A Cottage in Clarkville

Another long break between posts I’m sorry. Spring 2011 has nearly finished, and it’s been a good one at the Cottage, except for the bees. The big excitement is the news of a new arrival due next April, Noah will have himself a partner in crime to run around with.
The vegetable garden is in its normal state of being behind where it should be. I have just finished doing the first mounding up of the Jersey Benny potatoes, not sure if they will be ready for Christmas, but will be close. Will be planting a main crop of Ilam Hardies soon. Have got some seeds in, but the ones I have been raising in the egg trays don’t seem to be going so well. We have got plans of growing pumpkins, squash and watermelons in the part of the garden closest to the house. It’s the part that is more often than not overrun by weeds, and that is how it is at the moment. I did have plans of getting the chickens to clear it out for me, more on that in my next post! I have planted some corn, bean and pea seeds directly into the garden today, and we purchased some plants from the local Ohoka Farmers Market that are now in as well. We have got Lebanese cucumbers, tomatoes (Cherry, Roma and Russian Red), Black Zucchini, and celery. The rocket and mesculin lettuce is doing well.
The garlic is looking good and probably isn’t far off being ready, and we still have a few things to get onto.
The sheep are doing well, the lambs are getting big, and there is heaps of grass around for them, have just trimmed their feet and cleaned a couple of bums.
I have been on a basic cheesemaking course so will be making my first feta soon, and have finally had success with making yogurt.

We don’t have many bad days here but today was one of them. I had it confirmed today that my bee hive had a disease called American Foulbrood (AFB). There is no treatment for this disease and I was required by law to destroy the entire hive by burning it, which I did this morning. Before burning it I had to block the entrance and pour some petrol over the top to kill all of the bees first.
I discovered I had the disease during a normal hive inspection just over a week ago. It is suspected that my bees picked it up from a nearby apiary whose owner has a history of having the disease in his hives.
So that was a stink thing to do. I am not sure if I will start-up again, I have been offered some more bees but I don’t feel like it at the moment as I don’t want to lose everything again. Will have a think about it. The agency that controls AFB is going to inspect the nearby apiary.