We're Up to our Elbows in Honey!

We’re up to our Elbows in Honey and Other News from the Farm!

Literally! We spent the afternoon filtering our honey! We ended up with two full 5 gallon buckets and a couple quarts. I promptly gave one quart to Yvonne, my honey helper (she loves to get her hands gooey,)  and the other to my mom who has been out of honey for weeks waiting for me to get our honey (she refused to buy it from the store.)

So the whole process went something like this…

I poured the honey (extremely) slowly through my large metal colander (I don’t like to heat it up in case I kill any of the good bacteria.) Once I got the large particles out, I poured it into a cheese cloth that was then squeezed by my friend Yvonne and Shelly (my daughter).  We squeezed it into clean 5 gallon buckets and popped the lids on. Done! Well, it took a bit longer than that… actually we started at 3:00 and finished about 6 so a total of 3 hours plus clean up.

Oh the clean up! Of course we cleaned periodically during the whole process, but afterward I washed the floor in my kitchen several times and still stick to it! I’m glad Donna and Danielle come in the morning. Donna and Danielle help me with the house work on preparation day, floors and bathrooms! What a blessing! I do Danielle’s hair every couple weeks and pay them a small amount to help. Yah is truly good!

Finally, Satch got a raise. Not as much as he did a couple years ago (I should tell you about how Yah blessed then), but enough to feel a little bit of a difference.  It will sure help with Ricky moving back home and Grandpa Norm’s hours getting cut to 2 days a week.

So let’s reminisce for a moment….

Two years ago, Abba started telling us to do specific things that cost big bucks. My dear husband, Satch, works as an office/logistics person (sets up classes, orders supplies, etc) and does not get top pay. So I just shook my head and said, “Abba, if you want us to do all this you will have to provide the funds. We can’t afford it.”  That was in September. Well, in October, Satch came home with his pay statement and it had a pay raise on it. He got a 25% per hour raise! How’s that for stepping up to the plate!  The Father is amazing!

Well, enough ramblings tonight. I’ll catch ya’ll up again soon. Tomorrow I make grape jam!

Shalom!

The Grapes are Juiced!

Hey Y'all!
I finally finished juicing the 2 bushels of grapes I bought.. and all the 'mash' is in the freezer for making jam. Whew!

I made a home-made juicer using my water bath canner, a stainless steel bowl and colander. I'll try to get picks to put up soon. It was a bit tricky and I may make some changes for next week when I get the next bushel of grapes, but it worked pretty good! We averaged about 4 quarts of juice for each 1/2 bushel box. I didn't try to get more, I'll use the rest of the juice for jam next week.

I still have a bushel of tomatoes in the back fridge that I need to put-up and the honey to clean. They will have to wait until Thursday cause I'm tuckered out and tomorrow we have to run to town.

Today, I went to a gentleman's home that had some interesting items for sale. I got an old popcorn popper, ash bucket, butter mold, coffee grinder, potato and onion bin, and pitcher and bowl for under $50. Everything is usable and in excellent condition. I look forward to popping some corn!

Well, if I can find the cord for my camera, I could put pics up... but alas, it is missing... I'll keep looking so I can get some pics up here!

Big Bee Adventure!

I woke up this morning expecting to work with the bees, remove the supers and harvest our honey. I looked forward to this with eager anticipation and sent DH out to get a 5 gal bucket we had in the summer kitchen, turned puppy play area (we have 12 puppies almost ready for their new homes!) As he was walking toward the back door with bucket in hand I saw a huge wasp nest swarming with wasps inside the bucket and yelled, “NO! NO! NO! Wasps!” At the same time he felt them crawling on his hand and he threw the bucket down and ran into the house. We watched safely behind the glass storm door as the wasps flew angrily around our screen enclosed back porch. I intended to work with the bees, but these were not the kind I wanted to work with!Finally, the wasps settled down and I could get to my bee keeping equipment and off I went to work with the ‘real’ bees. Our three hives are good and strong this year! We got 6 very full supers off and ended up with over 12 gallons of honey (to be strained and bottled next week.) What a wonderful Yahovah we serve! He has truly blessed us with a little piece of land flowing with milk and honey!

Pears and Plums!

We picked up pears and plums today! More work but it will be worth it come winter! We have 2 bushels of plums and 2 bushels of pears to put up this upcoming week. Yummmm!

I think I will make plum preserves and syrup. The pears will just be canned.

Yah blesses continually!

The Puppies are Here! 12!

Maya had her puppies! They are adorable! So, we didn't plan on having puppies. Maya was supposed to go in to get fixed just after her first heat... well, she found a way out of the fence and was promiscuous, the naughty girl. Needless to say we now have 12 puppies that need homes! I will try to find the camera cord so I can get pics up!

We have Peaches!

I just got 3 bushels of peaches from our fruit co-op! Mom and I spent all day Sunday canning them, whew, were we ever tired after that!

But, we now have fresh canned peaches for the winter! 58 quarts to be exact! We will really enjoy these come winter time! I put another 1/2 bushel in the freezer for smoothies. Yah is good!

4th of July - No Celebration

The past few weeks have been difficult. First the Water Hemlock scare and then Shelly's horse Sasha is sick. She came up colicky and we had the vet out on Sabbath. We walked her around and around the back yard all weekend. She finally was feeling better but she had started getting sores on her hip bones. We thought it was from rolling, but they were not getting better... we called the vet again and he gave us an antibiotic to give her.

Then Shelly's cat, Barucha, was hit by a car. The neighbor came over to ask if it was hers. We found her collar. :( Shelly was devastated, her horse is sick and now her cat was dead.

Four days into the antibiotic, Sasha was dead. After talking to the vet and discussing what may have happened, as well as deciding we couldn't afford an autopsy, we had the county come out and bury her.

I prayed, I pleaded, but alas, there is death and dieing on the farm along with life. Sometimes there is no way to know how or why. This has been a tough year of losses. Maybe it is preparation for things to come. Maybe it is a test to see if we continue to give glory to the One who gives life. Maybe... ?

In all situations, we give Glory to the One True Creator and Life Giver of all things, YHVH, for His love for us is above measure and understanding! As with Job, what he takes away, he will restore if we remain faithful.