Andrew decided to fix up David's go cart as his gift to him. The go cart went from this:
To this:
I know Andrew had as much fun fixing it up as David was thrilled that he had done the work.
The go cart had been in Andrew's shop for a while, so at first it didn't want to run. After a bit more work, Andrew got it going.
David chose brownies for his dessert after homemade pizza. Happy birthday to our ten-year-old!Which bring us to this morning's events.
Our family has decided it's better to pick raspberries in the morning and then sell them in the afternoon, so we are getting up early to go get busy. This morning Peter went out first, then came back quickly to inform Jim that a swarm of bees was collecting on a cross post by the raspberry patch.Jim grabbed his bee equipment and got to work.
We aren't sure where the bees came from, but we were glad Peter spotted them.
Peter took some great shots of the swarming bees.
We could get fairly close to the bees, since they were very busy. I was glad Jim had on his bee suit!
Jim got the swarm into a box, and we continued on to picking raspberries.
We started picking berries in earnest last Friday. We have a third of an acre in bushes, and it's enough to keep the family busily picking for about 2 hours each day. In later afternoon Jim and one of the boys travel to the local convenience store to sell them in the parking lot. I have also sent along some jam to sell.
These berries are as large as Peter's thumb!
Peter caught a shot of David and Jonathan picking berries.
This morning was rather cool, and I picked berries wearing a heavy sweatshirt and a jacket! This cooler weather is nice for picking, but not so nice for helping our corn and other vegetables to mature.
After picking I took some photos of my flowers. Below is a photo of my Missouri primrose plant.
These were raised from seed a year ago, but didn't flower until this year.
Here is a picture of one of my calendula plants. I had ordered some pink ones as well, but they all turned out to be variations of orange!
My lavender is about 3 years old, and still going strong.
The petunias I planted around my Sweet Williams are kind of taking over the garden areas. The white petunias volunteered from the plants I had last year.
As you can see, I love lots of color in my gardens!
And then ... Just as Jim and Jonathan were going to leave this afternoon for selling raspberries -- Jim spotted another swarm of honey bees! I'll save that for my next post!
7 comments:
I love all your flowers and the raspberries look delicious. We, too, are picking everyday though we don't have as many to pick as you. We just eat ours.
Very interesting. Love hearing all the details.
Raspberries are excellent. Nice big ones.
Flowers very pretty also. They do add to the setting of your home.
Where are all the bees coming from? Will there be time enough for them to do some good?
I would have been running in the opposite direction.
Have a good day Gp B
You have such lovely flowers, Mrs. Bartlett!!! I'm so glad you posted the picture of your Calendula, as we have 1 plant in our garden that looks exactly like that, but we didn't know what it was. Now I do know! :)
Andrew sure did a GREAT job on the go-cart! I showed the picture to our Andrew just when he got home now and he joked that we should bring our go-cart up to Andrew to paint it nicely too. :)
Free bees!!!! THAT is a blessing. I would love to come and buy lots of raspberries. They look wonderful.
Hi Lynn,
Looks like all of your hard work to get the raspberry plants established is paying off! WOW--they're just beautiful--your flowers too.
However, I must confess that seeing the swarm of bees gave me the chills. I have goosebumps remembering the 745 beestings that went into my neck in '06-'07. Whenever I see bees now, I get the creeps but I sure do love honey. :)
Blessings,
Dawn
PS. We got 20 hundreths last night so we're still hoping for a good crop this year.
Andrew did a great job on the go cart. I hope we can come up and visit some time so we can see all of your things first hand. The raspberries look wonderful and bring back memories of picking with my dad when I was a kid. Can't say I'd want the bees. Robbie is allergic to them and so we try to avoid them at all costs.
Those bees are impressive! I agree with Marci- what a blessing to have free bees!!
Was in Bismarck this last week. North Dakota really is lovely in the summer!
Blessings,
Christine
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