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The Rhode island Reds are developing some speckles and color. We still aren't sure which one is the rooster.

Summer Chores Begin as the Rain Ends

Summer homesteading is about more than harvesting and preserving food; it's about getting ready for the coming winter.
These are the ten boxes of honey we pulled from the hives. You can see the fresh white wax on many of the frames.

Phase Two of our 2026 Honey Harvest Will Be our Largest...

The honey is rolling into the homestead! As we prepare for our largest harvest yet, we take our new extractor for a spin.
Young, recently mated queens in a queen cages with their attendents. These cages go into the hive and the bees chew their way out through shiny blob to join the hive.

Dealing with the Heat Dome and Weak Queens

A fellow beekeeper raises her own queens and has extra mated queens. She asked me if I needed any. Since I had two under-performing...
These fifteen new chicks are our next generation of egg layers.

New Arrivals on the Homestead

We are gearing up to produce more eggs and honey for our use and for sale. Its an important part of our self-sufficiency.
Honey pours out of the extractor, which uses centrifugal force to propel the honey out of the comb after we remove the wax capping.

The Honey Harvest is In the Jar

The first part of the honey harvest is in and being bottled, but there will be one or two more this year as honey remains on the hives.
Some wild animal chewed through our water supply. We're still getting water, but less than normal.

A Wild Weekend on the Homestead

Rural life isn't easy, but it can be interesting and challenging. This weekend proves the point, from contaminated water to animal rescues.
If you look closely, on the right, you can see where the comb broke apart when I lifted another super off this hive, exposing the honey. The light, white wax is newly drawn comb.

Beekeeping and Water Woes: Thriving Through the Drought

The lack of rain is affecting humans, honeybees, and plants, but some relief may lie on the horizon, at least in the Appalachians.
If a beekeeper looks at this frame, the will see capped brood, uncapped brood, larva at various ages, nectar, bee bread (pollen), an a few drones mixed in with the worker bees.

It’s Been a Week for the Bees

Pete discusses the skills every new beekeepers should have, from overcoming the fear of being stung to learning to read a frame.
Baking bread us a useful skill for a prepper or anyone looking to cut food costs.

Baking Bread, Broken Faucets, and Bar Oil

Mastering homesteading skills like baking, and DIY repairs is vital for preppers facing inflation and supply chain issues,
There are four charged queen cells on the bottom of this frame. Each one contains a larva about to become a pupa and then a queen bee. The cells are much larger than the worker bee and drone cells seen above them.

Swarming Bees and How to Prevent Them

Losing a swarm is a lost investment, but these bees are paying for themselves in more ways than one as the hives multiply.
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