Our days start early. Mid-morning, on most days, I can at least tank up on my favorite breakfast. It’s simple, and the eggs cook up quickly in the tiny, cookie-sized, cast iron frying pan I received as a gift. Comb honey or plain honey drips decadently from the toast. My girls produce such tasty honey. It’s like summer in winter.
I can hardly wait for tomato season. Store-bought tomatoes are tough, and don’t have nearly the flavor of home-grown Chadwick Cherries, Hungarian Hearts or Bonny Bests.
I’m very late at planting peppers, and need to get tomatoes going as well. And I wonder if I’ll have enough egg cartons?
Our household’s schedules don’t often match, so it was good to have breakfast with a family member today.
No, not the crabby gnome, although he was present. Found him at Runnings, and he is the perfect addition to the very small collection of gnomes I have stashed here and there.
It will be chick time soon, at Runnings. My daughter used to love going in to look at them, and dream of raising chickens. We can’t raise chickens in our town, but we do raise quail, so now she can often interact with even tinier chicks.
Walking through any feed store now makes me a bit nervous. Bird flu is going around in nearby states. When there are chicks in the store, we’ll probably avoid that area. Too cautious? Maybe. But I already suit up to deal with bird feeders, and I change my shoes before going into the aviary.
I’ll need to start work on the new coop pretty soon. Plans are nearly done. Hope lumber prices don’t kill me. I’d rather not have to resort to using pallets for this project. With my existing coveys and a bunch more eggs incubating, we’ll need the larger, more efficient set-up.
Meanwhile, I’m working on building additional Warre style beehives. Some of my bees overwintered, thankfully (knock on wood – there’s still snow and cold), and may need to be split. Maybe not, but just in case. And I’ll be adding a package of Carniolans in a couple of months.
My beehives are a single bee space off from traditional plans. This was initially an accident. Fortunately, it is on the right side, and doesn’t affect the bar spacing, or really anything at all.
Breakfast not only fuels the body, but it gives me time to sort the above jumble of thoughts. It gives me a chance to take a breath and count my blessings, too. And even from these thoughts, there are many.
