In Other News...

Just a warning, CupCake wants to start participating in the blog and I think it's a great idea. Keep in mind she's young so her writing might be less refined than mine but I think it will be good for her and it will offer you a different perspective.  It will also allow the blog to keep going when life gets in my way.

Just a reminder for those who live in Eastern NC, the Farmers Fresh Market orders need to be placed by 6pm tomorrow evening. They are willing to expand to all areas listed on the site, so don't be afraid to give them a call if you are interested.  Here's the link: http://www.farmersfreshmarket.org/easterncarolinafoodventures/

FYI: We are Curve Farm and right now we are only selling eggs but hope to expand in the future.

Special Delivery: Bees

This morning our phone rang at 8:30 am. It was the Post Office asking that MrLivingOurWay come pick up our bees. They were eager to get rid of them.  We really weren't expecting them for a few more days so MrLivingOurWay hurried over there.  Plans were changed and most of our day has been dealing with bees.

Here you can see one of the bees has already escaped.

Here is a view of the bee's in the box that they came in.

A close up of the bees. At the time, MrLivingOurWay had just painted a sugar solution over the wire and you could see the bees sticking their tongues out to eat it.

MrLivingOurWay painting hives because we still weren't ready for them!

MrLivingOurWay and I in our bee suits getting ready to install the bees into their hives. I feel like an astronaut

This afternoon we took the bees back to the area MrLivingOurWay cleared out for them and successfully (we hope!) installed the bees in their hive. The Indian  Italian  bees are known to be calm and the Russian bees not as calm. For us the Indian Italian ones were quite aggrivated but we think one might have gotten squashed in the process.

Piling Up Brush

Today, we began stacking brush into piles to burn further. It wasn't as easy as we thought it would be.

Cupcake got really into it and was really dirty.


I put the baby on my back to pile up the brush.


MrLivingOurWay used the tractor to dig up some remaining stumps and push the brush into piles.


Here is one of our brush piles.


Shortcake and I piling up brush.

There is still a lot more to do! It's one of those things that is overwelming.

Cutting Down More Trees

I don't know if you can tell by the picture or not, but there was a lot to to clean up and cut down after the fire we set the other day.  Today, we went out and cut down everything that was still standing. MrLivingOurWay used the chain saw and I used the weed eater. Believe it or not, a weed eater will cut down some small trees.  It was hot and we went in the house several times for water. Slowly but surely, this small area will become a small field soon.  


It has been a lot of work though so next time, I'm recommending goats and pigs!

Have you turned wooded acreage into farmland? What are you experiences?

Burning to Make a Field

Yesterday, we had an exciting day. We are way behind schedule on getting ready to plant our first crop.  For the last several weeks, MrLivingOurWay has been taking his time cutting down trees and cutting up the logs for mushrooms.  Yesterday, we were finally ready to set fire to the land to clear some of the weeds. 

MrLivingOurWay had told me repeatedly that he could control the fire by himself.  I didn't feel comfortable with that and had made arrangements for a family friend to sit with him. Unfortunately, the friend's work schedule did not cooperate with the weather and MrLivingOurWay was going to have to go it alone.  Except that this was one of those times when I was right.  As soon as the fire was set and every thing looked ok, I brought the baby back to the house so he wouldn't inhale smoke and waited by the phone. We weren't home long when he called and said he needed me back there with him, so I handed the baby off to Cup Cake and joined him by the fire. We shoveled dirt on flames that got too close to the dirt path.  It was so smokey that my eyes burned and I found it hard to breath at times. We shouted over the fire to each other to make sure the other was ok.  That's how it went for several hours.

At 4:00, our neighbors arrived home and we soon heard sirens of fire engines.  They had called 911  and reported a wild fire!  I ran down to the road and met one fire truck informing them that we had a burn permit. Others had gone down the access road just through the woods and MrLivingOur way met them. They walked around the fire to make sure it was infact contained.  They talked to him to make sure he knew what he was doing.  Someone from the forrestry department came out and did the same.  They lectured him about all the rules of controlled burning which they said he was following. In the end, they told him that he could start a new fire in that area anytime within the timeframe of his burn permit.  It was a total waste of tax payer money in my opinion.  Next time we decide to set a fire, we will leave a note on the neighbors' door so they don't panic. 

Before leaving the fire for a little while last night as it was smoldering (and all sparks and fire were out), MrLivingOurWay went over the dirt path a few more times to make sure that it was dirt.  He checked on it at 10pm, 12 am, and 6am. He continues to check it every few hours.  We still have a lot of work ahead of us to get this field burnt, but I think it will happen.  It might not happen on the time frame we were hoping though.

First we loaded the tractor with necessary materials including the flame weeder to start the fire.

MrLivingOurWay had a dirt path the width of the tractor all the way around the area he was planning to burn so that the fire would stay contained. He burned some weeds in the path first to make it bare dirt.

The fire is started!

Here is a good view of how the dirt path helped contain the fire.