We went into the hive yesterday, to see how the colony was doing with their new queen, and to forewarn us if there were any swarm cells starting to receive attention. Adrian and I saw the queen at the same time, and he was just as excited as I had been, to finally have visual confirmation. The brood pattern is a bit spotty, but there is new comb being drawn, and pollen and nectar gathering are in full swing now, so we'll keep our fingers crossed that this queen will have a good influence on the hive - the hum has seemed fairly content there over the past week.
The bunnies are furred out, and there have been a couple of nesting box escapes, where bunnies have decided to go exploring in the night, and realized that they couldn't quite get back in yet. We give them a boost back into the warmth of the fur and straw and siblings, but soon they will be in and out of the boxes, harassing their mothers full-time.
Jodie is continuing to feather out, going through her gawky adolescence. She and her mother are still mostly confined while they are unsupervised, but soon they should be running with the girls outside full time.
The garden is producing herbs, salad greens, cucumbers, chard, kale, pea shoots, and handfuls of tomatoes every day. The pole beans have been slow to get started, but the dry beans (kidney, borlotti and cranberry) are filling their pods and looking good. The Alisa Craig sweet onions are drying on the picnic table, and coriander and parsley seed will soon be ready for harvest as well. The hoophouse tomatoes all seem to be waiting for some sign to ripen, and though last year we had weeks of fresh tomato harvest, I'm worried that everything is going to ripen in a much shorter period this time around. But then, I don't mind a load of fresh cherry tomatoes, and can dehydrate the overrun.
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