The Country Homemaker Hop- Week 11

“The homemaker has the ultimate career. All other careers exist for one purpose only - and that is to support the ultimate career. ”
― C.S. Lewis

Are YOU a Country Homemaker?  

Do you make nutritious meals from scratch, labor in a vegetable garden, or raise livestock? Do you do these things because of the love you share with your family and a desire to provide the best for your loved ones? If you answered yes to any of these questions, than like me, you must be a country homemaker and WE WANT YOU!

Please join us Wednesdays to share your pictures, recipes, household wisdom, homemaking tips, crafts, barnyard activities, gardening advice and experience with the country homemaking community.  Life is what we make it. Let's dig in and discover just what's been going on- on the Country Homestead this week? 

I have been researching and reading up on beekeeping since last fall and I am getting ready to take the plunge and get my first hive. I am really excited. I have been reading about many herbs, flowers and veggie plants based on honeybee preferences as I plan my garden strategy. I have my site for the hive picked out, and I am planning my strategy to maximize honeybee happiness by selectively placing lots of plants beloved by honeybees throughout the yard. I hope to lure them from one garden area into the next, if I can time the flowers and pollen times accurately.

I am going to Los Angeles next week to meet with a group of beekeepers that try to manage their hives naturally. They call themselves Backwards Beekeepers because they are sort of reverse engineering the management of their bees. They try to use many natural strategies to influence/manage their bees and they strive for chemical free hives. I hope to bring back some good information and new ideas.  

I have been a busy bee myself. I got a few hundred seeds started utilizing the Victory Garden seed starting method of starting many seeds inside one container with a soil-free mix of vermiculite, peat moss, and a seed starting mix like Dr. Earth's Root Zone. This is an experiment for me. I usually just plant seeds into individual containers, but from what I have read, this method maximizes time spent indoors/greenhouse. I need the seeds to remain healthy for as long as can be, indoors, to guard against our notorious late snows and freezes. Last year's arctic blast dropped a half inch of ice on May 21st. It wiped out my tomatoes. If this method works it may help. I'll share my results.

Last night I started the Master Gardener's course. I was thinking this could be a quick refresher since my memory fades after class... so far, so good. It looks like there's a heavy emphasis on ornamental horticulture, my training is food and forage crops so I am bound to learn something. Maybe I will stop killing those houseplants???

 Have a productive and safe week everyone.  

Update- I am sorry for any delays you may experience trying to link up this week.  Linkytools is having problems today.  I hope they get the issue resolved soon.