Ups and Downs on the Farm

Today was a bit of a roller coaster of up and downs.

Up - The outdoor faucet in Charlie's paddock that has been frozen for most of the winter finally works again.  Yippee!

Up -  A ton of snow in our yard melted today.

Up - All the raw materials I need for making lip balm, hand cream, and soap arrived by mail.  I am super excited about this!  I am also a little bit scared thanks to the huge skull and crossbones signs all over the bottle of lye but hopefully I will get over this.

Down - Honey extraction has been delayed.  We got everything set up, started uncapping, and realized that the frames are way too cold and wet to continue.

Ian before we realized that we had a big problem.

So, now all our frames are sitting in the middle of our kitchen, covered by a tarp, with a dehumidifier running on full blast underneath.  They need to warm up and dry out before we can get to extracting the honey.  This is not inconvenient at all.  If I had anticipated this (which I should have), I could have begun the dehumidifying process two days ago when I took apart the hives.  Groan.

Down - I am still puzzled by my sourdough starter.

Based on today's monitoring I think that I should begin baking about 3.5 hours after feeding my starter.   We'll see if I get the same result tomorrow.

Good night from us here on Gael Glen Farm.  If nothing else, all our farm and homesteading adventures keep life interesting.