As I sit at my computer, this is the view out the window, with the temperature at a balmy 13 degrees Fahrenheit, after a bone chilling low of -16 earlier this week. If you are looking at similar weather, you might be wondering ‘What do beekeepers do in the winter (other than worry about their …
Category Archives: Farm stories
Who knew chickens were so good at telling time?
Over the years all my egg customers have learned that our chickens don’t lay much in the winter. We all miss the eggs! Although you might think reduced laying is their response to the cold weather, the primary reason egg laying slows down during the winter is the shorter length of the day. Chickens apparently …
Continue reading “Who knew chickens were so good at telling time?”
Snow, snow everywhere but not enough to ski
We welcomed 2026 with temperatures in the single digits and snow blanketing everything with a deep, airy layer of flakes, that hinted at the possibility of fabulous cross-country skiing. But by morning the “inches of snow” showed themselves to have been an illusion, brought about by huge fluffy flakes falling while temperatures were so cold …
Continue reading “Snow, snow everywhere but not enough to ski”
Doodle don’t
Up until I got my first dog at age 50, I would have told you I was a “cat person”, but once we got Bear, and then added Bella a year later, I was hooked. I can’t imagine ever being without a dog again. Bear and Bella were both golden doodles. We decided on doodles …
Weed wars
Life at Green Acres is filled with many simple pleasures: things like living next door to my best friend; long walks with the dogs; tapioca made with goat milk and duck eggs; evening strolls with the goats; ducks who boldly join the goat walk as we pass the pond, delighted to return to the security …
Bee Poop
Have you ever been pooped on by a honey bee? Walk past a beehive on a warm, winter day, following a long cold spell, and you probably will be! Bees will do everything they can to avoid pooping inside the hive, and they can hold it a LONG time. In the winter, when cold weather …
Winter worries 2025
I continue in my role as the editor of the Michigan Beekeepers Association Newsletter, and in that role, I write a short editor’s introduction for the newsletter each quarter. Sometimes those pieces seem appropriate to share as a farm story as well. I think this one qualifies. Editor’s Musings: As I sit down to put …
Too many goodbyes
Since we said goodbye to Bear in December, 2023, it feels like we have said too many goodbyes to the 4-legged companions in our lives: to Ditto, our sweet twenty year old cat, to Ichabod, our five year old “companion” goat, and last week to Bella, our beloved thirteen year old goldendoodle. Ditto’s mother, Patches, …
Farm mothers… or not
With our oldest ‘mama’ goat expecting kids again in the next few days, my mind is drawn to motherhood on the farm, so I thought I would share one of our recent “mothering” adventures. Those of you who have read my prior stories know fostering chicks with a broody hen is a useful alternative to …
Tail feathers
The backyard is littered with feathers …. and a reliable eyewitness reports that the perpetrator of the attempted murder was a member of our household. Meet Willow. She is a Bernedoodle, who joined us in Decembers, at age 7 months, and will be one year old next week. Although she is our third dog, she is …