Thursday, July 17, 2014

No, I Ain't Dade!

Just a quick post to let you know all is well, and we've been busy as bees.  (Speaking of bees, did I mention that we lost every single one of our hives this past winter?  Yep, 'twas a hard, harsh one [in more ways than one] and none of our bees survived.  The sad thing is this summer would have been very difficult for them also, because our spring was so long in coming and then the too cool summer arrived along with fewer than usual blossoming plants . . . and we had a rainy spring which has continued into a rainy summer.  Not good environmental conditions for honey bees.)

But I digress.  We've just ended our third lovely day in a row (we hardly know how to handle it), and we've been hitting outside tasks with both hammers.  And chainsaws.  And wood splitters.  And hoes.  And other things needing to be done in the garden.  In short, we've been busting our bustles getting lots of great things done.  (Poor hubby had such a cramp in his hand at lunch today, from gripping the chainsaw, that he couldn't hold his fork!)


The strawberries are coming on in full force and we're having a terrible time figuring out what to do with them.  Such a hardship!  (I made the above pictured Strawberry Cream Pie around 7 this morning.  We did have a little help whittling it down to what's left.)

I need to go do dishes and then take a badly needed shower.  (TMI?)  I hope to spend an hour or so on the couch before bedtime snip, snip, snipping on my quilted frayed-edge project.

Another good weather day forecast for tomorrow.  Hip-hip-hooray!

20 comments:

Sparkless said...

Yah!!! So glad to hear you are finally getting in some vitamin D weather. I hope you both don't over do things though trying to make up for lost time. Slow and steady wins the race or something like that.

M.E. Masterson said...

I could eat a piece to help y`all out!
Try not to over do it... takes to long to recover. Time is precious!

Freedom Acres Farm said...

Ahhhh life on a homestead. Hurry up and wait for the weather to cooperate so you can not have enough hours in the day to accomplish what needs to be done yesterday as you live "the dream"!

Pioneer Woman at Heart said...

We are having wonderful weather here too.

Sandy Livesay said...

Mama Pea,

I'm sorry to hear about all of your bee hives, it's no fun when you put time into taking care off the hives and the weather just takes it's toll.

Yes, it's been beautiful.........to do work outside....that is in between the rain we've been getting.

I sure hope you helped your husband will eating especially that lovely looking pie :-)

Susan said...

So sorry about your bees! A lot of the hives here didn't make it through the winter, either. It's a tough life, a bee's life. Ooooh, that pie. It looks sooooo good....

Mark said...

Really awful about the the bees. We're hoping to get some hives going in a few years. I'm learning there's tons to learn before I do.

That pie looks amazing! We won't have our own strawberries this year, but looking at that pie I can see a visit (or two) to the farmer's market coming on!

Mama Pea said...

Sparkless - Just call us Ma and Pa Tortoise! :o)

Mama Pea said...

M.E.Masterson - 'Tis true aches and pains and pulled muscles take a wee bit longer to heal now that we're . . . mature. ;o)

Mama Pea said...

Freedom Acres Farm - What is that saying? The Simple Life is not simple! You face many more challenges because yours is more than just a homestead. You have a farm! The weather dictates SO MUCH for your fields and crops.

Mama Pea said...

Kristina - Yay for wonderful weather! Today we had good weather but more overcast and humid! Still better than rain at this point.

Mama Pea said...

Sandy - Hubby and I were talking while doing wood working this morning saying we've never had filling the two sheds take soooo long! But then we realized it's because we've had so darn many rained out days since we started the job.

Keeping bees up here in the woods so close to the Canadian border has its own set of challenges even in a "good" bee year. But we keep trying. We had a good enough honey harvest in 2011 that we still have a few jars left. And, boy, are we hoarding them!!

Mama Pea said...

Susan - 'Tis not the first year we've lost all our bees. (And probably won't be the last!) But, as I've said before, we keep trying. When the little buzzers hear they're coming to live in northern MN they probably cry, "No, no, please, not there! They don't have any field crops for us to work. And most years their spring flowers don't bloom until 4th of July!" But what is life (even for a honey bee) without a few challenges?

Mama Pea said...

Mark - We really chow down on the strawberries when they're fresh. (But not all in pies!) Then after the strawberries come the raspberries and then the blueberries. Yum!

Unknown said...

Good for you, maybe you can play catch up :) And relax too, maybe!

Leigh said...

So sorry to hear about your bees. I know strawberries aren't much of a consolation, but wow, what a great harvest.

Mama Pea said...

Nancy po - In the relaxing a bit department, even though yesterday was a good-work-outside day, we knocked off around 3 p.m. to get cleaned up and take a leisurely drive about 30 miles into the woods to a favorite restaurant for their all-you-can-eat fish fry. We got there and it was packed, so we stood and waited 45 minutes before being seated. I got home and promptly fell fast asleep on the couch!

Mama Pea said...

Stephanie - The pie was the second one I'd made within a week's time. We love it and I can't resist making it when the berries first come in!

Mama Pea said...

Leigh - We're scheduled to get some started bees from our great and supportive local group of beekeepers. Of course, we'll get no honey this year but with luck, maybe next year. We're totally enjoying the strawberries. Between them and next the raspberries and then the blueberries, we nearly become "fruitarians" in the summer!

Anonymous said...

This strawberry cream pie looks delicious!