Amazing Transformations

How far the farm has come in 2 summers! As I sit here and count my blessings, I am truly amazed.

From this:
to thisto this


And this:
to this

Our chicks grew into chickens and happily give us eggs(as long as we can keep them alive). Our strawberries flourished and we were able to make jam this year. Our garden is maturing and should have a high yield. Raspberries, blackberries and blueberries are ripening. We found new surprises on the land....a currant bush and a mulberry tree. The apple orchard survived a tent caterpillar attack and has gone on to produce hundreds of apples that are maturing with each passing week.

Our horses have been fairly healthy and are back in the swing of working in the arena. The goats seem to be used to their new habitat. The ducks and chickens are few in numbers however due to the apparent skill of the local predators. This remains a problem for which we are still researching and trying solutions.

All in all we have seen many blessings. How wonderful to now be able to enjoy the fruits of our labors! My thanks to all who help to make this dream a reality!

What I did with all those strawberries....

This morning's picking produced 8 more quarts of strawberries. After cleaning and hulling them I turned them into:


I had an earlier unsuccessful try at making Jam last week which ended up becoming strawberry syrup.....and to think I followed the recipe. So today I threw caution to the wind and concocted my own recipe....so far, so good...it seems to be jelling nicely. I believe I may have found the solution, and the bonus is: my recipe has less than half the sugar as the other recipe.

A Perfect Weekend

This was perhaps one of the most beautiful weekends at the farm yet this year. The weather was perfect (only interrupted by an intense display of lightening during a magnificent thunder storm Friday evening). The farm is still so very green and lush. The animals are all healthy and happy. The long awaited arena is finally finished and the riding surface is perfect! Briggs and I have much work ahead of us...but we have a perfect place for long hours of practice!



This weekend marked the true beginning of our BeeHaven Acres Farm harvest. Our strawberries are producing a very high yield. A couple of minutes' picking Friday night and Saturday morning quickly yielded 15 quarts of strawberries.


Our meals included a salad of fresh-picked lettuce, spinach, onions, broccoli and radishes topped off with a dessert of fresh strawberry pound cake with ice cream and fresh strawberries. We consumed as many of the berries as was humanly possible and froze the rest. If time allows, I will make homemade jam. Last weeks' jam-making fiasco produced strawberry syrup instead (which, by the way was great on our pancakes Sunday morning).

Finally, I had a bit of time for some goat bonding. Here is a picture of our little Princess.....O'Malley. What a sweet soul she is.