Ridge Runner Acres

05/07/2026

Out doing dumb stunts this evening. Got ourselves covered in bees trying to get a swarm but no luck. It was a little too high and very protected by greenbriar. 😅

05/03/2026

Listen to the plants 😊

Interesting! 🌱

04/07/2026

Slow morning until it's not. 👀 "OPE. YA GOTTA GO. YOU GOTTA GET OUTTA HERE BUDDY"

*takes photo* "go on, GITTT"

I chased it into the woods as did the guineas. They are fierce birds. Years ago, long before we had chickens, I saw them surround a bobcat. They were *screaming* at it in a circle. This bobcat looked scared honestly. My dogs came running and are now on a sniff hunt, probably pushing it further out.

This cat could kill my whole flock, hurt my dogs, eat our little cat, etc. But it won't. Maybe if I was gone all day everyday. It's hungry but it wants to live. Even the guineas scare it. The fact that there's also an alert human and dogs is probably enough.

Bobcats have been here a lot longer than us and I don't want to do anything to change that. I don't see a point to hurting them. Kind of like killing snakes - why? Ignorance and fear.

We recently needed a bid from a contractor. He came out to look and mentioned killing snakes. I said "we don't do that here. If you encounter one let me know and I'll come move it for you." He said that he would have to kill it. I said don't you know that's how most people get bit?

Just because that's how the elders in your life reacted to it doesn't mean that's how you need to do it.

03/27/2026

Thinking about morels but playing with beehives, saving what I can, discarding what I can't, and packing up what's not currently needed as it's been in the way, clogging my path. I've been tripping over it all for months, some for years. There are some chapters I might come back to, some I'm definitely keeping on the back burner on a low simmer, and some I'm letting go. Not like a joyous release of doves or butterflies. Letting go like one would ungrasp the wind. As much as I have fought some things are not up to us or ours. It's all cycles, babe. Like a merry go round on a tilt a whirl on a roller coaster track headed down river in a barrel on the back of a varroa mite on the back of a bee.

Mmmm...yes, about beekeeping . . .

What:
This is a frame that I put a 1/3 piece of waxed foundation in and put some maybe useful comb on this side and left the other side empty.

Why Empty space:
I'm hoping they'll use this to build some drone brood in the blank space instead of on the bottom of frames and tops of frames below where I keep damaging it. Drone brood is thicker than the regular nursery and therefore can't go on regular foundations.
This could help my bees be more efficient and make inspections easier for me.

Why 1/3 foundation:
just hoping it will make it sturdier and give them something to build on.

Why comb:
I had it from a wonky comb situation I was cleaning up and *hate* to waste any wax forms they've built. IT TAKES 6-8 POUNDS OF HONEY TO MAKE ONE POUND OF WAX.

Will it work:
Dunno. We'll see how it goes. I'm just really happy to try.

03/25/2026

Gotta pre-wax those frames for the 🐝🐝🐝
Slightly ASMR but also with a hens "I JUST LAID AN EGG YOUZE GUYS" call.

03/23/2026

The bat distribution system always has me in a chokehold. This little baby made it all the way to the rescue and we're just waiting on an update. 🤞🤞🤞

03/22/2026

The guinea ghouls are back in the game 🎉 Unlike bok-boks they have a strict laying schedule from Spring through Fall. No accidental winter eggs. The first guinea eggs of the year are always a welcome sight.

Really hoping they hatch some kids this year. Their eggs are divine but we mostly have them here to control the tick population. Well, that, and to sing the beautiful song of their people - " buck-wheat" from the females or just "AH!" from the males (beautiful is an opinion). IF you can tolerate the noise they are a really wonderful bird to have around.

03/22/2026

SO MANY fluffy butts 💛 JewelLeeah just out here doing the most for all of her ELEVEN children. But of course she is - she's a M***A.

03/12/2026

Hello, is this thing on? I don't hardly remember how to talk. How to write. It was a long year. It was an even longer winter. I'm like ruplestil - No, um, Rip Van Winkle. Woof. Shaking the dust off.

Last year was a doozy. Our bees, our garden, our flowers, friends, family, dancing, everything that wasn't mandatory went by the wayside. We had an unexplained fire that scorched 10 acres, so many edible plants and trees, and disappeared our entire 24x30 workshop less than a day after I had surgery. We had family emergencies. We had our own health scares. I cut ties with people. My audhd spiraled and continues to. But I have made it to Spring. Holy chitt, batman.

I *think* this year we/I get to do our/my normal again. Or our new normal. Maybe it can be even better? 🥰🤞We don't have things back in order. We don't have a plan. I'm still barely coping some days. And we are not better off, the government is still s**t, but f**k, if we're not more resilient.

Wake up. Shake up.

New year.

Same C**t.

Right it's always "me, me, me and my s**tty depression" . . . back to the bees - last year should have been our first honey harvest (bro, I had a whole movie reel in my head about what I thought that would look like 😅) but we were just trying to keep our souls and brains from disintegrating, for real.

I always keep an eye on our hives anyway (for fun, pleasure, knowledge, and protection) and noticed some odd behavior a couple mornings ago. Robbing!?! In March? Turns out we lost a whole hive rather quickly somehow (after celebrating how they had all made it through winter). 😭 I had to stop the robbing - fast. It generally promotes more robbing and puts other bees at risk. Luckily we had just gotten a used fridge (thank you, FIL) to put on the porch for drinks and things, ahem, I mean . . . to store used beehive frames in.

A bunch of frames of pollen, wax, and honey went in the freezer - as many as would fit. The rest in the fridge. Then where to put the gorgeous and heavy frames of capped honey . . . ummmmm . . . Inside?! Yeah, we just had to put them in the kitchen in giant plastic until I could start processing the next day. Shout-out to my neighbor for gifting me a food grade bucket and my MIL for being kind about my absence on her 70th birthday.

But hey, I did it. 🎉 By myself. No spinny extractor so everything had to be scraped. I still have a lot of comb dripping into the 600 micron strainers for the next few days. After that, I'll jar what honey's left, pick out what bee bread and pollen I can, and start rendering the wax. The leftover "wet frames" will go in our other hives for feeding and cleaning. So yeah, it's not the season for it but we will have limited amounts of raw Cherryville Ozark Plateau honey for sale.

(It seems like I learn the most around here when it's urgent. 🤣 )

Shoutout to the electric company and the neighbors for not spraying anything in the 3 mile radius to kill my bees. 🫶 Appreciate it.

IT'S SO FECKIN' PRETTY 😍😍😍

08/08/2024