Lazy W Marie

Carpeing all the diems in semi-rural Oklahoma...xoxo

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New Baby, New Bees

This past weekend was busy at the farm. Lots of planting, lots of tidying up of the  already flourishing edible gardens, lots of photo taking and chicken chasing. But two very exciting things happened that are totally news worthy.

Seraphine had her baby.

cria day three
This little guy was born mid-morning on Friday, May 30th. He is already running like the wind and nursing like a champ, and he is never short of kisses for Handsome and me. No name yet. But we’re definitely in love. xoxo

And I brought home two new hives of honeybees.

We had heavy rain at the farm all night and into the morning, sending the bees deep inside their boxes. I had a small panic attack thinking they had absconded on day three of living here. They're okay! Just staying warm and dry until the skies clear. If you look closely in the entrances you can see them churning about. Beautiful.
We had heavy rain at the farm all last night and into this morning, sending the bees deep inside their boxes. I had a small panic attack thinking they had absconded on day three of living here. They’re okay! Just staying warm and dry until the skies clear. If you look closely in the entrances you can see them churning about. Beautiful.

 

On Saturday evening Maribeth drove me to Noble, Oklahoma, where Brian and Marcy Royal run a wonderful little bee business from their home. We admired their peach trees (how could they not be well pollinated?), wished Brian well on their soon-to-be-born fourth baby, and put the two NUCs I had ordered into the back of Maribeth’s minivan, the one with the magic rear hatch. (When she’s not looking I play with it endlessly. You can close it without touching it, just using your mind powers.) We made a quick stop at her house for supplies I needed which of course she had, then drove the bees easily and without incident back to the Lazy W.

Once the two waxy cardboard boxes were settled onto their tabletop spots in my vegetable garden, we stood around in the purplish dusk eating sugar snap peas straight off the vine and accepting fuzzy kisses from the new cria (baby llama). I wondered that night, as I do so often, whether Maribeth knows how important a role she plays in our hobby farming adventures. I hope she does.

On Saturday night I went to bed a very happy beekeeper (but a very sad Thunder fan, because on that same evening my team lost their shot at the playoffs). My dreams ran thick with golden honey.

Early Sunday morning Handsome nudged me from sleep saying, “Hey are you gonna go feed your bees?” I sprang out of bed like a kid on Christmas morning, donned my pink bee suit, and ran outside. Past the hungry cats, past the fattening eggplants and cantaloupes.I ran straight to the bees and fed one of the hives all the sugar-water I could offer them, which wasn’t much. We’ve been trying to eat less refined stuff here and so I just don’t keep sugar in the pantry anymore. Also, I wasn’t planning to feed the bees so early in the season but am happy that Maribeth urged me otherwise. Maybe keeping them overfed and happy will be a good buffer against the odds. Two years ago, remember, I just kind of crossed my fingers and walked away, until winter.

After church and a family lunch, we stopped for groceries. I bought five million pounds of granulated sugar. Home again, I mixed up some thick, yummy syrup and returned to the vegetable garden. It was easy to gently brush the bees away from the feeding holes to position the inverted buckets. The sweet stuff was dripping softly, and my heart was content. I looked around and knew that everything growing nearby would not only feed these amazing creatures; the bees would also pollinate these plants and help them thrive. In one lopsided rectangle of earth, symbiosis and poetry were reigning.

I thought of my Papa Nieberding.

Excerpt from my great-grandfather's apiary journal, these pages dated May 1980. I was in Kindergarten, and Oklahoma was in full bloom just like we are now, 34 years later.
Excerpt from my great-grandfather’s apiary journal, these pages dated May 1980. I was in Kindergarten, and Oklahoma was in full bloom just like we are now, 34 years later.

May 2- This was truly a lovely day. The temperature was in the high 70s- and the bees were carrying nectar in loads- Tonite there was an odor of ripening honey. I haven’t any idea what the source.
May 3- The willows are blooming and should bolster the brood rearing.

Well, it’s mid-morning now and I have a long list of wonderful stuff to get done here. I wish you well, friends, however you are spending your Monday. I wish you good, nourishing food. Memories that heal. Friends who help. I wish you goals worth pursuing and love that catches you well at the end of the day.

“She did not need much, wanted very little. A kind word, sincerity, fresh air, clean water, a garden, kisses, books to read, sheltering arms, a cosy bed, and to love and be loved in return.” ~Starra Neely Blade
XOXOXOXO

Friday 5: Animal Captioning

Happy Friday!! How about a Friday 5 at the Farm? Today, let’s caption stuff.

Anyone with animals, if they are being honest, will admit to spending plenty of time speaking for those animals. Whether you have dogs and cats, horses and llamas, or even just a pet rock, you probably watch your beloved non-humans live their domesticated lives then provide your human spin on their thoughts. I bet you even use a special voice for each animal.

The only exception to this might be if you have a parrot. Parrots tend to speak for themselves, whether you like it or not.

Trust me on this.

Around the Lazy W, animal-captioning is the cheapest and most abundant form of entertainment. I mean, clearly, we have a bevy of critters who need us to interpret their thoughts, right? Handsome and I catch ourselves speaking through the farm animals like it’s second nature. It’s always hilarious and only occasionally disturbing.

So. Tonight for Friday 5 I’m gonna share five farm animal photos and the thought captions I’ve thought up for them. Then I’d flat-out LOVE IT if you’d try to read their thoughts and write new captions. If you happen to know these animals and their personalities, either by visiting the farm or by reading this blog, then you have an advantage. Go wild. Be smart. Be hilarious. Be inappropriate. Be thoughtful. Have fun!!

 1. Ethel & Chicks

ethel with chicks and captions

2. Dulcinea at the Bee Yard

llamas guarding honey with caption

3. Big Boys Discussing Thunder B-ball

chunk dusty ibaka caption

 

4. Pacino & His Baby

pacino with chick for edie corrected caption

5. Romulus the Heartsick

rom diddly caption

So there you have it. Five photos, five captions by me. You can do so much better! Let me hear it.

Happy Friday, friends, and happy weekend!

XOXOXOXO

(almost) wordless wednesday

Yesterday afternoon while brushing Chanta I sat down in the grass. He let me stroke his long, sturdy legs. He snuffled the top of my head and knocked my cheap sunglasses to the ground. I leaned against the meat of his forearm, passenger side. Then, exhausted from the morning, I laid down on the grass, flat on my back, still holding his brushes. He look me square in the eyes and exhaled all of his sweet, grassy horse breath on me then swung that massive head to the left.

chanta in sun edited

He started crunching the grass all around the edges of my limp body. He could have walked away, grazing the full expanse of the front yard and vegetable garden area, but he stayed with me. Munching and breathing around me. Almost beneath me, tickling my ribs and moving my legs out of the way if they covered a little patch of sweet clover. My hair sprawled out on the ground was in danger of being mistaken for hay. I wondered if Chanta was trying on purpose to make me laugh and thought for a while about anthropomorphism then felt sad for people who don’t know animals are emotional creatures.

The sky behind him was both blue and gray, quilted with brilliant clouds and warm with the sun. The farm was sleepy, full of birdsong and buffalo chuffing, peaceful.

I know the truth about some things that I can’t articulate. Sometimes I allow fear and grief to drain me, but Love always sweeps in and fills me back up. The storms always calm, and the sky always returns to it gray-blue brilliance.

XOXOXOXO

 

Friday 5 at the Farm: Not Marathon Related

I have so many more things to tell you about the marathon! So many. But the next piece is a bit lengthy, and it’s Friday, so how about a quick breather? Five quick little farm updates that have nothing to do with running. It’s a miracle.

Do you divide your new blooms before planting? It;s a great way to spread color around the garden.
Do you divide your new blooms before planting? It’s a great way to spread color around the garden.
  1.  We have three new baby chicks. My friend Mrs. Robinson, who taught both of my girls when they were little (a million years ago) recently welcomed me into her new classroom of first graders, where I took a couple of our farm chicks to visit the kids. They were all busy tending to incubators full of hopeful little eggs and wanted to see what their feathery future might hold. Well, on Easter weekend three robust little yellow chicks entered the world, and this week was the perfect time for them to go live at the farm, literally. They are assimilating so nicely, and we love them. I’ll say again: There is nothing quite so sweet as having tender, chirping little baby chicks in your home. They soften the blow of living.
  2. I have finally purchased most of my warm-weather veggies, and I have that early-summer giddiness happening in my belly and on my bare arms. The weather this weekend should be in the high eighties, maybe even the nineties, and this is my sweet spot. So excited. We’ll be doing lots of garden updates very soon!
  3. New books! I had a crazy long lunch break while subbing seventh grade today and had forgotten to bring a book to read, so I went to the local library and scooped up a stack of goodness. While supervising an afternoon video marathon in Science class, I plowed through 130 pages of Stephen king’s On Writing. It’s a book I’ve been wanting to read for ages, and so far it is exceeding my expectations. I also checked out Screwtape Letters by C.S. Lewis and A Moveable Feast by Ernest Hemingway, two more titles over which I’ve been really salivating. One or two others, I can’t remember now. I’ll definitely post reviews here soon.
  4. Tomorrow is another Zombie Bolt 5k,and this time it’s a mud run obstacle-course style event. It should be a blast! Really cool people, really fun times. And the weather could not be better for it. Handsome and I get into costume and everything. So much fun!
  5. I crave to run like you would not believe. I’ve eaten well and exercised very lightly all week, until one fried food meal tonight. (I made the mistake of waiting until I was exhausted to find food.) But my body just craves a good, long escape like crazy. SORRY! I mentioned running. Sue me. If I show you these cute babies will you forgive me? 
Sometimes birds flock together even when they're not of a feather. Such is the case at the W, usually. xoxo
Sometimes birds flock together even when they’re not of a feather. Such is the case at the W, usually. xoxo

Okay! Please tell me something going on in your world! Any animals stories? Any new books? What’s growing in your garden? Going for a run this weekend?

“Just living is not enough. 
One must have sunshine, freedom, and a little flower.”
Hans Christian Andersen
XOXOXOXO

 

Friday 5 at the Farm: Accidental Collecting

You guys. I have some pretty serious posts in draft, being edited by my ten-four-good-buddy M and polished by Love because it is sensitive material.

But today is also Friday. Handsome and I have worked ourselves down to the marrow this week and have one more day of such exertion on the books before launching a drop-dead gorgeous Oklahoma weekend and some equally intense romancing.

So before those serious posts come your way, how about a quick Friday 5? Here are five accidental collections we have made at the farm.

  1. Rust old milk cans
  2. Heavy cotton, mid-century tablecloths
  3. Books
  4. Lawn furniture that does not match but is awesome
  5. Llamas

 

rom diddly

llama romance

skinny dulcie

llamas guarding honey

 

And you know what else? I have a feeling we will soon be adding a fourth. Place your bets here. Again. Just like last spring.

What have you accidentally collected?

Work hard today, friends. And please have yourself an amazing weekend! Tune in soon for stories from my father in law about the Oklahoma City Bombing, the reason behind running the marathon.

“Well done is better than well said.”
~Benjamin Franklin
XOXOXOXO