Orchard Helper

DIY Playground update

I really like this picture. The tires that form the back wall of the tire sandbox are bursting with greens (tomatoes and weeds mostly), everything is shiny and bright and the kids are happy as clams. What’s not to love.

Things are growing exceptionally well in those tires. I put a tomato in each. Daughter helpfully weeded 2 of them out. I also have some green onions thrown in here and there and mint growing in a bottom tire.

So we finally moved the bucket pulley closer to the sandbox and added hooks to help with toy storage. Do the kids use them? Nope. Daughter is only trying to get the shovel off, she couldn’t btw. Brother had to help her. That clothes basket is what we have been using to hold all of their toys and still use to hold some of them. It is supposed to be hanging on the post but…..life.

I also completed the tether-ball, which is a favorite of visiting nieces and nephews.

I ruined the balance beam as well. I had to move the dirt filled tires so we could till for the clover planting. I need to refill the tires and just haven’t got around to it yet. Eventually!

The clover is coming up spectacularly though!

A walk around the house

Come take a look around with us. Turkeys approve this message, so long as it comes with snacks.

Yellow sweet clover? We’ve got 30 acres of that! It’s also freakishly tall.

I finally found rubber boots for the kids. They want to wear them everywhere now.

Prince is losing his train and Ella thinks it’s hilarious to try to tickle him with the feathers.

We saved a butterfly last week!

Taking a ride to feed the babies.

Hazelnuts are on the cusp of doing well and dying. how is that possible you ask? Well excessive rain and that sweet clover that grows taller than everything else. Ugh!

White oaks are doing alright though.

Ducks still think I’m Satan.

Paw Paws are doing well!

Vetch. Love it!

We have lots of flowers popping up.

Bindweed. Super depressing amounts of it!

The duck and Prince love each other.

Sugar snap peas. I haven’t cooked a single one. They get eaten right from the pod!

Grapes are struggling a bit

Gourds are doing alright. They’re even rooting along the vine. Crazy!

This is one of the Kraters. It’s doing well!

Jiki our pyr has to come out with me to protect me from the coyotes!

We have salad!

Top Bar Bee Hive Construction

I found this Instructable last winter and knew I had to make it myself. It seemed easy and fairly inexpensive. It took some time for me to get around to it but here it is, my beehive.

I started by cutting a plastic water barrel in half. I then washed it as well as possible.

Then I measured and made a frame for it from 2×4’s.

I put the barrel in the frame and nailed it into place, which resulted in some major thumb whacking and a band-aid applied by Son.

Don’t worry, Daughter has a toy hammer she’s “helping” with.

Then I screwed on the legs.

It turned out surprisingly tall which then required some bracing lower on the legs.

We caulked the gaps between the barrel and the frame with regular latex caulk.

Next I built the roofs out of 2×4’s and metal sheeting that we already had on hand.

I cut a small circle of hardware cloth and glued it over the entrance to the hive. I didn’t want anything bigger than a bug taking up residence in these things.

Then we cut the bars and ran a line of wax down the middle of each to guide the bees.

Lastly we coated the entire inside of the hives with beeswax and lemongrass oil. We hope the oil helps attract a swarm.

The original plan was to keep the hives inside our large lean-to. However, I now believe I am going to build an addition to the lean-to specifically for the hives. That will follow in a later post.

Wine Bottle Hot Box

We have been saving wine bottles for awhile. We have the benefit of other people’s bottles as well. Husband and I discussed various ways to make a hot box from wine bottles and the results are pretty nice if I do say so myself. We scavenged another wooden trough type structure from the local Kubota. Husband drilled holes in it and bam, hot box. We will be testing this as time goes on. Hot peppers are the current residents of the hot box.

A little bit about how this works and why you would want it:

The sun heats up the air inside of the wine bottles. The hot air then pushes through the neck of the bottle and into the soil, increasing soil temperature. This is a good way to increase your growing zone. We chose to put hot peppers in the hot box because of their love for hot soils. I hope to see them take off soon!

Bauer Haus Spatlese 2009 Rheinhessen and German Buttercase Cheese

Wine:

Bauer Haus Spatlese 2009 Rheinhessen $9.99

[I’m paraphrasing various sources] This is a fruity wine, light and tasty with apricot, nougat and apple flavors.

Cheese:

Buttercase Cheese $9.47

[Wikipedia] Butterkase is a semi-soft cheese with a golden natural rind, very popular in Germany and Austria for its creamy texture, buttery like taste. Its name, when literally translated means “butter cheese,” but the cheese is butter free.

Wine Review-

The wine was fine. The flavor was acceptable. It wasn’t anything special but it didn’t make me want to vomit, as another wine we tried did.

Cheese Review-

The cheese was ok as well. It was very cheesy, or how an American would expect cheese to taste. We ate it with some bread and it was perfectly fine.

A combined review: Both were good, not special, just good. They both served well on their own. They did not particularly enhance the flavor of each other. I would consume both if offered but I don’t think I’d go out of my way to get them. So take that as you will.

Spool cars

We went to our electrical company and saved as many spools from the fire as we could. We chose 3 different sizes for our playground. The first thing we did was decide how to keep them from rolling about, as much as the kids loved that. My initial idea was burying them a bit but Husband was much smarter and suggested cutting them. So cut them we did.

The kids enjoyed painting, for a few minutes at least.

Hubby did a great job putting the steering wheel on.

The results are great!