Sweeter Also than Honey and the Honeycomb

9 The fear of the Lord is clean, enduring for ever: the judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether.  

10 More to be desired are they than gold, yea, than much fine gold: sweeter also than honey and the honeycomb.        Psalm 19:9-10 KJV

Saturday afternoon and the phone rings.  It's a friend who's about to go work some of his hives.  He tells me that he'll be pulling frames of honey and extracting it.  He's offering Tricia and I to go out with him and learn, saying we'll be far ahead of the rest of the class.  I was interested, but our bee suit hasn't come in yet.  He responded, "You don't need all that.  Wear a long sleeved shirt, your gloves and your veil and ya'll will be just fine."

We show up and he has the colony pretty doggone mad.  I get out of the car and bees are buzzing around my head, annoyed.  I don't want to get stung, so I quickly grab my veil and gloves.

We check the hive for brood, for pollen, and for honey.  We search for the queen, but she's hiding.  We remove frames of capped honey.  Here's one:

The bees have capped it with wax.  The frames are heavy!  I picked up a box of frames full of honey and struggled to get it back to the truck.

To get the honey out, we'll have to remove the cap.  It is made of wax.  A heated knife is used to melt the wax cap, exposing the sweet honey underneath.

The wax and some honey falls into a screened container and the honey drips down to the bottom.  It was very enticing.  I kept reaching down in the container to pull out pieces of honeycomb.  I would chew on it, relishing the sweet, sweet honey - Miele (in French) until all that was left in my mouth was wax.

We then put the frames of honey that has the caps removed by the knife and a type of "comb" that perforates where the knife couldn't reach into an extractor.  The extractor has a hand crank and uses centrifugal force to push the honey out of the frame and against the walls of the extractor, where the honey drips down the sides into a tank below.

We then open the valve and run the extracted honey through some screens to filter out wax and other things.

We ate lots of honeycomb and honey!  It sure was sweet.  We didn't get stung one time and feel like we learned quite a bit - a "sweet" experience, for sure!

A Happy Medium

I did a whole lot of planting in the garden on Saturday.  It got me thinking about soil.  To start my seeds, both in seed pots to transplant later, as well as soil I direct plant into, I use a growing medium.  In the past, I would use a "Seed starting mix" that had peat moss, vermiculite, coco coir, as well as other ingredients.  What I quickly learned is that you really don't need to spend the money on this.  With a little patience, you can create your own.

I've experimented with various "recipes" I found online.  All seemed to work okay.  I've settled on one that's the best and all that's needed is wood chips and patience.  A growing medium is defined as a substance through which roots grow and extract water and nutrients. In native plant nurseries, a growing medium can consist of native soil but is more commonly an "artificial soil" composed of materials such as peat moss or compost.

With each year our soil has gotten better with more amendments and as time passes.  It is teeming with earthworms!

The health of the vegetables has improved markedly with each passing year as soil quality gets better.  Here's some happy Rainbow Chard:

Here's how we make our "happy" medium.  We have local tree trimmers on right-of-way clearing crews drop off truck loads of wood chips on our property.  Loads of wood chips in your yard doesn't create "curb appeal" and probably won't win you a "Garden Spot of the Month Award."  But the benefits are priceless.  The chips are free and they will work for you.

In three years, the size of the piles is cut in half.  They decompose.  I can cut that decomposition time in half by adding cow poop to the pile to keep it heating up and composting as well as moving and restacking it.  Pretty soon that compost pile is a dark brown pile of topsoil.  When it is time to plant in pots or directly into a row in the garden, I shovel a wagon-load of the rich stuff and get a bit of hardware cloth.  Then I take handfuls of the rich, dark wood chip compost and rub it across the hardware cloth.  The 'grated' compost falls through the screen.

The screen catches sticks, chips, and leaves that have not been transformed into soil yet.  I throw this back on the pile as it needs more time.

What falls beneath the screen is our growing medium - our Happy Medium.  It is full of organic matter.  You can see eggshells in there as well.  It is full of nutrients, composted cow manure, trace elements and minerals that were once part of the tree.  It holds moisture well and is light and fluffy and resists compaction.  I do add some composted chicken manure to this medium and mix well.

We either fill our seed pots with it and plant seeds in it, or we hoe a small trench in the garden soil after raking away a small amount of wood chips, fill the trench with our plant growing medium and plant directly into that.

In no time at all, we have happy plants germinating out of our happy medium.

Watching the Parade from the Potato Patch

 I was planting potatoes on a beautiful Monday morning.  It was Lundi Gras.  That means "Fat Monday," the day before Mardi Gras.  The revelers were making the most of it.  As I was planting, I heard the French music playing in the distance.  The heifers, LuLu and Elsie, lifted their tails and ran across the pasture at break-neck speed.  They must have been scared.  The craziness surrounding Mardi Gras sometimes scares me too!

The police escorted the floats across LA 26, a state highway near our land.  They blocked off north and south traffic to give the floats a chance to cross.  I should have counted the floats.  It was more than 20, for sure.  The floats aren't typical floats like you see in the parades in New Orleans.  This is Cajun Mardi Gras.  It is more of a country celebration.  The floats are made of old school buses that have been altered and painted or a gooseneck trailer that has been transformed into an Acadian house.  They are very creative and I know a lot of time and money goes into this.  There are celebrations each of the preceding weekends, so it's not just one day.  The revelers are very committed to their cause.

The guy pulling this float is a neighbor that lives down the road.  We purchased all our square bales from his grandpa.  His grandfather is now deceased, but we continue to purchase from the daughter, who runs the operation now.

Most of the floats have barbeque pits on them.  They were smoking and I could smell the BBQ.  It made me hungry!

Most of the floats were flying American flags, Mardi Gras flags, and Louisiana flags.  Many flew the Acadiana flag.  You can see it below - the red white and blue one.  It was created in 1965 at USL. The gold star in the field of white represents Acadian exiles in America.  The fleurs de lis against a background of blue stands for the French heritage of the Cajuns.  Finally, the gold castle against a background of red represents Spanish colonial rule of Louisiana.  That's when the Cajuns arrived. 

Their parade route is long and goes all throughout the country.  They were eating and drinking and listening to (loud) music.

Many of the floats also have Port-A-Potty's on them.  Some call them K - John's.  Get it?

Let the Good Times Roll.  Literally...

If you look at all the cars backed up and stopped on LA 26 while the floats cross the road, that's the closest thing you'll see to a traffic jam out in my neck of the woods.

The house of crazy Cajuns, indeed.

And finally, the parade was over.

The French music faded into the distance as the parade snaked its way into the distance.  And I went back to planting potatoes.

Planting Potatoes - 2023

It finally stopped raining.  After checking the forecast to ensure we have a few good days without rain, I determined that I'd get the potatoes planted.  The seed potatoes we bought at our Feed Store and cut into chunks were put on the top shelf in our closet.  It stays warm up there and seemed like a good spot to put them and allow them to scab over and their eyes to start growing.

I pulled them down from the shelf and took a look.  I had almost forgotten about them.  I learned the top shelf idea from a gentleman at church.  He keeps his in his attic.  Hot air rises and it stays warm up there.  My attic is kind of cool, so we opted for the closet.  It worked.  They eyes are growing nicely!

Potatoes with Eyes

This right here is a future potato plant.  Once placed in the ground, it will burst forth and grow leaves and a nice root system that will produce potatoes.  You never know what your crop looks like until you dig them up.  Sometimes the above ground growth looks fantastic.  And then you dig them up and have a dismal harvest.  Other times, everything seems to work and the potato crop yields bountifully.

I only have eyes, for you...

The reason you cut the potatoes and allow them to scab over for a week or so prior to planting is that if you put them in the ground "wet," they will rot in the ground.  Here you can see that the cut seed potatoes have scabbed over nicely.

Scabbed over

We have a little issue to deal with, however.  It's time for potato planting and there are still immature cabbages in the potato patch.  These cabbage were hit hard during the dip into the high teens and it set them back.

Immature Cabbage

They are pretty and healthy, but they won't mature in time and I need the space.  We don't let them waste, though.  even though they won't make a head, I'll harvest them and cut them up and make coleslaw with the leaves.  We don't let anything waste.  The bottom leaves get thrown over the fence to the cows, goats, and chickens.

Just not gonna make it

Planting potatoes is a back-breaking endeavor.  There's definitely a better way, but here's my process.  I use a shovel to dig a five inch deep hole.

I sprinkle a quarter cup of composted chicken manure to the bottom of the hole.  This will give them some 'get up and go' once their roots hit it.

I loaded a wagon full of composted wood chips.  It has decomposed into some nice, rich soil just teeming with earthworms.  It makes a great growing medium.

On the bottom of the hole, I sprinkled the homemade topsoil.  Then I put the seed potato on top of the topsoil with the eye facing upward.  You can see an earthworm next to it.  That's an encouraging sign.

Then I top off the hole with more of the composted wood chips that has mostly turned to soil.  Now we just wait until they sprout.  Once I gave green leaves above the soil, I mulch the area with four inches of non-composted wood chips.  Those chips will become soil by the end of the growing season.

The photo I posted below shows when I have only 9 potatoes planted.  When I finished, I had 122 potatoes in the ground.  I plant them 4 inches deep and 12 inches apart.

It was a great day for planting potatoes!  We'll see how the harvest goes.  I'll test dig some in about 90 days to see if they are ready.  Until then, we wait...

2022 Eggs - By the Numbers

Eggs.  Who would've ever thought that the prices for eggs would have risen like they did in 2022?  CPI data shows that the average retail cost in U.S. cities for a dozen eggs increased nearly 50% from $1.72 in November 2021 to a record-breaking $5.59 in November 2022.  We eat a lot of eggs, but we do sell a few and give a few away.

As we always do, we tally up our egg production and post the final numbers for the years.  We now have 10 years of data.  The results aren't really a good comparison from year to year as our number of birds in the flock fluctuate from time to time.  We lose some to predation and to old age.  We also add to the flock from time to time - both in birds given to us and birds sold to us.

Here is a summary of the data for 2022.  In 2022 our biggest month of egg production was April.  In 2021 it was March.  Our lowest egg production month in 2022 was a tie between December and January.  In 2021, the low month was November.  Our 10 year average is 8,196 eggs or 683 dozen.  In 2022 the hens laid 6,174 eggs or 514.5 dozen.  That's well lower than the ten year average, but we had a larger flock earlier on.

Below is a simple log of 2022 egg production by month:

We have about 50 birds.  Each bird lays roughly 123 eggs a year.  We pick up, on average, 17 eggs per day.  Each hen lays an egg every third day.  Earlier this month, we reported that we have 42 eggs on an incubator.  They've been in there for 14 days.  In another week, we'll be adding to the number of the flock.

2022 Rainfall - By The Numbers

Well, I normally have this post up early in January.  Either more is going on to distract me, or I am slowing down.  Regardless, here's the information that I tallied tonight.  Rainfall, it's an important thing when you are growing a garden or growing grass for your cows, goats, and chickens.  2022 started out to be a normal year, but by April, May, and especially June, we knew that we were in for a dry year.

As it turns out, 2022 ended up being the driest year on record since we started tracking rainfall in 2013.  We now have a full 10 years of data to compare, and I always find it interesting to look at.  First, we established that 2022 was the driest - a full 1.4 inches less than back in 2014.  Over the ten year period, we average 65.89 inches each year.  We were a full 9.15 inches less than the 10 year average.  In ten years we've had 55 FEET of rainfall!

May was our wettest month and June was our driest month in 2022.  May is our wettest month for the ten year period, but June being so dry was an oddity.  Normally, March is our driest.

For an interesting statistic, if we were planning picnics during 2022, it would seem that the 16th of the month was a good day to picnic.  It never rained on the 16th during any month of the year in 2022.  So far for 2023 we are having an above normal January and February as far as rainfall goes.  We'll see how the rest of the year goes and report back in 11 months.

The Broccoli is Almost Done

Every other day, we've been enjoying broccoli florets picked from the broccoli that is still out in the garden, soldiering on.  We add it to fried rice and soups.  Last night we roasted it in the oven with minced garlic.  After the main head is picked, the broccoli just keeps on producing.  I would estimate that if you weighed the main heads we picked and then weighed the sum total of all the florets we've picked, the florets would weigh more - maybe double.  

The Good Lord created plants to grow, flower and produce seed, and our broccoli is doing just that.  The broccoli I'll show you photos of today is called Waltham Broccoli.  It is an heirloom, non-hybrid created in 1954.  Here you can see one of the florets I was speaking of.  We normally try to harvest these before they go to flower.

If you wait one more day, that tight floret will spread out like the one in the photo below and will get ready to flower.  We had weather in the 70's today.  That will really get the broccoli growing quickly and have all these florets opened.

Here is what the broccoli looks like in one more day.  Most of the flowers in the floret have turned to pretty yellow flowers.  These flowers heavily attract the honeybees that live in our column.  They'll be all over these flowers in no time at all.

Then a metamorphosis occurs.  Those flowers produce pods that look kind of like green beans.

Those pods, when mature, can be dried and the seed inside will be saved for planting next years' crop of broccoli.  Once the broccoli pods have turned brown, I'll harvest the broccoli seed.  When I harvest the seed, I'll store it in a dry, dark place.  Then I'll have broccoli seeds for sowing this fall.

Why You Set it Aside in the Summer

In springtime, the grass will slowly grow, filling the pastures so that happy cows, goats, and chickens can roam about and pluck the tender green growth, converting that grass to milk and meat.  During times of plenty, we've learned to look toward lean times and prepare.  I'm talking about hay.  While grass is abundant in the spring and summer, it's not that way at all in winter.  Oh there are winter grasses that grow, but as fast as they come up, they are nibbled down.

In the hot days of summer, we do several things to prepare.  First, we fill our barn's loft with square bales of good bermuda hay.  We purchase that from a neighbor down the road.  Each day we throw some of that into a wagon and the animals eat it up.  I pick up what they miss and fill the nesting boxes in the hen house with hay.  We also line up round bales that we purchase from another farmer.  Over the winter, he'll deliver a couple of loads of round bales.  He delivered 10 round bales and our inventory is down to three bales now after we rolled this one out.

It's funny, the cows have a trained ear.  As soon as I unchain the gate from the post, they hear the chain hitting the gate and they come running!  They circle the bale and eat to their heart's content.  On sunny days, they'll be out in the pasture sitting down or trying to find a sprig of grass that the goats haven't found yet.

On colder days when it is drizzling and the wind is blowing, they'll be huddled around the round bale eating hay and then chewing cud later.  We watch them closely.  Although they haven't been palpated, we are thinking that they are all bred and want to ensure that they have proper nutrition for themselves and the calves that are developing within them.

It is crucial to put stuff up for a rainy day.  It's almost as if the cows in the photo above (Elsie, LuLu, and Rosie), are thanking us for stockpiling provisions for them to eat in the winter when there's not much grass to speak of .

Barn Work Day

We built our barn back in 2009 out of mostly recycled materials from old barns being torn down in the area.  It needs some work.  Tricia and I have a knock-out list of a few ticky tack things to repair.  The "old timey" tin (corrugated metal) they used back then was so much thicker than this new stuff they sell.  However, even the good stuff rusts out, especially the tin that butts up against the cows' feed troughs in their milking stalls.  I think that the salt rusts it out.  In the winter, cold winds from the north blow through these holes, chilling us to the bone.  

Now, I could do a professional job and replace that entire piece of tin, but a patch job will do just fine.  The cows aren't particularly particular about how it looks.  Once the weather levels out, I'll paint it to match.  No more holes in the side of the barn.

Those were the only holes in the side of the barn.  The remaining holes are in a more troublesome area - the roof!  The tin was in marginal shape when we put it up, and it didn't help when hurricane winds deposited a heavy limb on top, busting holes in the roof.  Just look at the rusty holes in the roof.  You can see the sunlight coming through.

Sunlight isn't the only thing coming through.  Rain comes through.  Lots and lots of rain and it makes a gigantic mudhole under the northern wing.  That's where the animals like to lie up and rest and it's become a mess.  Time to try to fix this problem.

The roof tin is in too bad shape to patch.  I put two full sheets of tin on top to fully cover the area that was leaking.  Tricia climbed up on top of the barn to help me.  It ended being a two-person job.  Then a rain came through to test or roof job, and I think we fixed the problem.  I'll climb back up with some caulk and clean up some seams and screw holes, allowing a few leaks here and there.

According to our calendar, we should have some goats that begin to kid in just a week or so.  That means we'll be milking goats again.  Our goat milking stanchion that we built quite a few years ago is in pretty good shape, but needs new pegs for locking down the head gate.  All it took was a drill, new dowels and some carpenter's glue and we could strike that off the list.  Done.  Ready for goat milking!

One of the hay racks above the milking stall on the east side was a metal one.  It completely rusted out.  The milk cows won't be calving until late summer, but I needed to build a new one before that time comes.  Might as well get that done while I'm working on these other projects.  I had some lumber in the barn that I ripped up and constructed a hay rack that sort of matched the other one.  While we're milking them, the cows eat their feed in the trough, but then we'll put hay in the rack that they'll eat on until we're finished milking.

The goats are demonstrating how the older hay rack works in the other milking stall and that's a good opportunity to point out the last barn project we got done.  Goats are trouble-makers, especially older billies.  Buckwheat likes to head butt and tear everything up.  The outer rail of the milking stall below had been broken by buckwheat hitting on it.  It actually broke the 4 x 4 off at ground level.

I sawed off the bottom of the 4 x 4, dug a hole with the post hole digger, poured some quickcrete in the hole and used a level to ensure it was square.  Once water was poured in and the concrete was allowed to set, I screwed the side rail in.  

Mission complete.  For now.