Tifftown: Farm Report and Recitals

Valerie and Amira had their spring recital on Sunday. Amira played "May Time" and Valerie played Minuet by Boccherini. Could I be a more proud mom? Here are some photos of the girls. I can't say I'm proud of the photos. These events are always in-doors with really poor light situations. So, here are my blurry cello playing girls:

Now for the farm report. Margaret (Beaufort) and Elizabeth (Woodville)are probably still alive. Long live the Queens! It's been a full week of observing the bees and only one sting to report. Ah, no. I didn't get stung while observing or working in the hives. Amira, the barefoot princess, stepped on a bee in the yard. It probably wasn't even one of "our" bees. It doesn't matter. If one steps on a bee, one will likely get a nice sting. Anyhow, I haven't wanted to disrupt the girls working back there. I have spent many a day whipping up some nice bee tea for them and making sure they have plenty of food and water. But today was a nice day and about time to lift up a frame and see how they are coming along drawing their comb. I tried to look into the comb to see if I could see eggs. But I had the feeling that I was being terribly disruptive. I was just excited to see the comb. And it looked like it was filling with a golden liquid. Maybe there are eggs in there if the queen is laying? My eye sight is the worst. And it was very sunny. And I was being pretty balsey not wearing a bee suit ... or veil .. or gloves. I didn't even smoke them much. Although I still smell like smoke. A little bit goes a long way. It is fun to puff the little smoker. Okay, so here is the scoop. Compare the activity outside Elizabeth's hive:

To Margaret's hive:

Margaret always has a lot of action going on. She appears to have a bawdy bunch. While Elizabeth is orderly and calm. Here's a frame from inside Elizabeth's hive:

They look busy. And they have lots of comb drawn. Here's inside Margaret's hive:

So, they are both drawing comb from the front of the hive toward the back. They are filling up all of the frames. And they are helping me out by following the guides I put in for them. That is to say that they are not drawing across the frames so I can't lift them out or anything. I'll check back in another week or so and make sure they are really drawing the comb all the way to the back. And I might have to get another box ready for topping them off. It will take them a month from getting in there to actually hatching new bees out. So, it will be some time before the colony really expands. In other farm news, we still have four turkeys. And they are odd birds. Let's just say that. They're getting big pretty fast. Here they are enjoying the sun. Well, enjoy is kind of a strong word. I'm not quite sure turkeys actually enjoy anything. They usually look a little surprised and suspicious. They do not seem as gleeful as chickens. Oh, and turkeys smell bad. I usually greet them with a, "Good morning you stinky turkey lurkeys!" And then they crane their little necks and look at me sideways like they've never seen me before.

Our orchard seems to be doing well. Even the peach/nectarine leaf curl seems to be less gnarly looking than it was a month ago. But, the good news is we are going to get a few plums this year!

Well, I don't want to jinx it. It's quite possible the local blue jays or magpies could get a few plums this year. But I make a mean scarecrow when I want to! Also, I'm counting on a couple of figs:

And, I did get some California wildflower seeds this winter (thank you, Alligator!) And I sprinkled them over our giant weed mountain. Good news! We have some flowers!!