Summer is in full swing, and while we have yet to harvest all of our honey, we've still been as busy as... well, you know.
Here's what we "Homers" have been up to.
The poinsettia project. Dawn is trying to keep her Christmas poinsettia, christened John Travolta, alive for the entire year. The stayin' alive part is easy, but coaxing it to turn red again in time for the holidays is trickier than you might think, as Dawn explains on her blog.
The buck buffet. Jeff fired up his 1953 Ford Jubilee tractor and planted an acre of lady peas, two acres of pinto beans, and an acre of turnips and collards. No, we're not going the extra mile for our agricultural exemption (which we legitimately qualify for as beekeepers). Jeff is just fattening up deer at his lease. Bonus! We get to eat what they don’t.
Better koi accommodations. Our starter pond (a tiny prefab unit) had grown too crowded and sprung a slow leak to boot. So we decided to go bigger and better with a custom in-ground pond. To further remedy our population problem, we donated a dozen goldfish to a hydroponic farmer who uses fish waste as fertilizer.
We decided after digging the hole ourselves that we'd hate to be olden-day grave diggers... or grave robbers, for that matter.
A dedicated cutting garden. Dawn wanted fresh flowers in the house without spoiling the beauty and bounty of her regular flower beds. Luckily, she'd written a how-to article on planting flowers meant for picking.
Daisies from our cutting garden, alongside the poinsettia we hope will redden up by Christmas.
Wilkie's rose garden. We’re planning a memorial garden in honor of our beloved cat and family member who passed away last fall. We've so far selected Heirloom Roses varieties that share Wilkie's coloring (but not his smell, thank goodness).
Wilkie, the cream-colored cat.
Wollerton Old Hall, the Wilkie-colored rose.
Kitty integration. On an upbeat note, after worrying that our territorial 20-pound cat Lehi wouldn't accept another cat, we successfully integrated Smudge into the household. The vet says our tailless rescue kitty is a Manx, but we're here to tell you that cabbits are real!
As you can guess, Smudge is the smaller and inkier of the two.