Rhubarbing

I can grow a lot of things, but rhubarb isn't one of them.  I had a beautiful patch when we moved  here, and when tearing down the old house, we destroyed it.  I've planted it twice since then, and it has died both times. 
My wonderful neighbors have kept me supplied with the stalks and still bring over plants for me to try again. :)  I received a grocery bag full of strawberry rhubarb on Sunday and yesterday I started "rhubarbing".  At least that's what my daughter calls it.  I made rhubarb cake, rhubarb jelly, rhubarb juice.  Next up I'll make rhubarb syrup (delicious on top of homemade yogurt), and rhubarb sauce.

The rhubarb juice is great mixed with ginger ale, and I've found that rhubarb jelly is now my favorite.  Here's the simple recipe for the jelly:
6 cups rhubarb juice
1 pkg. pectin
1/2 tsp. butter
7 cups of sugar
Just follow the directions in the pectin package.  It's delicious.  Sweet and tart.

Picture from Wikipedia

I'm going to try planting and growing rhubarb again.  I mean, who can't grow rhubarb???With such wonderful neighbors, I guess I really don't have to worry about it.

Dealing With a Lot of Bull (sorry, couldn't help the pun)

 Our bull got out of his pen last night and we haven't been able to get him back in yet.  He has mosied from his pen, to the buck pen to the goat pasture, taking down fences as he goes.  Next it's either into the barn or into the cow pasture where he'll be happy , no doubt.  It's just a bit early to start breeding the cows.  I'd prefer to wait until next month, but Buster the bull has other ideas.

I've tried reasoning with him, bribing him, threatening him, but he seems oblivious to it all.  I won't be hiring out as a bull whisperer anytime soon.  So covering the situation in prayer, we carry on.  The goats aren't too happy about their new pasture mate.  They are crowded in the barn, looking out the windows, waiting for him to mosey on.
Wishing you a blessed day.
From Glory Farm

A Shear Thing

Shearing time has come and gone and I thought I'd post a couple of pictures.  We raise Angora goats, which produce mohair.  My youngest daughter is quite a help when it comes to shearing.  She did half the work this year.
We shear with scissors.  I have hand shears that I used to use on my sheep, but they don't work as well on the goats.  I also have electric shears, which I used on the sheep, also, but I don't have a mohair head for them so it's the scissors.  We've become much more proficient at it than when we first started.  We can finish a goat in about 30 minutes.

This is a picture of Sassafras.  Her fiber was awful this spring.  She had too much hayseed in it.  She also has the worst feet of the herd.

Here she is after her shave and her hoof trimming.  That's my daughter playing with her.

Her cut is a bit uneven-:) but it'll grow out quickly. 
After they get sheared, the goats run and jump like little kids again.  I think it feels pretty good to get all of that stuff off.
We ended up with only 4 lbs. of usable fiber from her.  Have to try harder to keep her out of the hayfeeder.

Horsetail

Picture from http://www.liveandfeel.com/medicinalplants/horsetail.html

We have horsetail growing wild all along the edge of our yard.  I decided to look it up and see if it is good for anything.  Wow, I think it does everything but wash dishes. Oh wait, it does wash the dishes!  It contains large amounts of silica and it used to be used to scour kitchen utensils, works well, if you find it while out camping , to scour your dishes.

Crushing the stems and applying this to a wound, stops bleeding.  Horsetail tea has been used to treat mouth infections, digestive problems.  Small amounts are said to help with headaches, arthritis, and stress.

Google this herb and you'll find many more uses.

A Bee-u-tee-ful Day

We got the call on Thursday, time to pick up our bees.  So early Saturday morning we left for Hackensack.  I only got one package of bees, and this is also my first time with packaged bees.  I've gotten nucs before but ended up with a diseased colony last summer.

Getting the package of bees in the hive was a bit more than I bargained for.
Here's the package of bees.  There are about 10,000 bees in the package and one queen.

Next, I got suited up.  I don't have a bee suit, kinda made my own.

(Yes, I look like a dork.)

I took the queen out and hung her in her little cage on the edge of a frame.  Then I took a couple of frames out of the hive and poured the bees into it.  They didn't all want to go. :) But I only got stung once.

Next I put on a pollen patty and sprinkled some medicated sugar for them.  Then on went the top feeder and I filled it with sugar syrup.  Then the cover and I laid the package with the rest of the bees by the opening of the hive.

The back hive is just my unused supers, the front one is the one that the bees are in.  By evening all of the bees were in the hive and I closed it up for the night.  I checked it again this morning and fed them some more syrup.  I think I have happy bees.  I'll check on the queen in a day or two and make sure she got out of her cage.

That's that.  Hope they do well.