Monday, October 10, 2011
Wednesday, October 5, 2011
Yesterday was THE day!! We harvested our honey! My brother came from California with equipment and to help. We weren't sure what to expect---would we have enough honey? Would the bees be agitated? So many ifs------but everything went great! My brother had done a lot of research and decided the best method was to pull the frames out of the hive(while smoking the bees) and load them into tubs to bring home to process. The bees build the honeycomb on these hives and then fill them with honey and cap them with wax. That step went smoothly until a bee got irritated with my brother and stung him 3 times. Then all the tubs were transported to our garage where we took a hot knife and uncapped the frames and put the frames in a centrifugal spinner to extract the honey. Smooth process and with 3 people working, it went great. We let the honey settle and today we will bottle and pack up the wax. Nothing will go to waste. Candles and lip balm from the wax---honey in the bottles-----and frames back in the hive for the bees. And yes, we were kind to our bees. We left them an entire box of honey to feed them through the winter. Next year we are adding hives!
Saturday, October 1, 2011
It's October and we are celebrating. There is quite a bit to celebrate this month. Let's see--1. It is our oldest son's birthay. 2. It is our dog, Magglio's birthday. 3. My brother is coming home to visit. 4. We are harvesting our honey this week. So we are celebrating with a bottle of Octoberfest beer? No, not really the reason. We are having a bottle of Octoberfest beer because we are nervously watching the Detroit Tigers in the World Series playoffs---
Thursday, September 29, 2011
Tuesday, September 27, 2011
Thursday, September 22, 2011
I am feeling like a little league Mom again---and I like it! Except that it is a not-so-little league! Matt has been playing on 2 baseball teams------one is a Vintage Ball team using rules from the 1890's. That means homemade bats and no mitts. And there is a one-bounce rule where if you catch the ball on a bounce---it is OUT. Oh wait---they aren't called Outs, but rather Hands. And us spectators yell HUZZAH for good plays. I have been recruited to make 2 vintage baseball hats. I think I can do it---HUZZAH!
Tuesday, September 20, 2011
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