Monday, 29 July 2019

A meal from the garden

Stir Fri veg in sweet and sour sauce.


Not going to win any prizes, but the most satisfying meal ever.

Tuesday, 2 July 2019

Bee update

When we gave the bees a new house, I was a bit worried that this would put a dampner on foraging. Only a couple seemed to be flying and would they get lost in the new location? Would they even find the door to get out? I was particularly worried because of the heat wave. I had this idea that foraging bees will bring water for the queen. But if she lost her two foragers, would she die from the heat?

It was easy enough to put a small dish (otherwise known as a bottle top :-) of water in the box with them.

It was also easy enough to do the same with a teaspoon of honey.

They didn't show interest in either.

Oh, well. Never mind. I tried.

This evening we had a thunderstorm. Once the sun was back for the sunset, 


I went to check on them.

All the water and honey was gone!


Was this the doing of the thunderstorm?

Or could it have been the bees?

But that green dish that had the honey in is so clean! Not a hint of stickiness. Like it had been washed.

Here's the sequence of events that happened moments after I replaced refilled bottle tops.





Clearly, they knew what they were after!

How exciting! Looks hopeful for their survival.

By the way, if you are interested, I'm told they are bumble bees. So don't expect much return on our honey investment.

Monday, 1 July 2019

My new outdoor kitchen


This is a sač

It's a Bosnian thing. It's outdoor cooking without all the hastle.

Or the burnt bits.

A BBQ you have to tend all the time. This, you can set up and leave for an hour and come back, lift the lid and you have....


Fantastic roast chicken for four.

We've had pizza from it too.

I'm told you can bake bread and pies in it also, so that just has to be tried.

All for just 20 euros and a few hot embers on top.

Excellent simplicity.

New farm arrival - Beak

A big first this morning: First birth on the farm. We've been incubating eggs and yesterday morning was day 21. And at lunchtim...