Dan has been working hard, all summer, to split the wood we have in the backwoods pasture.  We had the woods logged out somewhat a few summers ago & Dan is still working on splitting it since there was so many tree tops left on the ground.  This is a pic of what we have stacked on our porch.  We've stacked it in the garage and LOADED the barn. 

I love having wood ready to go for the winter, as we heat about 80% of the time with our Jotul wood stove. (one of our smartest purchases!).  It's getting cold enough now that we are making a fire every evening.  Before long, making up the fire will be the first chore of my day.  Love it!

 This is a picture of the queen cage that I installed on Saturday, September 14th.  You can see how few bees there are at this point.  The gentleman I bought her from said she was laying in a great pattern and I had so hoped she would come out, get busy and save the hive.

This is a picture of where the hive sits now.  Empty and in our garage.  The queen came out, but the bee population kept dropping and I never did see eggs or larvae.  Maybe she came out and then died or was killed.  Maybe she came out, didn't like the hive and took off with the majority of the bees. (this last idea was suggested to me by the gentleman who sold her to me).  To make things worse, due to my schedule & the weather, I couldn't get out to the hive in time to take off the leftover honey.  It was all robbed out before I got into it.  Huge Bummer!

 

I was discouraged and sad immediately afterwards.  However...I know how much I have learned about beekeeping this year and am thankful for all the help I received from everyone.  I can't wait to get another package of bees in the Spring of 2014!



Hansel & Greg are growing well.  Dan's dad came out recently and helped Dan build a shelter inside the lean-to for the hogs.  Just a windbreak-type thing, but enough to give them a cozy place to snuggle into the straw at night.  We are keeping half a hog for our freezer and have sold the other half, but still have a whole or two halves to sell.  I really don't know where we are on pricing yet, since this is our first time raising hogs; but we should have a good idea closer to processing at the beginning of December.  The hogs have had a very large pen to run around in, and everyday they have had a combination of garden leftovers in addition to their mash.  Tomatoes have been their favorite!  They also like pears, apples & nuts.