We had a terrific amount of rain last night. Quite a bit, since we haven't had much rain for a month or two, we have usually had a few sprinkles, but nothing more than an inch at at time. But this time we got almost 2 inches of rain. Great for the garden, since I won't have to water for a few days!
My corn is sprouting in the bed that I prepared for them and sweet potatoes. Speaking of sweet potatoes, my sweet potato slips are sprouting quite fast, I have two shoots that are 4 inches long. I hope to have at least one bed planted before June. Next year I will start the sweet potato slips MUCH earlier. I hope to get some sweet potatoes in around april, and than maybe do a later planting near the end of May.
My watermelon and muskmelon are coming up that I planted in pots. My asparagus is doing great, I would say more than half of the roots we planted have sprouted, and more than half of what has come up is over 12inches tall! So, I think we should be able to cut a little bit next spring! Rhubarb, only one crown has come up so far, but it is almost 8" tall and doing great. 4-6 sprouts that are 1/2" in diameter. My horehound is HUGE! It is 3 ft tall and VERY wide! My silver dollar finally has silver dollar. Until it did I wasn't sure which was silver dollar, and which was horehound. My mints are well, garlic doing ok also. A few of the flowers I planted seem to be getting attacked, or maybe just transplant shock. Nothing too dangerous, just some of the shoots from the roots don't look to healthy. My casecade hop is about 14" high, two shoots. My other hop is not sprouting yet. I did some more research and found that I might not get any hops this year, but next year I should get a few hops, and the year after that and the following I should get TONS!
My niagara grape vine seems to be getting a disease I think. I have about 9 books that I bought on vineyard/wine/winery/running a vineyard and such, so I will have a look at a few books that I have and see if I can figure out what is going on. I have 2 raspberry canes that have a few flowers. I will probably let them flower, even though I probably should not. But I have so many red raspberries I wouldn't mind getting a handful this year. The other fruit that I bought from Stark Bros is doing quite well. I have a flowering quince, seems to be doing alright, but shrub type bush I got that has a few aphids and is not doing as well.
My potatoes are coming up in the potato plot I have. My zucchini are doing awesome! I have 1 that is 6 inches long, and I think I have one more that was pollinated a few days back. But yesterday I pollinated by hand another zucchini, and today I pollinated 2 zucchini. It is quite easy to tell a female flower from a male flower on squash plants once you learn. So, I hope to get a good crop of zucchini this year. Our family LOVES zucchini bread, and is probably what a lot of it will go into. You make it like banana bread and the kids love it! We will probably try it a few different ways as well also.
My peas that had aphids are recovering. And most are flowering. So I expect we should be picking peas in a week or two. A small harvest for what we planted, but I hope to get one this fall that is better. My beans are doing well. Actually most of them are flowering. I wasn't sure how big they would get before they flower, but they are between 12-24 inches and flowering. Some of the varieties are flowering smaller than others.
My parsnips are growing well I would say. Not quite as many germinated as I would have liked, but I think I should get a pretty good harvest this fall. Most are between 2-4 inches tall, with a few leaves past what they started with. My onions are doing pretty well. Most of the onions are between 4-8 inches tall. The shallots are at least as tall. And the leeks are between 1 1/2-4 inches tall.
I have learned a lesson. When you harvest lettuce, a whole bunch, be sure to pack it away in plastic bags and refrigerate! I opened up my cooler which I had had ice packs in and about 6 heads had started to turn. Because of lack of ventilation, too much moisture without enough air movement, and lack of cold. So, we live and we learn. At least it goes back into the compost!
My hope, is to get about 40 watermelons this year. I will have planted, or will plant soon, by the end of this month close to 30 watermelon vines. So, as long as they do well enough, I hope to get a decent crop.
The deer came for the first time and ate some of my garden early Saturday morning. Yeah, go figure, once I take the chicken wire off the strawberries, they come. They ate 3/4s of the leaves of my strawberry plants (like last year!!!!) and ate 1 or 2 tops of jerusalem artichokes. I think they tried the jerusalem aritichokes and didn't like them. They also ate the 3-4 berries that would have been ripe on Saturday.
Saturday morning we went strawberry picking, I picked a total of 5 gallons, and the rest of my family picked 6 gallons, a total of 11. I am known as the fastest strawberry picker in the family, I guess not just for any reason. I know what color a strawberry should look like from 24 inches away, and I look on both sides of the row, and I brush the folliage out of the way as I scan the rows.
We made quite a few gallons into freezer strawberry jam. (My favorite) Froze a few more gallons and with the gallons that were left demolished them all by sunday night! I hope we can go again this coming Wednesday. We might try and go with some friends. If we do go again it would be nice to get 13 gallons (that is the amount of baskets we have), but I don't know how many they will have by than. So, I would be pleased with whatever the amount is we get. I wouldn't mind making a gallon or two of strawberry wine.
I've been doing some research on lunar stuff. Gardening by the moon, beekeeping by the moon, and drinking wine by the moon. Some pretty interesting stuff. If you would like to read more on it I can post the link or email it.
Somehow our cat was able to get into my winery and went to the bathroom! At times I am QUITE fed up with the cat. He is able to get through a space about 12 inches by 8. I had previously blocked up with insulation. He got through and jumped 7 feet to the nearest object. Than he can't get out!!! I spanked him hard and put wood up in the spaces. At times I feel he just does it to spite me, I wouldn't be surprized if he does. I really wonder if I will have an indoor cat in my own house.
Anyway, had a great time with my cousin who just graduated from Le Tourneau University, with a major in biomedical enginearing. When he did the SAT I think he got perfect math! He had quite a few collages who wanted him! :)
English Vintner
Monday, 17 May 2010
Friday, 14 May 2010
More Corn
Well, after clearing our the lettuce yesterday I had a nice patch of ground that was bare. Well, not completely, I had 3 inches of leaves as mulch around the soil. Let me back up a little. Back in March I put in the romaine lettuce, transplants from the green house. After a week or two, maybe early April I spread oak leaves (the small ones) all around the lettuce as a mulch. I think since April I have watered 3 times (not counting when it rained). The amazing thing is that the lettuce did great, and was not bitter (often happens from not enough water. So, with the lettuce planted so close together and the use of mulch I did not have to pull a single weed, and the water it conserved was amazing! I HIGHLY recommend you mulch your crops.
Back to corn. So, using the hoe I dug up the soil, it was held together by the small roots from the lettuce, but was very easy to break up because the mulching had kept the soil moist. After I had it well tilled I got about 8 gallons of manure (yeah, I know, you don't really measure dry ingredients by gallon, but think of a 5 gallon bucket) and added it to the soil and mixed that in. I wasn't sure how much nitrogen was in the ground, even with the addition of manure. So I sprinkled some bone meal (for strong roots for the corn) and some blood meal as some ready available nitrogen. I mixed that in. I than planted the corn. I left room for two watermelons to grow (just a small 4 inch space to put the transplant). I than spaced the corn about 4-6 inches apart. The area that the lettuce was in was as wide as the deep bed (4ft aprox.) and 3 feet wide roughly. So, I got in about 64 kernels of corn, or so.
The method I am using here is what some people call, the three sisters. That is the name the indians (native americans) called it. You have your corn that you plant. Than, you plant your beans, and the beans grow up the corn. Than you plant the melon/squash/pumpkin on the ground. The corn grows up, the beans grow up the corn, and the squash grow along the ground and block out weeds. Also animals don't like to walk on spiky spikes that sqaush have, so they won't eat the corn or beans. You first harvest the beans and than the corn, and than at the end of the season you harvest the squash. So, I am not planting beans here, because I am planting soybeans here in the fall, and don't want to grow the same crop in the same space twice in less than 3-4 years. (I practice good crop rotation, unlike most gardeners, no offense).
I am very pleased with the corn I am growing. I hope to get a good harvest, and it will add a lot of bulk to the compost!
Alright, on to mulching. The main reason that I mulch is to conserve moisture, the second reason is to keep down weeds. The best material in my opinion (and most organic gardners) is organic material. So, leaves, grass clippings etc. Now, a lot of mulch covers are plastic. The only reason for this is to warm up the soil and keep down weeds. The reason for using organic material is that it adds to the garden soil.
Probably the best thing to mulch with is fresh grass clippings that are slightly dried. You don't want them wet, because they stick to eachother. But you don't want them to dry either, or they lose the nitrogen content. But, most people do not have a readily supply of grass clippings. The next best options are bagged leaves (I picked up about 25 bags from around the neighborhood last fall, great for compost and mulching) and hay and straw. Unfortunately only fresh grass clippings will add nitrogen to the soil, leaves, hay, straw and newspaper only add carbon.
So, use whatever you have on hand.
It is best to mulch after a heavy watering, since it doesn't allow as much water into the soil. So water the plants heavily before mulching. It is best to mulch the plants when they are around 4 inches tall. You don't want to smother them, but on the other hand you want to use the mulch before the plant is done growing.
Well, I guess that is all for now. For more information on mulching, and a great site about gardening, go here: http://supak.com/mort/insects.htm
English Vintner
Back to corn. So, using the hoe I dug up the soil, it was held together by the small roots from the lettuce, but was very easy to break up because the mulching had kept the soil moist. After I had it well tilled I got about 8 gallons of manure (yeah, I know, you don't really measure dry ingredients by gallon, but think of a 5 gallon bucket) and added it to the soil and mixed that in. I wasn't sure how much nitrogen was in the ground, even with the addition of manure. So I sprinkled some bone meal (for strong roots for the corn) and some blood meal as some ready available nitrogen. I mixed that in. I than planted the corn. I left room for two watermelons to grow (just a small 4 inch space to put the transplant). I than spaced the corn about 4-6 inches apart. The area that the lettuce was in was as wide as the deep bed (4ft aprox.) and 3 feet wide roughly. So, I got in about 64 kernels of corn, or so.
The method I am using here is what some people call, the three sisters. That is the name the indians (native americans) called it. You have your corn that you plant. Than, you plant your beans, and the beans grow up the corn. Than you plant the melon/squash/pumpkin on the ground. The corn grows up, the beans grow up the corn, and the squash grow along the ground and block out weeds. Also animals don't like to walk on spiky spikes that sqaush have, so they won't eat the corn or beans. You first harvest the beans and than the corn, and than at the end of the season you harvest the squash. So, I am not planting beans here, because I am planting soybeans here in the fall, and don't want to grow the same crop in the same space twice in less than 3-4 years. (I practice good crop rotation, unlike most gardeners, no offense).
I am very pleased with the corn I am growing. I hope to get a good harvest, and it will add a lot of bulk to the compost!
Alright, on to mulching. The main reason that I mulch is to conserve moisture, the second reason is to keep down weeds. The best material in my opinion (and most organic gardners) is organic material. So, leaves, grass clippings etc. Now, a lot of mulch covers are plastic. The only reason for this is to warm up the soil and keep down weeds. The reason for using organic material is that it adds to the garden soil.
Probably the best thing to mulch with is fresh grass clippings that are slightly dried. You don't want them wet, because they stick to eachother. But you don't want them to dry either, or they lose the nitrogen content. But, most people do not have a readily supply of grass clippings. The next best options are bagged leaves (I picked up about 25 bags from around the neighborhood last fall, great for compost and mulching) and hay and straw. Unfortunately only fresh grass clippings will add nitrogen to the soil, leaves, hay, straw and newspaper only add carbon.
So, use whatever you have on hand.
It is best to mulch after a heavy watering, since it doesn't allow as much water into the soil. So water the plants heavily before mulching. It is best to mulch the plants when they are around 4 inches tall. You don't want to smother them, but on the other hand you want to use the mulch before the plant is done growing.
Well, I guess that is all for now. For more information on mulching, and a great site about gardening, go here: http://supak.com/mort/insects.htm
English Vintner
Thursday, 13 May 2010
Corn
I was able to get the post that I tried to write last night. Here it is:
Corn
Life is busy, and I am a little discouraged about my headway in math. I am on the third unit, half way through, and I have 4-6 left to go before September when I start a co-op chemistry class. I have found some of it hard to understand and times, when the examples they give do not exactly match the problems I am doing. I am than left with questions about things. I am going through it on my own, partly because my mom is not much better at math than I am, and she is so busy I don't bother asking for help. But, if I take life one day at a time, it tends to look a little better...sometimes.
Anyway, gardening is always a good thing to to do. And the amount of stuff I research on the internet cannot compare to what the average public schooler would know. Besides, I am researching and doing the things I plan to be doing for my work, my life.
I decided today that I wanted sweet corn. I decided where I was going to put it before I made the decision to buy it. We went to Lowes to pick up a few things, along with corn. I got a variety that looked good. Didn't spend a lot of time figuring out which one I would really want, just picked one. I got two packets, they were inexpensive and I didn't know how much were in each. It turns out that there are about 250 in each! I also picked up some blood meal, and got the wild flowers that someone was going to pay for for my mom's birthday.
I got home and tilled up the area where I am planting the wild flowers. It was quite easy at this point, for I think 3 years ago we had a friend till it up for the first time basically ever. Than I think two years ago I tilled it with a mattock (yipes). And last year I may have done the same with pick axe. So, it had been turned over for the last 2-3 years. And this was the third time I had tilled it this year. I tilled it back in March, and than again in April to get it to a fine tilth. Today I tilled it to disparage the weeds and give the flowers a good head start. After tilling it I brought the tiller back down to the garden area, but I decided to do some tilling on the other side of the creek, so I could plant some lettuce that might survive the burning summer heat. So I tilled it up (careful not to let the tiller fall into the creek! What a disaster!) and I am hoping to plant another 30 heads or so in there.
I previously in the after noon had tilled up the area where I was planning to put sweet potatoes. I had gone over it quite a few times, the last time to keep the ground moving so the weeds are harder to grow. This time it was just to loosen the soil just a little so I could mound it. Jedidiah helped me make the bed where I wanted to put the corn. It was about 24-30 inches wide, and 20ft or so long. I planted the corn about 4 inches apart, we will see how they do. I did about 250 kernels of corn. And hope to do the other bed in a week or two. I want to space them out by a little bit. I will do sweet potatoes in the middle. Once the sweet potatoes are big they will act as a living mulch. I am expecting the corn to be ready sometime in August. I expect a big harvest! And lots of bulk compost! :)
I sprinkled some blood meal over the corn because I could not very easily spread horse manure. So, we will see how they do.
I am still picking up the silk worms from the brassicas. My shelling peas are flowering. So I should get a sizeable harvest of peas this spring. But I hope for a bigger one this fall.
I sprayed most of my plants, especially the ones that had aphids on them with a spray of garlic, onion, and a little dishsoap. No oil this time. Last time the oil burned the plants when the sun came out. I am hoping this should get rid of most of the aphids.
I planted some more acorn squash in a box also.
English Vintner
English Vintner
Corn
Life is busy, and I am a little discouraged about my headway in math. I am on the third unit, half way through, and I have 4-6 left to go before September when I start a co-op chemistry class. I have found some of it hard to understand and times, when the examples they give do not exactly match the problems I am doing. I am than left with questions about things. I am going through it on my own, partly because my mom is not much better at math than I am, and she is so busy I don't bother asking for help. But, if I take life one day at a time, it tends to look a little better...sometimes.
Anyway, gardening is always a good thing to to do. And the amount of stuff I research on the internet cannot compare to what the average public schooler would know. Besides, I am researching and doing the things I plan to be doing for my work, my life.
I decided today that I wanted sweet corn. I decided where I was going to put it before I made the decision to buy it. We went to Lowes to pick up a few things, along with corn. I got a variety that looked good. Didn't spend a lot of time figuring out which one I would really want, just picked one. I got two packets, they were inexpensive and I didn't know how much were in each. It turns out that there are about 250 in each! I also picked up some blood meal, and got the wild flowers that someone was going to pay for for my mom's birthday.
I got home and tilled up the area where I am planting the wild flowers. It was quite easy at this point, for I think 3 years ago we had a friend till it up for the first time basically ever. Than I think two years ago I tilled it with a mattock (yipes). And last year I may have done the same with pick axe. So, it had been turned over for the last 2-3 years. And this was the third time I had tilled it this year. I tilled it back in March, and than again in April to get it to a fine tilth. Today I tilled it to disparage the weeds and give the flowers a good head start. After tilling it I brought the tiller back down to the garden area, but I decided to do some tilling on the other side of the creek, so I could plant some lettuce that might survive the burning summer heat. So I tilled it up (careful not to let the tiller fall into the creek! What a disaster!) and I am hoping to plant another 30 heads or so in there.
I previously in the after noon had tilled up the area where I was planning to put sweet potatoes. I had gone over it quite a few times, the last time to keep the ground moving so the weeds are harder to grow. This time it was just to loosen the soil just a little so I could mound it. Jedidiah helped me make the bed where I wanted to put the corn. It was about 24-30 inches wide, and 20ft or so long. I planted the corn about 4 inches apart, we will see how they do. I did about 250 kernels of corn. And hope to do the other bed in a week or two. I want to space them out by a little bit. I will do sweet potatoes in the middle. Once the sweet potatoes are big they will act as a living mulch. I am expecting the corn to be ready sometime in August. I expect a big harvest! And lots of bulk compost! :)
I sprinkled some blood meal over the corn because I could not very easily spread horse manure. So, we will see how they do.
I am still picking up the silk worms from the brassicas. My shelling peas are flowering. So I should get a sizeable harvest of peas this spring. But I hope for a bigger one this fall.
I sprayed most of my plants, especially the ones that had aphids on them with a spray of garlic, onion, and a little dishsoap. No oil this time. Last time the oil burned the plants when the sun came out. I am hoping this should get rid of most of the aphids.
I planted some more acorn squash in a box also.
English Vintner
English Vintner
Rats
I had written out a long blog post, and my computer died. That was last night, today I plugged it in and had to restart. :( So, I lost it.
I had to harvest all my head romaine lettuce today. I have a sign out front and I am selling it. Maybe I'll get a few bucks.
Busy day today, better go.
English Vintner
I had to harvest all my head romaine lettuce today. I have a sign out front and I am selling it. Maybe I'll get a few bucks.
Busy day today, better go.
English Vintner
Saturday, 8 May 2010
Garden Time
Well well well. I have been busy. Though I think I have had more fun than school lately.
The garden is doing well, though the dreaded aphids are back again, and silk worms are eating my brassica. The silk worms seem to come in patterns. I am assuming the moth or butterfly lays the eggs and they are hatching every 1-2 weeks. I experienced this last year when I tried to grow cabbage. But the soil didn't have enough nitrogen (other than that the soil was awesome) and the silk worms came every week and it was all I could do to keep them off.
My chinese cabbage is doing quite well, I think we should be able to eat it soon. My peas are actually flowering, my cousin said they are probably doing this because the plant is under stress, so it seeds sooner than usual. So, I will probably get a small crop of peas. I am hoping to get a better crop this fall.
I actually found out something that surprized both me and my cousin. My black currant, that I bought just a few months ago, is flowering! This is the first year I have had it, so it looks like I will be getting a small crop of berries this year!!!! I am amazed!
My tomato plants seem to be doing well. My potato plot has not come up yet, though I am not very anxious, I planted most of them before many eyes came on them. Most of the other fruit is doing well, though I don't see any flowers. My niagara grape vine has reached the top of the fence, and will soon reach the ends of the fence. I hope that next year, or the year after that I get a few bunches of grapes!
The other grape vines I planted are doing well. Most have sprouted. My beans are doing quite well.
The bee keeping business seems to be coming along well. I am hoping to get together with my friend sometime this week so we can get everything organized and do some stuff together. We have not gotten bees yet, he talked to another person who was cheaper and he has not talked to me yet if he has answered him. Tomorrow we should be setting a time, and hopefully have a better idea of where we are getting the bees.
Well, its time for me to go have some sparkling juice and raspberry trifle!! Celebrating my sisters birthday tonight! I made one of the angel food cakes (from scratch!) for the trifle!
English Vintner
The garden is doing well, though the dreaded aphids are back again, and silk worms are eating my brassica. The silk worms seem to come in patterns. I am assuming the moth or butterfly lays the eggs and they are hatching every 1-2 weeks. I experienced this last year when I tried to grow cabbage. But the soil didn't have enough nitrogen (other than that the soil was awesome) and the silk worms came every week and it was all I could do to keep them off.
My chinese cabbage is doing quite well, I think we should be able to eat it soon. My peas are actually flowering, my cousin said they are probably doing this because the plant is under stress, so it seeds sooner than usual. So, I will probably get a small crop of peas. I am hoping to get a better crop this fall.
I actually found out something that surprized both me and my cousin. My black currant, that I bought just a few months ago, is flowering! This is the first year I have had it, so it looks like I will be getting a small crop of berries this year!!!! I am amazed!
My tomato plants seem to be doing well. My potato plot has not come up yet, though I am not very anxious, I planted most of them before many eyes came on them. Most of the other fruit is doing well, though I don't see any flowers. My niagara grape vine has reached the top of the fence, and will soon reach the ends of the fence. I hope that next year, or the year after that I get a few bunches of grapes!
The other grape vines I planted are doing well. Most have sprouted. My beans are doing quite well.
The bee keeping business seems to be coming along well. I am hoping to get together with my friend sometime this week so we can get everything organized and do some stuff together. We have not gotten bees yet, he talked to another person who was cheaper and he has not talked to me yet if he has answered him. Tomorrow we should be setting a time, and hopefully have a better idea of where we are getting the bees.
Well, its time for me to go have some sparkling juice and raspberry trifle!! Celebrating my sisters birthday tonight! I made one of the angel food cakes (from scratch!) for the trifle!
English Vintner
Tuesday, 4 May 2010
Raspberries
Raspberries. They are probably one of my favorite fruits (though currants and gooseberries may soon be my favorite). Last year I got 45 plants. And we did not plant them in the best place. We didn't dig the holes very well. As with most things, if you have mass than you tend to not pay as much attention to each individual one. Well, only about 6 survived last year (a lesson learned, and thankfully not TOO costly).
This year I ordered 3 black raspberry and 5 red raspberry. My cousin than brought another 5 or so black raspberries and 8 or so red raspberries. I made a bed for the red raspberries and than my cousin helped me make a bed for the black raspberries. I then recently received from a good friend of mine, 3 yellow raspberries, 4 black raspberries, and several more red raspberry plants. So, I have quite a few raspberry plants this year! Around 15 black raspberry plants, 18 red raspberry plants, and 3 yellow raspberries. So, I hope that next year I should get a small harvest, and the year after an even bigger one.
I was recently doing some research on raspberries. I had wondered about yellow raspberries and purple raspberries. Raspberries like other berries are related to blackberries. The four main cultivators of raspberries are red, black, purple, and yellow. I have not found much information on how they got yellow raspberries from red raspberries, but somehow they did. The yellow raspberries grow quite similar to red ones. Purple raspberries are a cross between red and black raspberries. Purple raspberries tend to grow more like black raspberries. Black raspberries canes tend to be more curved, arched, while red raspberries grow a little more straight.
The other difference found in raspberries is that you have everbearing and summer bearing raspberries. Summer bearing raspberries tend to produce fruit fairly early on in summer, bearing once. While ever bearing raspberries bear fruit a little later and than have a few weeks where the do not bloom, and than they have another harvest. Some everbearing raspberries will continue to produce fruit until a frost.
Raspberries are a great berry to grow!
For more information on them, and where I collected most of the information on them, go to this website. http://ohioline.osu.edu/hyg-fact/1000/1421.html
English Vintner
This year I ordered 3 black raspberry and 5 red raspberry. My cousin than brought another 5 or so black raspberries and 8 or so red raspberries. I made a bed for the red raspberries and than my cousin helped me make a bed for the black raspberries. I then recently received from a good friend of mine, 3 yellow raspberries, 4 black raspberries, and several more red raspberry plants. So, I have quite a few raspberry plants this year! Around 15 black raspberry plants, 18 red raspberry plants, and 3 yellow raspberries. So, I hope that next year I should get a small harvest, and the year after an even bigger one.
I was recently doing some research on raspberries. I had wondered about yellow raspberries and purple raspberries. Raspberries like other berries are related to blackberries. The four main cultivators of raspberries are red, black, purple, and yellow. I have not found much information on how they got yellow raspberries from red raspberries, but somehow they did. The yellow raspberries grow quite similar to red ones. Purple raspberries are a cross between red and black raspberries. Purple raspberries tend to grow more like black raspberries. Black raspberries canes tend to be more curved, arched, while red raspberries grow a little more straight.
The other difference found in raspberries is that you have everbearing and summer bearing raspberries. Summer bearing raspberries tend to produce fruit fairly early on in summer, bearing once. While ever bearing raspberries bear fruit a little later and than have a few weeks where the do not bloom, and than they have another harvest. Some everbearing raspberries will continue to produce fruit until a frost.
Raspberries are a great berry to grow!
For more information on them, and where I collected most of the information on them, go to this website. http://ohioline.osu.edu/hyg-fact/1000/1421.html
English Vintner
Saturday, 1 May 2010
Plants
I just read March Action by Will Sutherland. It is encouraging to hear what he is doing, I always try to savor each section that he writes. If you don't know the website (forgotten or other) than I can send you the link.
I have killed a lot of the aphids by spraying with garlic oil, dishsoap water. I just hope that the peas will regain strength to grow some more from the damage done by the aphids. I also hope that the oil in the water that is now coating the leaves is not causing any 'burning' on the plant. I know it said to not spray on sunny days, but I figure, either they get eaten by aphids or they might get burned? I found that the peas up here in the bed had aphids TOO!!! Why peas??? I also sprayed the strawberries. But with the strawberries I was able to concentrate the spray on the stems and lower down verses the leaves. I have heard that ahpids don't like garlic (next year I will interplant garlic with EVERYTHING! :) so I did that, I can still see the bodies of the dead aphids, but I can see more on the peas again. So, I will be spraying more this evening.
The grapevines came last night. I planted 4 of them on the fence already, hope to get the rest of them planted. It appears that I got an extra 2 Muscat grape vines. So, I will split them, give you an extra one and me an extra one. I am not altogether sure what grapevines you get, so I will go back and check. I will be putting your grapevines in pots and bring them to you when I see you.
This was taken from an email to a good friend and gardener of mine, incase it sounds a little bit more odd than some of the other posts.
No time to dilly dally. I still have more stuff to plant before the sun goes down! Bee hives are coming along well! Cheers!
English Vintner
p.s. Here is the link to Will Sutherlands website: http://www.self-sufficiency.net/index.htm
I have killed a lot of the aphids by spraying with garlic oil, dishsoap water. I just hope that the peas will regain strength to grow some more from the damage done by the aphids. I also hope that the oil in the water that is now coating the leaves is not causing any 'burning' on the plant. I know it said to not spray on sunny days, but I figure, either they get eaten by aphids or they might get burned? I found that the peas up here in the bed had aphids TOO!!! Why peas??? I also sprayed the strawberries. But with the strawberries I was able to concentrate the spray on the stems and lower down verses the leaves. I have heard that ahpids don't like garlic (next year I will interplant garlic with EVERYTHING! :) so I did that, I can still see the bodies of the dead aphids, but I can see more on the peas again. So, I will be spraying more this evening.
The grapevines came last night. I planted 4 of them on the fence already, hope to get the rest of them planted. It appears that I got an extra 2 Muscat grape vines. So, I will split them, give you an extra one and me an extra one. I am not altogether sure what grapevines you get, so I will go back and check. I will be putting your grapevines in pots and bring them to you when I see you.
This was taken from an email to a good friend and gardener of mine, incase it sounds a little bit more odd than some of the other posts.
No time to dilly dally. I still have more stuff to plant before the sun goes down! Bee hives are coming along well! Cheers!
English Vintner
p.s. Here is the link to Will Sutherlands website: http://www.self-sufficiency.net/index.htm
Wednesday, 28 April 2010
Busy
Well well well. I had a great time with my cousin here. We got a lot done. Cleared a lot of brush and got planted a lot of things. He and my grandparents left yesterday morning. For some reason I got it into my head I wanted to learn more about the Coral Castle down in Florida. I then had a choir awards ceremony at 3:15, that went well. I got home and had to eat supper fast and headed over to drama where we did a rehearsal with another one of the cast.
When my cousin was here we planted up on the other side of the fence I would guess over 30 pumpkin mounds, 15 squash mounds, 12 watermelon mounds, and maybe a few other things thrown in here and there. Along the fence we planted around 20 cucumbers and quite a few squash plants. My order for the grape vines should be arriving soon. I got an email saying something had shipped, but never once did it mention where the 3lb package was shipping from. My cousin brought with him some black raspberries from his property, some red raspberries from his property and some blueberries and apple and pear cuttings. My order which was sent to him had 1 each of black currant, red currant, white currant and champagne currant. Also 1 pixwell gooseberry and another kind of gooseberry. I also got asparagus and rhubarb. We planted the black rasberries and red raspberries. But most of the other fruit he brought I put in pots. I will transplant in the fall/winter when they are dormant.
The Coral Castle is an amazing piece of work. And though some people try to say that it was all about levers and pullys (how Ed built it) there is no doubt that he had something more to it than that. If it were just levers and pullys, than why did Ed ONLY do his work when no one was watching him. Why did he only move his blocks at night? No, I believe he understood something that we do not today. Why he wanted to keep it a secret, there may be many reasons. He was a bachelor, from Latvia, and at his max weight he was 125lbs. He was born in 1881 (I think) and in 1905 he came to the states (this is from what I have read, not all of it is nessasarilly true, so be careful in what you read here and else where). He worked as a lumber jack in California and as a coal miner up north. In 1912 he came to Florida. From one book I read (putting fiction and facts and making a story) he arrived at this couples house weighing 85lbs and a little over 5ft (at his full height he was 5.4 I think). After several months he started exploring the area around where he stayed. After 2 months he decided that the back yard of where he was staying was best. He was given the land. He cleared all brush and weeds from the place, leaving only the trees. He than cleared the shallow top soil until he hit the coral rock, or limestone. From the story after several weeks the husband of the couple came out to check on Ed. He came upon Ed just lifted a rock out of the ground. How he cut it he didn't know, how he got the chain up underneath the block to get it out no one knows. Ed liked people, whenever someone came by he would stop whatever he was doing and come by to greet them and answer any questions. You never got the feeling he didn't want you to come by, but he would stop whatever he was doing and come talk to you. He wouldn't work while people we're watching, and often when people watched from afar with telescopes and binoculars he could sense it and would stop work. (Scientist say their is a snydrome that masons had in ancient times that they could sense when someone was watching them work. The work they did was highly secret, and they didn't want people to find out how they did it. They think Ed might have had the same sense.) Finally Ed had his house. It was built entirely of stone, and no cement. His cuts were perfect and he never chipped or broke a stone. The edges were smooth, which is rare for coral rock. Ed did a lot of thinking and reading. He liked to watch nature. A rumor went around town that he had money, lots of it, and that he didn't trust banks. A gang of boys beat him up and it took a few days to fully recover. Almost immedietly he decided it was time move. He moved his whole house, piece by piece to a new place 10 miles from here. No one saw him load the trucks because he did them at night. One time the truck driver dropped the truck off and returned unexpectedly in 30 minutes. Ed had already had 4 stones on the truck. How he did this non one knows. Finally Ed had moved. He started building not only his house, but furniture, and wall around his property. No one ever saw Ed build but he gave tours of his coral castle while he was building it (just not while he was actually building, just in the process). In 1951 Ed died, after a month of being in the hospital. Before neighbors could get to his belongings and writings someone had already stolen most of his papers and some of his tools. In the last 15 years of his life he did a lot of experiments with electricty and such. We know that the smaller stones he could have lifted with pulleys and levers, but the big ones, he didn't have a pulley big enough to do it. Ed said he had discovered how the Egyptians built the pyramids. Some of the things Ed built out of rock are amazing. He has two gates, one weighs 9 tons, you can open it with a finger, it is pivoted just right. How Ed new the exact location of where to drill a hole (and drill a straight hole through something that big) we don't know. It is hard enough for scientist to do it with smooth surfaces and all. About 30 years later the gate pivot broke. It took 20 men and a 20ton crane to fix the pivot. Now it doesn't open with a finger, because they don't have it pivoted exactly. About 20 years after that it broke again. This time they had to cut the walls on either side to get the gate back in.
How can a man of a 4th grade education know all this? God given genus. He said he was a Mason, though he never went to any meetings in Florida. There are quite a few questions as to why he did some of the things he did. Some people think that Ed was able to flip the magnetic fields on the rocks so that the the rocks would instead of gravity pulling them down, because he flipped them it would force up. A magnet needs a + and - to work. But when you have a + and + they go against each other. Their are energy grids all over the earth. When Ed moved, he placed his house on exactly when on of the grids meet. Was their another reason he moved besides the attack? Besides mystery some conspiracy has gone on about him. Some say he left Latvia because the government didn't want him in the country. Something about what he was doing with his work, or working as a spy. All this is quite amazing. Ed died without writing down how he built his castle. However he did publish some stuff on electricty and magnetics and such. To learn more on Ed Leedskalnin do your own research on the internet. Youtube has alot of stuff on him. But remember one thing. Don't believe something just because you read it. A lot of stuff on him is speculation, but you will also see some interesting things about numbers he wrote on his house, how they conincide with other things, and why did he only move the rocks at night? Do your own research if you are interested. And if you are interested in that maybe you would be interested in sound levetation. The tibetins used it. They have monastaries hundreds of feet up on the cliff, with no possible way to get the rocks up. The amount of stuff that modern man doesn't know is amazing. If you think we are smarter than ancient man, think again. In Jesus time we have found batteries like the ones we have today (made a little differently). So, do your own research and learn more about the amazing inventions that God has given man! If you look at a lot of the amazing feets of humans, often the geniuses watched nature to learn how to invent them, most of the time we are just copying what God has already done.
The choir ceremony went well. It is sad to see so many seniors leaving this year. But what was most unexpected was to find that our choir director was leaving. Quite startling, but I think it will be good for her to have a break. I am planning to join choir this year again. If this year is not how I expected I may not do it my senior year. But God has his plans, we are to follow them.
Drama went quite well. We are doing puppets, so we rehearsed scenes that we're in with them. The play is definitely going to be fun. :)
Well, that was a LOT of writing. I am making a trip with a friend to see about buying beehives this evening. So, I'd better go.
God bless!
English Vintner
When my cousin was here we planted up on the other side of the fence I would guess over 30 pumpkin mounds, 15 squash mounds, 12 watermelon mounds, and maybe a few other things thrown in here and there. Along the fence we planted around 20 cucumbers and quite a few squash plants. My order for the grape vines should be arriving soon. I got an email saying something had shipped, but never once did it mention where the 3lb package was shipping from. My cousin brought with him some black raspberries from his property, some red raspberries from his property and some blueberries and apple and pear cuttings. My order which was sent to him had 1 each of black currant, red currant, white currant and champagne currant. Also 1 pixwell gooseberry and another kind of gooseberry. I also got asparagus and rhubarb. We planted the black rasberries and red raspberries. But most of the other fruit he brought I put in pots. I will transplant in the fall/winter when they are dormant.
The Coral Castle is an amazing piece of work. And though some people try to say that it was all about levers and pullys (how Ed built it) there is no doubt that he had something more to it than that. If it were just levers and pullys, than why did Ed ONLY do his work when no one was watching him. Why did he only move his blocks at night? No, I believe he understood something that we do not today. Why he wanted to keep it a secret, there may be many reasons. He was a bachelor, from Latvia, and at his max weight he was 125lbs. He was born in 1881 (I think) and in 1905 he came to the states (this is from what I have read, not all of it is nessasarilly true, so be careful in what you read here and else where). He worked as a lumber jack in California and as a coal miner up north. In 1912 he came to Florida. From one book I read (putting fiction and facts and making a story) he arrived at this couples house weighing 85lbs and a little over 5ft (at his full height he was 5.4 I think). After several months he started exploring the area around where he stayed. After 2 months he decided that the back yard of where he was staying was best. He was given the land. He cleared all brush and weeds from the place, leaving only the trees. He than cleared the shallow top soil until he hit the coral rock, or limestone. From the story after several weeks the husband of the couple came out to check on Ed. He came upon Ed just lifted a rock out of the ground. How he cut it he didn't know, how he got the chain up underneath the block to get it out no one knows. Ed liked people, whenever someone came by he would stop whatever he was doing and come by to greet them and answer any questions. You never got the feeling he didn't want you to come by, but he would stop whatever he was doing and come talk to you. He wouldn't work while people we're watching, and often when people watched from afar with telescopes and binoculars he could sense it and would stop work. (Scientist say their is a snydrome that masons had in ancient times that they could sense when someone was watching them work. The work they did was highly secret, and they didn't want people to find out how they did it. They think Ed might have had the same sense.) Finally Ed had his house. It was built entirely of stone, and no cement. His cuts were perfect and he never chipped or broke a stone. The edges were smooth, which is rare for coral rock. Ed did a lot of thinking and reading. He liked to watch nature. A rumor went around town that he had money, lots of it, and that he didn't trust banks. A gang of boys beat him up and it took a few days to fully recover. Almost immedietly he decided it was time move. He moved his whole house, piece by piece to a new place 10 miles from here. No one saw him load the trucks because he did them at night. One time the truck driver dropped the truck off and returned unexpectedly in 30 minutes. Ed had already had 4 stones on the truck. How he did this non one knows. Finally Ed had moved. He started building not only his house, but furniture, and wall around his property. No one ever saw Ed build but he gave tours of his coral castle while he was building it (just not while he was actually building, just in the process). In 1951 Ed died, after a month of being in the hospital. Before neighbors could get to his belongings and writings someone had already stolen most of his papers and some of his tools. In the last 15 years of his life he did a lot of experiments with electricty and such. We know that the smaller stones he could have lifted with pulleys and levers, but the big ones, he didn't have a pulley big enough to do it. Ed said he had discovered how the Egyptians built the pyramids. Some of the things Ed built out of rock are amazing. He has two gates, one weighs 9 tons, you can open it with a finger, it is pivoted just right. How Ed new the exact location of where to drill a hole (and drill a straight hole through something that big) we don't know. It is hard enough for scientist to do it with smooth surfaces and all. About 30 years later the gate pivot broke. It took 20 men and a 20ton crane to fix the pivot. Now it doesn't open with a finger, because they don't have it pivoted exactly. About 20 years after that it broke again. This time they had to cut the walls on either side to get the gate back in.
How can a man of a 4th grade education know all this? God given genus. He said he was a Mason, though he never went to any meetings in Florida. There are quite a few questions as to why he did some of the things he did. Some people think that Ed was able to flip the magnetic fields on the rocks so that the the rocks would instead of gravity pulling them down, because he flipped them it would force up. A magnet needs a + and - to work. But when you have a + and + they go against each other. Their are energy grids all over the earth. When Ed moved, he placed his house on exactly when on of the grids meet. Was their another reason he moved besides the attack? Besides mystery some conspiracy has gone on about him. Some say he left Latvia because the government didn't want him in the country. Something about what he was doing with his work, or working as a spy. All this is quite amazing. Ed died without writing down how he built his castle. However he did publish some stuff on electricty and magnetics and such. To learn more on Ed Leedskalnin do your own research on the internet. Youtube has alot of stuff on him. But remember one thing. Don't believe something just because you read it. A lot of stuff on him is speculation, but you will also see some interesting things about numbers he wrote on his house, how they conincide with other things, and why did he only move the rocks at night? Do your own research if you are interested. And if you are interested in that maybe you would be interested in sound levetation. The tibetins used it. They have monastaries hundreds of feet up on the cliff, with no possible way to get the rocks up. The amount of stuff that modern man doesn't know is amazing. If you think we are smarter than ancient man, think again. In Jesus time we have found batteries like the ones we have today (made a little differently). So, do your own research and learn more about the amazing inventions that God has given man! If you look at a lot of the amazing feets of humans, often the geniuses watched nature to learn how to invent them, most of the time we are just copying what God has already done.
The choir ceremony went well. It is sad to see so many seniors leaving this year. But what was most unexpected was to find that our choir director was leaving. Quite startling, but I think it will be good for her to have a break. I am planning to join choir this year again. If this year is not how I expected I may not do it my senior year. But God has his plans, we are to follow them.
Drama went quite well. We are doing puppets, so we rehearsed scenes that we're in with them. The play is definitely going to be fun. :)
Well, that was a LOT of writing. I am making a trip with a friend to see about buying beehives this evening. So, I'd better go.
God bless!
English Vintner
Tuesday, 20 April 2010
Power
I did a much better job at stick shift today. I've done it off and on, and the problem is, each time is so far a part I forget exactaly how I did it last. But I finally have it down pretty well. I started out by stalling out on Union street with cars coming. They very graciously went around while I started the car (It takes some practice since it tends not to hold, as soon as you let the key fall into place it will stop running). And on the way back from choir I stalled through one green light (didn't make it through, but didn't get out in the road and stall so that was good), every one behind me was honking. :) And I finally realized I was trying to start up in 2nd. So the next green light I go it. Though the guy right be hind me tailgated me, wanting to go 45mph in a 25 mile zone. And finally passed me (I was happy to have him past me) and turned south on 485. I got through both lights and did well. I figured out that the trick is to stay calm and do it easy. Trying to ram the gas and jump off the clutch just won't work. But, God has been good and I think I have it down.
I am looking forward to tomorrow. Not only because fresh coffee and biscotti. (I only drink coffee 3-4 times a week, partly cause I don't want to get addicted, partly cause I have to roast it and don't have it readily at all times) :). My cousin Jether is coming tomorrow bringing all the fruit and stuff to plant! Also, my friend, Powel Andrews who wants to start up the beekeeping business is coming over! We will more than likely be figuring out if we need to order bees from the place in Texas, or getting them from someone in Albermarle over Craig's list (don't you love craigs list?). We will also be ordering bee equipment. We are looking at spending about $1000 for start up (though about 1/3 of that is for his hive alone. Basically he supplies the initial money to get it started and I am supplieng the labor. And when we start selling honey we will put it back into the hives so that eventually we will have paid off it and are getting a little income from it. If we go for the bees from craig's list we might get enough for four hives. I don't want to do more than four this year. But it will be nice to have more than one to compare the other hives too. Plus it means more honey overall that we can get. This year we might only get a gallon two. But next year we should get a lot more. I am looking into other things as well such as, propolis and pollen traps. I have not decided what we should do with the wax from when we harvest the honey. It saves quite a bit of money to ship it to a place and have them make it into foundation and ship it back than buying foundation. I have looked into getting a mold for foundation, but it was $300+ just for a small plastic mold!
I have been looking and doing research on how to use my creek water in a way to pump water from the creek for my garden. Right now I am doing it manually with 5 gal. buckets. And when it rains (like it is doing now) it gives me a break. But not only do I want to pump up the water, but I want to build a fairly good size dam. Just enough to have a foot or two deep of water in it. But enough so that I still have some during the summer months when this part of the creek dries up. I made a dam with the help of my younger siblings and dad. Mostly mud and sand, with some 100lb rocks thrown in. I have a pvc 3" pipe that is the drain to keep the dam from over flowing and ruining the dam. But I would like something bigger than that eventually.
I have been doing research and am very interested in solar, wind, and water power. Water power is the most reliable source of power from those three. Sun being next. Wind is good if you live in a windy place, but still it is not as consistant as water. And, since I have water a plenty (most of the time) I thought that would be the most useful. Plus, solar energy usually is complex in the way you harvest it to make electricity or heat water. So, I have been looking for something that does not require electricity. The best thing would be to have water pumping water. And you don't see a whole lot of stuff on that. I have looked into a manual pump, and I am open to it (looks easier than hauling water), but the best thing I am looking for is water pumping water.
I just recently came upon something that looks like it might be promising. What I orginally had in mind was a water wheel But a water wheel turns something, and doesn't really pump, plus they have to be quite big. So, next I am/was looking at water turbines. I saw one where a guy got his bodies together and they built one from scaps they had around. They hooked it up to his trailer and provides all the electricity that he needs (3 light bulbs and a radio). :) But still, it was from a creek a little bigger than mine!
I will probably not post much for the next week as my cousin will be here. We will probably either working for my dad delivering bread, or working down in the garden planting and organizing and such! :) So, I guess I leave you with this.
Bread is like a good book. While some breads look like they are good the inside is just white fluff, like some books. But the good ones are the ones that have a dusty cover, the ones baked in a brick oven. They might not appear at first to be good, but once you get into them, you wont put it down. :)
So, cheers to you all! God bless you!
English Vintner
I am looking forward to tomorrow. Not only because fresh coffee and biscotti. (I only drink coffee 3-4 times a week, partly cause I don't want to get addicted, partly cause I have to roast it and don't have it readily at all times) :). My cousin Jether is coming tomorrow bringing all the fruit and stuff to plant! Also, my friend, Powel Andrews who wants to start up the beekeeping business is coming over! We will more than likely be figuring out if we need to order bees from the place in Texas, or getting them from someone in Albermarle over Craig's list (don't you love craigs list?). We will also be ordering bee equipment. We are looking at spending about $1000 for start up (though about 1/3 of that is for his hive alone. Basically he supplies the initial money to get it started and I am supplieng the labor. And when we start selling honey we will put it back into the hives so that eventually we will have paid off it and are getting a little income from it. If we go for the bees from craig's list we might get enough for four hives. I don't want to do more than four this year. But it will be nice to have more than one to compare the other hives too. Plus it means more honey overall that we can get. This year we might only get a gallon two. But next year we should get a lot more. I am looking into other things as well such as, propolis and pollen traps. I have not decided what we should do with the wax from when we harvest the honey. It saves quite a bit of money to ship it to a place and have them make it into foundation and ship it back than buying foundation. I have looked into getting a mold for foundation, but it was $300+ just for a small plastic mold!
I have been looking and doing research on how to use my creek water in a way to pump water from the creek for my garden. Right now I am doing it manually with 5 gal. buckets. And when it rains (like it is doing now) it gives me a break. But not only do I want to pump up the water, but I want to build a fairly good size dam. Just enough to have a foot or two deep of water in it. But enough so that I still have some during the summer months when this part of the creek dries up. I made a dam with the help of my younger siblings and dad. Mostly mud and sand, with some 100lb rocks thrown in. I have a pvc 3" pipe that is the drain to keep the dam from over flowing and ruining the dam. But I would like something bigger than that eventually.
I have been doing research and am very interested in solar, wind, and water power. Water power is the most reliable source of power from those three. Sun being next. Wind is good if you live in a windy place, but still it is not as consistant as water. And, since I have water a plenty (most of the time) I thought that would be the most useful. Plus, solar energy usually is complex in the way you harvest it to make electricity or heat water. So, I have been looking for something that does not require electricity. The best thing would be to have water pumping water. And you don't see a whole lot of stuff on that. I have looked into a manual pump, and I am open to it (looks easier than hauling water), but the best thing I am looking for is water pumping water.
I just recently came upon something that looks like it might be promising. What I orginally had in mind was a water wheel But a water wheel turns something, and doesn't really pump, plus they have to be quite big. So, next I am/was looking at water turbines. I saw one where a guy got his bodies together and they built one from scaps they had around. They hooked it up to his trailer and provides all the electricity that he needs (3 light bulbs and a radio). :) But still, it was from a creek a little bigger than mine!
I will probably not post much for the next week as my cousin will be here. We will probably either working for my dad delivering bread, or working down in the garden planting and organizing and such! :) So, I guess I leave you with this.
Bread is like a good book. While some breads look like they are good the inside is just white fluff, like some books. But the good ones are the ones that have a dusty cover, the ones baked in a brick oven. They might not appear at first to be good, but once you get into them, you wont put it down. :)
So, cheers to you all! God bless you!
English Vintner
Sunday, 18 April 2010
Wow
I hit a deer on the way home from church. It is amazing how fast it takes for something like that to happen. Before you can even think about the situation it is over. It took about 3 seconds from the time I saw it, hit it, and stopped.
Anyway, to lighter topics. I am planning on making a light beer for the summer months when I am working hard in the heat. :) Looking at an American Cream Ale or an Irish Light Ale. Not sure what kind of yeast I want to use, but want to do that in the next month.
Bees. For lunch we had a friend over from church. I showed him my garden and we talked about gardening and grapes and fruit. I mentioned that I was planning on doing bees this year. And he asked if I wanted to do one for him. He would buy the hive and bees and I would keep them, he would get the honey. I thought that sounded great. He also suggested that we get a third hive and sell the honey from that one and turn the money back into the bees. So, I will be doing some researching bringing up numbers and stuff and doing some email and will call him up probably tomorrow and talk about it. The initial investment for doing three hives, one for each of us and split the third would be around $300-$400 each. But, I have already spent the money for one hive, my hive, all I need are the bees. So for me it would only cost me around $200 more or so. For him it would cost him a bit more since he would be buying the hive instead of making it. I am willing to do it, but I am praying about it and am looking at numbers. I actually might be able to make more hive parts than I thought I could since the bees will ship in mid May. But we need to order soon, which means an up front price for the bees of about $350 total. $160 each and split the third.
Anyway, its rather complex right now, but is in good hands. I have a busy week ahead of me, and my cousin comes on Wednesday! The joys of homeschooling is the liberty to pursue your interests while doing school. :)
English Vintner
Anyway, to lighter topics. I am planning on making a light beer for the summer months when I am working hard in the heat. :) Looking at an American Cream Ale or an Irish Light Ale. Not sure what kind of yeast I want to use, but want to do that in the next month.
Bees. For lunch we had a friend over from church. I showed him my garden and we talked about gardening and grapes and fruit. I mentioned that I was planning on doing bees this year. And he asked if I wanted to do one for him. He would buy the hive and bees and I would keep them, he would get the honey. I thought that sounded great. He also suggested that we get a third hive and sell the honey from that one and turn the money back into the bees. So, I will be doing some researching bringing up numbers and stuff and doing some email and will call him up probably tomorrow and talk about it. The initial investment for doing three hives, one for each of us and split the third would be around $300-$400 each. But, I have already spent the money for one hive, my hive, all I need are the bees. So for me it would only cost me around $200 more or so. For him it would cost him a bit more since he would be buying the hive instead of making it. I am willing to do it, but I am praying about it and am looking at numbers. I actually might be able to make more hive parts than I thought I could since the bees will ship in mid May. But we need to order soon, which means an up front price for the bees of about $350 total. $160 each and split the third.
Anyway, its rather complex right now, but is in good hands. I have a busy week ahead of me, and my cousin comes on Wednesday! The joys of homeschooling is the liberty to pursue your interests while doing school. :)
English Vintner
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