 |
| Yesterday was a snow day! It just snowed and snowed all day, making it a laid back and lazy day. No where to go and not much to do except getting out to tend the animals. Autumn always accompanies me to put the alpacas and goats away for the evening. |
 |
| They were fine with the storm, after all it's their weather! Everyone was beded down with a thick layer of straw as we enjoyed our snow day by raiding the refrigerator, kicking back on the couch and enjoying the day as the snow fell! |
 |
| This weekend I was grooming my Angora rabbits and as I was plucking some of the under coat from "Tawny", it was coming out at over 6 inches! She is one of my best wool producers! Even at over tow years old, producing a litter, she still grows out the most amazing and thick coat. This will spin up nicely into some gorgeous yarns! |
 |
| The unusually warm winter here in Connecticut has enabled me to procrastinate in feeding the honeybees. Winter is beginning to set in so today I got to it! I pulled out the candy boards and got to work... |
 |
| I scooped out just enough for 15 pounds of sugar to make three candy boards. |
 |
| Then added 48 ounces of water to the big pot and brought it to a boil. |
 |
| This year I tacked this flexible card board material to the board to allow the "candy" to cling to it. |
 |
| Once the sugar and water came to the sugar stage after much beating, I poured it into the boards and took them outside to quickly cool. |
 |
| My friend Kisha and I have talked a lot about how to better winterize the bees and reduced moisture in the hive. We saw a man selling a system and he used pine shavings to help collect the moisture. |
 |
| We are both going about our theories in different ways. Mine is keeping my feeders on top of the hive, filling the feeders with shavings... |
 |
| then inverting the candy board on top of that. My theory hopes the bees go up between the feeder, eat the "candy" and stay free of moisture. I allowed a couple of venting spaces and am hoping for the best. As I was installing this I discovered that my weaker hive had already died so fingers crossed for the two plus Kisha's hive that we hope to bring through winter! |
 |
| So, tops are on, secured with heavy rocks, vented and fingers crossed until Spring, rest well girls! |
 |
| I went out to feed the chickens this morning and we finally have a frozen ground. It has been unusually warm here in southern New England. Tonight we are finally getting single digit temperatures so it was time to bring the Bay trees in from the greenhouse. They have thrived and done well out there but we have had them for a long time and I don't want to risk loosing them. It is also time to harvest the rest of the hardy herbs like the rosemary and sage that are doing well but after tonight not so much! |
