Our spunky, adventurous, artistic Isabella turns eight today! She is a girl who knows what she wants and makes it happen. She's always ready for an adventure. Bella is definitely a girl without much "girly" in her. She's always the child who is willing to jump in...
I'm reposting this post that I wrote eight years, three kids, and one house ago. Certainly, a great deal has changed since I wrote this, but the words still ring so true. Embrace the season in which you are living and, while you look forward to the seasons to come,...
It's still acting like winter here in Indiana. My kids have given up, tossed their pants to the wind, and decided it is, in fact, the spring it is supposed to be. They've gone on adventures in the woods, helped daddy build a fence, and built bonfires, all the while...
There is a disconnect today between eaters and food sources. I think this is becoming a fundamental problem with society. When we lose sight of our food sources, of what else do we lose sight? Because, ultimately, what (or Who) is the source of the food which...
We are an Easter people, and Alleluia is our song! Easter was beautiful this year and we are rejoicing!
We were finally able to finish our syrup making this weekend. This is our second year making syrup and we learned a great deal both year. Mainly, SOMETHING HAS TO CHANGE. It was quite the chore this year. We tried the propane burner, which was painfully...
It's taken me days to write this post, which is a testament to the fact that KIDS + HOMESTEAD= a serious lack of extraneous time! This lack of time has brought me all the way to Friday, without a new post, so naturally, this will become a "Seven Quick Takes"! 1....
--- 1 --- Is it spring yet? Indiana seems to be confused. It's been a long and whiney week, here. I think the kids are all annoyed by the cold, soggy weather. Little snippets of spring weather have us all the more disgruntled with the cold! --- 2 --- Our...
We've been collecting sap from our trees for a week now and have quite a bit. Sap is largely water, so it take an enormous amount of sap to make a small amount on syrup. Forty gallons of sap will boil down to make about one gallon of syrup. That's a lot of water to...
When I checked the weather forecast late last week, it showed freezing nights and nice warm (40*-50*) days. That's a perfect forecast for running sap! We were all set and ready to tap our first five trees this weekend, with plans to watch the weather and...
(This is part II of a series, see part I here) Once you bring your bees home, make sure to set the hive in its permanent place. Bee's get confused if they fly off for the flower garden and come back to find their home moved! We placed ours on cinder blocks, with an...
When we ventured into beekeeping last spring, my biggest fear was losing the bees during a hard Indiana winter. This winter hasn't been particularly rough, but we have had a good number of deep freezes. Enough to worry a newbie beekeeper, anyway!...
