Vintage Home and Farm

This has been one of our most challenging years when it comes to caring for our ducks, bees, and the garden on our little farm. First, Barney, the beloved community barn cat, passed away, and since then, the critters he used to keep in check have taken over the garden and eaten everything in sight. Those critters are voles, a destructive rodent, and we have watched as they've eaten all of our corn and green bean plants before they even had a chance to bear fruit. They also knocked over multiple fava bean plants, snipped the pea plants at their base so the whole plant died, and ate the tops off the onions. I had no idea rodents ate onion greens, but they sure did! They ate the potato plants (the green part that appears above ground), so there I was a week ago, digging up the potatoes growing in the ground to see if any were left. It was hard to find them without a plant above ground to mark the way. Blessedly, we do have many nice potatoes to enjoy. Currently, they're wreaking h

The strangest thing happened this spring. Both of our hives of honeybees, which had survived the extreme cold this past winter (it got down to 9 degrees F, the coldest it's ever been here), died when spring came. I think their numbers just grew too small to keep warm with our cold weather in the spring. After discovering that the first hive of bees had died, we went into the second hive, which seemed like it was still going. But, what I discovered in the second hive was a dead cluster of the original bees surrounding the lower frames and a new cluster of living bees in the top box of the hive. The cluster of living bees in the top of the hive look different from the original bees. They are slightly darker, larger, and more robust-looking. I think they moved in during warmer weather in the middle of spring. I believe they were actually robbing the other hive, too, as the first hive was empty of honey but had bees coming in and out when we discovered the dead colony inside. The reaso

At the end of May, we visited Japan. Since our visit was only for 6 days, we decided to stay within the Tokyo area. We had a wonderful time. Paul opted out of going, not really enjoying large crowds. We appreciated that he took care of the farm while we were away, and he did a great job keeping up with everything. Below are a few photos from our trip. There were huge crowds in Shibuya. We walked across Shibuya Crossing several times. It's one of the largest intersections in the world. When it's time for the crosswalks to open, all the lights turn red so that the entire intersection opens up to pedestrians. People can walk diagonally across the intersection if they want. We visited the Inokashira Park Zoo and Aquarium, along with several nearby parks, while waiting to go to the Studio Ghibli Museum. While wandering around near the zoo, we came across a sculpture museum with many enormous sculptures both inside and outside. In Harajuku, we went to a cat cafe. Every evening, we st

Last fall, we installed extra ventilation in our beehives and converted their honey supers into quilt boxes to place at the top, providing added insulation and moisture control inside the hive. As a result, for the first time since we became beekeepers, our honeybees were equipped to survive the harsh cold of winter. We are so excited to see them coming out of their hives with the warmer spring weather, foraging for nectar and pollen. As I stand looking at the hives, I can see bees flying back to the entrances, the pollen saddlebags on their legs full of bright orange pollen. The bees have especially enjoyed the grape hyacinth growing in our flower beds. The bees also love the purple deadnettle and white chickweed flowers. There are many flowering cherry and plum trees around us, and the maple trees are putting off nectar and pollen. These are just a few of the flowers blooming around us. It is truly a smorgasbord for the honeybees this time of year, and it only gets better as the weat

 During our walk today, we noticed the Osoberry trees (also known as Indian Plum) are budding, and those closer to the sea are actually in full bloom. Spring is not so far away. The daffodils have come up, although their flowers are not open yet. Crocuses are blooming, as is the heather. On the bluebells, the flower buds are forming down inside the plant and getting ready to rise up and bloom. Some of our irises have bloomed. The delicate crocus is the first flower to appear in the new year, braving frigid winter temperatures to bring us cheer. We planted heather for our honeybees so they would have something to forage in the winter and early spring. The plants are still quite small, though - it will be a few years more before the bees can gather much from them.   Our honeybees survived the 9-degree low we had in mid-January. I credit the extra ventilation we put into the hives. In the photo below, notice the round hole toward the top of the hive as well as the square opening near the

We had a new low temperature record here on our farm a couple nights ago, when we noticed it got down to 9 degrees F. Likely it went even lower, but we ended up going to bed. During the daytime highs, it's only gotten up to about 15 degrees the past two days.  While we didn't get a lot of snow during this first winter storm of the season (only about four inches), it has been a lot colder than we are used to. Of course, we left the water dripping in all our sinks to avoid any frozen pipes (we don't want a repeat of an earlier year when the  pipes burst under the house ). We've had the pellet stove and wood stove going continuously along with space heaters in several rooms. Even so, it's only about 55 degrees in most of the house, so we're bundled up in warm clothes. The chickens and ducks don't enjoy the cold. The ducks dislike the snow way more than the chickens. I ran a long extension cord from the garage and plugged in a hard plastic heating pad for the du