Life on Overload!

 I have not intentionally been absent from blogging land, but life has been bubbling over with...well, life!  In addition to our regular work schedules, we've had kids graduate from college, a garden that has been happily twining and vining away, camping, visiting, and so much more!  The living has superseded the writing about the living...

Don't get me wrong, I'm not complaining, but I am trying to justify my neglect.  Here's a rundown of what we've been up to the for the last month:

1. One of our 3 young pullets turned out to be a cockerel, so we found a new home for him on a farm. It was either that, or we were going to have to butcher--so we were getting ourselves psyched up for that possibility!

2. We picked up 3, day-old chicks and these young'uns are now 4 weeks old and spending their days outside in a wire run we built from recycled PVC pipe (and coming in for the nights.)

3. We had two kids graduate from college, which involved a decent-sized little garden party hosted at our home, a long ceremony, and one of our other daughters (the one who works for the Conservation Corps in the Southwest) spending several days at our house for a too-short visit.

3. Our honeybees continue to thrive--pouring in and out of the hive on sunny days and continuing to build comb, raise brood and collect pollen and nectar.  I've only had one more sting--and that was from accidentally stepping on a forager bee with my bare feet!

4. We've started preserving--canning, freezing and even dehydrating to keep up with the garden!  Strawberry and blueberry jam, frozen carrots, peas, and berries and we've been eating and even trading and sharing gobs of veggies from the very happy garden beds in our back yard.

5. We continue our work in the garden--much of the spring stuff is done: broccoli, peas, lettuces and we have been stirring in a bunch more compost and replanting with late Fall crops.  Meanwhile, we are starting to harvest the summer squash and we bit into our first two cherry tomatoes just yesterday!

6. Meanwhile, DOMA (Defense of Marriage Act) has been declared unconstitutional leading to some great leaps (and predictable backlash) in the land of LGBTIQ rights inevitable.  Since we live in a "domestic partner only" state, we are not yet really included fully in this progress, but it has been exciting and surreal movement nonetheless!

So, you see, it isn't so much that I've meant to neglect the blog, but life has been super duper incredibly busy and I haven't forced myself to sit down and take the time to keep y'all in the loop!