Yesterday the warmth brought a heavy mist and I worked within the cottony echoey warmth of a wet cloud all day.
The pigs loved the misty warm weather – they were outside in their field almost all day.
The view from the clothes line – everything is gone.
This is the view to the North.
Even the tiny feet of the chickens have turned their field to mud. But that’s OK – in the spring three of these little fields will be locked up and resown in my special pasture cocktail for late summer feed.
I am introducing even more edible flowers this year in the hope of attracting more wild bees. Plus – did I tell you I am also going to make mason bee homes. And secrete them about the farm. And I may even buy in some cocoons once I have finished my reading. (My neighbour gave me a good book in the summer). If I cannot have my own honey bees I intend to encourage the solitary native bees for pollination. There are a number of native bees that are great pollinators and because they are natives they are even better pollinators than the honey focused honey bee. Do you know of any good little mason bee houses?
There is even a native bee that just pollinates squash plants.
My research continues.
Did I tell you I have called this cat Moon. He is very friendly now.
Soon I will take Moon and That Cat to the vet for their castrations or we will have nothing but cat fights all spring.
There is thunder and lightening and raining ice pellets hard on the roof this morning. The windows are still dark so it is hard to know exactly what is going on but the clouds must be still low for it to be so dark still. I don’t know when the weather service changed the name of freezing rain to ice pellets. I think the description is interchangeable. But even without the names it hurts when the ice is raining on your face and the ice will be building back up. The barn doors will stay closed again today. I turn all the lights on inside the barn on days like this so we are not working in the dark but we all still hate to be locked in. But a good day for cleaning animal bedrooms.
The weather has a huge influence on farming. This is a little business with no roof and a lot more of this unusual winter ahead of us.
I hope you have a good day.
Love celi
The Kitchen's Garden 
77 responses to “In-side the cloud”
It’s windy, rainy and warm here in Maine today. No ice pellets, thankfully! Love the photo of Tima and the chickens. Looks like happy havoc.
Happy Havoc! Yes! c
I have a couple of these bee houses, http://www.gardeners.com/buy/mason-bee-house and have found some success with them. I can’t remember why you do not have honey bees? I know it can be difficult to keep honey bees because of the colony collapse disorder, especially if the farmers around you use herbicides or pesticides.
We are getting the warm weather today, hope to get some outdoor tasks tackled before the cold returns!
I could not get a hive to establish well enough to survive the winters, after four years I quit. The biggest problem for bees in these areas is lack of flowers – there are no wild flowers – everything is mown nice and tidy so few flower gardens. Then the planes will come and spray us all! So yes – it is an uphill battle.. c
Hey i have a solitary bee hotel and it is fascinating to watch these ladies come and go. Moon has huge paws, must be some Maine Coone in his recent past. I will give you link to people that I bought my bee hotel from, it is South African but has some interesting stuff and a FB link too. Laura
http://www.beehotel.co.za/index.html
Thank you! Yes. Tthere are so many different varieties of native bee too. I will check your link, thank you
Here is another interesting site https://www.niftyhomestead.com/blog/insect-hotel/
Laura
wow those are fantastic!
Ice pellets sound horrid! We are meant to be getting some snow this evening 2 -3 cm! Heathrow has already cancelled some flights in anticipation. If we get some snow all travel will come to a standstill, as is the way here. It’s a good job you are not coming here now. 😀
Merciful heaven – if i can get out of chicago and then heathrow is closed – I will just SPIT! My holiday over there is so short I have no time to spare.. ah well – we will see.. it is winter after all.. c
[J+D] Wonderful moody photos! And the cat and pig photo is so charming – and it certainly lives up to your pledge to take photos that tell (or imply) a story. We can virtually feel the change in weather, and the almost warm-damp and earth smell, the sound of mud squidging under feet and hooves! Alas our endeavours with honey bees failed due to the fact there are no others on this island or others for nearly 100 miles. It would need a concerted effort by many to establish viable honeybee population, with successful breeding (at the ‘drone cloud’) between colonies. However we umpteen species of other bees, including now rare types of bumble bee. Mason bees have a hard time of it here – the Lewisian Gneiss bedrock is too hard, and the masons use compacted boulder clay instead! Tioraidh an drasd’ – J+D
I wonder if my swamp soil will be clay’y enough for mason bees – though I really want to go with the bees that are native to my area – my research continues
Bees!…I wonder what will be next? You really are a person who tries everything…..Its heavy lingering cold snow here in Bulgaria which has halted my Nordic walking…and although its ok to walk in snow at 77 years I am afraid of slipping..so I have bought a treadmill for such occasions
Sent: Thursday, January 12, 2017 at 3:09 PM
You are determined to stay fit with a treadmill – does it face the television? I think I would do it if i were listening to a story or watching a movie or something.. c
Gosh, having bees is certainly not as easy as it was years ago! Long ago one could almost be a ‘hands off’ beekeeper, and just the provide shelter of a good hive to live in, and maybe some additional food during inclement months. But nowadays, it is difficult (for us, and many of our fellow beekeepers in the area) to keep healthy hives going. I have lost hives to wax moths one year, and to hive beetles another. Friends have also lost hives to the varroa mites. Last year we replaced the two hives that we lost. We are so hoping that they both survive the winter and become strong hives this year. But we must be vigilant, as the hive health seems like it can fail so quickly!
Yes, and they get hungry in out grim winters – better to do it where you are – away from the sprays and a bit warmer in the winter.. I don’t know. c
Ton looks as if he was dashing into frame so as to not miss being in shot!
Interesting how he always manages to get in there somewhere isn’t it!? c
Chickens out the kazoo! Look at all those little fannie’s up in the air while the peck at the roof! Does Moon dance? (aka Van Morrison’s Moon Dance) It is going to be in the 80’s with high humidity in N. Texas today. Sun too. Love it but hate it as I fear the plants will start budding and we still have February to go through. Grandfather said to never plant anything until the day after his birthday (3/20 1 day of spring) as we will always have a hard frost between the 15th and 20th.
The budding is always my fear too – especially in my wild fruit Fellowship orchard down the back – I must get my orders ready for spring – we are sowing all your wild flowers too this spring – opening up a new area right by the road so everyone can enjoy native trees and flowers. Hope it works – keeping the weeds down will be the challenge.. c
I think that’s a great idea to attract wild bees. Oddly, I believe there is a huge boom in keeping bees in London. I remember a bee keeper beating similar from rural Dorset on flavour!
I have a reader who has her own apiary West of London – she and some other bee keepers – Which direction is Heathrow – not to the West is it? c
Yes it is.
AHA! Hmm thank you
Yes, Heathrow is west.
I found a website and map of people with hives and was surprised by how many there are near me:
http://www.urbanbees.co.uk/
love all the chicken butts. as we said in Jr. High … “Guess what?” … “Chicken Butt!”
Mercy, you were a bright intelligent bunch! c
anything for a laugh
I have very poor luck with masons bees. I inherited a wooden house from my late aunt and buy the cocoons each spring (here they cost about $30 for 7 bees) then dutifully put it under the house on the little shelf for them to hatch and climb into their house and I very rarely get even one. One time a spider ate them just as they were hatching! It’s so wonderful to promote bees though. My neighbour planted a bed of bee friendly plants (bachelor’s buttons, cosmos and calendulas) all along her street verge, and the whole ‘hood noticed a boost in bees.
I sowed seeds of California poppies this past summer and saw many more honey bees than I have seen in recent years.
The bees love poppies Cheryl – and thank you for the reminder – I must get some seed and stratify it for spring. c
Veronica, can you make a quick drawing of your Aunts bee house? I would love to see it. c
for sure
Unfortunately, you must deal with the surrounding fields that are sprayed with chemicals each year. As a result, keeping bees and butterflies alive would certainly be an uphill climb. At the same time, I understand the need and desire to keep trying. The best garden I ever had was the year I planted Borage at the end of my garden. It flourished, right along with the bees. It also has some wonderful medicinal benefits.
I have Borage too – I LOVE it – great in salads and once we put the flowers in ice cubes. yes. GM has not reduced the spraying at all, and when the planes come over I just groan. c
Your breakdown luck has filtered down to us. Today, in addition to the broken ride-on mower, we have a broken whippersnipper and a broken push mower, and the living room air conditioner is only blowing cold air out of one third of itself. And it was 32°C/90°F today. Tempers got a little short… I love the idea of wild bee houses all around the Farmy. Pictures, please, when you’ve settled on what they are to be?
oops – sorry (tiny voice) c
Nah, it’s just the universe saying hello!
Our neighbor used to make mason bee houses- here’s a link to instructions- actually quite easy. Cheers!
http://www.nwf.org/Garden-For-Wildlife/Young/Build-a-Bee-House.aspx
Quite easy if you are a builder. I am a terrible builder. I will look at these – thank you
Maybe Kim would make them and send them to you! Or…I have a son that builds. I could ask him.
Yes – lets find a plan and then see if he can build them for me – I could pay him in chickens!