Bees Arrive at Long Creek Herb Farm

It's not that I don't have enough stories and photos to post more often, it's that I can't find enough waking hours in the day to do so. Therefore you have to endure these long posts I have. But it's spring, life is moving along at a rapid pace. My birthday is tomorrow (I'll be 39....ok, 49, I'm lieing, of course). The last week's garage sale, that got rained on, continued one more day this week. Whew, glad we got that over with. Furniture, oriental carpets, collectibles, 4 camera tripods, dishes, all went. It's what I asked for, for my birthday. Now...to shop for furniture.

Barbara is enjoying her Earth Boxes. People kept asking me if I had an opinion about Earth Boxes and I had to admit each time, I had no idea what an EB was. I ordered 2 for my mother-in-law, Barbara, for Mother's Day and now I am learning about Earth Boxes from her project. Before these 2 were even filled with soil, Barbara was planning her list of seed she wanted to try and I barely had the soil in the boxes before she had everything planted. I was tickled that she was excited! Parked on the deck on deck benches, they are the perfect height to tend, and her plants are growing rapidly. There will be more news as the summer goes along of Barbara's project, for now, she has basil and a few ripening strawberries, green beans and tomatoes are coming along, some chives, too.

The cherries are ready to be picked and that's the project for this evening. Adam and Josh put a net over the tree which only slows the birds and squirrels a tiny bit. Like it or not, we'll share with the wildlife, but hopefully pick enough for a pie or two and lots for the freezer.

The big event of the day was the arrival of Matthew with bees. Josh and I have kicked around the idea of bees for years but it takes some commitment to do bees justice. Already having goats, chickens, a few guineas, a business, a garden that produces more than we can eat, taking on bees always got put aside. Matthew, whose family owns the Amish Country Store in Branson, (they sell my books and Nail Fungus Soak) farms out his bee hives in various areas, then collects and sells the honey. Because we are mostly organic and have plenty for bees to graze on, he brought bees to live here for the season. Molly, our Jack Russell, immediately sensed the boxes had something mysterious in them and not knowing better, got a couple of stings and fled the area, leaving the project to Matthew. Pollination of everything should be outstanding this year. We have lots of wild bees as well as bumble bees, but having some docile Italian bees on the property will benefit the garden greatly and be fun to see how Matthew handles them.

Adam and I have been working on getting the garden up and going all month. With 5 inches of rain last week (much of it on garage sale weekend) and another inch or moisture this week, it's been a challenge to get things planted, mulched and happily growing. This is a view from the deck, of a little corner of the garden. And here's an interesting new dianthus I'm enjoying this year. I forget the name, but it is a constant inspiration for little bouquets for the breakfast table.

And has the flavor and fragrance to make some really good sorbets for summer evenings! Happy gardening.