I Am Dog!!

I am invincible

I am strong

I am ...dog

I remember when Carole King came out with lyrics from a Helen Reddy song - I Am Woman.  Well those lyrics came to my mind the first time our little white fluffy suburban dog returned from his new playground at the pond.  I could tell by the way he was prancing back, that he felt different!  How could I tell you ask?  As he came walking back from the pond covered with muck, I could see the way he was prancing.  And then he immediately started chasing a chicken that was in his path - and he knew better!

This was our dog Jackson before the farm 

This is Jackson today

Everyone is changing.

Am I a beekeeper yet?  Well,  lets say that I am keeping bees.   If they last through until next spring I will venture to call myself a beekeeper.  You will see from the pictures below that I have a lot of bees now.   You will also note the look of fear  on my face as I check on the health of the hive!  

The first year you are not suppose to take any honey from the hive so that your bees can use their store through the winter.  But as I took off the top box of my hive, a huge piece of burr comb fell out that was full of honey. 

 I have to say that I was startled by the wonderful flavor of the honey that my bees were making.  The beekeeper I work for happened to come to the house that afternoon and I had him taste the honey.  He suggested the honey was coming from the wild roses that were in bloom.  I had not seen any wild roses - until I looked for them!  Again...there is so much we don't see that is right in front of us.

Speaking of wildflowers!!  I decided to take a walk and take pictures of all the different wildflowers I could find.  Here are just a few.

Wild Pea

These are covered with butterflies

I thought all honey tasted the same.  But now I appreciate that different flowers and trees produce different taste.  The beekeepers I work for have many different kinds of honey from different hives that are placed in fields or orchards.  And because I get to taste all the different kinds of honey we bottle, I am beginning to appreciate the art of beekeeping.

The next adventure - hogs! 

Guinea hogs are small pigs compared to modern breeds; they weigh less than 200 pounds and will yield 50 to 100 pounds of meat and fat. They are good as free-range foragers but are also at home in a farmyard and are reasonably even-temperered.

Our new adventure - guinea hogs

They love water

They will arrive the first week in July.  They are very cute - but like all the animals on a farm, they love and make...MUD!

The Fox

This is a picture of my daughter many years ago in the wilds of Alaska.  She would live remotely for the winter months in between her jobs that ran during the spring and summer months.  One year she was able to develop this close proximity to a wild fox during one of her winters.  Looks cute doesn't it!

This is the same 'cute' kind of fox that has taken several ducks and chickens from our farm.  We now have to keep them all penned up surrounded by an electric fence.

Free Range Ducks before Fox

Now he has to use a enclosed fence post to crow

After Fox

"Foxes tend to use a pouncing technique where they crouch down to camouflage themselves in the terrain, then using their hind legs, leap up with great force to land on top of their targeted prey.^[2] Using their pronounced canine teeth, foxes grip on to their prey's neck and either shake until the prey is dead, or until the animal can be disemboweled.^[2] The gray fox is one of only two canine species known to climb trees; the other is the raccoon dog."  We never found any evidence of our lost ducks.  But we finally found the den in the front of the house under an old fallen tree.  The hole is cavernous!

Kids idea to trap fox

The final straw was the day the fox took several baby chicks and ducks.  I tell you again...farmlife is harsh!!

In the meantime, life moves forward in more pleasant ways...

Lost teeth

Birthday Parties

Life, like our statue of justice, is blind - it is neither good or bad.  It is what we do with it that gives life it's value.  They tell us new beekeepers that we must learn to work within the framework of the bees life and not impose our own ideas of what should be happening.  Likewise, living amongst the beaver, the foxes and the insects!  - I suppose - one most conclude that a farm has it's own personality that we must learn to live in sustainably.  To borrow part of a definition of 'sustainability' - 

'Moving towards sustainability is also a social challenge'  I would have to agree with that!!

And..Rainy days for everything to grow