Bees and blooms

Saturday was Bee Inspection Day. The girls are doing well, although I didn't feel like I spent enough time out there to get a good enough look so I'll probably go back later this week to check for eggs and brood. But I did get to spend some time sitting by the hive, watching the girls come and go. It's really relaxing to sit and watch them come in and out, laden with pollen on their legs, beating their lacy white wings and communicating with each other.

The ladies return with groceries.

I also took some pictures of some of the things that are blooming and growing on the farm for your viewing pleasure.

Three baby tomatoes on the vine!

Grocery store garlic works JUST as well as seed catalog garlic.

I heard it through the grape vine... growing beside my deck.



This is what asparagus looks like when you let it go to seed instead of picking it. First year crowns need to go to seed first, then the second year you can start cutting the spears when they are the right size.

These Are My Children

I am a proud momma to two Labby kids. My kids are Vixen and Roger. Vix is a year and a half old, and Roger is almost one year (birthday boy celebrates next month!)

New storm door = infinite opportunities to view world. and lick window.



Last August, Craig was on a business trip down in Charlotte, NC. On his way down, he drove through South Boston, VA. As he passed a small farm he noticed a sign by the side of the road that said "Free Puppies!".  He called me up and told me about the sign. I told him to stop in and check on his way back home. So he did. And when he called me again he said "There are two puppies, a male and a female. What should I do?"
"Do you see the parents?" I replied
"The mom is here, she's a black Lab. I have no idea where the dad is. Puppies are kinda cute though. What do you want me to do?"
".... take the male. I'll see you when get home."

I eat squeaky toys.

So Craig pulls up to my parents house (we were housesitting for them.... fine time to get an unhousebroken puppy huh) and walks in with this little ball of trembling black fur. His head was too big for his body and he was terrified. We set him down and he crawled under the dining room table to hide.
I asked Craig what we should call him.
"Well, I thought of two names in the car. 'Bootsy Boy' because of his little white feet, or 'Roger'"
"I would rather roll over and die before naming a dog Bootsy Boy. His name is Roger."
And that is how our Roger (aka Ro, Buddy Ro, The Ro, Muffin and all sorts of other cutesy poo names) came to be in our little world.

I am the queen of this house. Even the sun worships me.

Vixen was our second adoptee. She came to us from Richmond Animal League, one of the finest animal shelters I've encountered.  Around Christmastime we started noticing that Roger was becoming lethargic and listless. He wasn't interested in playing with us, he really only wanted to sleep and annoy us. We tried exercising him more, which was helpful, but not quite what he needed. Now, Craig works from home, but travels quite a bit, and I teach so I'm not at home during the day. And it occurred to me what was wrong with the Ro.

Roger was lonely.

So we started talking about getting another dog. I've always wanted to fill a home with dogs and children, and since we have no children (yet) why not get another dog? We have the room, we have the means and we have the love. So we started shopping for a playmate for Roger.

Wha??

We found Vixen in late January at RAL. But unfortunately Craig was getting ready to go on a week-long business trip, so we decided to wait to get her when he came back. We got her in February, as the first snow of the season was falling on Richmond. We also got her the same day we bought our grill, so my Jeep was really crowded.

Roger and Vixen hit it off like peanut butter and jelly. They are inseparable. Seriously, if I take Roger outside and don't bring Vixen she pitches a FIT.


And what's more important? There is plenty of love to go around.

You coming back, Mom?

Til next time,
-Heather

Farm Livin' is the Life for Me!

So I promised pictures, and here they are.

Our quaint little farmhouse was built in the early 1800s. My parents are very close friends with another family here in the area, and this farm is their old homestead. It was sold to the previous owner in the 90s, who did quite a bit of renovation about 5 years ago. She basically gutted the entire house and redid the wiring, plumbing and drywall. The black shutters and red door are our additions. I always wanted a red door :)

This is the view from the driveway facing northwest.

This is the view from the back deck. Our land stretches out past the line of juniper trees to the forest. You can see the old horse fencing, which makes for a pleasing boundary between our back yard and the "back forty".

This is the deck. More commonly known as Craig's Container Garden Paradise Plant-a-Palooza. I'm sure you'll be hearing more from me on this subject...

So that's it. That's our place.

And by golly I love it here.

Welcome to our new blog!

Hello! Welcome to our blog! We are Heather and Craig, and we live on a farm.

This is not our farm.

Ok not like a real working farm with cows and corn and cockadoodledoo. But our farm is cool. It's an old, 12 acre horse farm complete with old barns, horse corral and lots of character.

And by "character" I mean that there is old shit everywhere and it is a lot of work cleaning this place up. But we're working on it.

So this blog is going to be about our adventures in living on a farm. We're not "farmers" per se. We just live on a farm. And we're doing the "farm" thing by growing our own vegetables, trying our hands at grapes and beekeeping.

We are also proud parents to our fur babies Roger and Vixen, both labs. Sometimes I'll blog about them.

This is also our first house together. We moved to the farm in November of 2011 from a one bedroom apartment, so we're figuring out basic homeownership too. Oh did I mention that our charming little farmhouse is over 200 years old? (hello frozen pipes and creaky floors... and probably ghosties) It's been quite a ride.

So that's what our blog is going to be about: our adventures in farm country- home repairs, landscaping, container and ground gardening, the dogs and the bees.

We hope you enjoy! By the way, it will mostly be me writing. Craig will "guest comment" as he says.

Until next time,
-Heather


oh and PS, my camera is on the fritz, so I'll post pictures soon.