A Day in the Life....

Although there is a sort of comfort in a rainy day...being able to catch up on inside chores and do a bit of nesting; we live for warm, sunny days on the farm. Rising early, starting the day with a hearty breakfast, we head down to the barn to whittle away at the ever-present, ever-growing list of outdoor chores. The ground was still a bit too wet yesterday morning for gardening, so I continued my work of revamping old hive boxes and priming and painting new ones.This afternoon, I plan to suit up, take the old bee smoker and check the health of the old hives. Once opened, I will swap out worn out hive parts for new parts, getting each hive in tip top shape for the coming nectar flows. There has been much activity around the hives in this warmer weather, but the bees are still feeding on sugar water until the trees are in blossom.Liz, our 1953 Ford tractor has received 2 coats of fresh paint....her unveiling is scheduled for Saturday....pictures to come....

As the day wore on, the soil dried enough to be workable and I planted this year's garlic crop. Last year's crop supplied us with fresh garlic all winter long. Amazingly, it stayed fresh all winter in our pantry. I also put up the snow pea tee-pees and planted the peas (a little late this year). Today's warm weather will give me the opportunity to get more of the earlier crops into the ground. I did happen to notice that our garden is absolutely teeming with earthworms...the sign of healthy soil.

At the construction site, things continue to move ahead quickly. The drywall is up...check out Jack's garage. The stairway at the back of the garage leads to storage above the garage and kitchen.....an added bonus that we had not taken into consideration when we planned this house.

Yesterday, I was surprise to see the fireplace mantle in place. It still will need to be stained and varnished. It is exactly what I wanted, however....a rough, hand-hewn, antique timber. In the end it will be quite lovely. This particular timber was recycled from an old corn crib.
It presently looks a bit gray, but with walnut stain and many coats of varnish, it will darken up quite nicely. The fireplace will be covered in stone...to match the exterior of the house and the chimney.