Outback Farm honey!

Here it is, the first ever Outback Farm honey! It's so pretty and so good too! I am proud of my girls and myself too. Never would have thought I'd be doing this in a million years. But here it is. And this is just 4 shallow frames of comb too. I hope I can get some more in the fall. I love it!

I will also be making lots of zucchini bread tonight.Look at all this goodness! I tell you what, if you don't go out every day and harvest squash and zucchini, you'll have 30 pounds of it to carry to the house.

The peppers are coming along nicely too. My husband got 5 nice hot peppers yesterday and I got some more today. Are Cow peppers supposed to turn red?

And there are flowers on the bean plants! So fresh green beans in a few weeks.

The weeds are growing faster than the actual veggies right now, with all the rain we've had. We really need to get in the garden and weed. A lot. And I still need to get the running beans planted in the corn soon.

Anyone else getting veggies yet?

Elderberry...

 I really love elderberries. These are some of mine that have just popped up. The big one is at the bottom of my year, by the road. I have yet to actually get any berries though. The birds get them all. So there are some really healthy birds around here! These are also all along the roads where birds have planted them.

This one is pretty tall and wide. The insect population is all over the flowers right now. On a single flower head, there could be several different types of insects. I have noticed my honey bees all over them too.

Mine have from 5-9 leaves on each stem. Some can have up to 11 leaves.

This one just popped up in one of my gardens last year.

This is the big one growing up through the barn in the South pasture.

There are so many things you can do with elderberry flowers and berries. I found a good recipe for elder flower lemonade a few years back. You just take several handfuls of the flowers and cut off as much stem as possible. Slice up about 8 organic lemons, add to a gallon of water with a few cups of sugar. Add flowers. Put some cheesecloth or paper towel over top and place in a warm spot for several days. Stir a few times a day.  After about 4 or 5 days, it should be nice and bubbly. Strain off flowers and lemons. Refrigerate. Add some lemon slices and ice and enjoy! It is SO good. I can't do this anymore because of the sugar. But a friend is making some with honey. I'm going to try some of hers tomorrow and see if it works with honey.

I also make elderberry syrup for fall, winter and spring, to keep from getting sick. I have been doing this for several years now and have not had a cold or flu or any serious illness since. I keep telling people about it. All it is is 1 cup of dried elderberries in 4 cups water. Add 2 cinnamon sticks, 10 whole cloves and about 2 T. chopped fresh ginger.  Bring to boil, then simmer til reduced a little. Let it cool, then strain. Add 2 cups raw local honey. I put this in colored glass jars that I've saved from my vitamins. It needs to be kept in the fridge. It makes about 4 cups and will last awhile.

And I have always wanted to try elderberry wine. One day I will do it. Has anyone else made it?

And if you have any recipes, I would love to see them too. I bet the dried berries would make some good muffins or pancakes.

Bubba...

he hates flies more than I do. He's in the dining room, sitting on the window seat. Then there was  a fly.

This dog is so funny. He hates being outside because of all the flying insects too. Or it's too hot. Or it's too cold. If we leave him out too long, he'll just start running around, barking. At nothing. Just so we'll hear him and let him back in to shut him up.

He's always been this way. When he was a puppy, he stayed outside. Then he got really sick. It was hot that summer. I took him to the vet in Summerville and they did all kinds of tests on him. Ended up being pneumonia. He had to stay there for about a week.He was so thin. So ever since, he's been a house dog. I think he's about 7 years old now. Maybe 8. I guess I should write things down more.

And he's so furry. Him and Stella. Our whole house is nothing but dog fur, all over everything. We sweep and vacuum every day and the amount of dog fur every day is enough to put on a hairless dog.

It's crazy. I have some electric Oster shears in the milk room I use to clip the goats. So decided Sunday, after giving them both a shower, to shave them. Bubba was first,. He jumped up on the stanchion and stood there for an hour while I shaved all his fur off. I had a huge pile. But that dog was so happy after it was all off! He loved it. I will be doing this at least every few weeks now. Stella was not as cooperative. She has different fur. Thicker. It was harder to do hers. And she would not stand up. I did get her rear end area and underneath and her neck, but not much off her back. So they are both lighter. And I have not seen any piles of dog fur all over the house!!!!

I did it!

I just went ahead and did it. Went out yesterday and took 4 frames full of capped honey from the hive. First got all my stuff ready. Hadn't even opened the extractor box up. Had to get it all fixed and set up in the dining room.  Got the buckets and sieves and hot water for the knife to uncap the frames. I used a soft brush to brush the bees off the frames and put them in a spare nuc box. Then got started.

This is the first frame I did. Isn't it pretty? I had a serrated knife and dipped it in really hot water. Ran it over the tops of the frames, cutting them off into a colander to strain the honey out. I got quite a bit of honey just from the caps.

Just look at all this beautiful golden honey. And from my very own bees! This was so cool to do. I would never have thought in all my years that one day I'd be harvesting my own honey from my own bees. Just awesomeness! And I could not stop tasting this honey, it's SO good! I scraped it off the knife, wax and all, and ate it.

In the extractor, ready to spin! I sure wish the store would let people try each one out before buying them. This is a 2 frame. And I have to turn the frames to get both sides. I learned this is called a Tangential extractor, because I do have to stop and turn them around to get the other side of honey out. And I have to spin faster. The radial type goes slower. But I went so fast, and the frames had just been outside, where it was hot, that I lost one of the wax frames. It fell out, down to the very bottom. It was really hard to get out too. This one is really tall and deep. It took some effort to get it out.

This is the caps, straining. Got a lot of honey from this.I had watched several you tube videos first, just to get a look at how other people do this. Some people just used a cap scratcher, some had the electric heated knife. The scratcher is to get any of the comb that's too deep for the knife to reach. So I had bought 4 of these combs at the dollar store to comb wool. Never used this one, so thought it'd make a great honey comb tool. And it worked great.

This is a shot of the bottom with the was frame that fell out.

And the honey pouring out into another strainer into a bucket.  I had to practically turn the whole thing on it's side to get the honey to come out. 4 small shallow frames did not even get to the spout!

Isn't that pretty! I am still amazed by this beautiful honey. And it will take a few days in the bucket for all the way and other stuff to come to the top so I can skim it off and put it in jars.

This is a 2 gallon bucket, half full. I am still getting honey from the wax, so a little over a gallon from 4 shallow frames. Not too bad for a first ever honey harvest.

I've heard to put all the equipment outside and let the bees clean it all up. It looked like it was going to rain any minute, so I put the extractor under the shed. You can see it in the background here. I checked it later and only saw ants. I hope the bees find it because there was about a cup or so of honey in the bottom that I couldn't reach. I also out the frame against the hive for them to clean up. I put the other 3 frames back in for them to fill up again. I couldn't get this one back in. My bee mentor only puts 9 frames in his honey supers so they'll be thicker with comb.

I am so happy I did this. Sometimes I just have to jump right in to get things done. I hate to have to depend on someone to help. Just like the shearer, who never came. I might just have to learn to shear myself. I did shear my dogs Sunday and am so glad I did. No dog hair in the house since!!!!

And yesterday afternoon we started having some pretty severe thunder storms in the area. My friends up the road had a tree in their back yard struck by lightening and blew up their tv, plus some other appliances. Several trees down in Flintstone 20 ,miles to the North. I just called to check on Mrs. T and they are fine there.Crazy weather comes from Alabama. I don't like their storms.

And 1 of the baby chicks was killed last night by something. I only saw 2 chicks this morning, so thought maybe she didn't make it to the coop before all the storms hit. But then I started looking and found a lot of feathers where they sleep in the middle stall. Darn it. So I guess I'll have to start putting them in the coop with the rest of the chickens tonight. I'm so sad about that.

So that was my Monday.

Around the farm

 I keep forgetting about the barn swallows. Every time I walk in the milk room, one of them is flying out. One of these days, we're going to collide. And in the mornings when I'm milking Freja, they try to come in and see us there then fly back out. I am always talking to them, telling them we are all ok. They eventually come on in and work on their nest. It's gotten much bigger.

These babies are getting so big. I think there is 1 rooster, possibly 2. But the one on the left is getting a comb and has long legs. So I will have to find homes for them. I still cannot figure out how the other hen gets into the coop. But she does.

I've started letting the other chickens out in the afternoon. Already they are getting the blue berries. And already they are in the garden. But the garden is big enough they can't do much to it. I might have to put fence around the tomatoes. Or clip wings.


I was out the other day gathering my dandelion flowers, and saw this in one of the pear trees. It's so pretty. But will have to go. I think it's Bald Faced Hornets. And they are not good to have around honey bees. The hornets kill honey bees. I'll have to get the hubby to help figure out what to do to not hurt the tree.

See that huge elderberry tree at the barn? I love it. All the elderberries are in full bloom now. Soon all the birds will be happt to be eating elderberries. They always get them all.

The day lillies are beautiful right now.

This is Gilbert. She's a girl. My oldest grand daughter named her. She's probably about 8 years old now.

And Andy Oakley. He's about the same age as Gilbert. My only boy cat, since Alex died not long ago.

This is the coolest corner. I want to make a deck back here. I was mowing the back yard last week and it was so cool back here. And a pool would be nice too. One day.

And out in the garden, the squash and zucchini have finally decided to bear fruit. I got these 3 nice sized ones this morning. I already have plans for stuffing them with my lamb burger, corn, tomatoes, rice and my feta cheese. Sounds good to me. I love going out to the garden and finding food for dinner or lunch. Even breakfast. If it looks good, I'll take a pic and post it.

And again, I did something today for the very first time ever. I hope it's not the last time either. It was SO fun. And really good. I'll blog tomorrow about it. It needs it's own post.

So happy Monday y'all! Have a great week!

First day back at the farmers market!

 Today was my first day back to the Brainerd market. I had loaded all the yarn and salves and lotions and soap and tables and all that stuff in the car last night. Woke up at 6 this morning and went outside to pich radishes, kale and lettuce and get them ready to go. Fixed breakfast, got the grand daughter up and off we went.

I left at 8:30. Got there at 9:15. So I need to leave at least by 8:15 to get there by 9. It starts at 10. So that'll give me plenty of time to get all set up.

I still need a display thing for the yarn. I just don't like laying it down. It needs to be up at eye level. Like some peg board with hooks to hang the skeins on.

I had a lot of interest in the yarns. Everyone came over and asked questions about them.There was more interest when I tell them they are from my sheep. I was just charging $5 an oz. And most people said that was really reasonable for hand spun yarn straight from my own sheep. But I didn't sell anything wool today.

I took 7 bunches of radishes, sold all but 1. I had 4 bags of loose leaf lettuce, sold 3. And the black tote of kale. Sold most of that. Took what was left to my mom and oldest daughter.

I sold a plantain salve. I love it when I have a few people at my booth and someone talks about having my salve and how good it is and someone else buys some! This one lady had bought some plantain salve the Christmas before last and just started using it on her very cracked heels. She said they were horribly cracked and she started using the salve on her heels and they are SO much better! So the other lady bought some for a friend. Cool! I cannot make any "claims" like that myself, so it really makes a difference when someone else has used it.

And I had made lemongrass lotion bars and a bug repellent bar. Sold several of each today! And 2 of my lavender goat milk soaps! So all in  all, a pretty good first day back.

Now I hope they vote me back in at the Main St market. They're having a meeting after the market next Wed. and will bring it up that I want to come back, since it is way past the march dead line. But since I have been there a few years, it should be ok. I talked to a few of the board members and told them. So I hope they let me back. I miss that market. It's a totally different crowd over there. I love it.

I think the guy who came to shear my sheep last week is coming back tomorrow morning to the farm up the road. She has 15 Finn sheep that did not get sheared last year. So I told them to please start with hers and get as many done as they can tomorrow, then come back next week to finish my 4 and hers. It's not going to be too awful bad temperature wise next week. This weekend is in the high 80's, then it goes down a bit through the week. I think they'll be fine.

I hope you all are having a great weekend so far. I am having the family out for some BBQ pork and stuff Sunday, to celebrate the May and June birthdays. Now I have to go clean the house. Not my favorite thing to do. But it makes me clean up every now and then when I know people are coming. Like who wants to eat with dog hairs on the table, right?

(The shearer IS coming in the morning for my friend's sheep! I am so happy for her! I hope they can get all of her 15 sheep sheared at one time.)

Happy birthday to me! And Allan!

Got a call from my friend Allan from up  the road. He first told me happy birthday and that his was today too. And wanted to know if I had an extra hive box. He had a swarm at the edge of his garden.  So I went to see if I did and yes, sure enough, I had the super from the Outback hive, full of frames. And 2 frames had drawn comb. So put it all in the car and drove to their farm.

I handed all the kids some of the hive parts and they followed daddy to the swarm. It was so cute. He and Carrie have the cutest 3 kids ever. Look at that little red head! Adorable! And of course her favorite color is purple.

They have a few hives to the left of the garden. The swarm is at the end of these rows. ON THE GROUND! How cool is that?

Just look at these beautiful bees! It was like the best present ever, for both of us!

So Allan shook the bucket in first. This is them, inside their new home. They were all so good. We sprayed them with sugar water. They were all very nice and calm. No one was stung! There were a few bee casualties though.

Next, he shook that round spool with all those bees into the hive

Then the cinder block. It had the most bees in it. Plus a lot of dirt.

This is most of the girls, inside and all around. He picked up as many as he could and put them inside. There were still a lot buzzing around at this time.

I put the rest of the frames back in, then the top board, the the top.

Isn't this the most beautiful view? And what a great place for honey bees. That's Lookout Mountain back there.

                                                          And a pond to boot.

So Allan was going to feed the bees, then wait til tonight, when they would all be in the hive, and put screen at the entrance and move them over by the other 2 hives. Then sometime, we'll split this hive and I'll get another bee hive for my farm! How cool!

It was the best ending to a birthday I've ever had! Just amazing. Who'd have thought this would happen. And it was SO flippin' EASY! We all had the best time. The kids were great. Not a single sting. Perfect ending to 2 birthday bee keepers. I am so happy right now.

Now to get ready for an early farmer market tomorrow.  Then more sheep shearing Sunday. Great weekend!

SO excited!

I just had to share this. My very first ever hot process goat milk soap!! I have always had a hard time with goat milk soap. It's always too soft. So I've been watching you tube videos and asking questions about hot process soap. It looks so fun and easy and you can use the soap right away. No curing for 2 months, like cold process. So I decided to give this a try.

Got my coconut and olive oil in the crock pot on warm. I had goat milk frozen in 8 oz baggies. So got out 2 cups and thawed it out a little. When the oils were melted, I added the lye-goat milk. Stirred, then stick blended. For ever and ever. I had bought a new blender and it was getting hot! My hands were burning. But it finally got to a good trace.

So every 10 minutes or so, I'd stir it. It has several different stages it goes through. I think this is the "mashed potato" stage.

I waited too long to stir again and thought I'd lost it. All the oils were on top and it was brown. So I just stirred and stirred, for a long time, til it all blended back together again. I was quite happy to see that!

Then it got to this last stage, quite shiny and soapy. So took it out of the pot and added some lavender EO. This is a 5 pound recipe, so had a little less than a half of an 8 oz. bottle, so added it all.  And stirred and stirred, til it was all stirred together.

Then poured, or really glopped, it into my mold.

Isn't this pretty? I am so amazed I did this! Now I just hope it gets hard. So, my first ever hot process goat milk soap. Done! All this is in olive oil and coconut oil and goat milk with lavender essential oil.

I also made some lotion bars. On the left, I just came up with a blend of EO's for a bug repellent bar. I hope it works.

On the right is lemongrass, my favorite. I still have lard lemongrass soap too.

Now I want to make more of this soap. It's so cool. And fun and easy and didn't take near as long as cold process. I always worried about getting the temps all just right. With hot process, I don't have to worry about the temperature!