New Life All Around Us

Every spring I flirt with the idea of starting a blog.  There are always so many exciting things going on around the farm to share.  Three years ago we acquired our first batch of bees, two years ago our farm was picked to the be backdrop for a Yuengling Beer commercial, and last year we built a chicken coop and bought 11 chickens. 


Oh, I forgot to mention that we had our son somewhere in the middle of all of those things - raising him is an adventure within itself! 


This spring is no different. Last year we decided to get more chickens and more bees this spring. So far we have tried to get at least one new bee hive every year - the more bees, the more honey. Due to the rainy weather last year we didn't have enough of a surplus to be able to enjoy the fresh honey for ourselves.We are hoping for better luck this year.  The bees that we purchased will be ready for us to pick up on Saturday ( a month early). However, as usual there is no shortage of work to be done before they get here - buying a new hive, painting the hive, and setting it up - all in a days work I guess. Jeff is the resident bee whisperer so he will be doing all of the work on his own - I have projects of my own to work on, like writing this blog!


This is Jeff adding bees to our hive:

No really, I do actually pitch in with the farm stuff. I helped build the chicken coop last year:

However, since I'm a little shaky with the nail gun, most of my work is done behind the scenes. For example, last week I got the call that our newest batch of chickens were ready for pick up from the post office. Our newest batch of two day old chicks were ready to start their new life here on Bengie's Farm.     After picking them up I had to put them in the brooder and make sure that they had food and water. Our first batch of chickens, Plymouth Barred Rocks, lived in a crate in our kitchen until the weather was warm enough for them to be outside. Crazy right? Yep, especially since our son was just sleeping through the night and the chicks still had their days and nights confused and chirped all-night-long! Needless to say, we didn't go that route this year - the new chicks, Easter Eggers (because they lay blue/green eggs) are in one of the farm's out buildings. Besides, we are going to need the crate for our new puppy, Asher, who will be arriving on the compound in just over a week. 


See, I told you that there was new life all around us!