Vintage Home and Farm

Nine months ago, we offered to become foster parents for the Olympic Peninsula Humane Society. There weren't any foster opportunities then, but we stayed on their list in case they needed help. Then, in mid-July, we got the call. They had a momma cat and three kittens for us to foster. The momma was found in a barn when she was pregnant, and now that she had given birth, the kitties needed a foster family to take care of them. They would be with us for 8-10 weeks, and then the Humane Society takes it from there. It has been a great experience, of course, except I forgot how crazy kittens get when they are big enough to crawl out of their pen. They were only in their pen for about two weeks. Since then, it's been total wild chaos in The Corral, which is the room of the house that they are in. Luckily we have a big enough house that it's not too overwhelming. The kittens love to race like bandits around the room, climbing up the furniture, clawing, and chewing on everything. ...

Time is just flying by, and I realized I had not posted anything here in quite a while. So, I updated our bee journal and garden journal with all the latest. I thought I'd share what else we've been up to here in the blog as well. We volunteered at the Lavender Festival in our local beekeeper's association tent a few days ago. It was so lovely there at the George Washington Inn's lavender farm. My daughter and I both wore long dresses and straw hats. The day before the lavender festival, we went clam digging. It was our first time digging for clams up here in this area. We've dug razor clams many times on the Washington coast. These were a bit different. We each managed to get our limit, about 10 pounds each, of butter clams and horse clams. I made Manhattan Clam Chowder last night and froze the rest for enjoying later, either as clam fritters or New England Clam Chowder. Our clam digging location was Fort Flagler , which isn't too far from Port Towsend, Washi...

We placed several empty Warre-style hives around our property, and incredibly, we had the good fortune of capturing our honeybee swarm! (If you missed it, see the article about our swarm - we had no idea what was happening!) It was interesting to see which of the three empty hives they picked. They liked the smaller one (less space to defend perhaps) that was in the best shape (who wouldn't choose the house that needs the least fixing up, right?). Now that the swarm has moved into their new home, we've been thinking about what they might need. I contacted our local beekeeper's association for advice, and as I suspected, they suggested giving them food. But, how do you put food in a Warre-style hive? We honestly had no idea. The feeders that work in a Landsthroth hive don't fit a Warre hive. It began to feel like we were back at square one learning about how to care for bees! But fortunately, I found a video that showed using a glass canning jar, poking holes in the lid...

We heard a loud buzzing sound outside the front window where I sit at my computer working (I work remotely), so I went outside and saw thousands of honeybees zooming wildly in every direction in the garden near the hives. Ten thousand square feet of garden space covered in a cloud of honeybees! The air was filled with the insanely flying bees, it was like a bee storm! They absolutely NEVER act like this. We couldn't get close to it because they were out of control. Eventually, the bee storm died down, but the loud buzzing noise continued. Perplexed, I walked around, trying to figure out what was going on. The noise was overhead, and as I looked up, further and further up, to the very top of our deodor cedar tree (about 100 feet or more), I saw the swarming mass of bees had moved up there! They were in a loose swarm, flying in circles near the top. I managed to get the whole experience on video, from the moment we saw the craziness going on in the garden, to when the swarm formed at...

It can be challenging to figure out how to help a sick hen get better, especially if you don't have a veterinarian who can assist you. After 8 years of raising chickens and ducks, we struggle with it every time. In some cases, old age is the culprit, but we've also had the good fortune of finding a few things that seemed to work when there is an illness or injury. I like to document what we've attempted to make it easier to remember the next time around, and it's also good to share ideas to help others. So, here are 10 ideas we've tried that helped our sick or injured hens get better. Important note: Do not eat eggs laid by hens that you know are sick. While it may depend on the treatments given to the hen and the nature of their illness as to whether their eggs are safe, it is just generally not recommended to eat their eggs. The eggs will likely be of poor quality; the shell may be so thin that the egg is compromised with bacteria; and any medications the hen has ...