What I Did To Prep This Week: June 7th – June 13th 2020
Hello Pack. This summer weather has been glorious, and allowed us to get a lot of work done on the survival retreat. Getting in enough warm and sunny days in-between rainy ones has truly been a challenge this year… again.
Bobby spent a lot of the weekend doing survival-related training, which gave Brea and I time to get his birthday surprise here and all set up. As I mentioned last week, he was getting something he wanted for a long time but I could not share what it was until now:
Honey bees!
He is now officially a beekeeper. Brea, my mother, and I went together to get him a double hive, a beekeeping suit, beekeeping tools, and most importantly, varroa mite-resistant and gentle Italian honey bees.
It was nearly a four hour drive to northern Ohio to get the bees, so I am thrilled Brea and her boyfriend, Jarrod, volunteered to make that journey. We purchased an already established colony (or “nuc”) of honeybees.
Introducing a queen into a hive can be especially difficult for novices, one of the reasons I went with an established colony. After a lot of research, I opted to purchase from Hartville Honey Bee Farm – and am thrilled with the quality of both the bees and the service.
Because the nuc was overwintered and diligence was paid to their progress, the bees Bobby received already had brood and were making honey.
In fact, the bees made enough honeycomb on the top of the frames and the inside of the nuc transport box lid, I had enough wax right off the bat to make a few nice-sized tubs of salve!
In other preps this week, work continues on making our poultry bird flocks completely self-sustainable. Although I free range my chickens during daylight hours, I am still going to incorporate many of the ideas from the Edible Acres video below in and around the chicken run.
Our garden is coming along great, as is the apothecary patch – even though we had to water each a few times in-between rains. I am still struggling with the lavender and oregano, but most plants are alive.
All of the humidity is really doing a number on them. If any of you have any growing tips for either one, please feel free to share them in the comments section or shoot me an email.
This Week’s Questions
- How do you think the pandemic and the panicked government response to it in many states, as well as the recent rioting, will impact 2020 elections?
- What do you think of elected liberals in multiple cities pushing for “dismantling” police departments?
- If you could grow one plant in your garden that you have never attempted (or is not recommended for your region), what would it be and why?
- What did you do to prep this week?