Long time, no posts!

Well, we had another rough winter with our bees.  We've only got one hive that survived over the winter, so it looks like we probably won't have any honey again this year.  James has started a bunch of new hives this spring, and got our new bees from two different suppliers, so we'll see if that makes a difference.  He's also been re-educating himself on problems with bees to see if he can't figure out what's going on with our hives.

Talking about bees at the Peace Meal Garden Earth Day Celebration

Meanwhile, we've had a great spring overall at the farm.  We took a trip to Florida in March (Disney!  Universal Studios! Woot!)  We've got new chickens and our flock from last year are busy laying. Caileigh graduated from sixth grade and her Montessori school, and will be heading to Middle School in the fall.  Jake graduated from third grade and will be heading into the upper elementary.  Big changes ahead!

James and the kids have been busy putting out the garden this week:

Geometry in action!

We also went strawberry picking at Boyd Orchards in Versailles last week, and have made a ton of strawberry marmalade, strawberry-rose preserves, and strawberry jelly.  Oh, and don't forget the AWESOME strawberry shortcake we had for dessert the next night!  Heavenly!

Jake picked donuts while the rest of us...

...picked LOTS of strawberries!

What happened to September?

Urgh.  School started, that's what happened!  Holy cow, but we get busy this time of year.  I'm hoping to get some posts up about the family soon, but in the meantime, we have all been obsessed with the tUnE-yArDs and wanted to share.  James and I saw them at the Bonnaroo Festival earlier this summer and they were pretty darn cool (they played live music during a Buster Keaton Film Festival!)

Gangsta

Merrill Garbus IS the bOmB!!  (I'm not sure I can get away with that kind of lingo. Oh well.)



Things we have been doing for the past month:

Hiking Trips:
Cumberland Falls - saw the double rainbow, hiked Eagle Falls Trail
Shakertown - hiked Anderson Trail
Shakertown - hiked Meadow View Trail 

Cultural Stuff:
Spirit Walk and Heirloom Dinner at Shakertown (we only live three miles from Shakertown, so yeah, we go there a LOT!)
150th Anniversary of the Perryville Battlefield (saw the re-enactment of the Battle for Webster Hill)

School Stuff:
Volunteered at the Cake Walk and did Face Painting for the kids' school's annual Fall Festival
Caileigh and James went on an overnight field trip to Pine Mountain Settlement School

Home Stuff:
James canned a MILLION tons of tomatoes.  Jars! Pots! Pans! Squishy Tomato Innards! EVERYWHERE!
Bees, chickens and garden are all doing well!

It's also Vegan MoFo this month, and Isa just posted a new Vegan Chopped! Challenge, so you know I'll be getting on that this weekend!  See you soon!

Red River Gorge Hiking Trip

It was the kids' last weekend before school starts, so we went on a hiking trip to Red River Gorge.  We took a lovely picnic of sandwiches, carrot sticks, fruit AND a delicious vegan Triple Berry Lemon Bundt Cake (it was sooooooo good!).  Then we set off on the trail to Gray's Arch.

First of all, let me just say that I am convinced that the distance to Gray's Arch is longer than 1.2 miles, as indicated on the sign at the trail head.  Holy moly.  It's been a long time since I've been to Gray's Arch (20+ years?), but I really don't remember the HUGE wooden staircases descending from the ridge to the base of the arch.  And then it was a pretty difficult climb up the rocks and roots to the arch itself.  Ah well, it was gorgeous day (sunny and not too hot!) and we had a lot of fun.  However, the kids were really whooped by the time we got back to the car.  My thighs were feeling the burn, too.  I kept telling the kids it was character building and that they would look back and remember this experience with fond memories someday, but they weren't buying it.  They just wanted air conditioning and electronics!

To treat everyone after the hike, we headed over to Miguel's Pizza (on the road to Natural Bridge).  We'd never been there before, seeing as we usually just go the Red River Gorge side of Slade, but it was REALLY GOOD.  And super crowded!  I felt so trendy sitting there with all those athletic young hikers. 

Anyhow, it was a really wonderful day and we hope to get our family hiking more often.  Go Kolasas!

It's a bug hunt

Well, my poor feet and legs have had a rough couple of weeks.  I appear to have been bitten several times by a venomous spider (our thoughts are possibly a brown recluse).  I eventually ended up at Urgent Treatment because the main bite appeared to be infected and I just finished a course of antibiotics. The FIRST attack involved a large bite wound area on my shin and several lesser bites on my other foot.  Ouch.  The SECOND attack caused a quarter-sized black-and-blue and very painful spot on the bottom of my big toe.  Double ouch. 

After some thought, we decided that I most likely ran into the evil spider upstairs in Caileigh's room, since both incidents were discovered upon waking up in her bottom bunk  (Yeah, yeah, I know.  We are slowly weaning CK off of having a parent sleep in her room, but she was having terrible night terrors/hysteria at bedtime.  You do what you gotta do.)

In any case, no one is sleeping upstairs right now, until we finish de-spidering the room.  Blargh.

Wish us luck!

New chicks on the farm

They're so cute (Jake and the chick)!

Summer Staycation

I had a lovely "staycation" from work last week, and we celebrated both children's birthdays.  Caileigh is now 11 years old, and heading to sixth grade this fall!  Jake is 8 years old, and as wild and crazy as ever.  Speaking of birthday boys, check out Jake and his prize winning cucumbers at the Mercer County Fair!  Our kitchen is currently overrun with cucumbers, and James has been canning pickles like a madman.

Our staycation included a birthday sleepover, two birthday cakes, a trip on the Dixie Belle at Shaker Landing, a visit to the Salato Wildlife Center, watching the Olympic opening ceremonies, and a party at Bounce U, among other things!  Good times.

Meanwhile, in the garden...

James and the kids have been busy making tomato cages.  Here's hoping we get a good harvest before all the critters eat them!