Goodbye 2009...

Hello again, from Tennessee Renaissance Farm. 


It's been some time since I wrote last. Things slow down a lot as we move from fall into winter. And some things have happened that are frankly hard for me to write about. Thank you for your interest and encouragement. Bear with me through this update. 


The late fall and start of winter have been much colder than recent years. With the onset of really cold (for us that's low's in the teens at night) weather, neighboring dogs seem to roam more. Some of the neighbors' dogs and some strays basically formed a pack, which is never a good thing. And so it was on the Sunday before Christmas. The dogs killed six of my nine goats that night, and one the following night. Howard the llama, normally the protector, was unable to stop what happened. It was a devastating thing. I just don't have the words. It was really heartbreaking to bury the seven of them. 

Since those bad nights, the fence has been repaired and strengthened. I am reasonably confident that no more dogs have been inside the fence since then. The dogs have become wary of being around the farm, which is probably best for now. 

We've had another, colder cold snap lately. I don't think it's been above freezing for the last week or so, and there are several more days of similar weather in store. It's unseasonably cold, for middle Tennessee. I sold one of the remaining goats at auction, but the other is too ornery to be caught lately. I can understand how he (Leviticus) might be wary of other creatures, lately. He seems to be in a better mood, and he's starting to at least hang out closer to Howard most of the time. Even in the snow, Levi joyously comes running at feeding time. 


Carrying warm water for the livestock several times a day is tedious. 


Having snow on the ground makes it easier to see the surface of the ground back in the trees and brush. I can see much clearer spaces inside the fence where the goats ate up alot of the brush. Being able to see more space open turns my mind to plans for spring. Some more fence will be built. Maybe a small building project or two will take place in the summer. It'll only take another day's rental of the tractor and much of my back forty will be walkable. I really enjoy that thought. 


Thank you for your support of Tennessee Renaissance Farm in my first year of blogging. I will need your continued encouragement and ideas going forward. 




Things I'm looking forward to in 2010: 

• Fresh vegetables from the TRF garden
• More goats!
• Harvesting my first honey! (I need your best biscuit recipes, by the way) 
• Inventorying plant and wild life on the Farm 
• Sustained above-freezing temperatures
  
• More bees!
• Fencing on flat ground instead of the hillside
• New used farm equipment! 

Good and bad.

Today I checked the beehives from top to bottom. Meagan, Taylor and Emily are all busy with activity. This is the bees' prime season. I could see all three hives are developing well. Emily seems to have more honey put up at this time. Taylor has more baby bees. Meagan has a balance of brood and pollen and honey. All three are disinterested in the syrup I was putting out for them. They strongly prefer real natural nectar and pollen that they gather themselves. The Gentleman Farmer can understand that feeling. It won't be long until Meagan and Emily need to expand like Emily already had. So far, I'm very proud of all three of these hives. My knowledge is admittely limited by my experience, but all signs point to good things.

You'll notice Hive #4 so far is not included in today's update. Hive #4 was started with a queen that ended up being extra. Instead of just letting her die or releasing her to probably die, I attempted to put her with some bees from Emily and start Hive #4. Today there was no life in the hive. Regulars here will know that I have nursed it along as best I could. I don't know if the queen was possibly damaged in shipment, or the amount of bees that stayed with her in the hive just weren't enough to make a go of it. In any case, I'm saddened.

My niece Meagan (not the hive of the same name) built a sweet birdhouse in shop class and donated it to the Tennessee Renaissance Farm. She chose its spot, and I installed it today. I meant to ask her what type of birds might nest in this box, but so far I haven't. With so many birds on the farm this spring, it won't be long before I get a definite answer.

I also weeded the garden this evening and I'm trying to decide where to put the berry bushes that I've been buying on clearance lately. I should get them in the ground Tuesday.

To the people who are reading and interacting with me on this blog: I really appreciate your encouragement. Some of you have written from countries The Gentleman Farmer had to look up on the atlas. Your moral support, curiosity and friendship all encourage me to keep on working and improving the farm.

Today's Photos:

• Emily has this frame almost 2/3 full of honey.
• Click on this photo to see it in full size. In some of the cells, you can see larvae in advanced stages of development, just before they are to be capped by the nurse bees and finish their final stages of growing into little bees. (The dark spots on some of the larvae are their eyes.)
• Capped brood on the left, larvae in the middle cells, and eggs toward the right. Some of these eggs are late in development, on the in-between stage between egg and larvae. Also click on this photo to see it full-size. These are good examples of nice, healthy bees. Their wings are almost clear and they have that really fine fuzz all over them. Fuzz is one way to distinguish bees from similar-looking hornets.
  
• Meagan's bird house.
  

Somebody that I really don't care much about once said something to the effect of, "every day in this country, with amazingly few exceptions, is better than the one before..." I don't agree with the guy on much, but blind hogs do find acorns here and there. He got that one right.

Over the past year on the Farm, every day really has been better than the one before. This week, that has been true in leaps and bounds. My last post was about starting my first two hives of bees on Monday. The next day, I drove to Hendersonville to pick up the beginning of my third hive.

This new one is a different way to obtain a hive. Basically the gentleman I bought it from split one of his hives and ordered a queen. They go in a small hive with just five frames. The benefit of buying this kind of hive is that the colony is fairly established. I read that it is about a six week head start over starting from packages like the first two. This small hive, referred to in the trade as a nuc, already has a laying queen, brood in different stages of development, and honey and pollen stores already in place. The nuc doesn't have to build up these things like the package bees. From my limited experience, these bees seem to have the best temperament of any I have handled so far.

The girls are already bringing in pollen (look at the one who's coming in for a landing on the unpainted nuc hive; the yellow on her legs is pollen - click to enlarge) and eating up the food I've put out for them in larger quantities than I thought they would at this early stage. It's awesome.

FYI, from now on, the hives will be referred to (in the order they were established) as Meagan, Taylor and Emily.

Almost time to go out to the garden...

These are the plants that I started indoors so they will be ready to plant with a head start this spring. For the new herb garden, I have basil, oregano, dill, parsley, thyme and spearmint. I also started 2 cultivars of strawberries, some rhubarb and spinach.



Herbs




Strawberry