A few weeks ago, I got a phone call from my mom and it went something like this… Me:  Hi, Mom. Mom:  Hi, Angela (she’s the only who calls me that even when I’m not in trouble)  {insert chit chat}. By they way, we ordered Phoebe and Benjamin 25 chicks for their egg business. They’ll be […]

Bees have somewhat taken over the lives of a few of us. I’ve been impressed with how much Gabriel has learned and is constantly teaching us and others about bees. He and Carl have become somewhat obsessed. Another cool thing is that occasionally he needs help and Carl is unavailable. Benjamin has been a very […]

I’m not sure if it happens with all beekeepers or not, but ever since people have found out that Gabriel is keeping bees he’s had several request to come get bees that are living where people don’t want them. This was one of those adventures. There were some bees living in a old propane tank […]

…or maybe I should title this “the bee experiment that every beekeeper we’ve talked to has said is a really, really dumb idea.” But you know, we are just kind of like that. We get an idea in our heads and can’t seem to get it out. We know it probably won’t end well but we want […]

Friday night Carl came home from work saying that on Saturday he and Gabriel were going to a small town about a hour away to look at some used bee equipment. Carl works as a hospice chaplain (and is a pastor at our church – doing the bulk of the counseling) and travels all over […]

Have you ever received a gift that just left you speechless? You know, the kind that wasn’t for any holiday or special occasion. The kind that was just because the giver thought you’d enjoy it. Gabriel received a gift like that this weekend. This is a top bar bee hive. It’s a traditional Kenyan beehive. There are […]

This weekend Carl and Gabriel went and picked up some bees. We have a friend who is a beekeeper and has let Gabriel help with extracting honey and most recenly re-queening some of his hives. He has a few too many and so he so very graciously gave Gabriel a hive to start him out. […]

Look what we found in our nesting boxes the other day…green and white eggs. Our flock has Rhode Island Reds, Buff Orrpingtons, Barred Rocks, and 2 other breeds that we’ve yet to determine. We adopted a few hens from a neighbor before we moved and she wasn’t sure what these were. After some online search […]

Our chickens finally have their own yard. They haven’t minded having free run of the whole back yard, but Rascal hasn’t enjoyed being tied and, of course, we can’t start planting the garden until they are confined. Although, I think they would like us to go ahead with it. We mainly used T-posts but on the corner we used a short telephone pole. […]