Thursday, June 13, 2013

Not dead, just resting!

Okay, not resting either. Just crazy busy this time of year! My four new beehives are being set up this weekend. I've been painting hive boxes like crazy....


FYI, beehives don't have to be white! I picked the lime green myself, but the sage green was in the sale bin of off-colours at the hardware store. I like to keep the colours light, so that they don't absorb too much heat in summer. But really, you can paint 'em any colour you want. There is one woman  in the US who has a whole honey business centred on her red hives! :)

Oh, and for the record, I did not steal that "stop" sign on the back wall! It was here when we moved in. Just sayin'.

Meanwhile, it has been a whirl of activity behind the barn for several weeks now...


We wanted a wire roof over the duck and chicken run, to keep birds from flying out and getting eaten.

Apparently we now have the poultry Taj Mahal...


That netted fence in front is our temporary electrified wire fencing. I've had it out to get the birds out on the grass while the work is being done. The girl ducks just fly right over it, so they're on lockdown in the barn until this job is done.

We have an excellent carpenter (and former dairy farmer, who still farms cash crops! Can you say hard worker?) who built this to withstand the apocalypse. Well, the main thing is that it withstand huge loads of snow sliding off the barn roof onto it with crushing force. The first eight feet out from the barn will have tin roofing. The rest will be covered in corn crib wiring, the same wiring being used on the sides.


I swear it took them a week just to do the postholes!


I will so glad when this is done and I can stop worrying about birds flying out of their otherwise safe enclosure!


I am starting to think that there's more lumber in this roof than in our entire house.

And I managed to get my vegetable garden all planted, too...


I got the sign from one of my favourite Etsy shops, Bainbridge Farm Goods. They have some really great signs, including lots of chicken and honeybee ones! I'm amassing quite the collection,

I was a bit late planting some of my veggies this year but they should catch up and be fine. 


One of my Facebook buddies asked me what I've planted, so I made a list:

Onions, garlic, potatoes (Yukon Gold, Russian blue, Red Cloud), "Egyptian" onions, beets (red, gold, Chioggia), Swiss chard, many types of pumpkin, butternut squash, blue hubbard squash, cucumbers, tomatoes, tomatillos, ground cherry, carrots, lettuce, mesclun, peppers (Anaheim, jalapeno, Hungarian wax, Jimmy Nardello, Ancho Poblano, Black Hungarian, Sweet chocolate, serrano and Thai chili), summer squash, watermelon, red-seeded citron, three kinds of melon (Charentais, Sugar Baby and Cream of Saskatchewan), sunflowers, soybeans for edamame, green beans, orca beans, four kinds of kale, and I think that's it! The ongoing/perennial stuff is horseradish, salsify, raspberries, blueberries, Saskatoon berries, Haskap berries, Darrow blackberries, loganberries, red currants, black currants, Boysenberry, golden raspberries, asparagus, and strawberries!

Have you heard of haskap berries? I bought a couple of plants last year and am looking forward trying the fruit! The plant is also known as "blue honeysuckle." The fruit resemlbes a pendulous blueberry and some say the taste is a cross between blueberry and raspberry. We shall see!

I love Saskatoon berries, too. They are a bit like a blueberry but I like them even better.

This weekend, my friend Pierre is helping me set up four new beehives (those bee nucs I drove over to his place for queening a few weeks back!) We were going to do it last weekend, but decided to postpone it until the torrential rain stopped.

So it's been a little busy and I'm trying to catch up on my blogging. Hope you've all had a good week!

29 comments:

  1. Wow..you weren't kidding. That hen/duck run roof is amazing. Looking forward to seeing it all done and everyone safe and sound. Love your garden. My daughter, Jess has one similar so we are kept in veggies over the summer. There is nothing better than growing your own food. Love the sign, too. Enjoy the weekend. We are in for more good weather. :)

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    1. I think I need to get some exotic birds to justify its existence. Peacocks, perhaps?

      That's great that Jess shares! And isn't it a beautiful day today? :)

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  2. Info on the bees always fascinating. That's a very vigorous bit of gardening.

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    1. I have to say, it's a ridiculous size of garden for two of us, but I really enjoy puttering down there. Mulch is my lifesaver!

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  3. And I thought I'd been busy.....

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    1. :) My life's not too tough. Lots of fun around here!

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  4. I miss my garden sometimes, but I could never be as busy as you are.

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    1. Your life looks pretty great right now! :)

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  5. Gorgeous colours on the beehives,Natalie!
    Your birds should be the safest in Ontario,by the time the roof is finished...and if there is a tornado,I reckon you'd be safer in there than anywhere.
    I have to ask, where did you buy your salsify/comfrey from? We've been trying to source it but the only place we found had a crop failure.
    Jane x

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    1. Jane, do you think I can find any record in my gardening book of where I got it? Oh no, of course not. I could have sworn I got seeds from Richters Herbs, but they don't have any on their site. William Dam does have a couple of varieties. Some are sold out but not this stuff:

      http://www.damseeds.ca/productcart/pc/viewPrd.asp?idproduct=4197&idcategory=0

      I planted my salsify from seed several years back and it just grows and grows. Let me know if you can't find seeds and I will save you some from my plants when they go to seed! I think mine is black salsify?

      RIchters does have lots of comfrey!

      http://www.richters.com/

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    2. It was Richter's ...Bocking 14 we were after. I'll keep looking and let you know..thanks!
      Jane x

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  6. It is a busy time of year and I'm gonna quit my whining after seeing all you've been up to. I will say, all the work the bees take is worth it--your honey is just wonderful and I've so enjoyed my "give-away" in cooking, XOXO

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    1. The bee stuff usually doesn't feel like work to me, especially the part where I'm looking in the hives. That's just fun for me. Well, except on days when the girls are a little cranky...

      So glad you are enjoying that honey!

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  7. What an ambitious gardener/beekeeper/poultry farmer you are! I wish I had you energy!

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    1. I swear that I have more energy this year because of running. All this grunt labour seems a lot easier this year and I can only think it's because I am running 3 - 4 times a week. Hmmmm.... I didn't really think all that hard excercise would increase my energy levels, but it has.

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  8. I see many faces formed by the stacked bee boxes. Not quite "smileys" but rather "sterneys", with sharp jutting noes too. I hope they don't scare the bees.

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    1. Hey, I see that now too! Pretty cool!

      And I thought of you this week because Gordon's cousin and her hubby are here visiting from Glasgow. They are staying with my mother-in-law about 30 mins from here but are coming over to the farm tomorrow. We lent them one of our cars to drive and John is doing very well on the "wrong" side of the road. "_

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    2. Well I'm an Edinburgh lad so Glasgow is another world to me. They will know what I mean :)

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  9. I love the colors of your hives! Ours is white, but maybe I'll get a little more colorful when we expand :) That new roof is insane! There is a lot of lumber there, wow! It looks really great so far and I know it'll keep your feathered friends nice and safe :)

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  10. I'm intrigued by Haskap berries, given how many blueberries and raspberries I eat! I think they are very newly introduced to the UK, I haven't found anywhere that sells them yet.
    That's quite some duck house!!

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  11. Queen of the Bees and Queen of the Birds. One title already taken, but I believe you take the second.

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  12. I so enjoyed this post... reading about the wonderful bees without seeing them. Those boxes are beautiful (especially the two shades of green)! The vegetable garden is gorgeous and that roof is a work of art.

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  13. Is it just me... Or do those painted beehives on the left look like series of faces sitting on top of one another?

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  14. You don't do things by halves do you? That is a very impressive run, and all those veggies?! My you have been busy!

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    1. I got a little carried away with the veggie patch... :)

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  15. I can see that you are very busy.

    Hugs

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  16. I haven't visited anyone for a while, but it's good to catch up with your blog. Love your garden list - mine is small, since I have a mini-raised bed in the city, but I love it and hover over it every day to see what's coming up.
    Your painted hives are beautiful.

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    1. A garden is so wonderful, no matter what the size! :)

      I expect those hives will be looking more dirty and beat up by next summer! But so pristine right now, ahhhhh!

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Thank you for all your comments, which I love to read!