fall, again

well, getting into fall again.  The bees this year gave us oner 300 pounds of honey so is real good.  Have some for sale at Hein orchard in La Crescent. Rabbits are also doing very well, so far this year have moved over 200 or so a nd am still looking strong going into the shorter days. Addtionally what's made this a crazy year is I had another back sugery and the rods really hurt, plus the body seems to be taking longer to heal now than it used to.  Everyone have a good day.

fall weather and stuff

today is a day that exemplifies the fall season, and really gets me in the mood for Bach, Mozart, Grieg and other composers.  We have most everything ready for winter at home, plastic on the windows, a tank of lp etc.  Planted garlic on Friday afternoon, was a splendid day for it, it's all about timing.  Need to get it in the ground before it gets too cold, plus I dont want it to come up too much before winter, either.  Trying it different this year, planting single rows, not in 4 ft. wide beds.  I want to see if it is easier to manage this way.  Hope that it works out!  The bees have been fed and medicated and are ready for winter, I hope.  It is so cool being a beekeeper, I find it exhilerating working with them throughout spring and summer and fall.  The only real pest problem I've noted was a skunk that came up to the front of one of the hives, and scratched to irritate them,and when the guard bees came out, ate them.  Oh well, I turned it into a good skunk, and the bees are happier now.  Good day :)

Bach: Jesu, meine Freude, BWV 227 (Mvt. I, II, III)

Oct

Wow, keeping on the theme of the nice fall thus far, last weekend, I felt so good I hooked up the plow and plowed up the garden for next year.  I haven't felt this good in a while. It was so nice to feel the wind on my face, the noise of the tractor running wide open, feeling the dirt roll over the moldboards, ,and the smells of the soil, oh how good it is!!!  The only problem was an oil leak that got on my clothes boots and tractor.  Oh well the fragrant smell of motor oil will leave eventually, so until then I just live with it.  smels are so powereful at reminding us things.  Every year about this time, I catch a wiff of diesel smoke on cold autumn day and I get transported back in time, to when I was a tank commander, riding in Korea.  There too, the smells are so powerful, conveying times of youth, well younger days anyhow.  /suffices to say i really enjoy this time of year and the more I deal with it the less bad it becomes.  Enjoy the day!

october sun

I just love this indian summer that we are now having.  The weather has been just wonderful for being and working outside in.  The bees are still busy finding whatever pollen or nectar, (mostly if not all done by now) and getting their hives ready for the upcoming winter.  Supplemental feeding and medications, organic and natural of course, will begin next week.  Have a new product we are using called Apigard for varroa mites and tracheal mites.  This is natural and seems to work well so far.  Getting the rabbitry ready for the cold weather,  too.  Winter time breeding and young raising is always a challenge. This year should do better.  Talked about getting some beef cattle next spring now that the sheep are gone.  We'll see how this goes.  Good day.

today

just for today I'd like to live a painfree life.  My surgery isnt healing like its supposed to, this weekend was spent with shooting pain to my feet.  I could feel it build, shoot down the leg like from a rifle, then hit the spot on my foot like a burning meteor, flying and impacting for a few seconds, then receding, waiting then coming back for another hit.  It makes me appreciate things more.  I watched two young eagles flying by my house.  I know we're spoiled seeing them so often, but it's still cool to see them.

garden brainstorming

Background info, why garden? 

We do garden, and lots of it.   This year we grew many, many vegetables.  Also, the apple trees are starting to bear fruit, but the late frost in May didn’t do any favors.  Additionally, the cherry trees produced copious quantities of tart, dark red pie cherries.  The raspberries are ongoing.  We grow the heritage type which is an everbearer.  So many berries, we eat some daily and still have a big bag full in the freezer. The onions particularly were great, some of the Sweet Spanish style approaching softball size.  Peppers were a disappointment, however as some of the lambs got out one day and ate them down to the nubs.  Damn them!!!  I got even for that as they all went to market last month, ha, ha.  The tomatoes are brilliant this year, so big and juicy. 

But, by far the best this year was my honeybees!  The girls really have had a great year, making plenty of honey for themselves to get thru the winter, but making enough extra to allow us to get over 80 pounds of honey for the year.  It’s just awesome!  I attribute the cherries, and tomatoes along with the other crops to the fact the bees helped pollinate the flowers so much.

The main crisis this year was not the plants, but I being injured and having back surgery at the end of July, which you know is just about the busiest time of the season.  We worked this by having relatives come and help with the harvest of some crops, and also with daily operations, so I could recuperate a bit. 

Finally, as we inch closer to autumn and the end of the season, we get our apples and nuts.  The hazelnuts are doing well, giving lots of nuts and the walnuts are looking real hood this year. Wait till they fall, pick them up, husk them and let dry a bit, then crack them and ohhh boy, th joy of fresh black walnuts.  They are so good.  Along with that, its time to clear the garden from this year, put the soil to bed, to speak, let her sleep through the winter and get everything ready for a hopefully productive season next year.