Another beautiful day on the farm

Wood Pile

Almost December Berries

Daily Harvest

Daikon Radishes 

make good pickles.

Harvest Feast

Small Feast

Pie Feast

Busy Bees: what to do and what not to do?

At the hive entrance on sunny days I still notice activity. Even today as the shadows grow longer and the temperature drops there are bees still out working. Should I feed them? Should I shrink their entrance and give them their quilts? Today I ended up feeding each of the two hives another quart of their own honey and blocking half of the rest of the exposed entrance because its supposed to be cold tonight. I dont feel its time for the quilts yet. This year feels like last winter with many warm days through December, but I could be wrong. I will need a warm day to add shallow supers with cedar quilts to prevent mites and too much humidity in the hive when cold weather comes, so I hope I am not wrong.

On the Farm/In the Kitchen...testing recipes

Copicut Farms Chicken with Ivory Silo Veggies & Herbs!

Parsley, Sage, Thyme and Oregano from my herb garden with Roots and Alliums from Bill and Dee's fields. The Macomber Turnip stuffing even had a little apple cider vinegar made here from Ivory Silo apples.

Tree of Life

Happy Summer's End

Samhain "summer's end" to signify the end of the harvest season and the beginning of the dark days of winter. How many people get so sad at this time of year, but it is a chance for contemplation, relaxation if you allow yourself, and hibernation or transformation. I look forward to that time and thanks to this festival day, I remember. If the clocks must change-which I really wish they wouldn't-and daylight savings must end, then what a fitting time for it to happen.

Trick or Treat

What to do with too many pumpkins

Have a pumpkin carving party with friends.

We created quite a cast of characters.

The Whole Crew

Boo!

Daily Harvest...Squash and Popcorn

A big Ghost(pumpkin) and popcorn

Butternut, pumpkins, scalloped squash and a hybrid acorn/pumpkin

We harvested everything ripe or not because the Woodchuck was now interested

The Ghost Patty Pans(white scalloped squash) were still coming as well as zucchini

and the pumpkins were getting very big

Zucchinietti

What to do with those large zukes?

Make spaghetti. This is very paleo, but beautiful.

It tasted so good, even before I added the parmesan cheese. I really dont understand why the large zucchini's have a bad rep. I feel they have a more spicy flavor. I know you have to cut out the seeds, which are bigger and said to be bitter, but the volume is still more for bread latkes or pasta.

And what ever happened to that Dandelion wine? Its ready. The perfect compliment to this meal.

Cheers!

Bees...replacing bottom boards

Its starting to get cold at night so we needed to replace the screened bottom boards.

We started with the smaller hive and while we were at it we took a peek. It doesnt seem strong enough to make it through the winter. It never built up even though we gave it a frame with queen cells earlier in the summer. We are reluctant to merge it with our stronger hive because they are so full and we dont want to bring a disease. We dont really know whats happening to this hive and why it isnt building up. My feeling is to give them a very small space and feed them and if they dont make it then we should let them go. I am committed to helping bees that can survive this climate in this location. These poor gals dont seem to be doing that.

This hive is completely different and seems to be thriving. It will be much harder to lift it while I replace the board. We are cracking it open here with the hive tool.

I tried to move quickly because it was very heavy.

Jenny was ready with the smoker just in case.

this post: all photos by Lori DeSantis

Daily Harvest...cherry tomatoes

 Lori picked all the ripe cherries in the garden and

added the peppers from Bill and Dee for lunch.

Fall forage for bees

Jerusalem artichoke (Helianthus tuberosus)

(Also called)Sunchokes,

and goldenrod.

Its a gorgeous day for man and bees.

Daily Harvest...Honey

We harvested a whole super and then gave the frames with wax back to the bees to reuse. I will save some of this honey to feed back to them as well. They seemed to have honey in the brood boxes, a full super and another one started. I was reluctant to take so much but I was overruled by the rest of the family.

Daily Harvest...fall is here

A good carver

A heavy load

Bees and more Honey

These gals have a very full hive.

This honey was from spring, but this season's honey is coming.

Daily Harvest from garden to compost

Pumpkin vine spreading from the garden across the field still flowering.

Baby pumpkins still sprouting.

Turning green.

Turning orange.

Ghost pumpkin ripening.

And from the same garden ghost patties and zukes...

and delicata eaten and ready for the compost.

Daily Harvest...Tony's Honey

Tony showed the kids how to uncap the honey cells.

This is a frame of uncapped honey cells, from Tony's hive.

Jim gave it a try.

After the cells are uncapped and scraped to allow the honey to flow...

The frames are placed into the extractor.

Our extractor is man(or kid)powered.

Raw and unfiltered. But we will strain out the bits of wax.