Rick and Ellen's Homestead

[rick91351]

Next thing to check off on the front of the house is boxing the tops of the pillars.  I had a lot more complicated idea and Ellen says 'Hey why don't you just_____.....' 

Well it just wont work that way.....     I tell her then I wonder....     Why wont it work that way?   



Lot easier that what I was going to do.  Looks good and clean......

[rick91351]

I have for a long time loved to 'hobby cook' but never liked to bake..... The kitchen in the new house has really changed that....Ellen did such a great job laying it out I think....  The peninsula base as Redoverfarm pointed out we needed it to roll out the biscuits...  He was not wrong - thanks John.... 

Got a new sourdough starter started and have had a lot of fun.........





Sourdough cinnamon rolls half with raisins - I love raisins

[OlJarhead]

When's dinner? 

[rick91351]

We brought up the bees from the valley this year.  I think we will have more time to tend them this year.  I and Ellen will keep a close eye out on them and when the honey flow is over I think we will move them back down to our friends place in the valley.  I am not crazy about over wintering them up here at all.   However there is one couple up here that does from what I understand or did.   



My old friend Mark



Little smoke calms the savage beasts!!



We put this bunch up on the hill where the did the best last time we had them up here.



This one needed a little more attention as it was in a lot different environment when Mark collected it. 



Mark and I went to the house and let the bees settle - after about an hour we ventured over to the orchard to see if the bees had found it. 



If we do not get a bad freeze we will have a lot - no make that an awful lot of thinning to do this year.  Removing the young fruit to about six inch apart on the larger trees.





Hey we got bees!!! There were Carniolans!!! - The breed what we have.  They were already working in the orchard.  YES MY FRIENDS there are bee breeds!!







This one is a lot more yellow on her if you notice.  It might have came from one of ours. The one that had to be worked over we noticed a lot of more Italian looking bees where in. Okay that is another pretty common bee breed. 



Okay time for a sort of bee side bar - if you are looking at going and getting a few bees I would look for Carniolans.

I am not a beekeeper of the strict sence.  I have never taken the classes.  I learned most of my stuff from Mark the guy in the photos.  He was a railroader like me.  He has owned a lot of hives (enough to send some down to California to the almond orchards)  and some times just a few like right now. However some stuff I have learned that helped me the most.  I have never heard from those people that take the classes it was the guys in the field to will teach and talk to you like my buddy Mark.  I am not saying DO NOT TAKE THE CLASSES.  Just saying there is a lot more to just the basics of bee keeping 101. 

As far as the Carniolan bees I really like them and have become very use to them.   Most of the time you can work them if you have the touch without a vial and gloves if you have a good smoker and know how to use your hive tool.  I say that guardedly because some people do not have the touch.  Nor will they ever have the touch.  You just have to be slow and gentle and may sound funny but breath mints.  Bees hate bad breath. If you watch the bees when you are moving the frames they will tell you a lot if they are getting too squished or tight yet frames have to be properly spaced so give them a little time to move out of the way.  Never charge into a hive like a bull in a china closet even if you are suited up. You just end up killing a lot of hard working bees and and can very easy injure the the queen.  Another thing if you charge in and get them all riled every time you work them expect them to just go in the fight when you show up.  When bees start to get up set they produce an odor this alerts the hive to go in to a defensive posture.  When this occurs look out.  Smoke will not settle them down or anything I have seen tried.  Best to just try and calmly walk away let everyone settle back down.  If you are like most homesteaders it is not like you have a hundred hives to go though today.  So just chill and let them chill....

[Gary O]

great stuff, Rick

as always

[OlJarhead]

Would love to have bees!

Your trees have all bloomed already too?  Strange but mine are only just waking up.  You must be warmer than I am?

My cherry (Bali) is the most awake with it's small leaves just started to look like leaves.  My Crimson Beauty (apple) is next followed by a pear and an apple that is just barely awake.  I don't expect to see blossoms for a couple weeks at least.

[rick91351]

Would love to have bees!

Your trees have all bloomed already too?  Strange but mine are only just waking up.  You must be warmer than I am?

My cherry (Bali) is the most awake with it's small leaves just started to look like leaves.  My Crimson Beauty (apple) is next followed by a pear and an apple that is just barely awake.  I don't expect to see blossoms for a couple weeks at least.

Bee are fun but they can be moody - out and out mean.....  They do not like it when it is rainy - too hot - too chilly - too breezy and so on... however when they can just fly and work fun to have around and even fun to work. 

Most of our Siberian root stock is late bloomers of course.  These are all in the EMLA 7 rootstock... However this was a winter that was not.  Sort of like the message I wrote one of my FB buddies who was asking about the same thing this morning - "Spooky we never really had winter. No massive snow. Most years right now we are wading around in mud bogs and icy streams right now. I am sure hoping it stays warm and does not freeze the fruit real bad...."

Pears are coming around in all sorts of their own time.   We have some that woke up early some that are running later.     Bali cherries art doing well.  We have several Crimson Galas they are doing so well!!  Good stout trees and nice growth.     

[OlJarhead]

No frost damage pm freezing mornings?

[rick91351]

No frost damage pm freezing mornings?

This year is so weird that we are not even expecting any that I can see. Mid thirties at 5000' mid May...    

[OlJarhead]

This year is so weird that we are not even expecting any that I can see. Mid thirties at 5000' mid May...   

Last year the blossoms on our Crimson Beauty were frost killed but there wasn't any other trees to pollinate with so it wouldn't have produced anyway.  Not sure what will blossom this year but am hopeful the weather is warmer.  We're in the low 30's this week (at night) but I expect temps should be above freezing moving forward so hopefully I'll see some production finally.

[rick91351]

Last year the blossoms on our Crimson Beauty were frost killed but there wasn't any other trees to pollinate with so it wouldn't have produced anyway.  Not sure what will blossom this year but am hopeful the weather is warmer.  We're in the low 30's this week (at night) but I expect temps should be above freezing moving forward so hopefully I'll see some production finally.

You are starting to experience some of the frustration of having fruit trees.  Bottom line is they take a long time to come into production .  I am amused at those who fail to see this in California currently with the drought.  Kill the orchards and then bring them back at a whim does not work that way.  Orchards and trees as such to large corporations is one thing.  But to a small Ma and Pa Operation or a small back yard orchard who babies their trees and trims and fusses and then Big Brother tells you to kill them. Sort of sets wrong.  A small orchard like we have of around a hundred trees scattered about is a big investment just to let die.  Even ten or fifteen trees and look at the good they do.     

[rick91351]

Well in between the birds and the bees and flowers and trees I have been back to work on the house.  I was not going to in fill the columns until Ellen painted.  She said to go ahead that way I would not be getting caulk on her fresh paint.  Soooo!! 

 





It has been surprising how long one column takes to do,  measuring and marking and cutting and up and down the ladders.  What I though might be about four or five hours a column has turned in to closer to a day.  Three down and three to go......  They do now go quicker that number one... but still a lot longer than I have figured. 

[Adam Roby]

Might be taking longer than expected but it really looks fantastic. 
You won't regret the hard work you did when its all done and your friends and family (and us) are telling you how great it looks.

[Gary O]

dang

freaking beeeeutifull

[rick91351]

dang

freaking beeeeutifull

Thanks Gary he said blushingly.  Hope you are talking about the house.

[Gary O]

Hope you are talking about the house.

Well, no, I was talking about that log roll of duct tape....but now I see it's just some sorta chicken coop wire...s-o-o-o-o disappointed.

Hell yes I'm talking about that gorgeous place of yours, and am jealous to even know someone that takes their sweet time with things....and it shows.
Luv ya man

[rick91351]

Well, no, I was talking about that log roll of duct tape....but now I see it's just some sorta chicken coop wire...s-o-o-o-o disappointed.

Hell yes I'm talking about that gorgeous place of yours, and am jealous to even know someone that takes their sweet time with things....and it shows.
Luv ya man

Chicken wire goes under the bellyband on those porch columns.  It gets a skim coat of mortar then the faux rock goes on.  Ellen and I discussed real rock or fake.  Seems fake won out. 

Sort a side bar but there was not really much we could do last winter in here.  So it was such a treat just to sit back and enjoy the winter.  It was the first time we could say we were actually resting.  So nice in the evening with the stove going we even put together a few huge jig saw puzzles.  We had time to just sit and talk - take some photos of the snow and and the animals.  After all year prior day light to dark and fall in to bed and get up and start all over again.  Six days a week.

The tile work in the middle of winter and zero I would get a couple buckets of water for the saw and such and have a skim of ice on it as soon as I set it down.  Having to cut tile with the frozen spray and all that.  Now I look at it and feel so blessed.  Truly Ellen was been stellar in this whole build.  We meshed very well with our strengths and in truth when one of us want to just say #$T$#R%)#$)R% the other would just pick it up and go with it.  My only hope is our great grand kids might be able to say grandpa and grandma........

   

[Gary O]

Having yer mate working by yer side is a wonderful thing...I know.

It's a privilege to see what folks do on here, and when you get to know one, well, that's really hard to beat........

[rick91351]

Went up to the hives 5/10/2015.  There is a great honey flow going.  The bees were just hitting the landing boards and scurrying right into the hive others right into the vent hole.  Trying to take that in still photos was not working but was short on battery I still decided on some video.

https://youtu.be/mUTJXzNpK7s

[MountainDon]

busy as a bee, or so the saying goes   

[rick91351]

busy as a bee, or so the saying goes   

When they are like that they are very happy.  We can work them like that and they just do not care.  Just a little smoke and they let you right in.  However when its gets hot and the bloom trail off.  Then you just walk by a hive sometimes three or four sentry bees will hit you so fast.  They can get upset and mean when it is rainy as well.....   windy..... just over cast.  OUGH!! What did you do that for!!   

[rick91351]

We lost a couple hives down in the valley this last winter.  There could be several reasons.... but when a queen dies sometimes they just go into a depressed shut down mode......

These bees have their heads buried in the comb and just died there. They still had honey but they would not even produce enough heat to keep the hive going.  BTW We will recycle these frames right back in to good hives so they do not have to waste time and resources making wax.     



Same hive and they had plenty of honey



Bees glue everything together with tree sap.  Lots of scrapping and cleaning. 



Bee herding - little smoke and they calm right down.



One of the rewards working your bees fresh honey and comb right off the tops of the frames. 



Checking for eggs and to see if the queen has been there....



You can see some eggs and so me knew the queen was okay.  But never seen her.



This is a crazy strong hive Mark and I started up here two years ago.  They have been going great  ever since. 



In fact it is right back here it started.



Worker bees doing their thing.....



Mark using a pocket veil.  Handy weather was starting to build on us so the bees were getting a little agitated.   

[rick91351]

Lot more going on around here than just the bees however.

My excavator friend dropped by and graded the lanes and the lawn area.  Lots of stuff there to do yet.  Culverts to put in and and a lawn and and and





Pat even brought in his big artillery












 

[rick91351]

We are sort of working our way out of the monsoons that were working into this country.....  They really brought a much needed drink to the crops and landscape. In fact for a few days lots and lots of rain.

It was great in that it gave us a chance to sort of veg for a day or two..... One of our grandsons was up and I took him on a fourwheeler ride.....



Dropped by the one room school house up here.

It was build on our ranch by my great grand mother.... It was located where the big sage brush is in the photo....



Later like in 1952 all the schools were consolidated and it was moved to the village of Prairie.  Grades K through 8 after that they have to board in Mountain Home or drive or...... great thing about it they do so much with the kids here.  Trip to DC in the spring a trip to Yellowstone or the Oregon coast in the fall.  The kids they are so far ahead of the kids when they get to high school it is not even funny....  They put on a couple plays that they write and produce.  Everyone gets a part and it is so well done.  Hardly anyone misses those and a big pot luck as well...... Christmas and Halloween it is a big thing.....



When they did that they also moved the teacherage (check it out real word) from Deer Creek School to the Village. 



Right there together with that is also the Prairie District Library though very very small. My wife is the librarian BTW.....  Very small but very well stocked with books and periodicals.





Weather changed to warmer and humid.  Remember this is Idaho and humid is anything over like 35% and people are like complaining..... 

So back to the salt mines.....

We put in some culverts for the road into the house and and shop.  First one was 30 foot wide...



Next two were twenty five feet wide. 





Pat my excavator, logger buddy hauled material from our decomposed granite pit for the parking areas and recover some places in the road. 





Notice I got the infill done of the tapered porch pillars.   



But not with out a casualty.  We carefully searched out the conduit that runs up the the trailer pads.  220 V we found it we were happy.  Then we started digging and discovered the conduit we forgot about the last time we dug there.  I was laughing my buddy never seen the humor in it.  To so carefully find it and then discover our patch job from two years ago we forgot all about.... Got to mend that now......

   

[John Raabe]

I'm enjoying the project tour and the great neighborhood. Thanks, the air smells fresh and clean.