Honey bee on a apple blossom 2008.

Honey is Ross's "comfort food" He has been working since Christmas to get new honey bee hives ready for the spring. He is observing his bees all year around and calling his Bee Mentor Tom. They compare notes on weather temp, blooming plants, swarms, rain, etc. There is more work to bees than people think. Honey bees are fascinating. Some of the hives he and Tom have collected honey from have weighed as much as 120 pounds. Even our dog Pearl knows the word "bees" and where to find the hives on the farm. We check on the hives everyday and Pearl leads the way.

"Comfort food"

While waiting in line at the grocery store I noticed a lot of magazine covers with the headline "Comfort food" and I got to thinking, "what is my comfort food?" Mmmmm chocolate, homemade wheat mac&cheese, ...after that I neeeeed "eye-candy"... a good mix of colorful fabrics, colorful quilts, photos, fresh flowers, and fresh produce from the garden beautifully arranged all shared with friends and family.

Another bit of comfort is this wonderful little sew machine my great Auntie Barbie left me. It has been to camps to quilt, hotels to quilt, a mountain cottage to quilt, a beach house to quilt, a lake house to quilt, each of the 8 woman's homes that I have quilted with for the last 16 years, the library to quilt, and two quilt shops to teach classes. Together we have stitched up many good times and memories.

This could be the "comfort corner" of "guest/sewing room." The fabric, patterns, sketch books, rulers, etc. start to "bulge" & spill out when I quilt. Slowly but surely the fabric pieces and parts spill into the hall and into the other bed room up stairs as designs and plans evolve for a quilt...the ironing board is in the loft, cutting mats are buried under rulers and fabric on beds. A few Hershey kisses and a cup of coffee are in the mix some where in this plan ..all the while I can smell a delicious crock of Mac&cheese cooking in the oven while the sewing machine humms. Building a quilt... this is comfort for all the senses that eventually develops into comfort for others to use and share.

"Comfort food"

This is our treasured hedge of Elaeagnus. I serves many purposes here at Hickory Green Farm. In weather like this the hedge is a great host for birds, and the birds are part of the natural insecticide plan. In the spring the Elaeagnus sends out long whip like shoots which we cut and weave into wreaths and cornucopias to sell at the Goochland Farmer's Market. The hedge also makes a great wind buffer at the top of a ridge along our driveway. In September the Elaeagnus blooms a very small blossom that smells wonderful and gives the honey bees their late season nectar. Besides being beautiful and fragrant the hedge is very beneficial.


The perfect snow... Pearl and I could still walk down our road and the view was spectacular. Not quite deep enough for snow cream though.



This is February in the flower field of Hickory Green Farm. Seek and find; the clothes-line, picnic table, bench, bird bath, bird feeder, Whiskey barrel planter, Purple Martin house,
big holly, 3 little boxwood, Red bud by the stump. The flower beds are covered by snow here, but they will be evident soon. I will try to take this same picture every couple of months, and we can watch the seasons change at Hickory Green Farm.

Spider-web?






This looks like the deep depths of the ocean where the life forms glow in the dark and sway gently with the currents...


but really these pictures are a Crape Myrtle covered in snow.
Who knew snow reflected the camera flash so well at 6:00 am? New discovery for me.

I think the thermometer is frozen in time...It just won't move.

The orchard is a beautiful Winter Ice Wonderland after a small ice storm. Lucky we did not loose any branches due to the ice. It is hard to believe in a few weeks these branches will burst into blossom and the honey bees will be humming along every branch. I dream of spring when I am cold. BRRRRRRRRRRRR

All wrapped up in a stick of ice there are hundreds of little pink and green petals gathering up energy from the roots and waiting for sun's warmth to engage new growth and beautiful pink blossoms that will mature into delicious fruit and honey. That is amazing.

I must bee patient, tolerate the cold and enjoy the gifts each season brings.

When I'm waiting for Spring I do feel like a child waiting for Christmas.

Plant protection is a year around challenge at Hickory Green Farm. Deer do not like to eat lavender.....however free range chickens like to scratch for grubs and other bugs around the low growing plants nestled in deep soft soil until the plant is dug up. Ross came up with this clever, inexpensive, reusable way to protect the perennial plants from the chickens using scraps of PVC, deer netting, & twist ties. Great invention! Plants are caged and the chickens are free...ummmm..yes that is reverse of what is usually done on most farms, but it seems to work for us.