Want to hear the latest "Buzz"

There’s a good bit of "Buzz" going on here on the homestead. A~ and I have been kicking around the idea of dipping our fingers into the honey pool and making the commitment that is beekeeping. It’s an idea that we’ve been bouncing around between us for about a year and we’re currently taking a class from our local extension service to learn the basics of the biology, management and legal concerns regarding beekeeping to help us decide to help us on our way... because we've decided! We're getting bees!!

It all started last year during our Master Gardener class. One of our fellow classmates kept bees and was a great advocate of it. We, being the avid gardeners that we are, are of course aware of the issues facing our beloved bees and are horrified by the idea that they could one day leave us for good. We’ve also recognized the need for the increased pollination and a homegrown sugar source on our backyard farm. It didn’t take too much advocating by our classmate to make me start thinking about it. The funny part was that I never thought A~ would go for it, potentially stinging flying insects being encouraged to make a home in our yard and all, but it was her that first broached the subject. In fact, she said that she really wants to have them; go figure…will I ever fully understand this wonderful woman? Apparently she's always secretly wanted to keep them and never shared it. So now, prepended onto our every growing to-do list, is the acquisition, set-up and populating of two hives.

Life has again proven that is will lead us in the direction we need to go if we allow it too. After we'd begun talking about it in a very cursory way last year, we met the fellow classmate that was such a good advocate to us. Then, as we thought about it more over the fall and winter months, suddenly we got an email about the class that we're currently taking. (Yes, the class came to us...) Then, last month, after our accident, the physical therapist that we're going to turns out to be quite the homesteader too and had just last year started keeping bees; he was another great advocate. In fact, even as soon as Tuesday, when we had our first class, the "signs" continued. In the class was a really nice local woman who is also a Master Gardener and a pretty serious homesteader/prepper as well whom we met last year at our Master Gardener Conference. As it turns out, she also started keeping bees last year and was a great resource to talk with. Even our M.G. instructor from last year was in the class and we talked about trying to set some hives up at the Botanical Center. (Need to line up those volunteer hours for next year you know.)
It all came together to make us feel really comfortable about doing what we've been really wanting to anyway.

I don't have a lot of details yet, but as always, I'd love to hear what you have in the way of experience and advice. And of course, more details will be shared when I have them.

Best to you all... now I'm gonna Buzz off till later.
P~

Our long talks

This weekend A~ and I made our annual trek through the desert, following the trail forged by pioneers of the past making their way to California in search of riches and GOLD. We too went in search of riches and gold... in Wendover Nevada! For those not "in the know" (Which is most likely like 92.4% of you.) Wendover is our local point across the Nevada border where A~ and I have made a tradition of going for one night together for our anniversary. Well, the gold escaped us... but I think I was able to score some riches after all.

The drive out to Wendover takes us usually about a hour and half each way. It's not a scenic drive per se, but it's one that kind of grows on you after a while. The west desert is sparse to say the least, but in a strange sort of way it kind of takes on different faces with the different seasons. Before this trip the fog has been very heavy here for days and even weeks on and off, so the sparse desert was transformed into a beautifully frosted wonderland. Every blade of grass, every head of tumbleweed and every bunch of sage was covered in a beautiful while halo of frost. Besides the scenery, I have another favorite part of our drive out there; our long talks. It's almost become a sort of tradition with us. While we drive out we tend to fall into and out of good radio station reception and that void has been filled with some great conversations.

Perhaps it's the time of year. I mean it is right after the new year and our thoughts of goals and resolutions are on our mind. Maybe it's truly just the void of entertainment that gets us going, I don't know? The fact is, though, that on these drives A~ and I have had some great long talks. We sometimes bounce from topic to topic, or other times we really zero in and hash out an idea in detail. The point is that we take a regularly scheduled break from the world, we spend time with each other and get to talk and listen without the rush of the world around us. I treasure those times. And I learn a lot about her too. Sometimes it's just a small thing, sometimes she or I will really let go of how we feel about something, but it always brings us closer.

So then, as I said, I did end up with some riches after all. A rich conversation and a great weekend with my very best friend! The actual date may not be for a few more days, but thank you for the last 8 yrs together honey. looking forward to many more!!
P~

A new year... a new start

Ah, 2010 is here, snuck up on us, but here it is nonetheless.

Since I started this blog I've always been pretty dutiful about having a well thought out list of goals and aspirations for each new year. This year I don't. Well, to be honest, with the way our year ended; accident, Thanksgiving, visiting relatives, Christmas, work deadlines and a New Year, all lined up bing bang boom, I didn't have a chance to really reflect on what I wanted to do in 2010.

I did manage to pull a few ideas out of my hat though, so let me lay them on you:

• I want to complete my greenhouse evolution. By evolution I mean progressing it from being the mere shelter from the elements that it currently is, to a functioning respite for tender plants to hold over, if not all winter, at least through the fall and early winter and into the new year of 2011. I'll need to bulk up on the thermal mass, provide proper shelves and work spaces and find a way to generate some sort of supplemental light and heat for the winter. Good news is that I have all summer to do it so the prospects are promising.

• Last year we made a goal of 1500 pounds of food from our yard. Because of a terrible bout of squash bugs and perhaps just a little over exuberance in our estimates we came in short of that with a mere 810 pounds. (I of course say that very facetiously, I'm way way happy with 810 pounds. Who wouldn't be?) This year, I think that very realistically we should be able to get to 1000 pounds. So that is goal number two.

• Getting back to basics. A lot changed this year for A~ and I. She started working part-time (this was planned for next year but the right opportunity presented itself so we acted on it) and it really threw us both out of whack. I knew I depended on her as my partner, but I had no real idea of HOW dependant I was on her. We really struggled throughout the year to find our balance and to be able to maintain our lives the way that we had worked into them. Because we had some extra money for the first time in a long while it was really easy for us to fall into some habits that we hadn't had before because we were so conscious of our income. Eating out more often than we wanted to and not effectively using all the food we were able to grow, not keeping up with making our own organic cleaners and not making the most use of the time we did have available because we were just feeling hectic we welcomed the chance to relax. This year A~ and I want to re-ground and get back to our basics. Time to re-group.

• Finally, now that we've been able to get a new computer up and running, I want to get a little more consistent with my posts. I really needed to give myself a break last year after blogging for a couple of years I was getting to a point where I was losing focus on what was important to me. Not that you're not important to me of course, but family time... isn't that really what it's all about? I began to feel like I "owed you" a post on a daily basis. I don't know what made me think that I was so fascinating or important that I would need to be constantly updating the world, but I did. I'm now nearing the end of my third year blogging and what I want to do this year is to concentrate on being more consistent and regular with the things that I say and to try to keep the posts interesting and informative. Rather than quantity, I want to focus on quality. On this note I also have some other interesting ideas that I want to pursue, but details of those will have to wait a little longer until I know for sure what I can do.

I think that about does it for what I can think of. The goals are more modest this year, and I think to a certain degree a little more ambiguous than I've given in the past, but I'm happy with them. I'm looking forward to a good year 2010 and I hope you'll accept my invitation to go through it together.

All the best to you all...
P~

A very late Christmas update.

Just a quickie post here. It's about time I cleared up this handmade Christmas present wait don't you think. By the way, I loved the Cheese and Machete guesses... Classic!
Well, seeing as how our youngest little "Mountaineer" is 12 and our oldest 14 I figured I've run the course on handmade wooden toys, cool as they may be. So this year, I broke out the heavy artillery!
Knives!! Real ones, full tang, cold steel tempered (best I could), shaped and sharped by hand.The boys loved em!
I've made one of the sheaths as well. I have the leather for the other two, but need to finish them. Anyone interested in the process before I get started on them? I'd have no problem taking a few pics and sharing. The leather work is easy enough and the process could be used for a lot of things.
This picture gives a better look close in at the blade. I engraved the initial with the help of a dremel tool. Looking closely you can still see some of the tooling marks and scratches. I think they give it the handmade look though so they're staying!

Guess what I got from A~ and her brother? They pitched in and gave me this lifetime quality safety razor and a package of refills. No more plastic in the land fills for me!! Yeah...Sustainable personal hygiene!!A~'s brother is really knowledgeable about them and recommended this one to her for me as a good quality starter set-up. Maybe one day I can pass it down to my kids. Funny isn't it? You never think in terms of durability any more. Oh, and guys, the shave is very nice. I haven't cut myself yet, which I'm told is a hazard when you first start with these, but I love the lavender soap that G~ (the brother in law) got me. Smells great and shaves very well!

And my sweet wife and awesome kids got me this baby to "take the garden to the next level"!This summer I will officially become a local weather station for my own record. The garden journal will be all the more detailed for it.Needless to say, I have lots of new experiments in mind for that baby!! Bwah ha ha... can't you just hear my evil laugh now?

More to come soon.
Till then!
P~

Just Checking in.

Hi all,
Just wanted to take a second to say Happy new year and to let you know I'm not just flaky and not following up on the Christmas gifts question or anything but lots has been going on.

First of all we finally got a new desktop computer. For those that have followed this blog for any time at all you've probably heard me complaining about the sluggish and horribly slow computer that we had. Well, that problem has been remedied. I have lots to share, but alas, I have no photo editing software, and second I've not yet installed all the files or software that is necessary. Bear with me, I'll ping you with something before the weeks out, I promise.

Secondly, I have a Security + (Network security) exam that I need to take for work so much time is needed for study. The next month or so will be slow for me, but I have lots of plans and news so I'll bring you up to speed on all of that soon too.

Hope the new year finds you all well and I look forward to a great 2010.
Peace and hope to you all!
P~

Merry Christmas

Just thought I'd bob in here and wish you all a wonderful Christmas and holiday season. I've been home enjoying some time with my sweetheart the last couple of days and now the boys are home from their gramma's house and nestled "snug in their beds" so all is well with the world.

I did finally manage to finish their presents thought it required a final push worthy of the records book. I'll post more on things soon, but suffice it to say that I had a pretty SHARP idea for this year, one that's cool because it knows how to hold it's TEMPER. Any guesses?

Merry Christmas all
Best wishes.
P~

Oh so cold and snowy.

We've had more than a few inches of snow in the last couple of weeks. In fact, after I finally got my garlic in the ground just before thanksgiving, it snowed. Then the next week got bone chilling cold and snowed, and I do mean bone chilling. When I checked the weather underground website it showed our local weather station reading in the tens (not teens, tens) and the lowest I remember seeing one morning was 3.7 degrees F. Yeah, freaking cold!

On the upside, the chickens did fine with a little help from a heat lamp and timer set-up and a weather stopping clear plastic covering that cuts the wind but still let's them get natural light and fresh air. The greenhouse, well that's a little different story.

I finally got an artificial heating set up in place and it helped for sure. However, I still want to be conscious of how much power I consume to keep everything alive so I have it also on a timer that alternates the heater off and on for an hour at a time through out the night. During the days it will heat up just fine in there, it's the middle of the night that gets me.

Also, thanks to everyone who gave me the great passive heating ideas. I have implemented a couple of them like moving a barrel with compost into the greenhouse to try to generate a little heat and I have water bottles around my actual planters that hold some of the heat from the day in there over-night. The compost hasn't really gotten kicking yet but I'm still working on it. I also just acquired 10 or so 5 gallon barrels that I'm going to fill with water and place in the greenhouse to gather heat during the day. Right now the tomatoes that are still alive, did I mention that I had a devastating freeze kill at the beginning of the big chill? I did... it probably halved the number of plants that I had in there.

All in all, I'd say things are going pretty well though. As always I take the lessons with the triumphs and press on ever forward thankful that (for now) my living is not dependant on this. So then, how are things in your necks of the woods? Cold, maybe hot for my southern Friends? Everyone about ready for the holidays? We're pretty much ready for it here, but I personally am waaaaay behind. Every year I make a handmade present for my boys. This year it took me a long time to even think of something to make and I am just starting this week.

Crunch time!!

All the best!
P~