Updates - Campbell Homestead

It has been over a month since our first blog post. There have been several exciting things happening at Campbell Homestead since then! I thought I'd take a minute to share some updates.

Honey Bees

The girls are doing great! They are working hard and both hives are expanding and producing honey at incredible rates. Everything I had heard and/or read about honey bees let us know to expect that we likely would not be able to harvest honey being first-year bee keepers. We put on our second super for each hive over the weekend, which means any honey that they store in these additional supers will be honey that we can extract for ourselves! They have already stored enough honey for themselves to make it safely through winter.

Honey bees live for about 21 days during the Spring and Summer months. They work so hard that their lives are shortened. They can live for 2 or more months during the winter months when they're hibernating. This means that all of the bees that are currently in our hives had not met us yet (other than the queens), because it has been more than 21 days since we'd had a chance to check on them. Being Italian bees, they're known for more docile behavior, so we were grateful they handled the inspection well yesterday. Caleb did get stung once on his forehead and once on his foot, but he was not wearing his hood nor was he wearing boots (the boy thought Crocs were a good idea . . . lol), so I can't blame these stings entirely on the bees.

We are still enjoying learning more about our girls and getting into a rhythm with them.

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Garden

In March, we plowed a large section in our field for a garden. We planted Corn, Okra, Bush Green Beans, Purple Hull Peas, & Squash. We also built two raised beds and planted Tomatoes, Cucumbers, & Peppers. Both the raised beds and the vegetable garden are doing well. We weeded the vegetable garden yesterday knowing it was going to rain a lot this week and expecting to see the garden grow quickly with all of the rain.

We plan to build some type of arch between the raised beds so it can be a fun living walkway to go through.

We should have lots of squash any day now!

We also have Apple Trees, Peach Trees, Cherry Trees, Blueberries, Blackberries, and Raspberries growing! I'm hoping they all thrive here. The Cherry Trees are looking a little sad, unfortunately.

Fuzzy Little Baby Peach

The raised beds beside the fruit bushes & bee hives. These have already grown so much since I took this photo!

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Coffee

I have been roasting coffee more consistently since we moved into the house in November of 2021. Mostly I just roast for myself and Caleb, but I have been able to sell a few bags and roast for some friends. I know there is still so much to learn about roasting coffee, but I am loving the process of it and the reward of enjoying fresh coffee beans that I roasted myself.

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Pottery Studio

We are finally making progress on the studio!

We had columns installed and got the outside painted to match the house. It was an awful yellow color before because that's what color the siding comes in.

Caleb installed lighting in both the studio side and his shop side of the building! He did a great job and I'm so thankful to have his skills and proud of his hard work.

I swept and mopped the studio side because I want to paint a pattern onto the floor, but I have not gotten to it yet. It's a rather large project, so I'm trying to build up the courage to start it . . . lol :)

The dogs 'helping' me sweep & mop.

We still have a LOT of work to do before I would consider the studio complete. We need to install drywall, trim, plumbing, HVAC, more power outlets, shelving, sink, & cabinets. There will be a small bathroom with a toilet & sink, a sink on the wall beside the bathroom, a kiln room that we will vent outside to keep fumes out of the studio while we are firing ceramics, and hopefully lots of storage, shelving, & work space. As well as an additional pottery wheel or two. A few more goals are to have a slab roller and a pug mill eventually. I am so excited to see this project come to life. I can't wait to get my hands back into some clay.

Once we install a few more outlets, we will be able to move the kiln and our wheel in so we can at least begin working with pottery again, but I'm so looking forward to seeing the studio complete.

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Chickens

The chickens are doing well. They are outgrowing their current coop, and we have plans to build them a much better permanent home up on the hill with us.

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Cattle

The cows are doing great! The calves are growing quickly and starting to graze the pasture like their mamas. We recently traded for a bull, and he is adjusting well to our pasture. He is fairly young, so we aren't sure if we'll have calves next year or not, but time will tell.

Caleb spent some time this weekend working to load and move hay for some friends of his. This coming weekend will hopefully have decent weather so we can cut another pasture for a friend so that we can collect the hay and store it for our cows for the winter.

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We are so enjoying making our house on the hill a home. It feels so good to come home to it every day and wake up there every morning. It's like a dream come true, and we feel so blessed to be able to live here and make it ours.

Thanks for following along.

Be blessed.

-Renee