Time flies when you’re bustin’ ass. Bees fly and they make me smile. Flies have no place in my kitchen.

There…that’s my long awaited farm update. Well worth the year-long wait. So prophetic and poetic. Thank you. Goodnight!

Just kidding. There is more. I must still be a little delirious from this summer. It beat me down. I worked many days from dawn till dark. I was down to about 155 lb. in July. I literally worked my ass off I guess. Sara was scared.

I am all in on beekeeping. I turned the 7 colonies that survived last winter into 31 hives throughout the season. I have found much joy in splitting and creating new colonies and observing their progressions. There are many “bee experiments” happening in the bee yard right now. Every year, the lessons just blow me away.

My apologies for the lack of honey for sale. The spring rains were devastating to the spring honey flow. Because I split so many hives, I didn’t get the usual surplus of honey for the taking. I wanted to create as many healthy colonies as I could before winter. It is a numbers game. The average hive loss here in Ohio is around 55%. I was one of the lucky ones last year with an 80% survival rate- a trend I hope continues. Definitely a strange year for bees. Other beekeepers I have spoken to have said the same.

Aside from the bee mayhem, I still managed to do quite a bit of gardening, canning, and dehydrating(food and myself at times!) Hard work, but I love it. The chickens, ducks, cat, dog, and wife are all fine and spoiled. We are very blessed.

Yep…Goldie is still alive. She will be 8 years old this spring. That is pretty damn old for a chicken! Any other farmer would’ve had her non-egg-laying ass in the soup pot by now, but I just can’t do it.

Anyways, hope everyone had a great year and happy holidays. Just stay away from political debates at the dinner table and you’ll be fine.

Protect the earth. She needs your help now more than ever.

Till next time.

Steve