One of Joshua's latest paintings.  I love it!

Last summer we had three hives of bees.  One "wild" hive moved into an abandoned hive, and we purchased package bees for the other two.  After a long hard winter,  we lost two of our hives to mice.  The mice move in, eat the bees and honey, and have a nice warm dry home.  Our remaining hive is doing great, but the other day as it often happens in May.....swarm!

The swarm hung out overnight on a white pine branch very high up.  There was no way we could even think about capturing the queen and the swarm. 

We watched yesterday as they swarmed and took off.  We tried to follow them to see where their new home was going to be.... but we lost sight of them.   Then later in the afternoon,  we noticed another swarm but this time they seemed to be swarming to our existing hive.  We think they came back or maybe  a "virgin queen" was born and there was another swarm.  Sometimes,  a hive will keep swarming until all the worker bees are depleted, but that is rare.   We are hopeful they came back.

A few hours ago,  another swarm....this time they are low enough to get to but they are not dumb,  they are in a Holly bush.  Not an easy place for us to get into.

We have set up a new hive nearby with hopes this swarm moves in!

There are still bees coming and going from the existing hive.

Along the ground we are finding a few drones.

We are reading and learning what we can about the colonization of bees. 

Recently Joshua checked out a book on frogs & toads from our local library.  This book is great and contains pages on the anatomy of a frog.  We have been reading and reviewing the book.  Yesterday,  on my way from the garden I found a partially eaten frog with it's organs exposed.  I had seen one of my cats eating something in that area earlier in the day.  So what did we do with this carnage?    We dissected it.  We used the anatomy page as a reference and got to work.  We even emptied the stomach contents.  This poor froggy had a very full stomach of beetles and larvae.  The lungs of a frog are very strange looking indeed and frogs have three livers.  So at 8,  Joshua has already dissected a frog!  Although we were sad this frog died,  at least he went to feed a cat versus just being killed for the sake of a dissection of a frog in a school project. 

We've also been searching for some owl pellets to dissect.  We have a lot of owls in our Spruce tree thickets and we keep scanning  the ground.  We haven't found one yet,  but when we do,  we will be sure to dissect it too. 

Recently we took a day off from farming and visited a local museum.  Our friends volunteer in the Paleo Lab at the museum and they arranged a tour for us.   It was wonderful to see the "behind the scenes" at the Paleo storage and lab.  

This was a specimen probably from the 1930's and Joshua is getting an explanation of how they protect and transport specimens from the field.  We learned of different materials they have used in the past and what they found to be the best and why.

After a tour of the storage,  it was amazing to see all the dino bones,  we headed over to the Paleo lab to see what they do there.  Our tour guide,  the head of the department,  put Joshua to work on cleaning turtle fossils and trying to assemble them.   He took his job very seriously.

Joshua is with our friend Mary.

It was a fantastic day. 

We joined the NY Paleontological Society this year at Joshua's request.  We've been to a couple of meetings and recently we went on a fossil "dig" with them.  What an amazing time!  Everywhere we looked we found fossils. 

Brachipods

Tentaculites

Coral

We brought a lot of fossils back to study.  Our field guide is full of illustrations of fossils and history on this region.  We will be comparing our fossils to the field guide and learning all about them.   In addition,  we will be looking at some fossils my father gave me that look very similar to these.  They came from the Mountains in WV and are in sandstone.  The fossils we collected shown in the pictures are in limestone and shale.   We collected some really wonderful fossils and managed to find a couple of complete specimens. 

Some of my favorite weeds, that we like to eat and make herbal remedies with, are popping up in the fields, backyard, high tunnel,and forest.  

Chickweed.

We've been eating chickweed almost everyday.  Yesterday I made a delicious pesto with it.

I even sell the chickweed at the farmers' market.  Last Saturday,  I sold out in an hour!  It's a delicious Spring green that is high in vitamins and minerals.

Motherwort:

I make tinctures with Motherwort.  Motherwort can help you with many things but I think it is best when you feel like you are going to panic.  It works!

Garlic Mustard:

This plant is an invasive weed and very delicious!  You can eat the entire plant.  You can take the roots,  chop it up add some vinegar and you have a "wild" version of horseradish. 

Lemon Balm

Another wonder plant.  We eat it raw,  make tea with it,  tincture it.  This plant aids in digest and is also calming.  I even make Lemon Balm popsicles for Joshua, sweetened with honey. 

Stinging Nettle

You can eat this plant,  dry it make tea/infusions, and I make a hair oil with it.  Stinging Nettle is a wonderful plant.  We drink her infusions almost every day. 

St. John's Wort

She is my favorite!  I tincture her flowers and make oil from her flowers. 

Life has been full but the boys find time to canoe several times a week on our ponds.  

Our Easter Eggs Soaps---the pastel colors were created from herbs! 

Our new household cleaner.  I love this stuff!! 

This Amaryllis was 10 years in the making.  I grew it from seeds that I collected from an original Amaryllis bulb that I pollinated.   I'll be selling four of these at the farmers' market.

 
They are so pretty!

My mother gave me my grandfather's old leather suitcase.  It is perfect to transport my soaps to and from the market! 

Looking forward to a busy day tomorrow at the local farmers' market.

I mentioned in a previous post we had managed to go over a year without purchasing oil for our heat or hot water.  This weekend my sweet hubby needed to harvest more wood.  Winter seems to be hanging on and the temperature outside dropped to the low teens last night. 

After cutting down several standing dead trees,  these logs were moved to this area for cutting up into smaller pieces that will be split.

Stage 2

Splitting. 

Stacked split wood with several more logs waiting to be processed.

My son has inspired me to approach art in a completely different way.  Watching him create his art with no fear, just passion and joyfulness, is wonderful and it has helped me to become more creative.

I attended art classes in junior high and college.  I sketched in junior high but my sketches were not very good.  I basically felt that I was not very creative.  On the other hand,  you almost always found me behind the lens of a camera.  My dream was to become a National Geographic photographer traveling the world.  I used to sit for hours trying to get the perfect shot of a hummingbird.

When Joshua was three, he was using one of those throw away cameras. He managed within seconds to actually take a pretty decent picture of a hummingbird!  As I watch him draw and paint, I observe how  he gets down to business quickly and never with hesitation.  You don't see him sit and contemplate how to do something,  he just dives in,  never afraid that he's not coloring within the lines or continuing his art onto the next sketch pad page.  Honestly,  I never encouraged him to color within the lines,  I often just gave him blank paper and paints, pencils, markers, etc.  I let him do his thing and I've watched him with admiration and awe.  I didn't want him to struggle like I did with always the thought....am I doing it right?  I wanted him to be free and to create how he saw fit.  If he wants to learn how to master a certain technique,  we research the technique and try it. This freedom of creative expression gives him the ability to even try techniques on his own.  He learns by cause and effect.  If I hold my pencil this way and make strokes like this,  I get this result.  His freedom to explore and experiment without someone standing over his shoulder commenting,  "oh that's not right,"  keeps him interested.

Recently, we sat and sketched together at the botanical gardens.  It was the first time I had done something like that in years.  Doodle...yes...all the time but actually sketch something I was observing...no.  Yesterday while waiting on my very slow computer to update a program,  I started sketching a photograph I had taken of a chicken.  I ended up surprising myself.  It turned out not too bad and I was pleased it wasn't a stick chicken. 

Of course it was on a piece of scrap paper. I think I've found a new creative outlet.  Sketching!   I'm looking forward to doing more sketches,  especially my medicinal plants.  One of the best ways to observe plants is by sketching them.  I'm also looking forward to sketching with Joshua. 

So once again, I must thank my free spirited son for inspiring me!  Thanks Joshua!!

Splitting wood.  I am happy to report we have went over a year without purchasing oil to heat our home!

Joshua getting some turkey love.  Most of the snow is finally gone. The girls went outside and walked around!

Yep,  we still have some snow left here and there.

Double yolked turkey egg.    The turkeys are laying eggs again! 

We all love to sit in front of the fire.

or maybe climb around and act silly trying to get my attention.....

We had a tremendous amount of rain last week and our little brook was really running.

So this is not the farm; it is the Botanical Garden.  This display of orchids is a replica of a chandelier on Broadway.