We're back!

It's SPRING!!! Hooray!

We have had a long, snowy winter, and it seems like the memory of cold weather is already fading away. We have had some beautiful, sunny weather and are preparing for another round of bees, garden, cows, OH MY!

Our chicken girls did well this winter, cooped up. They have been churning out eggs so fast we don't know what to do with them. 7 a day really add up fast. We have started selling them to a couple of friends and also give them to some others. It's nice that the girls can get outside now and forage around the yard, you can just tell how happy they are! They were going through the feed so fast, but that should slow down now that they can munch on bugs.

We will be trying bees again this spring, and I have secured a beekeeping mentor for myself, which I'm really excited about. We're going to do an experiment - we'll put a package of bees into the top-bar hive, and a nuc into a Langstroth hive and compare. Should be pretty interesting. Maybe it will make it easier to know if the package/top-bar bees are on track since I can keep track of the nuc/Langstroth bees easier because there is more literature and information about that set up.

The garden is going - we have teeny tiny onion and tomatillo sprouts in the windowsill. Not so sure about the peppers I tried starting, if they will come up at all! We might have to buy some *GASP* starts at the nursery in May. I just bought a big bag of onion sets and will put them in tomorrow (we're expecting a thunderstorm today!) and see how they do. I haven't tried onions from sets before, so that will be good to see how they do compared to starting from seed. I think I'll put some carrot, radish, beet and pea seeds in too. It's early, but what the hell, it's worth a try.

Our friend and farmer that we get our raw milk from has not been milking for several months now (we've been buying milk from the grocery store) and will not be doing any major milking for awhile because she is going to have a baby in September. (Congrats Sara!!) So, we are planning to milk once or twice a week and be able to take as much milk as we need, which will be nice. I can't wait to get back into the routine of being with the cows!

Let us know what you're up to - are you ready for spring/summer?