Abigail Goes Home

Phil saw frost this morning. Wow. Good thing I'm behind on planting beans and corn! No worries about Jack Frost killing all the little seedlings.

When I went to check on the bees, I first figured they had gone missing, they were so quiet and still. I can see inside the hive if I'm agile enough to bend low and look up through the mesh covering the bottom of the hive. As my eyes adjusted to the gloom, I could hardly believe what I was seeing: perfect, white comb peeking out below the thousands of tightly packed workers. I figure they have built down six inches of comb since they arrived five days ago. My beekeeping notes say that each comb takes between half a million and a million tiny flecks of wax, excreted from the bees' abdomen. Each bee can produce eight flecks a day. The volume of production makes me more certain that all the bees combined into one hive.



After Abigail took one last look around, she said her goodbyes and we drove her to a meeting place with her Dad in southern Virginia. During the 28 weeks she lived with us, she laughed and cried; she played with my boys and deeply missed her sister; she played with the goats and chased the chickens; she looked for eggs and climbed trees. She showed no fear of bugs or animal corpses. She watched the hiving of the bees and saw a sheep give birth to a little black lamb. She learned to enjoy the beans and rice at Chipotle, and always amazed us with her enthusiastic consumption of oatmeal.



She ran out of our car and buckled herself into her own car before we were even done unloading all her stuff. She was ready to go home and greet her family!

After we dropped her off, Phil and I had a good time of vision conversation for what should maybe happen here in the next few months. After the rest of the trees are in the ground, Phil will focus on the perimeter fence. When that's done, we'll start grazing the animals, who are currently more-or-less enjoying life in the drylot with lots of hay and supplemental minerals. It is easy to feed them, but pricey, too.

Then we think it is time to buy the long-considered sawmill, and saw lumber for our yurt. We decided a yurt is the housing structure we want, without a basement for the time being. Maybe if (when!) the farm starts to be profitable we can add some square footage, but for now, we'll focus on getting a yurt up before winter.

With the sawmill, we hope Phil can clear the lower pasture more rapidly and easily. (It's easier to move a board than a tree!)

We talked more about the classes we attended last week, and theology, and giving. We each came away with a list of things that must be done. Really a helpful day of connection for us before I leave in a couple of days. The three older boys enjoyed visiting with Grandma and Grandpa Super Far Away; Phil and I enjoyed a meal at Chipotle before we went to Costco.

And because the boys weren't all in the van, we fit a chest freezer in the van. Now we can kill the undesirable animals, and have a place to keep the meat! No more freeloaders on this farm!

Some days feel like a gift. This was one of those days.