Farm School

08/29/2026

Those rain clouds keep passing by us.

07/31/2026

07/30/2026

Robbing Screen. Resident bees learning the ways in and out of the hive.

07/28/2026

I took advantage of cooler temperatures to do my weekly check for swarm cells.
This week, I added the robbing screen. It keeps out robber bees who come to steal all of the honey these bees have been working so hard to produce.

07/27/2026

If I won’t honor the coop request for a swimming pool, tenants will take matters into their own hands.
Water bowls have been commandeered for use as cooling stations until the excessive heat warnings have passed.
These girls have zero clucks to give.

07/26/2026

This spring, I finished building the raspberry trellises.
I had been looking for a trellis option for years. This one seemed wildly over engineered for a raspberry trellis, but it is performing just as expected.
The canes are not blocking the path, so I won’t knock off berries when I mow.
This variety produces two crops. Right now, we are just getting a handful a day. I can’t wait to see this trellis working to support that second bumper crop.

07/25/2026

Come on, buddy. Stay in your lane!

07/24/2026

I love catching a bee mid nap.

07/23/2026

This crew got the job done, stayed in their lane and within the parameters of the task I set for them.
We only planted half this field because the power company stopped by to tell us they were replacing our electrical poles.
Mowing the grass in the pole fall zone was not a job I wanted to do so I assigned that to the ewe/lamb group.

07/22/2026

I’m a little embarrassed to post a picture of our ratchet boathouse, auxiliary dwelling unit for paper wasps, hunting ground/storm shelter for the cats, but this hay stack was a huge accomplishment. The structure may not be photogenic, but it’s useful!
Chad used the rest of the hoophouse supports and a leftover sheet of ice tink plastic to give us some more storage.
Last year, I started using it as hay storage. This year, we put up two wagons of our neighbor’s good alfalfa hay for the ewes this winter.
I was grateful for the help of Milena for the first wagon and Chad for the second.