Weekly Update: 5.10.25
It was an overflowing week. We were busy in what felt like every possible direction. From breaking up soil to taking care of puppies, from staining floor planks to making beer, our days were full. Spring is unfurling everywhere, with the blackberries blossoming, wildflowers blooming, and honey bees swarming into our swarm traps.
It all started with a fun weekend. On Saturday, we finally had our belated family Highland Games competition. Last year, our youngest brother held the games in March. This year, we've simply been too busy. We finally made it happen on Saturday, and the weather couldn't have been more idyllic. There were six events this year -- a footrace, sheaf toss, caber toss, hammer throw, stone put, and tug-of-war. We didn't all participate in everything, but we all had a good time. Between events, we sipped Scottish tea and enjoyed some ethnic music. This year, Jeremiah adjusted the scores for each event to allow for gender and age differences. Bonnie-Jean won the overall competition, receiving the honorary trophy for 2025.
After our competition, we enjoyed a Scottish feast -- mince and tatties (which was sort of like stovetop shepherd's pie) with skirlie (a sort of oat-based stuffing). The meal was incredible, and I think several items are on their way to being new favorites. We really didn't expect to like the skirlie, but we absolutely fell in love with it -- so much so, we made some for breakfast the next day. We finished the night with dundee cake and hot toddies.
Sunday was a gorgeous spring day. We grilled burgers, and I made our first baked beans of the barbecue season. We also made homemade ice cream for the first time this year -- vanilla, using my great-grandma's recipe.
In the afternoon, we finally used the beer kit Jeremiah bought the family for Christmas back in 2023. The kit was for an Irish Red Ale, which smelled amazing while we were simmering it. We used all the equipment from our Northern Brewer starter kit. While I've made hard cider before, this was my first time helping with a beer -- and I was surprised at how easy it was. The hardest part was keeping everything sanitary -- which was a challenge as the afternoon turned increasingly breezy. We are fermenting the beer in our storm shelter, which stays the perfect temperature -- around 65 degrees -- this time of year. We checked on our beer after a couple days, and the air stop was bubbling away.
When Monday dawned, we were ready to get back to work. Grace and I spent most of the week working on the floor for our room. We finished sanding the planks and stained them on Monday. On Tuesday, we applied the polyurethane to each board -- since the puppies are in our room, we decided it would be best to finish the boards outside. On Wednesday, we went ahead and put the planks down in our loft. It went well, and turned out beautifully.
Monday was Cinco De Mayo, so we enjoyed the excuse for Mexican food -- paella, street corn, beans, pico de gallo, and of course, chips.
On Thursday and Friday, our dad was home, so I helped him do some work on our shower. It was slow going, as we realized we had to add some additional blocking to secure our corrugated metal. We decided to order some more liquid nails for areas that lack studs.
While we worked on the shower, Grace worked on painting trim boards for our room. After beginning with a traditional brush, she switched to our electric paint sprayer and made it a much faster progress.
Between our other tasks, we've been taking care of our seedlings -- which are really all full-fledged plants now. In preparation for the storms we were supposed to have Wednesday, we moved them all into our little office building -- and they barely fit. We've tried to spend time breaking soil in the garden every day. We have been planning how to organize our garden, trying not to plant similar plants in the same location as last year. After some research, we are going to try to build some simple trellises to make the best use of our space.
We've also been trying to find time to work on our apiary. We lost both swarms we caught last year, and we have been looking forward to trying again with new swarms this spring. We had left a couple swarm traps up from late in the season last year, and we planned to take them down and check them over this weekend. When I went to do a little reconnaissance on them yesterday, I was overjoyed to see both already have honey bees living in them. Instead of hanging swarm traps this weekend, we'll be prepping our apiary for new occupants.
And of course, Bonnie-Jean has been spending tons of time taking care of her puppies. They seem to grow every day, both in stature and personality. Jeremiah has been working on the dog kennel most days after work. Hopefully it will be ready for the puppies to start spending time in it this weekend.
We've been neglecting our flowers for the most part, as we've been too busy with more practical tasks. Our niece Eilley Mae made a little flower bed this week for some hollyhocks she grew in her little aquaponics set she got for her birthday last fall.
It was a busy week. Even in my evenings, I found myself researching gardening methods or beekeeping practices. There is so much to do in all directions, I wake up each morning excited to get started. It feels like God is blessing so many of our efforts. It looks like we will get a break from the rain this next week, and I'm looking forward to what we can accomplish.
