Newbie Farmer Success & Failure

NEWBIE BEEKEEPING
It seems to me that starting a little farm is very common nowadays. To reach for more sustainability in odd times seems like a good idea. Humans have been doing this forever. Growing one's own food, harvesting own power, saving, reusing, and supporting oneself.

My little farm is called Mystic Glen and has been in creation for about 10 years. I am off-grid with a solar system, solar well, pond, poultry, and flower and food garden. In addition I have a little art studio on the land where I make clay and copper sculpture.
I grew up partially on my parents' short lived farm in California. In the 70's there was a movement to go back to the land. My afro haired hippie parents moved from the bay area to set up a farm in Sonoma county. They raised goats for milk and meat, and had rabbits and poultry.

​As I go deeper down the rabbit hole of my own farm I am realizing the real joy of being able to support oneself. There are successes and failures. But always learning and growing.

BEEHIVE SUCCESS & FAILURE
This month my first bees died. In part I had failed to patch holes in their original hive boxes which were falling apart. The box got moist inside and though that is the main factor there may be more than one reason it failed. I received the hive from a beekeeper friend who gathered it from a divorcing couple. I had the hive for about 2 months of the pollen gathering season. Then the NW moved into winter. 
When I opened up the hive to do a beehive autopsy, I discovered many things, especially what to do better next time. But the great news was frame after frame of honey.  I harvested two for myself and saved the rest for my next hive. 
One week later a sunny day arrived and my neighbor's bees came and cleaned up the mess I had made. They cleaned the wax and boxes. When I saw them around the honey, I made sure to put the honey and comb I wanted kept for later in sealed bins.

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Me and pepper

Honey and Sweet Pea, Buff Dewlap Toulouse Geese

Naughty ganders, Pepper & Popcorn find new homes

Pepper in new flock

GOOSE MAYHEM
The other Project that I am really new at is the Goose Adventure. The idea was to raise geese for eggs and breed them for meat. It has been a bizarre journey with a life of its own! 
WHAT I HAVE LEARNED SO FAR-in a nutshell...
1. Geese are amazing! Intelligent, attentive, and great mowers of grass..........and people who have them are in love!
2. Chaos reigns if you don't plan well - Set up your infrastructure FIRST.
3. You will make mistakes, all a part of learning, but remember geese live a long time and are endearing. Don't get into it unless you are ready.
4. Sex them after maturity (7 months or older)
5. Learn from goose forums and web pics to find out what a healthy goose looks like before buying from craigslist.
6. Order from a breeder if you don't trust your intuition on a healthy strong goose. Novice goose folks who sell on the web can over breed. I've seen some who take on too many birds to do it well and you can get mites and bad genes in your purchase!!!
GOOSE TIP: if you get a less than perfect goose you can suppliment their feed with dried nettles for nutrient boost, dried oregano for parasites and skin critters and brewers yeast for niacin. After 2 weeks of dosing, My gander, Honey, grew glossier feathers, his legs straightened out more, itchy skin/creepy crawlies disappeared and his poopy butt cleared up.

Along the way of building a newbie flock, I added Pepper the swan goose and Popcorn the Purebred Pomeranian. Unfortunately I suck at sexing geese. But It does seem hard to do with immature geese under 7 months. In the end I had three ganders and a goose. Best laid plans right??

That is when the chaos began:
-Pepper began bonding with the toulousse goose. This is me lecturing him...." No,no,no pepper. She is supposed to make purebred babies with her toulouse gander!!".
....Constant honking from my chinese guy drove me to the brink.....Apparently I did not do my homework. Chinese geese are loud, and though they have a great character, he was a little too attached to me.
-Then to add to the drama, Popcorn decided the male toulouse was his mate. To my surprise the gander to gander mating began in earnest!!!

THE SOLUTION
So I put pepper my favorite pet goose on craigslist for a good home. He now lives in Chimicum with a herd of American blues and turkeys. Hopefully he will get his own mate.
​Popcorn traveled off to Portland to be with a very lonely Pomeranian female.
​Now Honey and Sweetpea the Toulouses...... and the rest of us....can be together in peace and quiet......well almost.
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​Next month: Adding a ultrasonic dog barking device to coop so I can sleep through the night without honking honking !