Mind your Beezniss!

So we finally got bees. Which is good, as I consider them to be a central aspect of the self-sustaining homestead. They pollinate gardens and fruit plants, make wax and honey, and, finally, are just plain mesmerizing to watch. I ordered a 3# bee package back in March for April delivery. The extra cold winter and damp spring reduced the hive build-up in the areas of the South where most “package-bee”  producers are, and thus reduced the available bees for spring delivery. The sum of the matter is, though they arrived beyond fashionably late, they’ve arrived in seeming good condition, praise God for that! They did pick an interesting day, though, with waves of severe thunderstorms coming through and complicating the matter of installing them in their new home. We (bees included) were graciously given a short window in the rain and hail where I was able to hurriedly dump them into their new place. Pictorial Begin:

Here the bees are in their packaging, all11,000(give or take) of them. I’ve removed the follower board on the hive for the install.

                          

Here’s a close-up of the new homestead servants

                          

Considering that they spent at least 4 days in that little box, I was pleased that not many of them died. You can see the few dead littering the bottom of the cage. With the square top cap and can of syrup removed, I extracted the queen cage, and would have made more of an effort to photograph her for you were raindrops not falling on my head threateningly. Here is the cage and her caring attendants who stubbornly refused to let me see her. Modest, she is.

                          

And here are the now confused and lonely remnant who are trying to peep out and see what has become of their matriarch.

                          

And here is the queen cage in the bottom of the hive, after I removed the small plug confining her. The baggie in there has a 1:1 sugar syrup in it for them to feed on as they begin comb-building.

                          

For anyone wondering, I just poked a couple small pricks in the baggie with my knife, and they can slurp up the seeping sweetness as needed.

After a more careful attending to of the queen, the lifeblood of my hive, I rather rudely shook and dumped the rest of the mass into the body of the hive. They began spreading out over the inner surface quickly, but very few flew, which was a blessing due to the bad, windy weather. It was difficult enough getting them installed before the serious rain hit, without trying to corral a bunch of fliers in first.

                          

 

I then added 2 additional top bars, for a starting total of 12, and scooted the whole mass forward (gently of course) with the follower until all was closed up tightly. Then I replaced the lid, and positioned the delivery cage near the hive opening to the stragglers could find their way in once the queen’s pheromone filled the area. Check out my Facebook page for a couple videos of the experience.

I am very thankful that the Lord has allowed me both to desire and to possess the bees, and we pray that He will bless them to our provision and learning. I hope to check on them by opening the hive in 5-7 days, and will try to post another blog of their progress at that time.

The Lord be merciful to you,

Ryan

Making Sirrup in the South

Howdy, and a pleasant late winter to you.

For two or three years now I have said each spring that I wanted to tap maple trees and make my own sirrup. I was inspired after reading that, yes, even in the South this is possible. And every year I neglected to buy the spouts and try my hand at sirrup-making. Too busy, I was. This year I decided that, busy or not, I was going to make sirrup, or something. So I ordered 10 stainless steel Grimm maple spouts, bought a sharp 7/16" drill bit, collected empty gallon jugs, and went to work.

The tools of the trade

I read that the tap hole would be about 2" deep into the sapwood for optimal collection, so I marked the bit at that depth and bored a hole on the southern exposure of the big Sugar Maple.

The I used a 10oz hammer and carefully drove the first spout (also called a ‘spile’) into the tree. Sap commenced to flowing. Success!

It warmed up nicely today today, and the sap was really flowing. I timed several taps at over a drop-per-second. The empty

plastic jugs began filling up quickly. I emptied about 2 gallons out of the ten jugs about 2pm, and by 5pm they were ready to be emptied again.

The I set about reducing the sap down on the kitchen stovetop. It took 2 hours to reduce the sap from 2 gallons to about a half-gallon.

A half-hour later and it was time for a smaller pot.

I tried a batch yesterday evening, and at this point in the process I messed up. It becomes so concentrated, that after transitioning to a smaller pot for the final reduction the sirrup must be watched constantly. I left it a little too long yesterday (my first ever batch), and this was the result.

The fire was too hot too long and the sugar began caramelizing. So it tastes fine, if a little strong, and has the aroma of caramel. At least it wasn’t ruined, thank the Lord, after all that effort! Today, having learned my lesson,  the pot didn’t leave my sight till the process was finished. The sirrup is supposed to be finished when the boiling point is 7.1F above whatever temperature plain water boils at at your altitude. Here, according to my borrowed candy thermometer, the boiling point of water was 206F, so my sirrup should be done at 213F. I let it go till about 214F, because I would rather have it be too sugary than too watery. Kara held the funnel and improvised filter, and we filled the jar. Note that this is a half-pint jar, and the liquid in it began as two gallons of sap!

I am pleased  with the appearance of this batch over the last. I hope the flavor is “maple-y” enough, as it is so light in color. The sugar content seems perfect. Kara suggested having pancakes for supper tonight, and trying the fruit of our labors. I am excited! Thanks to the Lord for being able to enjoy this gift of his Creation at our southern latitude. Maybe this will inspire some of you to try the same. 

Ryan

Homemade Bread

It isn’t every fireman who would hand grind wheat berries because his wife ran out of flour.  At the fire station.  Thanks sweetie.

P.S.- I forgot to add this next picture to the last post. 

Ryan found a good use for our candle.

A Deer Tallow Candle

Two days ago Ryan came in after finishing off the butchering job from our neighbor’s deer and said, “I have a project for you and the girls to do today.  I’d like you to take the tallow that I got off of that deer and make a candle by tonight.”

Hmmm.  I had no idea how to go about doing that.  I have made candles from soy wax, but certainly that would be different from deer fat.  After Ryan told me what to do (how is it that he seems to know something about everything), and I read what Carla Emery had to say on the subject in our much used Encyclopedia of Country Living, I set to work.

 

Here is the cold, hard tallow.

    

During the “rendering” process.

Straining it for clarity.

This was the most difficult part since we don’t really have the proper equipment to do it.  I just used a coffee filter and strainer since they were easily accessible.  It wasn’t easy keeping the hot, melted fat off of fingers.  Especially those of two eager little helpers.  Momma is the one that managed to get burned though. :)  (Side note: we discovered a few months ago that butter is excellent for burns.  I can’t remember how, but I burned my finger on something, and Ryan told me that butter was an old folk remedy.  It worked great!)

 

The mold that I used.

I forgot to take a picture of the wick (100% cotton yarn) tied up to a screw laying over the top, but here is the finished product.

And there you go.

All much easier than I had anticipated.  And it was even ready when Ryan came in for lunch. :)

Crossing the threshold

I have been laboring on the home for many hours most days, and still have a while to go yet. But, by God's provision and strength, much has been done.

The front of the house, which not long ago looked like this

 

now looks like this

and the chimney adapter has been put in, hopefully I can purchase the stove pipe to finish it this weekend.

I am trimming the doors and windows in rough-sawn cedar that comes from trees we cleared last summer. That is nice, to see the wood taken from the ground and used back on the property. I intend, Lord willing, to do a step-by-step on the milling process from log to lumber, soon. This is what the windows look like after they are trimmed out.

I put wide sills on them so Kara will have many places for things, and so I will have adequate resting space for my morning coffee mug. Few things are more useless and frustrating than narrow window sills.

The Lord provided 3 used exterior doors for a significant discount over new ones. The problem was, two of them were just doors, with no casings, and my past attempts at building casings and flush-fitting hinges were none too good. So I bought a chisel at Lowe’s, sharpened it till it would shave hair, milled some red oak logs down, and set to building casings. I will, hopefully post on that process, and have pics soon. I will say that my hinges turned out very well, almost professional. Now I am emboldened to try more.

Today I built and installed the threshold for my office door today. I started with the 2” thick oak plank seen here

and cut it to length, then beveled both sides to make a smoother transition.

The interior side has the slighter bevel, to allow the door to seal thoroughly. the board was too thick, so I used a table saw to remove as much material as possible, then went to my beloved new Stanley chisel for the rest.

With the slab thinned and cut to length, I installed it in the opening. (bonus: you get to see the custom hand-made casing!)

For all you fellow OCD-people out there…. yes, the one screw is off-center. It is my office door, and I don’t care.

One thing done, on to the next. I worked on the pantry walls, which I am paneling in 1/2” cedar. First, I cut the planks to width, putting a  15-degree bevel on both edges. This will enable a good fit, even though I would prefer to tongue&grove the edges, but don’t have the tools for that.

Here you can see the beveled edges

Thankfully, my log was long enough that the planks fit full-width across the closet, with no seams. I worked till I ran out of 1/2” cedar. Now I’ll have to find another good log.

So there is a house update, I will try to post another soon. Maybe later this week. Thanks for reading!

 

Ryan

Jade in Pink Flannel

Here is dress number two.

Isn’t she pretty in pink?

I’ve been wanting to open an Etsy shop.  And I’m thinking this might be a good first product.