On the Farm - It's SPRING!

Arugula coming up in the greenhouse

Spring has sprung at the farm, and with a vengeance. We went from 30-40 degree (Fahrenheit) weather last week to 70-80 degree weather this week!

Zucchini went into the ground this week and into the greenhouse.

Small spring lizard spotted at the farm

I spotted our first lizard of the year while I was moving firewood the other day!

Honeybee on flower

Our honeybees are out and about. I spotted them on quite a few plants around the farm, including a flowering tree near the road that a lot of insects are enjoying (circled in red above).

We went into the hives this evening and saw a lot of activity inside. Mike unfortunately got bopped by one bee, but it looks like things are going well inside of the hives. Now we just have to stay ahead of them to keep them from swarming and leaving our hives!

Work on the barn/workshop is going well. Above is what the barn looked like yesterday.

We were on to the second bay of floor joists today. I had never heard floor joists called "sleepers" until I was talking to someone later in the evening. The person who said it told me that "sleepers" is just what carpenters sometimes called the joists.

We launched our "Help Raise Our Barn" fundraiser campaign in order to offset some of the costs for building such a large infrastructure for both of our businesses. We are grateful to the responses we have received and look forward to our 100 bottle goal!

On the Farm - A Girl's Best Friend

Our new chainsaw

Some say that diamonds are a girl's best friend. However, in my line of work with wood-fired pottery, I think a chainsaw is a girl's best friend. My other half says the chainsaw was our holiday present, but I think of it as my own little wood eating beast! It's lightweight and works like a charm! I had the chance to break it in today while the weather was nice. Did anyone else get a chainsaw for a holiday present?

This is my mountain I am working on whittling down and preparing for the February kiln firing.

Work continues on the barn. All of the concrete footers have been poured and we are beginning on the piers. I've become quite skilled at running the concrete mixer and getting the consistency right!

Below, though, is perhaps one of the most exciting things at the farm today:

Bees heading back into their hive

Close up of the bees heading back into their hive

 We checked in on our two beehives and saw they were quite active in the sunny weather. I was most surprised and mesmerized to see bees coming in to the hive with pollen on their little furry legs! You can kind of make out the yellow pollen on their legs in the photo above, and I enlarged so you can see it better below.

Enlarged image to show the pollen on their legs!

I haven't the faintest idea where within three miles (their usual radius) they are picking up pollen, but I am happy and excited they are doing so!