Growing very well! May 31 2013

Well it's been 4 weeks in the ground and the lavender plants have really grown! I have already had to do a flower trim from the Spanish beyond the original blooms that were there. We placed gravel around the plants to reflect the sun as has been recommended by some of the master growers. We are hoping to get mulch between the rows before we go to California in a few weeks. Keeping up with the weeds has been an effort in our good soil! We have made a cutting of blooms from the flowers that we planted when we moved in and hung them up to dry. They made the whole house smell so nice!!!! Can't wait to see the fields next year in half bloom. Our fields will look like the pictures!

Lavender!!!!

May 4, 2013
Well we picked up our lavender yesterday from Walter's Greenhouse in Hardy, VA.
Beautiful nursery, Evelyn is wonderful to work with and very helpful.
Special Thanks to our  friends, JT and Julia Jackson for all the planting help today. We were able to get the big field finished before the rain started! The Fred Boutin, Provence, Grosso and some Hidcote are in the ground. Just the rest of the Hidcote, Munstead and Spanish left to plant.
Oh, the knees!!!! You can sure tell the plants were ready a month ago, I know they are happy to have some growing room. Hopefully the rain won't be too much for them at this time of transplant stress. We are supposed to have quite a bit of rain for a few days.

April 2013

28Th
Nice steady rain falling this morning. Really good for the fruit tees and crops.  If it lets up we may go morel hunting later. Really niece to see with the lavender holes dug that the field really doesn't collect water. We have to really think about grading the back away from the house better as we are seeding quite a bit of mineral seepage in the basement. No more water though.

Week of 20th
420 holes to prepare for planting. we have laid down landscape cloth, now we are cutting holes, digging holes and mixing a compost in with the soil. we are trying to prepare for our helpers to plant on the fifth of May. it is very very hard work but we work well together and get it done. it's hard enough for me but I don't know how Sterling makes it. he really is my hero.
we just have the lower field to dig now but now the rain has started. the forecast is not looking good for the fifth of May. hopefully we won't have to plant this field alone. our son Joshua has suggested we check out the local 48 club Boy Scouts and the high school. have to do that. maybe we can get some help that way during the week.
we pick up our plants on Friday regardless of the weather. we pick them up from a nursery in Roanoke Virginia. we still have to make a platform for the truck for the second layer of plants.

Buzzy time this spring!

well we started out last week with hive number two wanting to swarm. fortunately it took off and flew into a pile of sticks not far away. our real challenge was not having equipment ready for a new Colony. Sterling ran down and got a bottom board and put one together with shallow Soopers they are doing well. We have been feeding them syrup to help them get established. yesterday  hives  one and 3 swarmed. We jury rigged a super and caught 1, called TBA and looked for someone to take the other one. Jr. Slausen came and got it. When we moved  the one we caught it was very light.took a peek and it was only a very small ball. Must have taken off.

The three new hives that we purchased this year are well and growing.

New chicks for the farm

March 22 2013
Well we have entered into the realm of chicken farmers now! we picked up six baby chicks at Tractor Supply last Sunday. they were 2 weeks old, they are a cross between production red and white leghorn and though it's a little early to tell it looks like they'll be white. we have been having lots of fun with them this week. I have downloaded some pictures of them. we will be getting 6 more next Saturday from poultry hollow here in East Tennessee. they will be two production red two white Sussex and 2 of another breed I can't remember right now.
Hoping to get some planting done next week. it's been really cold with temperatures in the teens last night.

Dealing with winter

Well it looks like winter is upon us again here in the northern part of Tennessee we can never tell what the weather to be like in two days the weather will change again according to the weatherman is supposed to get up around 69° and that just makes for more confusion for our honeybees who don't know which way is up which way is down when it comes to the end of winter so we'll just move on from there. We just completed the installation of a tankless water heater in her home that was quite the project but now that it's over I can turn my focus to the farm we just ordered three new packages of honeybees to be installed the spring and a bunch of new equipment as well so there's lots of preparation to prepare for and that's not including the lavender plants work work work. For now where an emergency feeding for our honeybees with a solution of 2 to 1 we will drop to a solution of 1.1 that will continue for 2 to 3 weeks. Of course now I got a bunch plants on the order from fruit trees to herbal plants. Working on a new line of products all made from raw honey is will be facial care products as well as a hair rinse I came across these ingredients from the national honey I think he'll be a great opportunity to introduce people to the wonders of honey. We're continuing to make soap for the upcoming year so we encourage everyone to take advantage of the discount offers on our website on all our products as we continue to clear out Lasher's product to make way for New Year's so take a second look at WWW.blooms-N-BEES.com.

Spring time ???

The frustrating up and down weather is creating havoc for my allergies and our bees. They have been out buzzing around every chance they get.Soon we will be ordering our nucs for this year. We will most likely be splitting number one hive and adding three nucs. We have been bunching them winter candy for about 1 month now. Several of our bee club members have last hives. We lost 1 of the Washburn hives and a second is weak and will need to be combined with the strongest hive. Two more packages will be added there.
We ordered our garden seeds this weekend! We will be borrowing a tiller as soon as the ground drys out some. Looking forward to planting a big garden and doing some canning and pickling.
We will be picking up our lavender and peppermint plants in early May.

Family visit February 5th

Celebrated our 30th Anniversary with family and met our great grandaughter SaMari Olivia Hayes for the first time. She is already 10 months! Such a joy!
Our daughter Laura's  suggestion for our delema about what plants to choose for our first years planting with limited funds is to write them each on a piece of paper and draw them out of a hat! That way neither one of us has to feel bad when we don't get a particular plant! Great idea!
Now to make the lists. Should be fun.

30 year anniversary

Today is my 30th anniversary and I'm celebrating it with my lovely wife. I've never been happier as I look back on my my time with my wife and I'm so excited about the future so as I continue this journey I am glad she is by my side. So I love you sweetheart.

planning for Spring 12/28/12

sending for seed catalogs and looking over the online ones I start to get bug eyed and want everything! there are just so many good herbs for medicinal uses and teas. I just have to remember to slow down. I know 1 thing I want to do this year is to try growing stevia I may need to grow it under a hoop house but probably not, we'll see. it's really going to be fun planting a large vegetable and fruit garden this year. especially when I know I don't have to move. I guess you could say we planted roots (hahaha). we will be starting out with our lavender plants at the end of April or early May. hopefully we will have plenty of help or at least some help as we have almost 400 plants to plant and each hole requires amendments. time for that barbecue!
sure wish I could win the lottery! but for now we will grow as we can.

we haven't had but a  dusting of snow this year so far.

oh and our new soap fragrance free simply natural for those of you who are super sensitive or for the babies give this soap a try. it's really nice. just go to the website and order now @ www.blooms-n-bees.com

Making a perfect prime roast

Prime rib or rib
roast

There's no real big secret to preparing a good prime rib or rib roast the only real danger to this is overcooking it. In other words drying it out.  First let's get started by position an oven rack in the lower section of your oven. Preheat the oven to 450°F don't panic about this temperature I'll explain in a minute. Let's make a dry rub for your roast, so what I want you to mix together is: 1 tablespoon olive oil, 1 tablespoon minced garlic, 1 tablespoon dried thyme, and 1 tablespoon dried mustard, add 1 tablespoon salt, and 1/2 teaspoon black pepper at this point I'm going to introduce a new ingredient (lavender buds)  this is an option you don't necessarily have to have this but you must make sure that your lavender is culinary grade so when you look for the spice make sure you double check from your source that it is the culinary lavender. Lavender adds a touch of mystery to any dish and you will have your guests wondering what that special "touch" was that made your dish so special!  Combine all these ingredients together in a bowl, making like a wet paste. I want you to take your prime rib & wash it thoroughly, dry thoroughly & place it in a roasting pan with an elevated rack in it. Take all the yummy spices that you made in the bowl and rub it all over your roast. With a rubber spatula get all the good stuff out of the bowl. Now place the roast in the center of your oven and set your timer for 10 minutes after this time reduce your oven to 250°F place a roasting thermometer in the thickest part of your roast. Now we're going to wait for the internal temperature to get to your desired doneness. 115° to 120° will produce a rare roast,  a temperature of 125º to 130º will give you medium rare or 135º to 140º is slightly more done about 20 to 30 minutes per pound remember the temperature of the middle will continue to rise by 5° so don't forget to consider that when you remove it from the oven. Now if you were creative enough to add the lavender you should have quite the roast. So bon appétit and may you have a wonderful and happy Merry Christmas and a beautiful New Year's.

Very inexpensive tip for beautiful nails

While visiting our daughter in the"very big city"recently & shopping at a local mall, I was stopped by a Very aggressive kiosk employee offering to perform a "miracle" on my neglected fingernails. Being the sapp that I can be, I let her work on my hands.
She was offering a  special kit valued @ around $100 for just $75!
She had a square multi-surface fingernail file that seemed to contain some kind of oil that she vigorously worked on my very rigged thumb nail. To make a long story short, when she was done my nail looked like I had had a very expensive manicure complete with clear nail polish! She even said it would last as until the nail grew out. I really was impressed but since my funds were tied up I was not taken in. (also my husband was there to pull me away) I was determined to find the secret!
When I got home I spoke to my local Sally's manager who used to be a nail specialist. She sold me a"4-way" file which has embedded words to tell you which section to use for what.
If you take flaxseed oil you can dab a very small amount on each nail and massage it in. Flaxseed oil taken internally on a regular basis will help your nails grow harder and faster.
Olive oil is also very nourishing for nails and can also be used for a very inexpensive cuticle oil. Don't know anyone who doesn't have that around!
Of course if you have any of our salves, they are great as cuticle treatments too!

Use the cuticle oil treatment twice a week, but only file the flat surface of your nails every 4-6 weeks or to accomodate the growth. It will tend to thin the surface some, though you can "buff" them more often. You can of course file the edges as needed to keep them smooth.
If you found this helpful, please let us know, we are always looking for your feedback.

creating product

It's been an interesting 2 days investigating new products and seeing how they work. We came up with an fantastic lip balm produce with peppermint and Coco better. This lip balm have a very smooth and relaxing feel to it and it's also great in this cold weather. Will be posting this new product this weekend on our website at www.blooms-n-bees.com

Merry Christmas

where are so excited about all the new happening here at the farm. our new website is up and running at www.blooms-n-bees.com are product line is ready for all your Christmas shopping. So check us out and keep tune for new and exciting happening here at the farm.

orange blossom soap

Just like to take this opportunity to introduce our new  soap "Orange Blossom" it's going to be an incredibly rich lathering Bar. It will be available after curing on 12/04/12 so look for it.
You can also reserve some just for you by going to our website.
This bar contains saponified olive oil, coconut oil, palm oil, beeswax, castor oil, goats milk, mountain spring water, orange fragrance oil, orange zest

Fallen tree

Some pictures of a large tree that fell at Cumberland gap (where I work)
You can see that this tree was pretty rotten. It has several large woodpecker holes!
Pretty neat how it just shattered.
Good thing it didn't fall on anyone our anything!

Joke from our grandson Carlos:

What do honeybees comb their hair with?

Honeycomb!
Hahahahahah

working on the website

putting a website together is quite and ur dating and it's extremely frustrating but I'm making it work should be up and running by the end of this weekend.

New pbotos

Plowing the fields, watching the bees etc.