10-2-10 Bee Spit and Mashed Tomatoes

Another beautiful and quite productive Saturday. We woke up to rain which thankfully moved on; the sun was out by late morning but it never did warm up. To be more accurate, it was pretty chilly all day. Levi and Jesse milked twice (hmm, how many times have I written that now?), mowing and cleaning up at CIT in between. Dad headed up the extraction crew, and they ended up with 17+ gallons of honey; we won’t know the exact yield until I strain and bottle it for storage. Meanwhile, I managed the tomato soup factory inside, with Tori and Kate going back and forth between the shed and kitchen, helping me and taking pictures alternately plus keeping Joshua out of the honey and relatively clean. Both projects ended right around noon, and everyone enjoyed grilled cheese with very fresh tomato soup for lunch. Mmmmm. Levi and Jesse left to milk, and everyone else dug into cleanup projects inside and out. Joshua napped, and when Dad did some errands in Morton, Jacob, Ben, and Jewel went with him; Tori, Kate, and Sarah played with the kittens awhile. I grabbed a catnap, and then went out to play with kittens too…they are so cute… in that way I’m no different than I was 35 years ago – I still love kittens! I didn’t like how the bikes took up all the room in the shed and there wasn’t room to play with the kittens; a quick cleanup and re-organization gave us a cozy spot to snuggle which was pretty warm too, considering the cold sharp wind outside. I finally left and went on a brisk walk, returning to find chores well underway. Uncle Randy was combining the beans by the shed across the road, and a few of the boys had rides during supper and ate their supper during k.p., so it was kind of wild there for awhile (imagine that). Finally got k.p. done and Dad wanted us in the new shed for Bibletime. That was a new one, and the kids won’t soon forget it I’m sure. I know I won’t – it was so fun, and singing in the shed sounded good too. Inside then for baths/showers and beds for all; I gave Dad a haircut then we headed to bed too.

A lot of honey – all sealed with wax in billions of tiny cells which need to be uncapped before the honey can be spun out.

Uncapping with an uncapping tool…an electric heated knife.

Ben is using a bee tool to separate the frames (that’s the name of the tool: bee tool).

Frames in the extractor.

Spinning out the honey.

Josh’s turn.

Best part.

Done and moved to the basement.

Outside work…

…and play.

And it was COLD – stocking hats for all!

Tomato soup done, pressure cookers OFF…

…and playtime with the kittens.

Note the little one on the right, playing with Tori’s hand.

He jumped right in her lap…

…smushed right up with the other 2, and was sleeping in 2 minutes. Tired little baby!

Another harvest picture.

And… the prettiest place in the country.

I was trying to photograph a coyote running full speed through the field – it’s just a minute dot in the picture, all but invisible. But it’s a pretty view nonetheless…sure Wyoming and Montana are beautiful, but I don’t want a home where the buffalo roam, where the deer and antelope play'; discouraging words aren’t all that bad, and cloudy skies can be stunning. I have learned in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content (Phil. 4:11); I love Illinois with its changing seasons, seemingly endless fields, picturesque farms, and unpredictable weather --- and I love the views from our place. Give me home any day.

Bibletime in the shed. At first Dad said he just wanted to try something a little different is all. (!!!) Everyone agreed it was different, all right.

Dad read in Matthew 6 and talked about v. 19-21: Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal: But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal. For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also. He showed us what moths did to the beehive that died; it was pretty nasty. It was infested with larva (worms), dead and alive, and there were spider-webby things all over it. The moths (or larva) (probably both, I guess) had eaten away all the wax base from the frames, and there was nothing left except dead bees, dead moths, and lots of dirt and dust (dead moth parts??). It was obvious that the whole super was extremely corrupted.

Then we moved on to the trailer which is very corrupted by rust.

Dad demonstrated how the rust can be grinded off, much like how God will grind off the rust in our lives if we look to him…

… exposing the solid steel underneath, leaving us smooth like new in Jesus Christ.

We also talked about examples of treasures on earth which are physical and temporal vs. treasures in heaven which are spiritual and eternal. I so very much hope and pray that these simple yet profound truths will always and forever guide our children as well as us on our earthly journey to heaven.

That’s all; good night.

10-1-10 Farmviews

Atypical day and very fun. Boys milked twice, with Jesse at Uncle Randy’s and Levi here studying then at Precision in between. They were pretty routine, I guess, but the rest of us weren’t. We left here at 10:00 and enjoyed a beautiful afternoon at Endresses in Galva. We had lunch, visited, played games, looked at goats, ate some more, visited some more, rode bikes, and just generally enjoyed being with friends. The weather was about perfect, the hospitality was wonderful, and the fellowship was precious. We are so blessed. We were home again around 3:00; Dad was already here and had the bee equipment almost ready to go. So Jacob changed his clothes and they were off to harvest honey right away. The girls and Ben started on chores, and I grabbed a walk with my camera in hand, something I haven’t done in a while. Home to a bit of school then supper and k.p; boys were home in time to grab a quick piece of pizza (Aldi frozen pizza, to be real) and shower before we 4 (Dad and I, Levi and Jesse) went to a visitation for Paul Koch. We hadn’t known he was really that sick, but how wonderful for him to leave his sickness behind and enter the glory of heaven forever. Home to listen to a Your Story Hour Bible tape, play games, and catch up on everyone’s day before heading to beds.

Picnic at Endresses.

The kids had a great time playing East, West, Central. Simple game and very much fun for all ages.

Jewel wasn’t sure she wanted to play at first, but she had fun with Jacob then.

Sarah’s favorite part of the day was holding Mike’s Timothy.

Back home, I took my camera with me when I walked, which I haven’t done in a while, and got some random shots of our delightful farmstead. Lovey’s 6 kittens are the cutest little things, and so very friendly – when we walk into the wood shed they just come running to meet us. It’s been awhile since we had such a friendly accessible batch of kittens. If anyone (or your 2 and 4 year old children) (heehee - guess who that would be?) would like to come and play (or adopt) one of these adorable fat little balls of fluff, please stop by anytime. Even if we’re not home – come on back to the wood shed. Lovey and her kittens will be happy to see you.

That pudgy little pointer is Joshua’s.

On to my walk: a stop at the cows.

Steers for our freezer.

Pooch is looking poochy again; although she’s very friendly, she doesn’t bring her kittens around very much so they usually grow up pretty wild. Her home is in the cow shed, though, so she and her offspring do a good job keeping the mice out of the corn.

Continuing south, I detoured to where Dad and Jacob were harvesting honey. I stayed well back and used my telephoto as there were many angry bees protesting the ransacking of their hives. Thankfully no one was stung (occasionally someone will get stung when a bee gets inside the suit, which isn’t supposed to happen but sometimes it does anyway).

Dad is blowing bees off the super.

The outside 2 are done; they’re almost done with the third and have one more to go.

No fancy bee equipment – just a plain old leaf blower. The visible bees aren’t actually on Jacob’s suit; they’re flying in the air around him.

Stacking the supers – each one weighs from 20-50 pounds; we should end up with about 10 gallons of honey or so.

Ready to close it up and let them recover from their trauma.

There was no honey in this last hive – all the bees died and the other colonies took the honey. So Dad and Jacob tore it apart – more of the fun of beekeeping.

Continuing on my walk – heading north I swung through the beanfield where Uncle Randy was finishing up.

Back home through the orchard – look at this HUGE Fuji apple! I’m saving it for when I’m REALLY hungry.

Pheasant hens look good.

Cocks are getting kind of beat up – perhaps lack of care? I won’t say a name, but their primary caretaker hasn’t been around much lately; that should change next week though. Hopefully with better care they’ll stop pecking at each other and their tails will grow again.

Last stop was the barn, where Mama Blackie has 3 cute kittens in the haymow. The girls were spending a lot of time taming them until they found Lovey’s kittens; ignored now, these are pretty wild again. Still pretty cute though – they just sit on the edge of the haymow and watch life.

Joshua really likes books; can you tell?

That’s all!