Winter's hanging on here.

It's cold out there! This is from this morning. There's no snow on the ground here, but on the car and the house, you can see it. We had snow flurries all day yesterday too.

Husband is home this week on vacation. He made a fire in the fireplace last night. So it's nice and toasty in the house now. And we actually kept it going all night. It sure uses a LOT of wood though.  When we were using the wood heater, one of those yellow wagons full would last 3 days. With an open fireplace, we've already used almost 3 wagon loads since last night. Not very economical, or as warm, but still nice. And I love to see smoke coming out of the chimney. It's so messy though.

So no spring here. Not for another few weeks. All that work and hurry I did to get the garden started, I think was for nothing. Because it's been in the 20's and 30's at night and only in the 40's during the day since. If anything does come up, it'll be a miracle. I have really never planted anything this early anyway. I guess I was just worried about getting things ready for the markets in April. And got a fever blister too. My 2nd ever in my whole life. Not fun.

I know it'll be hot and dry one day soon. But right now, it's still winter. And March. It was 20 years ago this month that we had a huge blizzard here. We lived in Flintstone then and only had dogs and cats. And only one freezer. The power was out for a few weeks. It was really nice though. Because neighbors were so nice and we got to know a lot of them. Everyone's been talking about another blizzard. Who knows?

Spam

And not the kind my husband loves to eat.

I noticed on my last post that there were 3 really strange comments from an anonymous commentor. Then when I checked a little later, those were gone but 3 more were there, different comments but still anonymous. So I deleted them. Then deleted the whole post. I haven't seen them anywhere else here.

Then I was over on another blog and noticed she had some of the same strange anonymous comments too. She deleted those as well.

So has anyone else been getting crazy strange comments that have absolutely nothing to do with the post? I hope it's not some sort of virus that's going to affect bloggers who comment on my blog. I'm so sorry if it does.

I am working on a post about the fermented grains and my milking does. It's coming, just taking pictures and getting some comparisons. But so far the 2 milk does are loving this grain! And milk production is up!

Bees. And keeping them.

Last night, I went to my first ever bee keeping class. The guy I'll be getting my hive from was the speaker. I could have listened to him all night. But I had to leave at 8:30 because I still had a goat to milk.

So now, after hearing him, I think I am more nervous and anxious than ever. I don't really think I was nervous before. Just more excited. But now I am just plain ole scared! Not OF the bees themselves. I love bees. Always have. I can sit right in the middle of a corn field and pick beans and listen to them buzz around me all day. I love them! They are awesome amazing little creatures. And I learned a lot about them last night. But even Eddie, after years and years of keeping bees, doesn't know all there is to know about them. They are just plain awesome!

I am more afraid of KEEPING bees. The responsibility of having those beautiful bees here, on my property. And keeping them healthy and happy. I so hope they will be happy here. There is so much all around here for them to keep busy. 2 whole mountain ranges, woods, forests, fields, ponds... SO much for them in this valley. So not really worried about that too much.

I'm not even afraid of being stung. Because Eddie says we WILL be stung. But it is good for arthritis. Which a few of my fingers are starting to feel. So maybe I won't wear gloves.

So this is where I will keep the hives. Up at the top of the hill, in that corner. It's a North-West corner, so they will be protected from winds and have the afternoon shade from the west. There is a lot of wild mint over in the pasture to the left. I heard mint keeps mites away? I will probably put some pots of mint in the bee yard. Since my goats are in this pasture, I'll fence in this corner.

I have always wanted bees here. And especially now, since every year I have seen fewer and fewer bees here on my property. Since I am organic and don't use any chemicals, I think they'll do a great job pollinating all my apple and pear trees. And my gardens. I think I'll go up to an organic farm in Tn. and get some of their organic open-pollinated corn and plant that in the other garden area, just for them. I will also plant lots and lots of flowers for them to enjoy.

I was told that the first year, I won't get honey. But that's fine with me. I will let the bees have all they need. I am not really concerned with getting honey. I just want the bees here.

I would LOVE to hear from all you bee keepers out there. Anything about bees. Your first experience with bees.

Leibster Award!

Well, I feel honored to have been chosen for a Leibster Award by Sandra over at Clearwater Farm Journal. Thank you Sandra! I'll try to do this right but probably won't. Yours looked very professional.

So I have to nominate 5 other blogs with a following of less than 300. So these are the bloggers I am nominating:

Aubrey at: http://thisblessedlife-aubrey.blogspot.com
http://goodgoats.blogspot.com  She has helped me a lot with great advice on goats.
http://katiegirlkate.blogspot.com
http://mybarefootfarm.blogspot.com
http://hammockhavenfarm.blogspot.com

Here are 5 random things about me:

I love the color green.
I was born in California.
I hate winter.
I can be really lazy.
I am getting bees!

And here are 5 questions I have to answer for Sandra:

I am reading a Book of Bees.

My favorite thing to do on a weekend is going to market on Saturday and sitting out under my shade tree with a good book on Sunday, listening to the birds and my sheep munching.

If I could travel anywhere, I would go to Ireland. But I am waiting on a bridge! Because I ain't flying clear across the ocean to get there.

My favorite season is Spring because I can get back out in the dirt and get the gardens going again. And there are baby lambs and goats!

I think my hobby would have to be fermenting. Anything!

So for those who I have nominated, you'll have to do the same thing. And here are your questions to answer for me:

How long have you been farming? Or homesteading?
What got you started farming or homesteading?
What's your favorite part about farming or homesteading?
What's your most dreaded part of it?
What do you most LOVE about it?

I think that's all. Now I have to go tell all these wonderful bloggers that I have nominated them too.

Happy Spring, y'all!!! Go enjoy the day. I am going to a bee keeping class tonight!

Pigs. And fermenting grains.

 Last night, I got my daughter heather and grand daughter Kansas, to help me take 3 16' fence panels out back to make an outside yard for Bob and Joe, the new piggerators. It sure is good to have help. Because I have drug those panels all over this place and they are very awkward. So it made doing this so much easier on me. So got that little job done in half the time it would have taken to do it alone. Thanks girls!!!

So let the boys out this morning. They immediately went to doing what pigs do best. They rooted all over the place. This will be all mud in just a few days. I have 1 more panel that I can use to expand the yard some more later.

Of course, all the critters wanted to meet the new guys and welcome them to Outback Farm. I have an album on my Outbackfarm Face Book page if you'd like to see the sheep and goats meeting them too. It's so funny to see the sheep's reactions! The goats have seen them since Sat. since they've been in the barn with them. In this picture, you can see that first stall is where they've been. The goats have the rest.

Bubba ad Stella wanted to come say hello too. They are so funny, those dogs. In everybody's business all the time.

A few days ago I started some grains to fermenting after seeing a blog post over at www.tosingwithgoats.
I hope these are doing what they're supposed to be doing right about this time. It's been cold at night so maybe they're a bit slower going?  The bucket on the right I had just stirred. On the left I had not yet. I had started with the left bucket full. Then had to take out half of it because it had expanded that much. I hope it works because I really want to feed them this way since they are used to eating brewery grains. So if anyone else does this, does it look right to you so far? It was Monday when I started this. It's got cracked corn, wheat, whole oats and some rolled barley.

After the storm

 Today, we were supposed to get some pretty severe storms heading our way. Out here in this cove, we don't see a whole lot of really bad weather like they might get 20 miles North of us. We're in a valley with lots of little ridges and hills. We had been getting some rain during the day, but I kept wondering where all that bad weather was.

Then, about 4:00, it started getting really dark. I could see toward the east, over Pigeon Mt. the sky was so dark. Crazy clouds. It got so windy all of a sudden and lots of rapid lightening, so close together and really fast. The wind was crazy. Trees nearly sideways. Then really hard rain, then hail. For about 10-15 minutes it went on like this. So scary. I said I bet there was a tornado somewhere close, with all that. Then, just as soon as it started, it was over. Still. No rain. No wind. Nothing.

Then this. It was bright, the sun came back out. Beautiful. It got a bit foggy to the North East. Surreal.

Then out back, looking West, was the prettiest blue sky with pink wispy clouds. Hard to believe it had just been crazy storming  a few minutes earlier.

I did hear that there were really strong tornado like winds that did some pretty bad damage to the East of us about 20 miles away. About 4000 homes and businesses lost power from wind damage. So this was a pretty fierce storm. I didn't hear of anyone injured on the news tonight. Just trees down all over.

And all is well with our little piece of the world again. Thank you, Lord, for being with us and keeping us all safe. Again.

Gardens, pigs, kids and more kids

The past several days have been like a whirlwind for me. Rushing around, trying to get the early garden planted. And grass and clover seed planted. Grand kids here. Worked all day Friday. Just running, running running. Trying to beat a rain storm headed our way. It's been sprinkling on and off part of the day so far. Which is fine because I really don't want a flooding downpour like we have been getting all winter. Just enough to get all the things I've gotten planted a good start.

If you can see to the left, which is how I am planting this year, there is collards, kale, mustard, radishes, lettuce, beets, onions, broccoli, cabbage and onions so far to the left of the horribly neglected grape vines. To the right of the vines, my grand daughters and daughter helped plant 5 different varieties of potatoes. 40 pounds worth. An All Blue and a Corona organic and then Kennebec, Yukon Gold and red. So that is my early crops so far. Planted and ready to grow for farmer's markets. And I am pooped! And SO out of shape it's not even funny y'all. I am hurting right now. But not really too awfully bad, like I thought I would be. Gardening gets a person in some really amazing stretches and reaches. It's the best exercise ever.

Also this weekend, I got 2 pigs. They are out working in the goat barn for me right now, mulching up the 6' deep hay mess the goats have wasted all winter. The pigs love this. Keeps them busy and helps me out. Kansas named them Bob and Joe.

Also took the 2 goat kids, Ira Joe and Ella Belle, to get their horns burned off. So that chore is done.

This will be a busy week too. A farmer's market meeting Tuesday evening, a bee keeping class Wednesday evening, and a backyard wine tasting event Saturday evening with some fellow farmers. Sounds like some fun to me!