We saw the bees that we worked so hard to get established last year. We sadly lost one of our hives over the winter, which was somewhat expected. They had not been as productive as our other hive during the fall, most likely due to swarming when they first arrived. A home is ready and set for another set of bees that we will get in a month or so.
We next saw the four newest members of our family... four Plymouth Barred Rock Chickens. We have had them for about 2 weeks and have already gotten over two dozen eggs from them. Their eggs are amazing! The yolks are a bright orange and their whites are thick and translucent. Nutritional differences between fresh, farm-raised eggs and eggs from the grocery store soon to come... You will see below that we started with five chickens. The night before we became chicken-parents, one of the ladies got bit in the bottom by an opossum. We happily took her, thinking we could nurse her back to health. After about 5 minutes in the coop, she adopted the beloved name of "opossum ass." Not great... I know, but hey, we had to find some humor in the situation. About 2 1/2 days later, she went to a better place. She is no longer in pain and the other four are much more active and productive. Our first taste of farm life... burying a chicken in the dark, wee hours after the Super Bowl.
Lastly, we gazed at the garden that is soon to be sowed. We are going to expand the garden in the coming weeks to just about double the size we are able to plant. It looks a little barren right now, but as we sat on the back porch and talked about what all we wanted to plant this year, we saw the tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers, beans, broccoli, zucchini, squash, herbs... and hard work to come!
As I type, Peanut is sitting on my lap and is a little jealous that all the other animals got a picture in this blog. So in his honor... (here is my happy baby!)
We'll see you in the dirt...
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