June Is Here And You Better Be Ready For It!

6-13-15 Notice the Finish Area sign! Six months later it's time to measure the commitment to get in shape for a Tough Mudder. I'm sure it will be fine. I've surpassed bigger preps in shorter times but this one is for the books. Which is why its here. Tough Mudder training requires time. Time to train, time to train harder and more time to train. At least a lot of training was required for me....

Episode-259 – Feeding Top Bar Beehive

What a good time for me today as I checked in on the top bar hive.  That's colony D and the survivor of 5 hives in 5 years. Not good odds but a chance for survival is underway. This video shows the top bar hive cluster and it was time to top them up. I was concerned they don't have enough honey so I mixed up some sugar and Honey B Healthy and a pinch of pink salt. The benefits of this type of...

Episode-231- Weatherproof The Home For Winter

         I'm grateful for listening to a friend three years ago motivate me to insulate my home as well as I did at that time. The three winters since that time were not nearly as cold as this winter of 2013-14. The past few winters made the presence of drafts in the home known enough but not to the point where I felt further insulating was necessary. Yet this past December I was...

Episode-208- Where Are The Bees In Colony C – Part 4 – Eggs, Larvae, And Hornets Oh My!

The saga of honey bee hive C continues and the colony struggles along. During today's inspection I saw eggs and larvae which could be reason to believe that the colony had a successful supercedure. There were a few of the large European hornets flying around the hive and that is not good for a young struggling colony. Thus, I added a crude home made robber screen to keep them and other unwelcome...

Fun With Past Episode-74- For 7-29-13

Home production is in full swing except for the honey production side of operations there has not been much time other than to record all of the things going on and reaping various harvests. Last night the elderberries were harvested for the first time and I will be making some elderberry jelly soon. Right now the berries are in the freezer for easy stripping from the stems. The battle with...

Episode-199- Mend Fences With The Neighbor – Part 2

As I set out to mend fences with my neighbor I had no idea it would be so difficult. But once I started there was no turning back. Episode 198 show how I thought I could get away with doing a half completed job and once I looked at the job a few times I knew I had to start over. The first repair was an eyesore and I like my neighbor enough to not leave it that way. Thus I had to make several...

Episode-180- Get Rid Of Stink Bugs And Other Pests In The Home

    Twice a year I need to do my own insect eradication from the home. I don't many bugs in the home at all and I credit my own home defense method for that. I don't use an expensive and I don't waste a lot of time doing this biannual chore. The biggest hassle is getting up in the attics to do the initial spraying. From there I work my way down through the home to the crawl space in the...