Honey, I’m Home!

Dear readers, It’s your favorite 12 year old blogger back at it again with the story of how we started beekeeping. It’s funny how the Lord works in mysterious ways isn’t it? We never actually planned to have honey bees but the Lord had other plans… And after a lot of research and prayer, we decided to get our first two nucleus hives (small beginner hives). Some of the factors that influenced our decision were the powerful affect honey has on colds, allergies, sore throats, and coughs. We had been purchasing local honey for a couple years when we moved to the farm. Then we realized how important the bees are for pollinating plants, fruit trees, berries, and our gardens. The first year PJ and I were a little afraid of the bees but we soon grew to enjoy and even help Nana with the feeding and caring for the bees. The Lord has really blessed us and last summer we had a total of 20 hives. My mom has become Nana’s official assistant and last summer we harvested about 10 gallons of honey (leaving a lot for the bees to survive through the winter). If you’d like to learn more about beekeeping, you can always talk to my grandmother, she is the official beekeeper. (by Abby)

A Stubborn Plant!

When we first moved in we knew there would be a lot of updating, cleaning, and weeding, in our future. BUT little did we know how big a project that would be! First, we started with endless hours of pulling up an invasive species called mint. Mom and I pulled and we dug up the roots and sprayed a vinegar mixture to try and eradicate the persistent, invasive plant. Finally, we cleared all the mint away! Unfortunately it grew back again and again. Mom finally gave up and said, “If the mint wants to grow here that badly, then it is MINT to be!”

Snake Scream

I am sure we all have that one thing that no matter how silly it may be we are truly terrified of it. Dad happens to be petrified of snakes. The only snake he likes is a dead one! Our story begins with us moving furniture into our new home when a scream splits the air and being that we were just moving in and our house has many doors, we could not find where the sound came from. Finally after hearing the sound again ,Mother said it was just Dad’s “snake scream”. Apparently Dad was walking up the stairs to the porch and a three foot black snake was lazily lounging across the stairs. I think the snake was just as startled as dad was! Little did we know this would be the first of many snake encounters and we would soon discover that this snake was tiny compared to some of the ones to come. (Abby)

Our Journey

Have you ever wanted to live on a farm? Our family searched, prayed, visited, rejected, searched some more and finally found the perfect family farm in Louisa, Virginia. Many factors made this farm a great choice; 67 acres of fields and hard woods, a creek along the border, a large home that fit our family and several outbuildings. This small farm afforded us the opportunity to grow and learn all about animal husbandry and farming. Welcome to our story, read on to discover how it was “Mint 2 Bee”.