This weekend (July 31, Aug 1) was the hottest weekend by far. Saturday we drove to an Apiary (bee keeper) near Jackson, Mississippi and picked up another hive for our farm. It was a long day of driving but we met a very interesting man who has been beekeeping for a very long time. He owns Russell Apiaries and knows his bees.
Cris had to move the hive from the truck Sunday morning to their new home near the pond. He had to take apart the 3 layers because they were so heavy. Cris was in his bee suit though so he did not get stung. Safety first! We checked on them before we left the farm around 4:30pm and the queen bee had her workers busy outside the hive fanning to keep the place cool. I can't wait to harvest the honey but we have to get some more trays to put in place of the ones we pull out to harvest from.
So the bees took up all of Saturday.... Sunday we got to the farm and inspected the garden; pulled off and killed any tomato worms and army worms we found (caterpillars really). At first I felt sorry for the caterpillars but after pulling off the 5th big green one that was busy eating my tomato plant, I was in seek and destroy mode. We put some organic caterpillar killer on the plants and that has seemed to help.
The tomato plants have some green tomatoes on them...I can't wait to see what develops.
We have been harvesting cucumbers and yellow squash and one giant okra so far. The cucs we used to can some bread and butter pickles and the yellow squash is part of tonight's dinner. We are also going to make some dill pickles.
We went to Lowes today and purchased four 12 foot farm gates for the barn. That way we can just lock up the gates now to keep the farm equipment from walking away. We got 3 of the 4 gates on before the heat just took it's toll and we decided to head home to relax and enjoy the AC.
Cris had to move the hive from the truck Sunday morning to their new home near the pond. He had to take apart the 3 layers because they were so heavy. Cris was in his bee suit though so he did not get stung. Safety first! We checked on them before we left the farm around 4:30pm and the queen bee had her workers busy outside the hive fanning to keep the place cool. I can't wait to harvest the honey but we have to get some more trays to put in place of the ones we pull out to harvest from.
So the bees took up all of Saturday.... Sunday we got to the farm and inspected the garden; pulled off and killed any tomato worms and army worms we found (caterpillars really). At first I felt sorry for the caterpillars but after pulling off the 5th big green one that was busy eating my tomato plant, I was in seek and destroy mode. We put some organic caterpillar killer on the plants and that has seemed to help.
The tomato plants have some green tomatoes on them...I can't wait to see what develops.
We have been harvesting cucumbers and yellow squash and one giant okra so far. The cucs we used to can some bread and butter pickles and the yellow squash is part of tonight's dinner. We are also going to make some dill pickles.
We went to Lowes today and purchased four 12 foot farm gates for the barn. That way we can just lock up the gates now to keep the farm equipment from walking away. We got 3 of the 4 gates on before the heat just took it's toll and we decided to head home to relax and enjoy the AC.
No comments:
Post a Comment