Shiitake Mushrooms!

Last spring we started the ‘mushroom logs’ if you don’t remember, check out this post http://www.simplylovinghome.blogspot.com/2012/04/adventures-of-mushroom-farming-begins.html  We had lots of fun and ended up with 213 logs of mushroom spores!! Some of the logs won’t produce because we made some wrong choices in the type of wood to use, but for the most part…  they are producing!!

Pete is trying to figure out if soaking the logs in cold water for 12 hours, 24 hours or more makes any difference in the overall production….  so far, I have no idea! 🙂  Like I said, we are still on the learning curve! (The picture above is courtesy of Austin!)

Lots of tasty results for the freezer!! I’ll be trying my hand at dehydrating some of them and discovering new ways to use them! Did you know… Shiitake mushrooms are VERY good for you? They are loaded with protein… and when cooked they release MORE of their healthy qualities then when eaten raw!!

Link

The blueberries are here! The blueberries are here!! FINALLY, after a few years of trying to get these bushes going, looks like we’ll have some yummy berries for the freezer! Here’s the first bowl full…. it filled a gallon freezer bag! MMMM looking forward to more bags for the winter muffins!

Surprise!

Audrey and I decided it would be a lot of fun to go to her friend’s work place and surprise her! Keep in mind, Ericha had not yet seen Audrey for 6 months and was being so patient waiting for Audrey to make a few adjustments of being home again. (jet lag after traveling for 24+ hours and after recently having a flu bug was hard, not to mention getting used to being back in this time zone!)Ericha was busy cleaning when Audrey stepped up to the counter, ‘excuse me.’

Ericha answered as she was turning around, “I’ll be right with you….. AAAUDREEY!!”Then immediately there were hugs & happy tears!!  What a wonderful surprise!! 🙂 Ericha had another hour of work so we went along and looked for someone else to surprise!!

We decided to pop in to say hi to Cindy & Gary since they live just around the corner from where we were. Audrey spotted them taking a walk so I let her out of the car and she snuck up on them…

Surprise!! They were so happy to see each other!! Gary knew her voice right off and enjoyed the texture of her braids! Do smiles get any more special than these!? What a fun visit!! One more surprise to make!!

After picking Ericha up from work we brought her to her home and Audrey went up to the door to surprise her mom, Rhonda!! 🙂  Three successful surprises!! What a fun day!

Audrey is HOME!!

The most beautiful sight in the whole wide world is seeing someone you’ve dearly missed for the first time again!! Audrey’s smile lights up the whole world around her and for sure lighted up our hearts again!  After 7,000 miles of flying in a 24 hour window of time, she is back on NH soil, exhausted but happy! Everyone got hugs and laughs and admittedly, a few teary eyes and then we chatted for a little bit and loaded up the car! Austin and Travis were VERY happy to have their sister back between them, safe and sound!

Two Weeks Later

The anticipated two week mark has finally arrived!! I’ll tell you right up front… I did NOT go down to the hive with Pete. We had two littles here and I couldn’t leave a 2 year old and a 7 1/2 month old alone in the house and I was not going to take them down to see the bees get smoked out. Besides, if I was holding them, who’d take the pictures anyways?

Pete took the camera, suited up, brought the smoker down, wore the gloves this time and opened up the hive for the first time in two weeks since removing the travel box.

Looking into the hive, you can see by the wax that they were working hard! There was too much space left between the frames and the bees were filling it in! Pete had to take it out and move the frames so that they had the same amount of spacing! He said the bees weren’t too happy with him and were flying around like crazy! BUT THEY NEVER STUNG HIM!

You can see on the frame how gentle these bees really are!

This is what he took out from between the frames! Quite a bit of wax honey combs, some of the spaces had pollen, some had bee lavre and yes, indeed there was honey too! NICE & SWEET!

Ready to try again…..    he left what he could of the wax intact on the frames and shifted them a little to close up the big space. Now in two more weeks, he’ll peek again! 🙂 Until then….  they’ll be as ‘busy as bees’ and after these past couple of weeks, I understand that phrase!! They really do work hard!!

Pretty amazing work these litte guys do!! Phew, who would know there is sooo much to learn about bees!!

3 Days Later

It’s Saturday….  three days from when the bees were put into their new hive!

After opening the top and removing the travel box this is what was discovered…..

The queen and her attendants ate their way out of the little queen box and now all the workers are busy making a new home!  They were all still docile and easy to work around. Pete wore his jacket and veil (he was the one moving things around in the hive) and Austin wore a hoodie (taking these pictures)… both were comfortable around the bees!

Pretty cool huh?!

3 Pounds of Bees

I wondered, “What the heck is three pounds of bees going to look like?” and now I know! Pete arrived home with his box of bees….  naturally, being the curious sort, I grabbed my camera and ruler! The box measures 16 inches long, 8 inches tall and 5 1/2 inches wide and has screen on the two biggest sides! These little guys were buzzing and clinging to the queen all around a can of sugar water! Quite fascinating to be sure!

After making sure the sugar water feeder is all in place and all the tools are ready (gloves, veil-jacket, opener, spray bottle) … we headed down to the hive!

Pete took his time and never even wore the special gloves! 🙂  The queen is housed in a separate little box with a few attendents and was fun to look at! She is longer in size but still would be hard to pick out of the crowd of so many bees! The few escapee bees never bothered or buzzed in warning… they hung on the box and allowed us to check it out!

The bees were reallly docile… which made this whole first experience sooo much easier! After removing the plug from one end of the queen’s box, Pete hung it in the hive. They bees are suppose to eat through the remaining fondant to freedom within the hive while the worker bees are all getting use to each other and accepting her as their queen! They have quite a sophisticated little kingdom from what we are understanding!!

Pete took out the can of sugar water that they traveled with and put the bigger box of bees into the hive, then put the next stack on top and the covers.

They have an opening near the base of the hive where they can come and go from and after a few days, the hive will be reopened and the travel box will be removed. If all goes well, the bees will be happily adjusting to their new home and flying out and about looking for the flowering fruit trees and bushes and flowers!

Now to hook up the solar powered electric fence and keep our fingers crossed!!

Spring Has Sprung!

Our new chicks arrived on April 17th and are already getting big!! These birds, are moving fast from the cute yellow chick stage to the ugly white bird stage! They grow fast and within 8-10 weeks they’ll be ready for freezer camp! Fresh chicken anyone?

Pete went to Bee School over the winter. 6 Saturdays of practical teaching on how to keep honey bees! Since then, he’s been busy looking at a variety of dealers and products and has made careful decisions. He bought a hive and spent lots of time putting it together, painting, prepping and getting all ready for the big day!! We have a space, protected (hopefully) from the worst of the winter winds and protected with a solar battery electric fence… to keep the bears out, not to keep the bees in! May 19th is the big day!! We’ll be picking up a 3 pound package of bees to add to the hive! Can’t wait to see how this all works out and to try our own ‘home grown’ honey!

Last fall we gave away our few remaining hens and only wintered a few rabbits. We are starting our 2013 garden and growing season with new hens! We bought a half dozen Red Comets/Cinnamon Reds and were blessed with a gift of another 6 hen and a rooster a few weeks later from a friend who had to move!! Thankfully, they are all about the same age which made the introductions a bit easier! Fresh eggs are another delicious reason for liking spring!

The maple syrup has been bottled, the fruit trees have been pruned and the field across the street has been fenced and maybe a few cows will graze on them this summer! The kale is making a comeback, the rhubarb is growing and the fruit (plum, apple) trees and blueberry bushes are beginning to bud and blossom! We were pleased to see that the elderberries made it through the winter too…  they were a new addition last fall! So much to do all at once in the spring!

The only things we do NOT like about spring are ticks (as of today we’ve had a collective number of 20+ ticks!), black flies and the soon to come mosquitos!

Up next….  keeping the lawn mowed, garden tilling and planting!  Enjoy the nice weather and the dirt between your toes!

May your days be blessed and your nights be restful! God Bless!

It’s Maple Season Again

All of the buckets are hung on the maple trees again…  as soon each tap was put in the tree, Pete started hearing the beautiful music of ‘ping, ping, ping’. It’s the sound of the sap as it rolls down the spile and drips off the end to hit the bottom of the bucket.

(The picture above is from a season or two ago, but it shows the spiles in the trees and how the sap would come out of the tree to drip into the bucket. Some buckets have two spiles dripping into it and others have just one. It depends on the size of the tree. Notice how clear the sap is. It feels and looks like water, but it has a sweet maple flavor. My family likes to use it to make their coffee in the morning during sugar season!)

 The ‘ping’ eventually turns into a soft splash sound after the bottom of the bucket has collected enough sap to make a puddle, and then it fills the bucket sometimes to overflowing!

They were all hung by the end of the day on Friday and the first collection happened on Saturday late afternoon…   not bad for the first 24 hours!

Pete figured out the time it took… about 8 hours to hang buckets up and down both sides of the road and some in the pasture (washing & hanging them) and then about 2 1/2 hours to collect.

I think he said he collected about 50 gallons of sap in the first 24 hours which would equal just over 1 gallon of finished syrup….

Tomato Soup

Remember when I made tomato soup last fall?? If you want to check out the recipe again, click on the link below and it will take you to my previous blog…

www.simplylovinghome.blogspot.com/2012/09/tomatoes.html

I have been a little bit concerned because I thought the amount of salt was too much.    I meant to cut it down before adding it to the tomatoes while making it, but somehow I spaced it and added the full amount. Sooo, with all of that said, I hadn’t yet tried the soup. Last night I brought out a jar and determined that today would be the day to try the soup! I had labeled each jar with the directions (in case I forgot) so I would know just how to prepare it! I poured the soup in the saucepan, added the four and milk… and whisked it while it was heating!!       Then poured it into my soup bowl and added a few crackers…                                     OH MY GOODNESS….  IT IS DELICIOUS!!!

Let that be a lesson for me!! I could have been enjoying this yummy-ness all winter long had I not decided it wasn’t going to taste good before even trying it!!  It seems to me that I used to scold my kids for the same thing when they were little!! I wonder where they got it? Tomao soup is a definite RE-DO for this summer’s canning seaon!!

Until next time…  M.