Parenting, Pollination, Pumpkins.

-Posted by Isaac

Jayne has run off again. This time to the Dolly Sods Wilderness in West Virginia. Four women and four days of hiking and camping. A little September fling, a get-away, a "girl's trip."

And here I am once again, alone with my four little angels. 

Really, it's not so bad. We're more than surviving. We're thriving. For the life of me, I can't understand why Jayne gets so frustrated. So frazzled. This is easy. Feeding, clothing, entertaining, cleaning.... easy!

Let's see... Feeding: 

Sure the line at McDonald's can be frustratingly long, but there are some wonderful distractions if you use a little creativity. Like those new soda fountain / condiment dispensers-- at least five minutes of focussed joy for a three year old. Ice cubes and ketchup? Even better than finger painting! i'm lovin' it!

Clothing:

Not that hard. Simple actually. We have plenty of clothes, I mean I'm finding drawers full. Our kids are all almost the same size. And they can all almost dress themselves!

What else?... Entertaining:

This is as simple as finding the remote.

Beautiful sunny day outside? Let's watch Sponge Bob!

Finding the remote being the key. And this brings us to Cleaning Up:

No problem. I have found everything we need in the short stretch between the kitchen and the honey house--
Shop broom. Check.
Grain shovel. Check.
Leaf blower. Got it.
And the kids even help out... because it's fun!

Bridger shows us what bad kids do when left with Daddy for four days:

"They turned into monsters who hollered and raged."

 Not my little darlings.
Jayne will be so impressed.

Enough about the parenting. Let's get to the matter at hand. As that one guy... on that one movie....? says, "It's time to put the children to bed and go looking for dinner."
Where's this from? It sticks in my head... a guy I ran with in college loved to quote it before a race.

I'm talking pollination. Pumpkin pollination. I just brought 32 hives home from Circle S Farms last night. (Grandma took the kids. Thank you!)

This year it wasn't quite the back breaker it has been in the past.
I've got a new rig:

And we've got many of the hives on pallets:

I was so proud of myself, I had Seth take a picture so I could put it on Facebook. But not ordinary Facebook. This went to a page solely devoted to commercial beekeeping. My very first trip with PALLETIZED hives!

Yes, I have become a Facebook junkie thanks to this page. It annoys Jayne, but I try to explain that it's all in the name of education.

A few of the comments on this particular post centered on my dirty bee suit.
Huh? Dirty?

Lest I be mistaken for a doctor.

Other than a few 4am stings on Seth's neck, we had no problems at all. Got there without a hitch.
Not literally.
This was early August.

I made it back a couple weeks ago for a check and some supplemental feed. The bees were doing great.
And they had obviously done their job.  Surrounding the hives were around 30 acres of vines thick with still-green pumpkins.

And in a few weeks Circle S Farms will be a flurry of activity.
Pick-your-owners out reaping the harvest provided in part by the diligent hardworking honey bee.