I, Beekeeper

This past weekend, I got some bees.

One of five new frames of bees I installed this weekend.

I've been wanting them for a while, but my original bee source had a few hive collapses, so I had to go to another friend. It's funny that some other homeschooling friends of mine are into beekeeping, and one split off a nuc for me.

Why Do I Homestead?

Sometimes, it's good for us (humans in general, I mean) to step back and take a good look at why we're doing one particular thing or another. For some, it's asking, "Why do I continue to buy all these magazines?" For others, "Why am I working two jobs and pursuing yet another degree?" Still more, "Why do I continue to wake up early and sit in traffic for an hour to spend 70% of my life behind this desk that I hate and with these people I can't stand?"

Those three pesky letters that separate us from the animals.

For me, it's "Why do I wake up at the crack of the sun, hit ice out of a bucket with a bat in negative temperatures, shovel cow pies and lug hundreds of pounds of water in a cart twice a day, rearrange my kitchen to accommodate new dairy experiments, spend my Sundays housing swine, give chickens a weekly ride in a rickshaw, and otherwise devote the first 30 minutes of my day to squeezing liquid from a cow's underside with my bare hands?"

Simple: I'm certifiable The short answer is that it's the path to a richer, more fulfilling life. But you came to read the long answer.....

March Homestead Update

Happy Feast Day of St. Joseph!

St. Joseph is my adopted patron. I am not named after him, and chose another saint at Confirmation oh those many years ago. Since being married and working, though, I've come to appreciate how helpful St. Joseph and his holy example are. So, in celebration of his feast day, I'm dedicating this update of all of my work around the homestead to him.

First, the pigs are growing visibly larger and more comfortable with us daily. Holy moly, they are fun to watch.

BB'q saying hello. Escargo nervously watches in the background.

All them piggies hanging out. They're starting to root up the area (yay!),
and go nuts for milk and eggs. It's hilarious.

I'll likely leave them in place for at least another week, partially because the area isn't rooted to my satisfaction, and partially because I'm not ready to move the chickens into the reinforced cattle panel pens yet - I need to add the chicken wire, at the very least. And speaking of the chickens.....

Beginnings of a Hugelkultur

Finally! It's coming together.

I spent a good bit of time last week sawing and hauling some of the larger logs to build our first hugelkultur.

The hugelkultur base. That log on the right was a beast to move.

Our current raspberry plants will eventually end up here. I have some more building and cutting and hauling until we're ready.

On a semi-related note, we also planted our replacement trees this weekend. I forgot to take pictures.  :(  But, I'll post some updates of the orchard once everything starts to leaf out.

Why Are Self-Sufficient Family Farms So Big?

Short answer: horses.

Long answer: there are many factors involved. First of all, for a true "self-sufficient" farm, you need to produce everything you need from the land. That's all food, water, clothing, building supplies, medical supplies, cleaning supplies, heating, lighting, tools, books, recreational activities, etc., along with all of the other necessary to keep them up.

I think most farms are needlessly large and hyper-specialized these days.

Of course, one person (or heck, even one family) cannot reasonable do it all. Taking on blacksmithing, woodworking, animal training, dairying, crop growing, shearing, weaving, looming, tanning, medicine, home building, and general day-to-day repairs, on top of the routines of life with laundering, cooking, cleaning, and normal family life, is a big task.

So self-sufficient farms really DON'T do it all. Instead, they produce extra of whatever, and then sell and/or barter to fill in the gaps. Or, they maintain a separate income source and narrow their focus. But I often encounter situation where advice or "standards" are based on the first camp.

"Oh, you definitely need at least 60 acres to be self-sufficient."
"You can't have sheep and cows on less than 10 acres."
"You have to a barn, and 5 acres for hay, and this for that, and ...."

Bah!

2013, We Hardly Knew Ye

"...from such films as Andre the Giant,
We Hardly Knew Ye...."

Or, we knew Thee all too well for our own Stinking Goode.

Either way, it was a crazy-town, whirlwind year here at the homestead.

This time last year, I knew there was so,so much to get done, so I dubbed 2013 "The Year of Getting Things Done."

Boy howdy, was it ever.

I have a yet-unfinished list, sure, but I did complete some very major accomplishments this year. We will continue our self-sufficient journey in 2014 with some exciting new additions and expansions.

For now, though, let's look back at 2013: The Year of Getting Things Done.

Replacement Trees

Nine of our 26 trees did NOT survive.

We lost an apple, two peaches, two paw-paws, two almonds, and two pecans.

Despite needing nine new trees, I could only find 8 rootstocks. One paw-paw is MIA. But, the great people at Willis Orchard Co. are sending me new ones for the dead trees I still have (shown above). It's a great place to shop for mail-order trees. We'll be expanding the orchard soon. Probably in December-ish. Stay tuned.

Our Changing Landscape

Yesterday, I was up on the roof cleaning out the last remnants of nails and asphalt droppings from the roof reconstruction. YAY! One more thing to cross off the list.

While up there, I moseyed over toward the garden area and snapped this:

The garden is full of weeds and the orchard needs to be scythed. But, it's progress.

It reminded me of how far we've come in just a few short months. Contrast that with the bird's-eye view from June, and it looks like a totally different place. Kind of.

It's just neat to step back and compare all of the work we've done to see how we've moved forward, and also to see what we've learned. I am planning a "lesson learned in gardening" post to be released soon enough, as a reminder before we dive into next year's madness...I mean, insanity. :P

Oddly Specific

Last week, Wife and I went out for Chinese food. I got an oddly specific fortune cookie:

Yes, this was the actual fortune I received.

So 'next Monday' has come and gone, and what opportunity has presented itself?

Bird's Eye View of the Garden

A view of the garden, with the orchard behind it, from the roof.

Well, roof's eye view anyway.

I had to finish adding the silicone caulk to the roof, and touching up the paint this weekend. I also did some gutter work. Whilst up there, I thought I'd snap a pic of the garden. It's a neat perspective on the land, being 30 feet up.

From the same perspective, I took a shot of this week's grazing area.

Sheep, chickens, and donkey in the new temporary grazing pasture.

I do enjoy the view from the roof, if not the work. Makes we wish sometime for a nice, tall balcony.
Oh well.

Dude, Where's My Orchard?

I went around the fence and couldn't find it.....

The orchard is gone! :O

Twenty-Six of Stuff

So Wife just pointed out that we got 26 chickens last month, and in February, we got 26 fruit trees. Crazy, right?
But it gets weirder.
Because it's 2013. And 13 x 2 = 26.
And we got the trees in February (2), and the chickens in April (4). Two orders. And 2 + 4 = 6.
26.
Mind. Blown.