If you follow my Instagram you may know that I decided to start keeping chickens (more later) and bought some of the sweetest baby chicks... that got away. So I got some more baby chicks who are merrily cheeping away in their brooder as we speak. This felt like the first step, for me, towards creating my little farm life. With that endeavor well under way, I have moved on to the thoughts that have currently set up lodging in my mind. Beekeeping. With lots of research and some fantastic books, I am getting more and more excited for spring to get here so I can move my little furry, flying ones in. I have the perfect space all picked out for them and now all thats left to do is whittle away the winter and prepare for their homecoming. Spring seems so far off doesn't it? I will just have to lust away over these pictures until I get the chance to make my own.
Hooray! I'm so excited for you!!!
ReplyDeleteWe live on an acre in the woods and have dreamed of turning it into the "one acre farm". Our first thought was chickens, but I have lots of food allergies & can't eat eggs and my husband won't eat eggs. So they'd be meat chickens. We thought about this long & hard and decided we likely didn't have what it takes to act as mother hens to a flock and then kill them ourselves. So we shelved that idea for now.
I think bee keeping is a great idea! With so many pesticides having such a huge impact on the bee population, giving them a safe haven is great! And then you get honey out of the deal! I look forward to hearing about your bee adventures.
When is spring for you? I live in the mountains in the northwest and "spring" is really a less severe version of winter. True summer is about 2 months long. Not idea for growing tomatoes, but perfect for potatoes and carrots!
-Bee
@Bee-
ReplyDeleteI dont blame you for not being able to keep meat chickens. Although I dont eat meat, I too couldnt image raising up a little flock and then having to kill it. Alternately, I have a cousin who keeps well over 100 free range chickens (closer to 200 I think) and sells all her eggs to the local school district. They buy as many as they can get from her! So if you really wanted chickens (what kind of one acre farm doesnt have a little flock right?!) you could always consider keeping them for eggs but selling them instead of using them. I know my cousin makes a pretty penny off of it!
I live in California, so the seasons here are pretty much just varying degrees of spring all the time! We dont get far below 50 degrees fahrenheit (except in the dead of night) here or above 100. So for me its more just a a matter of waiting for spring so that plants are having plenty of nectar flow so that the bees can provide food for themselves! I read an awesome book called "keeping bees" by Ashley English and it tells you everything you need to know to get started as an amateur. I highly recommend it!