Thursday, May 13, 2010

All Trees Planted; All Berries Await

Late this afternoon, following a steady drizzle, we finished planting the trees. Phil immediately said, "No more trees for two years!" But, when asked about such an arbitrary determination, he commuted the moratorium to just a year. What a relief!

I immediately turned my thoughts to the next planting: various berries and such. On totaling the remaining plants, I was stunned to see that I have 290 growing things yet to get in the ground: 150 strawberries, 60 asparagus crowns, 27 raspberries, and on from there. Many of these plants will fit well between the newly planted trees, so Phil won't lose too much more of his grazing area. Gramps and I spray painted the planting spots for most of the larger berry bushes. I like just going out to dig, without wondering where I should put my shovel.

In the continuing trauma of odd behaving bees, I finally ordered another queen. When I spoke with him today, the owner of the apiary said something odd like, "I don't want to sell you a queen if there's no hope of the hive surviving." And I was thinking, "I already ordered a hive with queen from you, and there's no hope that the hive will survive without a queen. So if I have to buy a queen to have a chance at a living hive, at least I'll have done all I can."

The Queen of Sheba II should arrive soon.

But I am a bit worried now about the Queen Esther hive: they appear to be split in the two opposite ends of the top bar hive. What's the verse? A house divided against itself cannot stand? Maybe this should just be "a house not working together cannot thrive."

1 comment:

  1. Hi. I have arrived via your parent's site, but as a fellow homesteader etc I am hooked. However, for those of us who don't know you, could you tell us about the family, and how much land you have etc???
    Amira

    ReplyDelete