gooey comb squish

we harvested one of our supers and let the kids squish the comb. this honey is for personal use so hygiene isn't really an issue beyond a good scrub down first.

toly didn't feel like getting his hands that dirty.


we learned many lessons


mostly we just had fun


before we started squishing the honey we let the kids gorge themselves on honey comb.


it was so tasty. the kids normally just tolerate honey but they loved this stuff.


it is the perfect kid activity squishing honey.


this hive didn't have any extra honey. two hive bodies full. nearly double the required amount to over winter.


gooey squishy fun


i have to move the hive locations because the tree above them is loosing huge branches and needs to come down. it was struck by lightning a few storms ago.

the bees shouldn't have any trouble making it through the winter. we'll leave two hive bodies per hive. that will be plenty so we probably won't need to feed them at any time. our hives should be really strong for next year.

i also learned that i want to use smaller supers for honey collection. this will be a winter of getting prepared for next year.

i also want to try beequick to get the bees off the supers for easy harvesting next year.

gathered knowledge
- - small supers for honey
- - harvest more often
- - keep them from swarming at all costs in the spring.
- - get in the bees more often
- - make a bee tool box to hold all necessary tools
- - ask more questions from beesource bee keeping forums

i received an award for a great blog home is...
i read her blog as often as i read any--which varies greatly on my allowable time. i really appreciate the way she obviously respects her husband and family. i especially like the nickname she gave her husband. the first person that comments what it is will get a special present.

k-)

rome is ok now

he just got back from the doctor receiving "all-clear" having been diagnosed with a mild case of pneumonia. he has been on a nebulizer--albuteral and steroids. i'm finally able to make a post without feeling like a complete whiner.

tabitha made her first dinner tonight. tasty chicken, rice and squash. we are resigned to shop at the store for what we eat for a while. i know it seems lazy and not very responsible but we must. i shopped from a list that was made from a meal plan. what a different experience that was. usually we just get a few things and mostly eat from our pantry. i feel a bit like a failure but "what ever will be..."

we got a new monochrome lazer printer. it is very cool. the kids need it for home schooling and coloring pages. they can even water paint on the pages it makes. the printer was instrumental in printing our new shopping list system.


tristan feeding nimue a flower/weed. tabitha felt her baby kick this afternoon. yeah, it is alive and kicking. we were concerned since she was so ill around the time she was pregnant.


roary is looking better since we dried her off. she'll have a few months to regain her condition for her calf.


the cats are growing like crazy we keep them scantily fed so they are voracious hunters.


the puppies are growing like crazy too. they are very healthy and well behaved. they are still in intensive training--not to bother the chickens, cows or kids. they also have great protective instincts. we really really like them.


toly feels better since his ear infections. he has been very good about going potty in the proper places.


kassi is being like mommy and taking a bunch of photos.

we plan to get into the bees and harvest them this weekend.
i also hope to brush hog the entire place this weekend too.

now that was a bit more up-beat wasn't it?

humbled

i have been struck down. the factors are;

new baby
tabitha's wisdom teeth extraction (and why do they call it that?)
summer colds household wide
toly's ear infection
slaughtering chickens without tabithas help
and i'm going back to work tomorrow

i can't get a thing done. i was trying to sneak in painting the last bee super and got into trouble because i obviously wasn't prioritizing properly. the bees have been swarming and i was just trying to reduce some of their internal pressure. my bad...

i have so much to say and there many thanks to be given i'm still ruined. i'll be back in earnest as soon as i can.

my next post will have plenty of photos of the new baby and our little farm

one local breakfast

most of the ingredients were zero miles from home. i sauteed several onions until they were caramelized. they filled our large cast iron skillet and reduced to not able to cover the bottom. our skillet is the original non stick surface and teflon is evil. i added two perfect tomatoes from the garden. we have been able to get two or three tomatoes per day from our garden. the ninety or so plants would usually produce wheelbarrow loads by this point. i sliced the tomatoes and simmered them down adding garlic, salt and ground chipolte peppers. it made a heavenly ranchero sauce.

i cooked several eggs, scrambled softly. then i melted cheese on tortillas wrapped them around the sauce and eggs. i grated asiago cheese on top before closing the burrito. i have made some mean breakfasts in my day but this one took the cake. the fresh tomatoes and home grown onions and garlic were instrumental to this dish.

tristan and tabitha loved it. most of the food i make comes assembled just prior to serving so i usually eat last and standing at the sink. kassi and toly had already eaten peebeejays. there was much praise and yummy noises.

tabitha tried to slack off the painkillers last night with catastrophic results. sleep was lost and general unhappiness was pungent. then the new dose of drugs kicked in. sweet sleep and quite were had by all.

i have been milking the cow she had gradually slacked off the amount given. she is due to calf in a few months so we are considering drying her off. this lactation has been exceptionally long and she'll need time to recover. her show calf should also be afforded the opportunity to grow without the daily nutritional drain milking causes. besides we need to change her diet to be calcium poor. this is done to prevent milk fever--a deadly side effect of a heavy producing cow and not mobilizing her own calcium stores before birth. it seems counter intuitive but decreasing the calcium intake is the prevention.

we'll have to buy milk for a month or so until nimue calves. we have a few sources for raw milk so things won't be to rough.

the bees have been crazy i am resigned to getting what we'll get from them and use our lessons learned for next year. the big walnut tree in our back yard was truck by lightning branches have fallen from it all summer. three of the bee hives are directly under it and have been narrowly missed. it makes me sad that we'll have to cut that tree down but it will open our yard to more light for more fruit trees. the proposed location of the solar collectors will be in much better light. i guess things are as they are supposed to be.

monday i'm going to call around and find someone to buy the tree. we sure could use the cash. we have also decided to move the hives to completely separate locations. the loner hive on the upper side of the garden is easily monitored. we plan one on the lower side of the garden or on the far side of the pasture. one hive should go in the front yard under the peach tree and one will likely remain where the walnut stump will be. when the hives are all together it is difficult to tell what hive is doing what. we had a tiny swarm leave the most robust hive--less honey. i think we will have plenty of honey for ourselves. we plan to keep every drop since it doesn't go bad and there will be a whole year of cooking, canning and sandwich making. if there is any left over next season i'll make mead. or figure out how to make kombucha with it.

i have been making kombucha in six gallon containers for most of the summer. i bottle it in grolsch bottles and share it with toly--he loves it. i am sure that it helps his stomach health. it is funny the different tastes i get from each bottle. sometimes it is tart and almost like vinegar and others it is sweet. most of the time it tastes like hard cider. toly and i share a pint most days.

rome is doing great. he is already showing signs of wanting into the fray. that poor boy doesn't know what he's in for. he is alert and very engaging. he resembles kassi the most. he even has a little dimple on his cheek like kassi--the opposite cheek. his hair is dark reddish brown. i wonder how it'll grow out?

toly is taking things fairly well. a few setbacks but mostly just loves his little brother. kassi and tristan have been doing remarkably well. kassi fauns over rome and would dress and re-dress him hundreds of times per day. tristan has been deep into his new nintendo.

los dos pedros

AKA the place that makes the best carne asada burritos in the world.
this place is in san diego, la jolla actually. obviously this sort of claim is subjective. every person that i have introduced directly or vicariously have agreed that this place does indeed make the best carne asada burritos.

this little mexican taqueria is classic. there is no indoor seating unless you count a barstool next to the pepsi fridge. the outdoor seating is a converted old carport. mostly you can just walk down turquoise to the ocean and eat them on the beach. tourmaline surf park is just a short view up the coast.

san diego gas and electric still owes me a deposit from the place just a few blocks from there. i ate five meals a week there and never tired of their carne asada burritos. robertos in ocean beach is the runner up on the burrito competition.

thanks matt for the image. every time he visits there he sends me a little memorabilia.

tabitha is back from the oral surgeon. all four wisdom teeth are now gaping holes of pain. the kids are doing great. rome has gained over two pounds in two weeks. the weather has been accommodating and i have resigned to let so many things go to pot that i feel rather free today.

fixed, fixed and fixed

i repaired the clothes washer. one small error, the leads going to the hot and cold servos were swapped so i had few more minutes of panic until i switched the leads. in retrospect the new brain was supposed to come with new leads properly labeled but since it was a cannibalized part from a floor model things were a little funky.

the air conditioner was under warranty--although i had to argue a bit to convince them that my manual indeed said a full five year warranty. in the interim i called the local repair guy that doesn't do warranty work on our model. he's great, always helpful and fair. he said it was the mini-breaker protected power cord that was the problem--he was correct. i guess they are bad to go out. the warranty guy showed up with a tool kit smaller than tristans and promptly couldn't take the cord apart. it took a diamond shaped bit--i'd never seen one like it before. i ground down one of my old rusty square bits and provided him with the right tool.

at the end of the day he cut the mini-breaker protector off and jammed the stripped wires into the 240v socket and the AC unit worked. "it'll be ten days before we can get the new part." what? he said he wouldn't void my warranty if i were to get a temporary breaker-less 20amp cord and put it on myself.

i kept saying to myself what do normal people do? do they just wait the ten days in the august heat? AND if these units are bad to go out why don't they keep one on the service truck? so i went and got a new end for my power cord. don't try this at home folks. it is a real hazard. the wires are stranded with hair like strands and they must never touch each other in a powered-up mode. doing this sounds simple enough but executing it in the confines of the cheap-o-plug is another thing.

i also fixed the futon frame. the kids are really hard on all furniture this is especially so of anything that can second as a trampoline. i had to purchase some plywood since most of the frame was catastrophically broken beyond any repair.

i am also making a rack that'll hold the milking machine while it is drying after washing. this is almost finished. all projects no matter how small are subject to a ridiculous amount of interruptions during this time. i am suprised that i can get anything done.

waxing nostalgic

first let me say everything is going to be fine around here. i was in a bit of a panic.

the washer was in warranty they gave me a new brain for it--too bad i couldn't get one for me too. i just installed it. the replacement was different from the original but a phone call later and we figured it out.

my best friend called the other day and cheered me up. he sent me some pictures
of one of our excursions to mexico

papas and beer 1994

i still own those shorts btw.


several margaritas were consumed.


notice my groovy surfer necklace. those locals were acting too cocky on that volleyball court for matts taste.


here we are suiting up.


poised for battle


yes, i scored that point.


yes we kicked their butts--notice the anguished local leaning on the net.
victory, dislodging the local talent.


cleaning and cooling off.

what's the deal?

the air conditioner and clothes washer just broke. WTF

we cannot afford to get this stuff fixed right now.

tabitha has to go to the dentist and we cannot all fit in our vehicle. tabitha doesn't really drive so i have to go, which means that we all have to go. there is no one that we'd have watch our kids.

i took this time off and tabitha really needs it. i might have to work extra at bobs to cover this stuff. that ruins tabitha because the kids go crazy the moment i step out of the door. i need to be here but i need to go to work extra too. there is no one that can help out while i'm gone because it'll just make things harder for tabitha.

frustrated...

birth stories

tabitha finished the birth story. she also created a blog that contains all four kids birth stories. it is a nice way to compartmentalize since she quit blogging.

due to popular demand

more photos

i am the pater familias

things have been overwhelming to say the least. luckily i'll have three weeks off from work.

i took the kids to the creek today--not that i had the energy. tabitha needed a break "can i hold the baby?" is spoken by kassi about a thousand times per day. the kids love the creek toly was ready to go home when it was time. he said home, home, home over and over the entire drive home. i imagine he was hoping that rome wouldn't be there when we arrived. toly has kissed rome's little hand and will surely love him. these are tough times for the next little while.

last night after rome was born, kassi sang an ode to him. it was magical i wish i would have recorded it. she sand his name over and over while interjecting little baby activities and how much we love him. on the way home from the creek kassi said "i miss rome." she turly dotes on him and begs to do anything for him.

thanks everyone for your well wishes we feel incredibly blessed.

romneya martin grey o'melay
re-weighed using accurate scale and duplicate methodologies
seven pounds eleven ounces

he is happy healthy and on the boob all the time. several pees (big ones) and a huge poo. for you parents out there know these are all good things.

toly is not taking things very well yet. neither kassi or tristan are even slightly threatened like toly is. he loves his daddy and i am taking up the slack since mommy cannot give him the attention that he is demanding right now. i love it this has happened with all the kids and always strengthens my bond with each child respectively. too bad rome will miss that. i'll have to make up for it in other ways.

i'll link to tabitha's birth story from here since she doesn't blog anymore but will likely write a birth story sometime soon. the kids deserve it and will be able to see what we were like when they were being born.

finally some photos

the obligatory gooey baby

tired mama

the kids true love rome

proud daddy

big sister dotes on rome

rome

8:45 pm july 29th
3.5 hrs of labor

rural missouri law

i had a comment regarding killing the other dog that pushed my buttons.

"Yes, you are protecting your farm and family. You are also demonstrating that it is ok to destroy others "property." Too bad something couldn't have been worked out in a peaceful manner. Where these dogs strays? or someone elses pets?
I am sorry for the loss of your chickens.
Peace to you.
Jill"

i spend an inordinate amount of time thinking about the example i set for my children. of course i am demonstrating that it is alright to kill other peoples property. it is well within missouri law for me to kill any animal that is merely threatening my livestock let alone killing over half of them--for sport i might add. are they pets or strays? does it matter? they were threatening the wellbeing of my family. as assuredly as they would if they were attacking them directly.

to take the concept to an extreme; do you think it is ok to shoot someone who has broken into your home and is trying to kill your children? i am one of those people that could arrive on that scene with a gun--i wouldn't hesitate to use it. most statistics suggest that a gun in that situation usually gets turned on the home owner.
since getting the gun i have killed one groundhog and four dogs. they were all threatening my family's livelihood.

while living in santa barbara, san diego, san francisco, cologne and kingston upon thames i'd never thought that i'd own a gun. i have concluded that living here owning a gun is a necessity. intimately knowing the perspective of purchasing-all-my-food i never thought i would be in a position to need to defend it with deadly force. in-fact the debate as to whether we should even get a gun was long and grueling--especially with myself.

why did that comment touch my nerve? probably because the long process by which i came to own a gun and the inner struggles that were overcame to be able to wield it. i would never kill for sport and appall the idea of it. i do think that displaying to my children that i am a man of will, discernment and character is of paramount importance.

we are teaching our children how to provide for themselves on as many levels as we are able. obviously during a confrontation diplomacy is always the first course of action and violence is always the last. there is no reasoning with a confirmed chicken killing dog. the dog owners, if there are any, obviously don't have the ability to contain them. therefore that point is mute.

mostly that statement makes me feel judged. i won't abide being judged. i choose to not judge others--on any level. therefore i demand to not be judged myself. everyone is allowed their perspective and i welcome you voice it here. although, if you choose to judge me then please take it to your own blog.

maybe that wasn't passing judgment. maybe i'm just hypersensitive. maybe i want all my reader to be a bunch of yes-men--not true btw. in-fact my best friend is assuredly upset by my killing any dog. he is a consummate dog lover and would probably never see a reason to kill a dog. his comment on the subject was;

"Whereas I hate the idea of putting any dog down, whether it's because of the irresponsibility of the owner, or a mis fortunate accident, I do believe it's your right and responsibility to protect your family and livelihood (livestock). In Montana, it's perfectly legal to shoot a dog even for just harassing livestock. I'm pretty confident most rural areas have the same allowances.
It's unfortunate because even the best dogs get excited around any animal. But, do what you gotta do"--btw, i fixed all your spelling mistakes matt;p

in fact i like my ideas to be challenged. i especially like being given correct information. that is the beauty of exchanging information. i'm not scared to stick my neck out there and display my soft underbelly on this blog. but, if i feel judged i will call-it-out and request clarification.

please don't let this post scare you from commenting i really like comments.

are there any readers who provide a significant portion of their food from their land disagree that defending their livelihood by killing a chicken-killing-dog is wrong?

one final point;
my father-in-law lost three almost finished hogs (a large financial investment) to one of the packs of dogs that terrorize this road. it is a confirmed problem in this area and must be dealt with gravely.

twentyeight to the fourth power

614656 to 1

tristan, kassi and toly were all born on the dark of the moon. if rome decides to hold out until july 31/aug 1 his odds will be 614,656 to 1 that he was also born on the dark of the moon.

although, tabitha is ready today.

i finally slopped boca's pen out last night. she mostly did her business in the one end of her pen. i'd never heard of a cow being discriminating about where it goes.

pre-baby tension hangs thick in this house. one might think that the aroma of dehydrating onions would penetrate the tension. alas no, their pungent smell is only a subtle under current amidst the treacle of waiting for rome.

i butchered 16 chickens yesterday. only five more to go of the last batch of broilers. i have officially decided that we need a chicken plucker.

i could almost butcher chickens by myself if we had one. especially since i plan to solicit tristans help next year.

yesterday tristan helped peel onions again. his nimble little fingers are amazing. he started to race me and easily peeled onions faster than i could cut off the ends in his queue and slice them after he peeled them. i have been gradually showing him how to use a knife. so i let him cut his own onion ends off for peeling. imagine a five-year-old using a knife that i had earlier sharpened to butchering standards. i monitored him closely for good form and safety. he did wonderfully.

all the while he kept telling me how we are saving these for winter. so many lessons were learned and he was likely more helpful than many adults would be. he inspected each onion and removed any bad rings that were damaged during our storms. such a good boy.

just over half the onions are officially put up.
- 8 heavy braids over 8lbs each.
- 5 loads of 7 lbs each in the dehydrator
- 13 chickens queued for the freezer*

* i gave the thompsons three birds for shanes help in butchering.

the other dog

that other dog came back. i assume that the malamute is off somewhere dying or dead. my neighbor called and said "that little dog is out hunting your chickens this morning." i did not delay. grabbed my gun and headed out the the door. sure enough there he was. he was startled by me and headed for the road. he's obviously learned that the road is a safe zone. not today my little friend.

i listened for cars and looked both ways. as i raised my gun i thought "you have killed your last chicken." i blasted him as he trotted in defiance thinking he was safe. not today my little friend. we were getting twelve to fifteen eggs per day. now we only get three to five. our pullets should be laying in forty five days--albeit they did kill one of them too. i feel a little safer and more secure this morning.

the sad part is, i feel a little guilty since at the beginning of summer we clipped all the chickens wings to keep them out of the garden. this dramatically encumbered the ability to escape predators. sad. our dogs should be of a defensible age in about six weeks. for now i have to be vigilant and protect my family's food source.

on a happy note, we plan to go to the creek again this afternoon. i went to the dollar store and got each of the kids an inflatable water toy. they were such good kids yesterday they deserved them. toly was sad because i didn't arrive with one for him. he usually stays home with mom, so i didn't think that i wasn't being fair. we promptly hid the offending toys and things settled down.

tristan and i have been playing chess almost daily. i can see his gradual progression. he has started looking for consequences and threats in his moves. he gets mad when i don't make the retort move he would like. i keep explaining to him "i have free will and can do whatever i want. you should try to anticipate all of my possibilities." i am very proud. he is only five. he'll probably be beating me regularly in a couple of years. my strategy will be to really try when he beats me over and over. then i'll point out that i'm gonna read a chess strategy book. i hope that it will teach him if a person wants to better themselves all they have to do is read and research toward a goal. am i planning ahead too far? i have never read any chess book and have always wanted to. this will be a perfect excuse.

i picked a big bowl of tomatoes from the garden last night. we ate most of them in stuffed cabbage in fresh tomato sauce. it was delicious.

kassi predicited that rome will be born this morning. tabitha better get with it--only five and an half hours left.

toly has almost gone completely out of his mind with baby hormones from tabitha's breast milk. he has become a little addict. the pre-baby tension is pretty thick around here.

why is it?

why is it every time that i truly enjoy something it either gets discontinued, disappears like it never existed or jumps the shark? i guess all good things must come to an end. when we lived next to a trader joes they'd start stocking some really cool stuff and we'd get addicted. then it would happen. they'd promptly discontinue it. we took to buying the stuff we like in mass quantities. now we buy almost everything in bulk.

but i digress..

the blogoshpere is a lessor place this evening and i'm sad about it.

enough said.

back to our regularly scheduled program.

tristan and i prepared onions for the dehydrator.

notice the fan blowing the onions sulfuric gas away?


kassi, toly and tabitha


yes toly is wearing one of kassi's dresses.

what do you expect his dad wears a kilt.

this is tabitha's latest creation. 'The Summer Dress"


kassi's private journal.

no peeking...

a little break

tabitha needs a break from the kids by the time i get home from work.

the kids love going to the creek. i piled rocks on either side of the water slide to divert extra water so i could go down it too. the creek is cool and refreshing. it zaps energy from the kids by just maintaining body temperature in the water.

we go to a place called Hulls Ford. it crosses swan creek at a slab crossing then promptly turns into a gravel road. we only spend around an hour there because that is enough. tabitha got a nap along with toly. i got cooled off and the kids had a blast. there are closer and better swimming holes to our house but they are all inaccessible because roads leading to them are under water.

we usually run into some other kids and play a bit but mostly hang together. tristan was jumping off a little rock into the water over at the deeper end. he usually gulps a bit of water but never panics. kassi panics when she gets her face splashed. she'll get over that.

rome is still mommy. i think he wants to wait until tristans birthday so he can ruin his birthday for the next ten or so years. it'll be his first act of aggression.

a little harvest and a little drama

i braided about forty pounds of onions. they are hanging in the same room with the garlic. tristan helped--mostly running interference between kassi and toly.
kassi and toly have been fighting like cats and dogs. toly is in her weight class and is probably stronger. kassi has agility and guile on her side. they both cry and wine when they get the lessor of the current bout. when i get after them they start hugging and laughing. tristan mostly stays out of the actual fights. he is several weight classes above them both.

i then cut up about five pounds of onions to go into the dehydrator--not the solar one. this is where tristans help really shined. his nimble little fingers peeling onions left and right. when they are done they'll only weigh a few ounces. they end up sweet like candy--toly loves them.

we had a couple of dogs hunt and kill several of our hens today. we are down to nine layers from eighteen. i am still so angry about it. when it all started i ran and grabbed my 12 gage pump shot gun and a few shells.

i put three shells in my pocket and held one in my hand. i walked around the farm and saw nothing. i threw the gun in the bed of my truck and drove to our neighbors. i asked if he saw anything. we chatted and i went home. i grabbed my gun and walked through the backyard. tabitha asked "where are you going?" i told her i was looking for those dogs. then i saw them. they froze i shoved my shell in the shotgun and it wouldn't load. i had to click the trigger first for some reason. by the time i had a loaded gun they were bolting toward the road. i raised the gun and trailed them. they were getting dangerously close to the road so i aimed low and shot for the larger dog.

he rolled into a ball and started yelping. the other dog (bull terrier) turned and ran back to his malamute buddy. it got up and hobbled away holding one leg off the ground. as they ran down the road it took every ounce of self control to keep me from shooting them both then and there. even if it weren't against the law shooting into the road is a really bad idea. most of the dead chickens were going to culled this fall but our pullets won't be laying until then and we'll be low on eggs all the rest of the summer.

the dogs were obviously stalking our farmstead all night because tabitha said that our dogs were barking the entire time. boca who is waiting to go to the sale barn has two injuries on her front legs probably from being scared by those two dogs. arrgh i wish i'd have gotten them both. although they'll likely never be back. i just would like to exact my losses from their hides. i'm not very forgiving of malicious transgressions and this was just sport for them.

those eggs fed my family and i'm a bit overly defensive of them--especially with a really pregnant wife.

listy list

morning chores
move, feed and water broiler chickens
feed and water cows
let the girls down (hens)
deal with the onions
braid some
sort the ones to be ready for the dehydrator
reclaim my wheelbarrow which is full of onions
weed-eat the perimeter of yard and horsemint from fields and garden. i'll have to return bob's weed-eater by the end of the weekend.
take the couch to the dump. it was in my truck last weekend and i missed an open dump by just a few minutes. in true hillbilly fashion it has set in our front yard all week.
on the way to the dump take two chickens to the thompsons for their butchering help. see if shane's interested in helping again this next saturday?
slop out boca's pen before animal control deems my offenses worse than the neighbors.
make little latch by boca's pen.
build another compost bin and slop out area next to cows feeder.
burn brush pile.
work on solar dehydrator. (probably a pipe dream)
walk by my neglected root cellar several times and pine to work on it.