Glorious April!

After all the ugly garbage photos in the previous  post, I  decided I better post a few photos showing how beautiful it really is at Squash Blossom Farm this spring.  This April is almost a month ahead of last year; no wonder we feel so far behind.

Cadence dug up the two huge bridal veil bushes on either side of her granary entrance and moved them  next to the loafing shed. In their place she planted semi-dwarf apple trees, a Haralson and a Zestar, which have now burst into bloom.

Our yard is full of dandelions, violets and creeping charlie.  The previous owners had a weed-free yard and would probably be appalled.  We won't use chemicals, though, and are trying to look for the positives, which are many.  The creeping charlie has turned out to be a wonderful early food source for my honeybees and for bumble bees.  The goldfinches love the dandelion seed heads. I gathered up violets to make jelly and here, Cadence is gathering dandelion flowers to make wine (stay tuned for more details on these projects later.)

Speaking of honeybees, my bees survived the winter and are thriving! Spring came so fast I did not have a chance to administer the preventative medicine for nosema (bee diarrhea).  I have inserted the apistan strips to control bee mites and  spread the  terramycin powder to prevent foulbrood. The bees had built brood cells between the layers of frames and I had to destroy some of those larval cells to get the frames apart.  I got stung twice (my first beekeeping stings)  but I can't blame the bees for  being upset about the destruction of their offspring.

Last fall I planted several hundred bulbs, including some scilla scattered around the big rock, which have been blooming over the past few weeks. I can't tell yet if the  swaths of wildflowers i planted in the woods have germinated or if those were seeds that were already there.

The tall purple allium  have budded.

We got the Willys truck  back from an expensive brake repair, only to have the other front brake break.  I go to drive it home after  the second repair--it is a truck that just demands singing truck songs at the  top of your lungs while you drive. Very fun.