Almost Summer

Summer is just days away and this year Lost Arrow Acres has taken a different path this year because of my finances and "paying" jobs; admittedly, the homestead has not lived up to its potential.  This was also a busy year with proms, graduations, teaching teens to drive, etc. Nonetheless, we got most of the chickens butchered.  Bruce gave skinning them a try.  It seemed to work pretty well (for me at least) as I just rinsed them and put them in the freezer.  Flower, our New Zealand White had 9 bunnies her first liter.  They were all healthy and happy little critters.  I feel it is too hot now to try and breed Thoretta, (originally Thor), Emmy, and I have a feeling that Snow is too old as she did not take earlier in the spring. So we wait until fall.  We had 2 swarms land in the oak tree by the pond and orchard, about 30 feet up.  We got the smaller one.  It is such a great feeling to get a swarm-free bees!  Bruce constructed a bucket on a stick with duct tape (Red Green would be so proud) and it worked splendidly.  We extracted one super and got about 9 quarts of honey from our established bees.  We have a couple of more supers to go.  The garden this year only consists of several tomato plants, asparagus that came and went, my garlic and then we have our berry bushes that did give us a few blueberries to munch on as we walked to the  four hives.   We have two apple trees that did not survive.  The rest are in need of some fertilization and water, which I plan to do today.  The peach trees are coming along nicely.  I am not going to get any more animals, i.e. chickens or goats, until the killer dog is gone.  It is too much time, effort, money and emotions for him to just eradicate for fun. Unfortunately, the greenhouse is in need of new plastic.  It is about 5 or 6 years old and has turned opaque.  That is another expense that will need to be saved up for.  Right now my main objective for this summer is to get the garden weeded, fenced to protect from the wildlife having free lunches, and to keep our bees happy and healthy.  I also want to "purdy" up the yard a bit more.  There are lovely herbs and perinnials, but I would like to have a few more splashes of color.  I did get a spring flower catalog (bulbs, such as daffodils and hyacinths) and have chosen a few that I would like to order and get in the ground this fall.  With the long summer days being upon us, I have more hours to work and plan on improving the homestead.