by Texas Homesteader ~
Y’all remember last month the bull hopped the garden fence & tromped around the wet soil decimating my newly-planted garden? Well I smoothed down the soil best I could and basically had to start over. Because of this damage my garden was now waaaaaay behind schedule! But I’m hopeful I’ll be still be able to harvest lots from my garden this year. Come see the damage recovery report for May.
by Texas Homesteader ~
Around the end of March RancherMan & I start thinking about splitting our beehives. Splitting a hive accomplishes 2 things – it expands the number of hives in your apiary. (yea!) But it also gives the bees a little elbow room by putting empty frames in each hive allowing for expansion.
You see, if the bees get to thinking things are too cramped, they’ll swarm looking for more space. And that’s something no beekeeper wants since there’s been lots of time & effort into managing their apiary. We did our splits by swapping empty frames for full ones. It was easy!
by Texas Homesteader ~
It’s true I have to grow a garden every year. I mean *HAVE* to! It’s something that’s in my blood and not having a veggie garden is just not an option for me.
But recently I got to thinking, there are several reasons I love to garden – it’s not just a hobby. It’s good for me in so many ways. I mean, flower gardens are beautiful and manicured lawns are lovely too. But I’d rather put my outdoor effort into something that will benefit me in 4 important life-changing ways. And here’s the good news – it can be life-changing for you too. Come see!
by Texas Homesteader ~
Here in Texas it’s typically very hot and dry during our summertime months. So I’m careful to mulch our garden heavily. Mulching helps the plants in many ways. It not only conserves that precious moisture, but it also moderates soil temps. I like to mulch with natural materials whenever possible. A typical gardening year will see me mulching with grass clippings, leaves or spent hay.
But I have a section of my garden that holds my Concord Grapevine. I’ve trained it to grow along the fence. It’s LOADED with grapes! But I’ve also vowed to keep the Bermuda grass from creeping into my garden. So all the walkways in the garden plus a wide perimeter swath is mulched with free wood chips.
But the grapevine is right at the fenceline. So to keep bermuda from creeping in around the grapevine I surrounded it with 3 bales of wheat straw. The purpose was just to deny sneaky Bermuda the sunlight as it attempts to grow beneath the bales to get into my garden.
But those straw bales are several years old now. They’re just spent and starting to deteriorate. I need to replace them.
by Texas Homesteader ~
RancherMan & I are still New-BEES! Our apiary started out with two established single-deep beehives back in May of last year. That first beehive stand was built using repurposed 2″x6″ boards that were 6-ft long from raised beds that we tore out. We added a deep box to each hive last year & saw those bees safely through the winter.
This spring we split them into four hives. Now we needed another hive stand so we built another like the first from purchased 2″x6″ boards. Then we caught not one, not two, but FOUR bee swarms this spring! (I KNOW, how exciting!!)
But these swarms are being caught & brought to our fledgling apiary faster than we can build stands. RancherMan decided to change direction. He wanted to assemble the next stands using concrete cinder blocks and 4″x4″ 5-ft long wood posts.
by Texas Homesteader ~
Unfortunately our area of NE Texas has slipped into yet another drought this year. Oh there’s been plenty of rain in surrounding areas but it’s mostly managed to miss our homestead! What we have gotten is lots of the cloudiness associated with that precious rain. But so many cloudy days means my garden is really behind where it should be this time of year. My tomatoes are nowhere near producing yet and my peppers are all still tiny. But I’ve had some successes too. C’mon into my garden, y’all. I’ll give you the tour!
by Texas Homesteader ~
*affiliate link
This post may contain affiliate links (marked with *) If you decide to make a purchase through one of the links contained in this post I may receive a commission. But the price you pay will NOT be changed. It’s an easy way to support this blog without anything coming out of your pocket. So if you’re interested in buying something, don’t be shy – click away! You can read my entire affiliate disclosure under the ‘Legal’ tab above.
We have a gas clothes dryer but we don’t ever use it. If I weren’t afraid we’d need it in an emergency situation I’d sell it. I could sure use the chunk of real estate it takes up to store my large stock pots & my *9-Tray Excalibur Dehydrator! LOL.
Our laundry is dried on a *retractable clothesline most of the time. If the weather is inclement for days on end I’ll pull out my folding clothes *drying racks and dry our clothes in the guest bedroom. I can close that door in the event of unexpected company.
But what about those windy spring days? You know the drill, you fight the sheets onto the line. Then the wind catches them & makes them want to set sail into the next county!
by Texas Homesteader ~
Y’all know we bought our very first bees last year & it’s been a blast raising these girls. But there’s typically no honey harvest that first year as they’re getting established. The honey they make during that first year needs to remain with the hive to see them through the winter. We overwintered our bees and they came through this spring with flying colors!
So we split the hives about 8 weeks ago. Bibbidy-bobbedy-boo our 2 hives turned into 4! After the split we allowed the hives to recover a bit before we inspected them again. The hives without a queen raised a new queen to take her place, the hives that retained their queen kept on with business as usual. Our inspection today showed that now we’re ready to add a honey super to the two stronger hives.
by Texas Homesteader ~
*contains affiliate link
So y’all know RancherMan & I are coffee drinkers. But we don’t want sweetsy, foamy flavored, overly-sugared drinks. We want coffee. Strong, black, delicious.
That plastic canister our coffee’s sold in comes in handy for many uses when it’s empty. We store chicken feed and dog food in them.
RancherMan uses them in the shop to gather bolts & hardware together. And I’ve even spray painted them and used them for sharing plants from my garden with friends. But I still have some I need to put to use. Our coffee consumption goes on, ya know??
So here’s another simple way those empty canisters still help me out.
by Texas Homesteader ~
My peppers and tomatoes were pretty much a bust this year due to our weird spring. You see, I planted seeds in my indoor greenhouse and placed that greenhouse at a south-facing window in my home like I always do.
But the constant cloudy weather this spring hampered a good germination. The few plants that did germinate were hardened off & placed in the garden. But you know peppers and tomatoes like a little more sun, a little more heat.
But I was recently able to replenish some of the vacant areas in my garden. It cost me ZILCH. “How can you get free veggie plants for your garden?” you might wonder. I’m so glad you asked!
