Independence Days Week 12: Grapes & Bee Hive!

So been CRAZY busy this week, and wanted to get something up.  We’re getting ready for a trip to Tennessee, so I preemptively crossed that off my 101 in 1001 list.  Which reminded me that I could cross a few more items off as well.   A month or two ago we paid off the 4Runner (WOOHOO!), and a few weeks ago, my friend Genny let me try her raw milk.  Surprisingly, it tastes just like… milk.  😀  I don’t know what else I would have expected.

Anyway, in short, here’s what we did this week:

Plant something – Grapes Grapes Grapes Grape Grapes!  Ok – not that many grapes.  We were able to get cuttings from our friends, Rich & Rachel and so we hope to have some yummy concord grapes in a year or two!

Harvest something – eggs, lettuce, spinach

Preserve something – well no food in this category, but we put another coat of stain on the fence, as it had been a couple years – so now it is preserved for a couple years more!

Waste Not – compost and recycling, reused some scrap wood for the…. BEE HIVE!  Yes yes, we have built a bee hive!  Now we just need a swarm and we’ll be rolling in the honey (welllll not rolling in it, but you know what I mean)!  Also sorted through H’s outgrown clothes for E, and E’s outgrown clothes to give to friends or Goodwill.  Went through kids’ toys as well and made a bag for Goodwill.  I have a reputation for being a Toy Nazi in this house, so there are never too many toys to go through.  But the TN in me struck Monday morning.  I tried to temper it a bit by putting a couple more of the boys’ toy baskets on the floor where they can reach them without help.

Want Not – um – built a bee hive, duh!  Looking at ordering some bulk chicken locally, but have not taken any action yet.

Build Community Food Systems – so thinking the said grapes count here. ??

Eat the Food – yep, we did!  My favorite from the week was BLT’s with avocado.  The tomatoes weren’t the best, but we used our lettuce and bacon – yum!

A few bee hive building pictures for you…