Strolling Through Our Woods

After church on Mother's Day we took a nice walk around our property.  It was a rather cool afternoon, with a threat of rain and temperatures in just the upper 50s.  We had a very enjoyable little hike, even though we had to wear jackets!

 

These pretty flowers are spiderwort from Mackey Bend, Lisa's homeplace growing up.  Lisa has two big bunches here in the wild garden.  She has several other plants and flowers from her home that reminds her of her mother, but these were the one's blooming when we took the walk.

These gladolia's are from the Mary Castle homestead across the river.  Before she passed away, the new bridge came through and took away all her garden space where they were planted.  She was happy that we were able to re-locate them , along with some of her other plants and flowers, before the bull dozers came through.

  

 

Lisa calls these dewberries.  They are a type of black berry that runs right along the ground.  The berries are among the first to ripen, and are super sweet.  They are better than blackberries or even raspberries!

We have three different varieties of wood sorrel.  I think those above are called violet wood sorrel, due to the purple markings.  The flower also has a violet tint to it.  It is a tasty sour treat on a hike through the woods and helps to quench thirst.

This is yellow wood sorrel.  It does not have the purple markings but tastes the same as the violet sorrel.  There is common wood sorrel that we didn't find on this hike.  We also have several good patches of sheep sorrel around, but we didn't go to them on this walk either.  All the sorrel are high in Vitamin C, good to nibble on, and are good as a tea or to use in salads.  They also contain oxalic acid which is ok, but can be bad for folks suffering from gout, rheumatism, or kidney stones if they consume too much of it at one time. Historically, wood sorrel was used to treat scurvy, fevers, urinary infections, mouth sores, nausea and sore throats.

The above plant is one that Lisa wants to look up.  She thinks it might be Angelica or New Jersey Tea.  We haven't identified it yet.  Looking for and finding plants that she does not know is one of Lisa's favorite things to do!

 I just thought this was a pretty picture looking out across the ravine.

We are very thankful that we have a nice wooded area that we can roam around and explore whenever we feel like it!  Nature is a wonderful place to spend some time!

Taking Care of Some Beesness

We have been learning about how to run an apiary and earlier this week we decided to check on how our honey bees are doing.  We have 4 hives right now.  Two are colonies we purchased in 2011 and two are new swarms from last year.  Last year, our colonies began to swarm in March and continued to do so through the summer, so we were afraid they may have been getting ready to do that again.  This time, however, the plan was to head off the swarms by dividing the colony that seemed to be the most active and possibly ready to swarm.

Here are Lisa and Matthew suited up and checking them out.  They are looking at the hive that we thought may be ready to divide.

This was the scene between the super and the top hive body box.

These frames show that some of the brood has been capped, but we were expecting the frames to be completely full and capped.  If they are all like these, then this hive is not ready to divide.



Pulling out a couple more frames.

Here is Lisa examining it.

These are not as full as the first frames checked.  We will check on that hive again in a few weeks to see if they get everything filled up.

They also checked on the other hive that has been most active, which was a new swarm from last year.  They looked good.  The bottom frames are getting filled up nicely. 

All the hives seem to be doing ok, even though none are ready to divide yet.  We had a very cold March, over all, this year and it seems that true Spring weather was slow getting here.  I've noticed that everything is blooming later this year, so I guess the bees are just rounding out everything later as well.  Maybe last year everything was just earlier? 

Thankfully no one was stung very badly during this expedition.  Lisa actually did some bee work all by herself a couple days earlier with no protection except the veil and did not get stung at all.  When these pictures were taken, last Wednesday, the only sting we had was a friend who was visiting.  I was up there very near the bees taking pictures and he was up there also, observing.  Neither of us were wearing any bee protection and he unfortunately got stung on the ear.  Thankfully it didn't swell much and he discovered that he is not allergic to honey bee stings! 

From Hillbilly Girl to Country Lady – OR – The Queen of Pure Water Hollow

I am hoping to pay tribute to my wonderfully talented, beautiful, intelligent and loving wife, Lisa, in this writing. I am tremendously blessed in innumerable ways through her life intertwining with mine and I am so very thankful to my Lord and Savior for allowing she and I to be husband and wife, to be one flesh in Him. She is a remarkable lady of exquisite country charms and a down to earth personality that everyone loves. She also possesses all the power and elegance of a queen. She is the Queen of our home and the Queen of our Pure Water Hollow!

I've written about my personal "homesteading" experiences, or lack of them, previously. I have so much to learn! It seems that Lisa, on the other hand, was destined to be an ideal "homesteader" from her early days being brought up as a "hillbilly" in the mountains of southern Kentucky! I hope no one is offended by the term "hillbilly".  I realize that the term has been used very derogatorily in many places and I truly do not mean any disrespect toward her family. Many mountain folk take a certain amount of pride in the term "hillbilly", even though it was originally meant as an insult. The term conjures up for me images of self-reliant people dependent upon the land where they live; folks having strong family and community values and who pick and grin (music) with friends and family; people who will not take any nonsense from any outsiders and will stand up for their rights and protect their homes. The term also brings with it pictures of poverty and superstitions and lack of education. Some "hillbillies" ran moonshine stills and were cutthroats but others were honest, hard working, God-fearing people.

It seems Lisa grew up with most of the stereotypes of the hillbilly all around her. Thankfully, however, none in her immediate family were moon shiners or complete cutthroats! Education was very important to her family, also, even though her father did not go to high school himself. Most of the eight siblings went to college and all of them became successful, affluent people in their fields and communities. This fact is most remarkable when you understand that theirs was a true "hillbilly" family in many ways.

The term "homesteading" today is used for the state of mind of being self-sufficient. To many, homesteading is kind of like a hobby, and it is a wonderful hobby!  I guess we would fall into that category today; we want to live closer to nature but life has not yet forced it on us. For Lisa's family, the homesteading movement would have seemed very funny to them, because country living was a necessity for them, not a hobby. Lisa grew up skinning squirrels and rabbits and other game that her brothers would bring in and she was known as a good fisherman and a pretty good shot as well! She learned how to butcher and prepare chickens for the table and learned about many wild herbs and plants as well as the garden vegetables they would grow and preserve. She drew water from their well every day to drink and to keep them clean and helped her mom make clothes and quilts to keep them warm. Her dad played the guitar and perhaps some other instruments and Lisa learned, too. She and her brother and sister would sing on the front porch and in church. She did not have much as far as the world looks at things, but a "hillbilly" upbringing has its own advantages!

While Lisa was away at college, a silly "city boy" swept her off her feet. God was in the arrangements and we were talking about marriage just a month after we met. Even though she could maybe have been classified as a "hillbilly girl", she has always been very much a classy lady in my eyes. Lisa has all the charm and class of her country upbringings tucked down inside her royal persona as the “Queen of Pure Water Hollow”.  Most importantly she is my Queen and I love her wholeheartedly!

5 comments
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Homestead Originals... on September 25, 2006 at 6:02 pm
You ARE Blessed!!

From Another Hillbilly (who takes pride in that term) named Lisa
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mc2rwe on September 25, 2006 at 6:10 pm
You are very blessed indeed to have your wife. I think she probably is very happy to claim you as her husband too.

Blessings

Kathy
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Suze on September 25, 2006 at 6:10 pm
What a wonderful tribute. Thank you so much for sharing it with us. Blessings!
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HSB Front Porch on September 26, 2006 at 11:02 pm
It's great to have you join us. What a precious tribute to your wife. May you alll be blessed.

~Nancy

Senior Editor
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Livin'theMontanaDream on September 26, 2006 at 11:42 pm
The description you gave of a "hillbilly" is exactly what comes to mind when hearing the word. I like it! Sounds like I would like your wife too Thanks for introducing her to us. I am enjoying your blog.

Darcy