Joe, our resident bee guy, is the fretter on site.  He checked on our two hives recently and found that they are both healthy.  When he lifted the lid he could both hear and see them.  Also, it was a little warmer than the air when he put his hand close to the entrance.  On the other hand, because our winter has been so mild, he’s actually more worried for them than if they just hunkered down and stayed still.  The warmer it is, the more active they are.  The more activity, the more honey they eat.  So, Joe’s worried they won’t have enough food stores to get them through to pollen collecting time.

On goes a 5# bag of sugar on top of each hive.

Helping our bees through the winter.

Tucked in but still healthy and active.

Joe, The Bee Guy, Rebecca The Most Excellent Gardener and the Peanut.

The winds blow so hard on our property that securing this house to the ground somehow becomes a bigger priority than we thought.  Luckily, it wasn’t that difficult to straighten and we didn’t loose the kale or the Swiss chard growing inside.  Jon drove rebar stakes to which he affixed the base and then reinforced the sides with long 2 x 8′s.  This should do the trick, but a winter of Maine weather will tell us for sure.

All of the other season extenders – cold frames and mini-greenhouses – are producing as well.  The leeks and carrots are completely covered and insulated with straw and it was only last week that I harvested the last of the Brussels sprouts and broccoli from the beds.  The hens were so excited to still be getting greens this late in the season.

Traveling back in time to when it was constructed in the spring…

The girls got into the act, donning drills and hammers.  The base is made of 3 – 2x12x12′s, the frame of electrical conduit piping with dry fit 45 and 90 degree corners at the ‘roof edge’ and topline.  The whole is encased in 6 mil. plastic which we may find isn’t strong enough to withstand our property’s micro-climate.

Chloe working on strapping while Ella works on the framing.

Jon and Ella getting the last piece fitted for the base.

Rebecca used the greenhouse all summer long to grow veggies for the Riggin.  I can’t wait to use it as we go into spring!

Annie
Why is chard ‘Swiss’ and sprouts ‘Brussels?’

We all pitched in and helped, the girls now FAR more adept at working with dough and rolling out the rolls than they used to be when much of their time was spent seeing if they could submerse their arms into the big bag of flour all the way up to their shoulder.  They’d start by just putting their hands into the flour, to which I didn’t usually object, because, hey, who can resist the silky feel of flour in your hands.  Usually in a moment when my back was turned, the temptation would become irresistible, and my next snap shot would be of the bag of flour swallowing my child.  Happy child, messy kitchen.  Bread is never a clean event on the best of days, although much more so now than it used to be.

Homemade Chicken Nuggets
Blue Cheese Dipping Sauce
Simple Romaine Salad
Buttermilk Dinner Rolls

Annie
Remembering the little people when their cheeks were big and rosy all the time…. sigh.

We serve Swiss chard to our guests all summer long because it’s one of the staple vegetables that our CSA offers as it grows well in cold climates.  We’ve served it with lemon, balsamic vinegar, garlic, roasted garlic, roasted pine nuts and crumble feta cheese (not necessarily all at once!).  This is my favorite way of preparing it so far.  My husband, who eats green things mostly because they are good for him and not because he really has a love for them, had a third helping of this Swiss chard.

4 chicken breasts, bone in
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1 bunch of Swiss chard, chopped and cleaned, stems separate from the leaves
2 teaspoons fresh thyme or 1 teaspoon dried
3 strips bacon, diced
3 garlic cloves, sliced
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar

Preheat oven to 400º.  Heat a large skillet (one with a lid), over medium-high heat.  Salt and pepper both sides of the chicken.  Heat the oil and carefully add the chicken breasts, skin side down.  Sear for 8 minutes or until the skin is a deep golden brown.  Turn and sear for another 8 minutes.  While the chicken is cooking on the second side, clear a space and add the bacon keeping it in one spot in the pan.  When it is done, transfer it out of the pan with a slotted spoon.  When the chicken is a golden brown on the second side, remove it from the pan.  Drain the pan of all the fat and return it to the heat.  Cook the garlic for 30 seconds to a minutes being careful not to burn it.  As soon as it’s done, add the Swiss chard stems to the pan to stop the garlic from cooking further.  Sauté for 3-4 minutes and then add the rest of the Swiss chard and the bacon.  Stir all together and return the chicken breasts to the pan.  Cover and bake in the oven for 10 minutes or until the chicken breasts are opaque throughout.

Serves 4

I’ve now enticed Rebecca , our most excellent gardener who helps me when I’m out sailing, not to fear the words “expand the garden.”  She has now joined us on the dark side and is fully up for twice as much garden space as we put in last year.  This may have also had something to do with her supreme frustration with the mowed grass being blown directly into the free form beds she’s just weeded (just saying).  Paths joining the beds will take care of this perennial issue by only requiring mowing on the perimeter.  Happy me, happy Rebecca, more veggies, more fruit trees!

The wood chips, 10 yards in all, I’m told, were recycled from Rebecca’s property to make way for fruit trees there.  The wood from those Norway Maple trees, high in btu’s, will be our fire wood on the boat next summer.

Wood chips for the garden paths

Annie
More veggies!

Buff Orpington chicks

They came by mail, packed in a box no bigger than a shoe box. Seven downy Buff Orpington female chicks are now safely ensconced in a lobster crate in our bathroom with the door firmly shut to keep out Charlie, the cat.  My initial plan, one that decidedly did NOT include having them spend any time in the house, was to sneak them under a broody hen in the middle of the night, removing the eggs she was nesting on and introducing the baby chicks. Anyone who has ever had cute, tiny baby chicks in their house who have then grown into unruly, ungainly, dust- and chicken-poop-flinging teenagers can feel my pain when I say I’m determined that the chicks will not be in the house for long.

Irresistible to pick up

The intsy flaw in this plan is that, for the first year ever, I don’t have a broody hen.  I can’t tell you if it’s the cooler weather or the lack of a rooster (Fluffy the rooster died this winter) but none of these hens are feeling the mama urge.

I put my problem out to Twitter and a few people suggested either fake eggs or ping pong balls as an encouragement, thinking that someone is bound to think they are hers.  Having one child who saves, hoards and parses her holiday candy, I had some pastel, plastic Easter eggs still in the house into which I added some flour for weight.  I then taped them shut and put them in a nest.  This is what they thought of that idea…

Kicked 'em right out!

However, Plan b is now in place.  I have a lobster crate, a heat light, chick starter and reams of newspaper.  They will be protected from the other hens in the coop by the lobster crate while they stay warm under the heat lamp.  Once they have feathers and are eating regular feed, I’ll turn them loose with the rest of the flock.

Annie
Brooding about my chicks

Join us and share in the fun as we sail, knit and eat our way along the Maine Coast!  It’s the only trip in June that still has space and from now until June 1st we are offering a Buy One, Get One Half Off Special.  Call 800-869-0604 for more details.

If you can’t make this trip maybe our Sept. 5-10 knitting cruise with Maggie Radcliffe fits your schedule.

Annie
Hope we get to sail with you this summer

The new tomato green house is another one of those gifts, given to me by my family for Mother’s Day.  What clinches it for me as a top ten gift is that we all spent time in the garden working on it together.  When I walk through the framed in door for the first time to plant my tomatoes, I’ll think of them, if only for a second.  When I walk in again, the second time, same thing, if only for a second.  I love them for giving me this memory everytime I’ll stoop to weed the tomatoes or string a vine up a line or pick a fully ripe and warm tomato from it’s stem.

Annie
Grateful

A read on the last (hopefully) snowy day of spring.

Chloe on a peaceful walk on a Maine beach.

Kneading bread in my galley.

Peace to you all,
Annie

There are a few things I’ve learn over one summer of bees:

1. Keeping bees is like having a garden – hope springs eternal for the imagined harvest in the following year.
2. I’ve found the surest way to the most expensive eggs (owning my own chickens) and now the most expensive honey.
3. Perhaps when one first picks up their hives, one might want to think about a car with a trunk rather than a hatchback.

The white hive when it first arrived in the spring with only one deep.

Checking the white hive one month in.

The undulating swarm which landed in our apple trees.  We weren’t able to capture it, just as the third hive was on it’s way, the bees’ inner wisdom suggested they flee to greener apple trees.

Feeding the bees in preparation for a long Maine winter.

The ladies of the purple hive.

Annie
Bye for now, ladies, we’ll see you in the spring!