Town House Homestead Tuesday

Yikes! Where did this past month go? Many differences since my last post, sooooo long ago. 

The weeds are higher and my sunflowers are as tall as I am and getting taller. All five have blossoms and I'm so hoping to get some seeds. The squash is also growing up the tomato cages and up to my neck.

Two five gallon buckets growing fast and steady. Lots of blossoms, and the start of some fruit. I am thrilled with this venture. Patty pan squash growing in five gallon buckets.

My ginger plant is now 35 inches tall. Lots of activity in the pot, so maybe in a year I'll be harvesting ginger. Watching ginger grow is a new experience. It's a different plant to say the least.

The zinnias I started from seeds are starting to bring wonderful color to the garden. In the next week there should be many more. I love the fact that a package of seeds gives me so many different colors.

This is butterfly milkweed that I started from seed and it's doing it's job attracting those beautiful pollinators. I will add more next spring. It is tall, dainty, colorful, and environmentally friendly.

I was literally gifted a 13 gallon kitchen bag full of freshly harvested basil. I do not say no to these or any food gifts. I got busy washing and preparing it for pesto. I froze 16 four ounce servings so that through the winter I can make pesto anything. I used walnuts this time because I had them on hand and I love the flavor just as much as pine nuts.

All individually wrapped and ready for the freezer. This was a wonderful blessing.

I was also given six wonderful fresh cucumbers that are all prepped to become bread and butter pickles tomorrow morning. I know they are not pickling cucumbers, but I had all the ingredients and they will be awesome.

I harvested the pot of shallots and ended up with eleven healthy ones. They are hanging in the breezeway drying and make a wonderful piece of wall art. Next year I will do a lot more, but not bad for the first time from seeds. I planted beans in the empty pots as a second batch. The bucket beans are almost ready to blossom and there are now three peppers that I can see growing.

The adventure I am on as far as gardening and becoming a little more self sufficient goes back a few years when I lost everything and hit bottom. My daughter and I started searching for ways to stop the waste and make everything work. All usable vegetable scraps go in the freezer for vegetable stock and gets canned for use. Then the scraps are added to the compost. I keep a small empty coffee container by the sink so I can add the scraps as needed.

Not everything goes to the making of stock or compost. This is the bottom of a red onion that I soaked in water to stimulate the roots. It will grow into a new onion and I won't have to purchase any. I do this when I buy different varieties because I'm the only one who eats the onions here and even though it takes time, I still benefit from waiting. Call me crazy, but it's working for me and I'm not starting everything from seeds. 

With my daughters back injury and the swarming we were sure we had lost the bees, but this weekend she did another inspection. To our surprise there is a queen and she is laying brood and they are producing honey. They seem to be very healthy and as I watched them daily thinking they were dying off they always appeared to be getting stronger. I guess mother nature was telling me that is was meant to be. We will be watching them closely to make sure they keep moving forward and will think about protecting them for winter.

And to put a nice end to this weeks blog, there is Hunter. I've admitted in the past that I am not a dog, or for that matter, a pet person. However, this little guy and I have taken those obedience lessons over the top and he is becoming a good puppy. He has quite a ways to go, but we are bonding. He is now six and a half months old and weighed in at 31 pounds. I would like him to stay this size, but who knows. For now the path to a good relationship with him is going okay. That's some of what's been going on at the new Town House Homestead. We grow more and more each day and learn constantly. Things are moving along well and we are happy here. Spread Love and thank you for stopping by.

Town House Homestead Tuesday

So much going on around the property and keeping us very busy, but it's been worth every ache to see the results. After thirteen months we've got a yard that's starting to look good and work for us, a dog, and bees. Not to mention the developments on the house itself. So much needs to still be unpacked and organized, and I think I need to buy stock in shelving. 

My daughter did a quick inspection of the bees. The ladies seem to be surviving well, and in another few days she will check them more closely to see if she can spot the queen, and check on egg production. Weather has kept her from looking.

She did have time to notice that there was honey production, and when she sits to watch them come and go, she sees pollen pants. We are hoping to see a little more activity as warmer temperatures move in.

Hunter is trying to learn to be outside on his own. It's going to be a challenge, but he'll get there. He loves being outside, I have nick named him the Tasmanian devil. 

All I do is turn my back on him for a couple of seconds and he runs off with whatever he can steal. He keeps my busy.

My seedlings have been hardening off and I'm slowly getting things planted. These are mostly perennial flowers for the pollination garden, tomatoes, peppers, bunch onions and shallots.

I continue to dig out plants from around the yard to replant around the bees. I transplanted a rose bush, found even more chives,  spider wort, and more hosta. It's a work in progress, but so far it's cost only physical labor and a couple packages of seeds.

The plants are beginning to take well and are growing better than I expected. Can't wait to get more done this coming weekend and watch it bloom through summer. 

The compost bin is moving right along too. We've come a long way learning the composting process. It's ready for another good toss now that we've cleaned up some leaves.

Turning to the growth on the inside, she has added this beauty to the kitchen. It's smaller and gives us room now to be comfortable and it's in almost pristine condition. True vintage, and come this fall we will get back to adding color to walls. 

And finally I found a few moments to play with the succulents that have been growing around the house, and replanted my old steamer. Unfortunately last years plants didn't winter well and I had to start over. These are plants that were gifts and babies that we were able to collect. It's in the sun and already growing. Relaxation at it's finest. That's what's been happening in the last couple of weeks here at the Town House Homestead. Thank you for stopping by to visit and have a wonderful Memorial Day weekend.

Town House Homestead Tuesday

The Town House Homestead now has it's first colony of bees. What an experience so far. Getting  a garden tilled, putting plants in, painting boxes, and then the trip to get them.

It was a one hour drive south of home to pick them up. You enter a driveway in your car, are given a tag with your order on it, drive up and they load a nuc, or many in your vehicle. Drive through bees. 

This is one colony of bees in the trunk of my daughter's car. On the one hour trip back we had one lose bee, but she may have entered when we had the windows open to do business. The process took less than fifteen minutes. 

When we arrived back home my daughter carried the nuc to the back yard and set it on top of the hive box and pulled the plug allowing them to come and go. It's been a week of very wet and cold weather, so she had to watch the weather to get them homed.

Fortunately we got a break between storms and the transfer was made. They were not happy, but did a great job settling in.

I was only brave enough to stand with the dog in the pen to take pictures, but fearless daughter got the five frames moved.

She added the cover and got them protected as quickly as possible. The next move would be to get them some food since it's been rainy and cold and they are not coming out to forage.

She temporarily added a jar of sugar water to the outside and left the empty transport box next to the hive box so any stragglers could find their way to the hive.

A few ladies here were discussing their plans to move. The next evening they were gone so they may have found their way in.

It was a great relief knowing they were in and it's been a long week waiting for the bad weather to stop, but yesterday a few started venturing out and looking around.

Since the initial transfer she has added a second box containing sugar water so they had something on the inside and could stay dry and hopefully warm. It's going to be warmer today and maybe a bit sunnier so I may see more activity. I didn't get as much of the garden around them planted as I wanted, but when they develop their flight path I can try and work around them. I'm an anxious gardener and I want to see it grown in quickly. 

Blossoms are starting to pop out around the yard. These are apple blossoms on a very sick tree that will need to come down, but for this spring we are going to leave it.

Hunter needed a bath. It's been nothing but mud here and he enjoys digging in it. He also thought that the dead bees around the hive were yummy, started licking the robber screen and chewing the corner, so today he goes out on a tether. Poor guy, but he was lucky no guard bees came out before I was able to call him away. He's developing well. In four weeks he's doubled in size. His first weigh in had him at six pounds two ounces, but last night he weighed in at twelve pounds six ounces. I think he's going to be a good addition to the homestead. In another month we'll start obedience classes. Until then he has to keep learning from us, but he is getting better every day. That's what's been happening at the Town House Homestead. Thank you for stopping by for a visit. I wish everyone a great week.

Town House Homestead Tuesday

So, two weeks later this little guy has become king of the homestead. Well, he thinks so any way. He has the run of a quarter acre and if I have to say so, I think they make them cute so we keep them. He has punctured my skin, chewed on my pant legs, stolen my boots, and I cannot get any sweeping or dust mopping done unless he's in the crate. I am exhausted, but for the last few nights he has been sleeping for at least eight hours. Not bad for ten weeks. I think he has doubled in size in two weeks and has a wonderful appetite. The vet says he's very healthy. Hunter is a thinker and problem solver and it's hard to stay ahead of him. I was totally unprepared to have a puppy in the house and a few times I've wanted to find him a new home. Hopefully with warmer weather we can learn to get along better. Together we have a lot to learn.

This past weekend we had some major tilling done to start our pollination garden. CCH Lawn and Landscape spent several hours clearing the yard. We are on our way to being known as 50,000 bees and a puppy.

This is a very large area with lots of potential for every kind of plant we feel like planting, and enjoying. It will be undergoing lots of changes in the next month.

CCH Lawn and Landscape was also hired to make an eight foot bench for this garden. Just simple cement blocks with timbers. This is for sitting, but will also be used as a work surface for the bee tending.

My daughter also had them create removable lattice fence panels as a bit of architecture that we can blend in with plants. They came out perfect and we can store them if we need to make changes to the garden.

The hive boxes are being painted. Another coat and we will be ready to receive the ladies. They will have a struggle to survive, but we will do all we can to keep them going and protect them. So many predators and battles for them.

We did a bit of raking to prepare the hive location. Emily helped bring in supplies and they laid weed cloth, cement squares and stones. They added a water bath over the tree stump that we cut back further and at the end of the day, a test of what it would look like was done. 

I think it's going to be beautiful. Right now there aren't any plants and the area with the pebbles will be much larger, but for this weekend we are finished. CCH Lawn and Landscape will be hired to put a stronger floor in the shed and build new doors so we can use it this coming winter. It's a bit worn right now, but still has a good roof, and some paint will bring it back to functional.

The sign warning of bees is on the gate at the side of the house and we've taken out a few locks for it, so we can decide which one is best to keep people safe. The neighbors are all on board with our bees and they hope they may have a jar of honey in the fall.

The gardens we put in last year are beginning to blossom and it's so nice to see. As of April 15th we have been in our new Town House Homestead for one year and when I look back at what we've done, I see all the miracles I am grateful for. I look forward to vegetable gardens and sharing our abundance in the near future. Thank you for stopping by and visiting. I hope to see you again soon.