And if that wasn't enough to deter one, now there are these big flies that sound like bees when they dive bomb your head as you walk. Yesterday evening I saw my first big snake. Ask me where I saw it? Slithering along the barn wall as I was walking from my door! ...this isn't disneyland!
And let me continue with the ugly. I woke up and went into my bathroom and on the wall was the largest spider I had ever seen up close. It was almost as big as a tarantula - a fishing spider (I did not know this at the time) It was on the vertical wall right by the bathroom mirror. I thought I could deal with it, but finally Alyce took the shoe from me and dealt the final blow.
What is bad and ugly is also good - and therein lies the problem. The big snake was a black snake. It kills rats and keeps other snakes away. The large fishing spider above eats other small pest that you would not want in your house. I don't see any point in wasp and stink bugs and ticks and hovering flies...but I am sure there is something good about them.
Then there is the fox. First the male ducks disappeared one by one. Now the female ducks are beginning to disappear. One of the missing ducks was sitting on a nest of eggs which were transfered under another brooding duck. Yesterday evening we finally saw the fox from our window heading towards the farm. He consequently killed 1 baby duck and 6 baby chickens. So now all the animals are in one place behind an electric fence.
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| I put in the little pond and Zac built the walkway! |
The good... The farm is a great place for kids. Below is a picture of someone visiting who caught their first ever fish!
Below are the boys with the first piece of furniture they built all by themselves. Alyce has been teaching them how to use some power tools. They were quite proud of their success.
Elijah's first suit and doesn't he look dapper
And now for the bees. I opened the hive for the first time by myself last week. (Now you know I was wearing my bee suit this time)! I got my smoker working, which is quite trick. Then I took off the outer cover - and all was well. Used my smoke and took off the inner cover - OK sort of a lot of bees but still doing ok. Then I pulled up the first frame - not so OK. I became so overwhelmed by the number of bees that came up that I almost dropped it and ran away. If Alyce had not been standing by and telling me "your doing good". I would have completely been panicked. I managed to drop the frame back into the hive and put the hive back together, walk slowly over to the tractor that was near by, picked up my phone and immediately called my bee mentor, Amy. Amy came over the next day and quietly walked me through checking out my hives. Did I mention she is an emergency room nurse!
I worked my first Charlottesville Farmers Market selling the honey for the couple I work for during the week.
I learned to use the new fangled technology of a card slider on my phone. Had to setup a tent and move the boxes of honey myself - but I did it. Zac, my son, was selling his salmon in the space next to mine. Alyce moved between the 2 of use. I can't believe I am working the market now!!!
Now that our barn workshop is all setup, I will start making a stained glass for the huge window in our loft. Alyce will start her woodworking.
So... there is the good, the bad, and the ugly. They tell me that this hot is not even close to what it is going to get once we hit summer.
But what an unexpected life it is.
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