and Compost

The onions will be plentiful this year at Honeybee Hollow. Our worker bees were busy again, blocking soil and planting seeds. 160 onions were started this week. While Amelie planted, Penelope imitated the ferocious fire ant that we all should watch out for in the garden. What can be more ferocious than that face? :-)


As the snow has melted, it's once again time to scoop the poop. Sam has continued to eat all winter long and the back yard definitely shows it. Instead of scooping and dumping this year, we've decided to be kinder to the garbage man and to the landfill. We put in a dog poop septic system. Basically, it's a plastic pail with holes and some rocks in it. We buried it in the ground, then fill it with poop, put in some septic starter and Tada! ~ no more poop. It's in the ground and I still have to work on the poop part, so I'll let you know how it goes.

And here's one shot of the poop creator:

An Overachiever

One of our ladies was quite the overachiever yesterday. Her egg looks more like a goose egg than a chicken egg. It didn't even fit into the carton!

Our big girl got a wonderful spring gift for her birthday yesterday: a seed starting kit complete with seeds, soil, pots and vase for the flowers that grow! She couldn't wait to get her wildflowers planted so that's what she did after lunch.

Last, but not least, I couldn't help but add a picture of all the delicious pasta noodles that Papa made for the party. The food was delicious thanks to our hobby chef!

Things are growing

Lots of things have happened at Honeybee Hollow this week. First of all, the onions were started by the diligent worker bees.


Then, we had a birthday. We celebrated at Wood Lake Nature Center. The kids went on a treasure hunt with a naturalist, ate pizza and had brownies. Instead of gifts, the birthday girl asked for donations to Oceana to help the penguins. She raised over $50!


With all of the beautiful weather and melting snow, the girls decided that it was time to get out their bikes, only there was one problem. Our littlest biker does not have a helmet yet. As she must be like her sisters at all times, we solved the problem with one of Mama's gardening knee pads.


Finally, the Mama and Papa had a day off thanks to the Grandparents, to take Beekeeping, Part 1. It was extremely informative, but the best part was snowshoeing out to see the beehives. As the instructor was talking, he was lifting the covers and feeding the hives...all while bees were flying into the air around him (and into his shoe for an ankle sting). Our bee order will be in very soon!
Last, but not least, there was a friendly and excited face to greet us when we all made it back home after a long day.