Beeswax!

As some of you already know, we lost a beehive a few weeks ago and needless to say, I was one mad pregnant lady when it happened! Seeing my hard earned moola literally fly out of a white wooden box did not make me happy! However, after pulling myself together I decided to turn lemons into lemonade in the form of a big hunk of beeswax!

We left the frames outside so the remaining bees could clean them out and boy did they! They sucked out all of the remaining honey and left us with 4 frames of empty comb which we scraped off and melted down.

Yep, they left some nasty looking stuff in there but at least its all "organic" and "natural" right?!

In case you are wondering how we managed to remove all the bee butts, wings and other various nasty bits from the leftover wax, we melted it in boiling water so that the wax floated to the top. Then we let it harden up so we could scrape off the crud that settled to the bottom. After repeating this process a few times to remove the big pieces of debris we boiled it again in a double boiler and filtered it by pouring the liquid wax into a yogurt cup over some clean pantyhose.  

Voila!!! 4 oz of beautifully clean beeswax!

My goal is to turn this into homemade lip balm. I think this chunk should last me a while and since lip balm practically goes IN TO your mouth I have gotten kinda funny about all the chemical packed chap sticks that I find at the store.  All the recipes I have found make it look pretty easy so wish me luck and I'll keep you all posted on how it turns out!

DIY Hosptial Delivery Gown

I have really gotten dorky these days! I think being 37 weeks pregnant has made me a bit obsessive; so I have been safely taking out these obsessive tendencies on sewing projects. I have made outfits for Baby Boyd, embroidered his burp cloths (yes, I know that it's stupid to embroider things that the kid is going to barf all over but, hey, I get bored on Sundays), and to top it all off I decided that it would be a brilliant idea to make a hospital delivery gown so that I can look super preppy and way too excited on d-day. I had never even heard of this idea until Tyler and I went to Austin and saw a woman selling some super cute/super expensive ones at a street fair. I had found my next challenge.

When we got home I did a little googling and came across this pattern.  

 

Sorry for the not so flattering photo! I'm 9 months preggo, remember?!

I used the pattern but took everyone's advice and made the following alterations:

1. added 6 inches to the length
2. cut 2 "right sides" for the back instead of a left and right to make sure I had plenty of fabric to cover my rotund buttocks
3. used snap tape instead of buttons on the shoulder
4. used bias tape on all seams instead of hemming
5. skipped the pocket directions and added my own pocket below the hip 

It ties at the top, inside left, outside right, and bottom (not tied in this pic and probably not necessary).

 

Snaps at the shoulder for feedings..just like the normal hospital gowns.

 Here is the breakdown of materials:

2.75 yards fabric

3 packages of double fold bias tape

1 package of snap tape

2 rolls of ribbon (one thicker for around my waist and one thinner for ties)

 

The project took me about 2 days start to finish and is by no means perfect but it was fun to make. So thank you "uuber preppy, over the top, and far too brightly colored" hospital gown for taking my mind off of my impending life change for a few hours! It's all about the small things in life!  

Baby Bump update

Yes, I know, I have not been good about posting belly pics but I do have an excuse! My usual photographer, aka my husband, has a sick computer and the files are stuck in its belly!

Thankfully our friends Josh and Aubrie Moates were sweet enough to take a few shots for us. Josh is with Kim Box Photography and he and Kim actually shot our wedding so obviosuly we are fans of his work. Plus, Aubrie does FABULOUS work herself so check them both out if you want some amazing photos!!!

Josh, Aubrie and their 3 year budding photographer named Ever, along with our friends Erika and John Tracy and their son, Thomas, drove up to Chilton County and took some photographs in a peach orchard that is owned by a beekeeper friend of ours!

So....here I am at week 31! Eat your heart out! (we did, literally, on peaches that is!)

And last but not least, 3 year old Ever took this one and it just happens to be one of my favorites! Notice the slightly lower angle of the shot! Ha!

So I'm now at week 33 and still feeling great, thank goodness. The heat is pretty bad around these parts but that means that EVERYONE is hot, not just me. I'm drinking about 3-4 liters of water every day which is helping and I'm still excercising but I have now moved INDOORS!! Other than that, things are moving smoothly and we will see Baby Boyd in about 7 weeks!

Best Day EVER!!

Well Tyler and I took quite the field trip recently! We realized that we were ready for our second beehive so the president of our beekeepers association put us in contact with a man who sells nucs (small colonies of bees) up in Central, AL. So Tyler and I borrowed his Dad's pickup truck and drove north to pick up our girls. Side note: we decided that since our hives are mostly all girls that they needed sorority names so this new hive is named Beta Zeta, BZ, get it? bzzzzz! Anyway, when we got there we were amazed, this man had almost 60 hives that were all painted bright pastel colors like an basket full of Easter eggs! He also had a beautiful organic garden which almost completely feeds he and his wife, numerous fruit trees and bushes,  a slew of guinea hens and a wood shop that Tyler would die for. Needless to say, Tyler and I found our utopia!

More than anything else, this trip was a great learning experience for us. The man opened up many of his hives and explained exactly what was going on and what we were looking at. This kind of education my friends, is priceless for a novice beekeeper like myself!

We even got to assist him in catching a swarm. Not so scary looking huh? We had to get the queen in the box so that all her worker bees would follow. IT.WAS.AMAZING.

The bees were so preoccupied with what they were doing that they didn't even sting his bare hand when he stuck his finger in the clump to find the queen!

You can see her in the picture below with the little white dot on her back. He marks his queen with a paint pin so that he can spot her whenever he inspects his hives. Think Where's Waldo!

The picture below in no way does his garden justice! It's huge and beautiful and he practices only organic methods to support his whole food vegetarian lifestyle. It really is an inspiration to see!

Check out that Dinosaur Kale on the left! Yum!!!!

 Tyler and I came home on cloud 9 and can't wait to go back and visit him again! There really is something so amazing about seeing how things grow and produce!

And yes, I know I am a huge dork!

Zinnias, JUST DO IT!

The bees and I are currently loving the zinnias that have made their home in our back yard.  They are technically an annual so you replant them every year but I lucked out this time! I planted them from seed in April of last year and about half of the seeds came up. I planted a lot so it was probably a good thing in the long run. Anyway, I got lazy and the end of last summer and never pulled up the horrid looking half dead plants until about November and lo and behold they reseeded themselves! I now have a smorgasbord of different color zinnias for cutting and the bees have plenty to eat!

Point of the story: plant zinnia seeds in the spring, let them die off and look like crap for a while and they will come back even more plentiful than before!

The Hillwood Honey Project has Begun!

It's official ladies and gents, Tyler, Strongbow and I are beekeepers! Our bees were delivered on Friday and all 30,000 of them seem to like their happy new home.

The yellow thing on the front is a feeder which is filled with a 50/50 mixture of sugar and water and all I have to do for the next few weeks is refill it every other day or whenever they drink it up. They need to be fed for a while until they can get used to their new surroundings and repair any damage that may have happened in transit.

In case you are wondering, my bees were started from a nuc (nucleus colony) in early March by a guy in Alex City, AL so it's bigger and stronger than the average nuc or package. He sold me one of his own nucs because he wanted to make sure that I started my newest hobby with bees that he knew were docile and healthy so I was very grateful that he went over and above to make sure I got the "right" bees! I also purchased all of my equipment from him so he knows me well by now!

In about 2 or 3 weeks they will have filled up both of the boxes with babies (brood) and will need to be split into 2 separate hives so they don't get too crowded and swarm. When that time comes I'll take the top box off and put it on another base with a purchased queen and I'll go from 1 hive to 2 hives. I'll also add a smaller box to the top of each hive for them to grown into and store our their honey.

Here I am on my maiden voyage to the hive. I am well protected if you can't tell!

 Doesn't Strongbow look excited to introduce himself to the bees?! He decided to follow me out to the hive and "help" me change the feeder by sticking his nose in the opening. Brilliant idea bud! After being stung by about 5 bees that all seemed to get stuck in his fur he decided to back off. 

Check out that swollen eye that he is sporting! Maybe he has learned his lesson?!

Yet Another Hobby

So a few weeks ago I was hanging out with Tyler and a few of his colleagues when something funny came up in the conversation and one of his coworkers responded with, "she is pregnant, not stupid!" We all had a good laugh over this statement then it kind of got me thinking, I'm pregnant, not disabled, I'm pregnant, not in a coma, I'm pregnant, and my life may be changing but I'm still the same ole me!

With that said, in usual Sara fashion, I figured now is as good of a time as any to pick up a new, somewhat "different" hobby! It may not be conventional for someone who is almost 7 months pregnant and living in a midtown neighborhood but I don't care; I'm becoming a beekeeper! Yes you heard me, a beekeeper. I already have my 2 hives and the majority of my gear and I have even joined our local beekeepers association. Now all I need is my bees which should be in here in about 2 weeks.

In case you were wondering:

1. Yes, I am aware that I am about to have a baby
2. Yes, I know I will probably get stung
3. No, I am not allergic
4. No, Tyler is not allergic
5. Yes, I have cleared it with my neighbors
6. Yes, Strongbow will probably get stung too
7. Yes, Tyler will help when the baby comes
8. Yes, it is legal in my neighborhood
9. Yes, I know what I am getting my self into
10. Yes, I do love honey, THAT MUCH

I'll be sure to keep you updated on my beekeeping/sewing/cheesmaking/breadmaking/vegetable gardening (which is looking AMAZING right now BTW), baby growing progress!