Bees and Chicks!

With the help of a friend Chad was able to finally get our bees from our old house.   We had gone to get them before, but, it was too hot and the bees were bearding on the front of the hives.   We were surprised that we still had both colonies since we have just left them for a few months.   A lot of beekeepers have had a bad year and lost several colonies, so we're thankful.   I got to put on the gear and get in the hives for the first time just to see how they were doing and if they have enough food stored for the winter.   

Honestly, I had no idea!  I expected to find the brood box full of honey.   But, it was mostly empty with some honey along the outsides and tops of the frames.   After  looking it up, I think that's the way it's supposed to be.  There was quite a bit of honey and pollen in the super.   Hopefully, they will be fine through the winter.    

I've been trying to figure out if this is a queen cell or not.   We were not able to find our queen and there was no brood in the box.  I think that's normal though since it's fall.  

We got some cornish X chicks to raise for meat.   They are growing SO FAST!   They are now 5 weeks old.   We are going to process them between 8-10 weeks.  Can't wait!   We're moving them around the back yard and giving them soy-free, gmo free, organic feed.   

My Favorite Time of Year!

Fall has been my favorite time of year since I moved to Tennessee.   Growing up in Florida, I pretty much just had Summer my whole life.   I love everything about fall.   Today Luke said, Fall is my favorite season!  We've been enjoying being outside so much.   We've had a huge change in moving to this house.  The house is smaller, which is fine, we're just still trying to get rid of things and organize, which is a very big challenge for me.   We're also in a neighborhood surrounded by lots of other houses.   We have a fenced in yard that's a decent size.   I started a tiny small garden, just to see if I could grow a few things.  I've got some radishes, swiss chard, kale and peas coming up.   So, I'll be glad if those do well.   We also got our first batch of broiler chickens.   They'll be ready to butcher at the end of November.   We're so excited!   It will be nice to have  a freezer full of chickens  that we raised organically and mostly on grass.   We'll be getting a few hens and a rooster this week.   They are bantams so will fit in our little yard.   I'm not really sure why we're getting them, other than we love chickens.   2 eggs from them won't really make a big difference, but we're all super excited!  

We've been doing so much more reading out loud as a family and during school.   The kids beg for more!   They just love it and are learning and retaining so much just from reading living books.  

I've also taken up crocheting.   My grandmother taught me years ago and a friend just encouraged me to start again and I'm so glad.   I took her advice and started doing it while the kids are reading out loud to me.  I get so much done and don't feel the need to hurry them along or feel like it's NEVER GOING TO END.  

We've had some extremely tough days lately...so I'm thankful for a beautiful day like today.  It was refreshing!

Morning Dew

This morning I got up to have my quiet time and saw that it was very foggy outside.  So I snuck outside and took some pics of the spider webs hanging on our fence.   It has been a very rough couple of days as far as parenting...I needed the time to myself to soak in the beautiful things I so often miss because I'm caught up in less important things.

Monticello

Chad and I decided to visit Monticello on Sunday since it was only 30 minutes from where we were staying.  There is so much about Thomas Jefferson that we love.  The home was beautiful, his inventions were so clever, the gardens were spectacular.  However, there was such a huge damper put on it, for me, knowing that it was all only accomplished because of the slaves he owned.  The literally had to flatten the top of the mountain and cut out a ridge for the sprawling garden.  I've heard many justifications for him when it comes to slavery.  I understand that's the "way it was" and he even inherited slaves.  But, he knew it was wrong, yet he continued the practice.  These sorts of things have gone on throughout history and still go on today, even in America, just in a different way.   Despite the inner struggle that went on in me, I had a great time.   I love history and gardening, and this tour was full of both!