Spring Finally Sprung!

Posted on May 18, 2011 by Callens Honey Farm

 

It has been a busy week with plenty of jobs marked off on the “to do” list!  We were able to plant the balance of hops the other day and we have the sun burns to prove it.  All total we think there are at least 1250 hops plants on the farm at present.   Certainly we will have our work cut out for us because they have to be put on trellises.

All the bees have been checked over and the queens are laying many eggs.  We fed our second batch of sugar syrup and everything looked great.  The fruit trees, here in Minnesota, are in full bloom and not only look lovely, but smell even better!   You never know if the frost dates are accurate and hopefully we won’t receive any more frosts.

The turkeys are starting to have their poults and on Sunday the guys spotted a hen and her 8 babies, which sent us on an adventure of trying to catch the poults.  She was fairly calm and we were able to gather them gently into a pail and moved them to a pen where they will be safe and well taken care of.  The turkey hens are not very motherly and tend to take their chicks off into tall, wet grass where the poults become an easy target for our many farm cats, so we made it a practice of taking over her job and feeding them special gourmet food, hard-boiled eggs!! Those eggs are the trick to keeping turkeys alive.  The children have informed me that there are 7 turkey hens laying on nests throughout the farm, one being in our strawberry bed.  Several are in the quonset, while others are in the long barn. 

 

Yesterday was spent putting in most of the garden.  What a job that was.  My job was weeding our bed of asparagus, not an easy task with so many thistles baring their sharp leaves.  In the end, I had to use a kitchen knife to dig them out.  We harvested around 4 pounds of the asparagus and later that night I made a large pot of asparagus soup, which was a hit with the family.  This morning I made an asparagus omelette and still have some to freeze. If we have time tonight, we will probably hunt the minimum maintenance road ditches for signs of the first asparagus. 

Clayton put a new mower blade on our mower, which was vibrating too much, and Maggie and Frenchy got our long grass mowed down, the weed whip going and the flower beds weeded.  They also planted some of the many flowers with more to go in today.  The twins burned winter junk, removed silo staves from around the trees in the orchard and planted gardens all day.   They informed me that today all the tomatoes, parsley, basil, watermelons and eggplants will be planted, and then we will be done.  They plan on transplanting the raspberries after that. 

Lambing went very well this year (98 lambs from 60 ewes) and after the kids put the new fences up around the farm we opened up the first paddock. What a lovely sight to behold, with all the green grass and bright yellow dandelions.  It is a real pain having to open two gates to get out of the farm-yard, but in another week or two, depending on how much the sheep consume, we won’t have that to deal with for a while.  We do have to be very careful not to run the lambs over, as they are slow to move and very trusting.

On Saturday it rained hard but even in that rain we were able to put up the paddock fences and render 5 gallons of lard.  All of that pretty much took up the entire day.  Sunday,  everyone enjoyed a day of rest in the sunshine.  We had a nice cook-out, read some books, played soccer, tested out the new tractor mower and went to the slough to spear fish.  Thank God for Sundays and much-needed days of rest, which in the end make it all worth while.

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Rainy Day~A Welcome Break!

Posted on May 12, 2011 by Callens Honey Farm

 

Not that we really need this lovely rain, but we sure appreciate the break!  The sun went down on us last night as we were rushing to get the hops planted.  By the time we were done, we had planted somewhere around 300 plants, which was pretty good considering the many tasks that needed to be completed before the hops could be planted.   Approximately 700 more plants to go!

The guys had dug the trenches in the dark the night before, so that job was already finished.  Caleb had the job of pounding the stakes with a very heavy, metal sledge-hammer into the dirt, not an easy job.  Bella and I took turns measuring the 40″ distance between posts.  Then there were several trips to the wood pile to bring and lay down posts to make that job go easier.  The Twins and Maggie were the main hops planters and by the end of the day had sore knees, backs and scratched fingers.  Mario and Bella took turns watering the hops after they were planted.  After his work, thankfully, Clayton showed up to pound posts, which was a much-needed break for Caleb.           

Earlier in the morning, I discovered that it was Caleb’s 12th birthday, sadly I had forgotten.  Boy did I feel badly about that.  One quick cell phone call from the field to Frenchy eased my conscience, as she had known that  it was his birthday and had planned on baking his cake!  One less thing to do.  Another quick call to Jessi, and I had a pail of ice-cream to go with the cake.  My married girls continue to bless me and I thank God for them and their thoughtfulness.

Fred called at around noon and said that the Twins needed to check the new bee hives.  It took a lot longer than we had anticipated, to the tune of around 2 hours, but it had to be done.  In the mean time, the kids left behind kept working and I must say here, the kids have something that I never had growing up, (sorry Nonna), work ethic!  Afterwards, we joined the kids for more hurried planting.

When Fred came home from work he and Marisa headed out to put some wooden pieces on the new sugar syrup bee feeders to keep the bees from drowning, while the rest of us continued planting.  I should mention that all meals and snacks were done tail gate style.  When they got back and the sheep were fed and more hops planted Fred said to call it quits for the Rosary and to celebrate Caleb’s birthday!This morning, Thursday, we boiled 25 gallons of sugar syrup mixture to take to the bees as soon as it chills enough and we are so thankful that we don’t have to plant hops again today, due to the steady rainfall.  Some of you have asked me what we are going to do with all of the hops.   The answer is, they will be sold as a cash crop for beer making, Brau Brothers Brewery for starters!

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1000 Plus Hop Rhizomes Picked Today!

Posted on May 11, 2011 by Callens Honey Farm

It has been pretty busy around here lately and today was one of those days that makes a person’s head spin.  The kids and I headed out to Lucan, MN to dig up 1000 hops from the Brau Brothers Brewery.  What  a nice bunch of folks the brewery owners are, generous, helpful and very interesting.  They make a great local beer that folks around Minnesota enjoy very much. 

I brought them a huge home cured ham and some of our home-grown honey; they gave us 1000 plus rhizomes of quite a few varieties, plenty of water to drink and the best part for the kids, root beer on tap.  We all got some pretty good sunburns today while the temps topped out at 85 degrees.  In Minnesota we often go from Winter straight to Summer, some times missing Spring. 

Fred was hoping to get off of work early but with the mad Spring planting rush of the area farmers he never did make it home until 10:00 p.m. and then headed up with Clayton to plow the rows that we are supposed to plant tomorrow.  He was showing us how and where to plant the hops  in the dark, illuminated only by the half-moon. 

So it looks like tomorrow will be another busy day on the farm.  There are plenty of other garden seeds and plants that need to be planted but this is high priority since they have to be planted quickly.

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THANKS FOR LIFE MOM!

Posted on May 7, 2011 by Callens Honey Farm

 

Happy Mothers Day Mom.  I want everyone to know how wonderful you are and what a great mom you are to me.  You are the best and have meant the world to me.  I can’t begin to thank you for all the advice, help, support and love you have given me over the years.  I still need you even now!!!   

Thanks for giving me life.  Hope you enjoy the photos below.   God bless you today and always.  Happy Mothers Day to all mothers.  

I wonder if someday one of the kids below will fess up as to who really did pick in the prize-winning Lemon Sponge cake, causing us all to have to miss a great carnival:)  I can honestly say it was not me. 

                                               WE ALL LOVE YOU NONNA!

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Bees Have Arrived!

Posted on May 5, 2011 by Callens Honey Farm

Thankfully, I checked the web site of our bee supplier and found out that the bees were not arriving on May 7 as originally expected, so we spent two days scrambling around making things ready.  Some of the scrambling included painting the feeders, moving, assembling and marking the hives, and thank goodness God blessed us with warm sunshine to work in.

We woke the cows extra early yesterday morning so that we could take off at 5:30 a.m. for the 3  1/2 hour drive North of Stillwater, MN to pick up 17 bee packages, one of which was for a friend.  Only getting lost once, thank you GPS, we finally made it back home by 2:00 p.m.   The gentleman beekeeper warned us to make sure we opened the trunk every time we stopped the car.  Surprisingly, all the packages fit in the Park Avenue trunk.  Marisa had to share the back seat with a ton of cheese we picked up at the Bongards Cheese Factory for Jessi, Frenchy and I, on the way!  The kids who were left behind spent a good part of the day mixing the sugar-syrup to the tune of 22 some odd gallons. 

It took another hour to load the truck, haul the pails of sugar-syrup, load feeders, bee suits, tin snips, flashlight, and a few miscellaneous items.  The girls installed the first 4 hives and then decided to call it quits for evening chores and we never got started again until 7:00 p.m. Finally we finished everything at 9:30 p.m. and I was glad to have worn a very warm winter coat.  The bees were plenty slow and cold by then and very easy to install, much easier than the packages of bees installed earlier.

We had one minor mishap that occurred during the installation of the first package. The kids were marking the queen with hands full and accidentally she fell out and flew away!  Just like that, gone in an instant.  They, of course, decided to heck with marking the queens.  They will move to plan B on that particular hive and move some eggs in from another hive.  They felt bad but quickly continued their work cheerfully which is the way it should be.  All of the rest went smoothly and so we began another year of beekeeping.

Today we need to put out the pails of water for them and check things over, especially since it was so dark when we left.  May God bless us with healthy bees and an abundance of liquid, gold honey.

Well, this never got posted, you can tell we are very busy.  I will post more photos soon but spring is keeping us all very busy.  Tomorrow I’m going to Watertown, SD to pick up a queen bee to replace the one that got away:)  Plus I will be babysitting my grandchildren while my hard-working girls head to citywide garage sales with Luke and Jess.  They need a break after all the work.  Life is never boring and I praise God for that!  Now for a Thursday night cook out!

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Yard Work ~ Potato Planting Started

Posted on April 28, 2011 by Callens Honey Farm

 

Well, a rain filled Good Friday came and went and for the first time since I can remember, we did not put in our potato crop.  After we worked on the bee hives, there was plenty of time, but not nearly as much sunshine, to work on farm clean-up, flower-bed weeding, leaf raking and potato planting.  Planting and soil preparation went very quickly this year because Caleb used the little tiller to actually dig the rows.   Since Frenchy and Peter planted their potatoes with this method and it went so quickly, we decided to copy them.  We ran out of time and had to start chores, so only 70 pounds of Yukon Golds were planted. 

Looks like we won’t be planting the rest of the seeds until after this weekend, but we are blessed with gorgeous, warm and lovely sunshine this day which will most certainly dry up the mud!    This year we’re only going to plant around 120 pounds since we always have way more than we need.  Not to mention, we need the land  for the 1000 new hops rhizomes coming soon.   Having exceptionally fertile soil here, we receive a very good potato yield, much more than we will consume or can store properly in a basement that is too warm.  It will be interesting to see whether or not Fred insists on planting the usual amount of potatoes:)

As you may have observed in the above photos, the day started out sunny and lovely but then  ended up cloudy and cool.  Minnesota, land of extremes, a great place to live and raise a family.  I’m so glad God hand-picked this family raising, marriage vocation for Fred and I in the lovely setting of rich farm land.  It makes our life much easier in so many ways, even amongst so much hard work.

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Bee Hive Cleaning

Posted on April 26, 2011 by Callens Honey Farm

Today I spent an enjoyable hour or so observing my twins cleaning out and checking the bee hives as well as rotating the boxes.  The sun was warm and lovely with only a slight breeze.  We found that one hive had a lot less bees in it than the other and that particular hive was dirtier than the other.   What a thrill though for all of us to see the bees flying back and forth, from who knows where, full of a light yellow pollen.  They were working very hard and the sun seemed to invigorate them.

There was still plenty of honey left within the hives which was a pleasant surprise.  They found no signs of mites and disease.  We were unable to locate any of the queen bees which if located would have been marked with a special marking pen.  It looked as though one of the hives had more bees than were observed several weeks ago, again a pleasant find. 

The plan is to observe the hive with less bees within the next couple of days and if we don’t see any brood production, we will pick up a new queen on May, 7.  We could have spent more time searching for the queen but the breeze started to stir and the bees did not like that at all.

Now, since I didn’t get this finished yesterday, the weather has turned cold, wet and dreary and it is supposed to last into the weekend.  On the good side, this moisture will bring the spring flowers.

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Farrowing and Food Production

Posted on April 21, 2011 by Callens Honey Farm

Like clock work babies always seem to come into the world during some kind of weather event.  In this case, it was a cold and rainy night!  Smokey, a first time (gilt) sow, had 9 babies, not all visible here.  The hogs are sold as natural pork to Niman Ranch Pork Co. as well as to folks who like to buy their pork locally, knowing their growers.  One of the many rules in order to be able to sell to Niman Ranch is that they have to be able to farrow in deep straw bedding and not in crates like on a factory farm. (updated overnight, 13 new babies:)

We don’t have nearly as many hogs on our little farm as in the past, numbers come and go fluctuating with feed costs.  Presently, the feed is very expensive but we always have enough pigs on hand for our family and for local customers.  The kids enjoy mothering the animals and it is a wonderful blessing being able to eat what we grow.

We raise old-fashioned breeds and unlike the factory farms, our hogs do not marinate on a manure pit.  You can really taste and smell the difference in the meat.  One can also smell the difference in the air on our farm.  It’s not bad at all. 

Our family has an abundance of our own food from chickens, ducks, turkeys, geese, pork, beef, rabbits, lamb to fresh cows milk, eggs, lard and honey.  Then there are potatoes, strawberries, apricots, apples, grapes, blueberries, rhubarb, cherries, raspberries, plums, elderberries, choke cherries, mulberries and perennial herbs for seasoning.  We make our own butter and a couple of kinds of cheeses, yogurt, sour cream and ice cream.   Also produced on this farm are several large gardens of fresh produce and a bountiful harvest of asparagus. Then there are the beverages produced here, home-made wine, soda pop and most recently beer!  Our barley for the beer comes from a friend and neighbor who is a dairy farmer.  Talk about fresh grain!!   Fred even used our own honey in a batch of beer, very tasty.

One weak link in our production of food is growing our own wheat which we intend to do this year.  We’ve grown hulless oats in the past.  For now, I am more than satisfied with the wheat berries purchased from the Country Life Natural Co-op.  I can highly recommend Montana Wheat, Prairie Gold.  The family loves it and we bake our bread with it almost every single day.  Very good wheat , if you can locate some of the Prairie Gold, give it a try.  I have also tried the Bronze Chief from Wheat Montana but most of us did not like the flavor.  The last wheat shipped in cost $24.00 per 50# bag.  Growing our own would save us quite a bit.  We’ll see how it goes this year.

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