The days have been full which means the blog has been quiet. Summer with all kids at home is a busy time! However, with inspiration from one of my new favorite blogs, Floret Flower Farm, I made time to put flower picking higher on the priority list.
Upon request for banana bread, we decided we needed more shelled walnuts. This should have been a rainy day winter task, but we work against deadline, so with banana bread batter waiting, we cracked one more grocery bag full of walnuts. There is nothing that makes two boys happier than to hand them hammers and tell them to break something, repeatedly. We had those walnuts cracked in no time.
The kids and I drove up to the mountains and spent time relaxing and hiking with my parents, which was so good. So many wildflowers were in bloom, the meadows were gorgeous!
I checked in on how The Girls are doing. When our little girl sees the hives she now says, “Hi Girls!” I think things are going pretty well, though I am a tad worried about the laying pattern, or rather lack there of, of one queen. I am hoping to find a mentor soon to go through and show me what I’m really looking at. However as far as I can tell, it looks as though both hives each have one full box of honey stored so far. I’m taking that as a good sign.
Now, on to another busy summer day!
Thank you for the bee update. Your boys did a wonderful job with the walnuts.
They sure did do a good job, didn’t they?
i was thinking the same thing – those are pretty big chunks
where are the walnuts from?
re. bees – may i suggest Bear Foot Honey Farm – on Sonoma Highway – tell her Polly sent you. We went for a tour and she was just incredible – warm, hospitable, and so knowledgable! Opened up a whole new world for us. You can check them out on FB or their site. Good Luck!!
Thanks Polly for the lead. The walnuts are from our trees!
Can you tell me how you store your walnuts in the shells? We have two large walnut trees in the front of our house in Sonoma and harvested about four pounds of walnut ‘meat’ last year, but I wouldn’t mind shelling them in stages instead of all at once. Thanks!
Michae, we spread out the freshly harvested walnuts on the garage floor for about a week or two, then put them in paper grocery bags and kept them in the garage. Some molded, but that was a small percentage. The rest were just fine!
Great, will give it a try this year. Thanks!
Everything sounds wonderful! You are truly living the good life! We store our walnuts in Ziplock bags in the freezer, where they last us all year until the next harvest.
beautiful picture of the flowers.
That’s great you put the boys to work helping you with the walnuts! I remember when all 3 of my kids were small and at home to help each with his or her own task. Everything got done a lot quicker that way. Anyway I was wondering. How is it your plants are so full and beautiful? I am living in Bloomington, Indiana and we are in a dry really dry drought. I water the flowers. But the heartiest lillies all died anyway. Do you have any good substitute or additive you know of that can be added to tap water to mimic rain water? I know it’s really what all our plants need. But I can’t give it to them. Any advice? I have prayed till I feel God is tired of hearing me ask! Tammy
Tammy, I don’t know of any special additive to water to make it seem like rain water! But we too have a lot of dried up daylilies and other plants. Here in California we’re used to drought conditions during summer so choosing plants that look good with little water is key. We spend most of our watering energy on the vegetable garden since it in turn feeds us. Trust me, we have lots of dried up plants around here too, I just choose not to photograph them
If nothing else, this post makes me want to grow roses. The first photo is so lovely. I don’t know why I keep putting it off. In Austin, TX there is a popular rose called the Lady Banks. That is the rose I want.
Speaking of walnuts, I just made some nocino today with some green walnuts from a local tree.
What is worrying you about the queen of your hive? Are there no eggs? All closed brood? It looks like there is larvae in the frame, but I can’t tell for sure from a picture.
Hi Mil, there are eggs and larvae and closed brood, however it’s not in the nice crescent pattern that my other hive is doing. In one of the frames eggs were laid on the outer edges of the frame. Other frames had eggs in small patches with honey around them. I guess I don’t know if I need to requeen that hive or if her laying is okay. I just know that my other hive’s brood frames look much more like the pictures in the books I have. Other than that, the hive seems to be thriving, there is no sign of disease or infestation. They’re very busy and they filled their top box with honey. I’m just not sure if I should leave well enough alone or be proactive.
Hmm…yes, probably best to get a more experienced beek out there if you have concerns. How does the population look coming in and out of the hive? Is there pollen going into the hive?