mondays at maywood
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The busy beekeeper tries to tuck the bees in for winter
A twenty-five pound bag of sugar is empty in the kitchen. Dinner was delayed because the stock pot of bubbling sugar water was taking up most of the stove space. All of my pyrex casseroles are filled with sweets that we won’t be eating. A five gallon bucket and a paint stirrer are coated with sugar Continue reading
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Preparing for Frankenstorm…how scared should I be?
I’m having a hard time getting freaked out over Frankenstorm. Oh, I know it’s coming. That big red swoosh on the weather map is headed right for us. We’re in the swath of massive rain and heavy winds. And I’m not in denial. John spent today cleaning out the French drain by our basement door Continue reading
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Mice, mouses, or meece
Here’s a question: If your computer mouse dies, you tell the IT guy you need a new mouse. But what if you need two? Do you need two computer mice or two computer mouses? Just wondering. My mouse at school stopped working and I told someone it died and they had to think about it for a moment. With Continue reading
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A perfect Maywood day
On a clear crisp October day, where better to be than at Maywood, with a kaleidoscope of leaves floating earthward? And what better things to do than sawmill and introduce a new family to the wonders of beekeeping? Top it off with a dinner of grilled bluefish caught last weekend in Cape May, N.J. and Continue reading
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Things that go “thump” in the night
Technically, 5:20 a.m. isn’t night. But it’s dark enough for a six year old to ask his mom, “When is the sun going to let us know it’s morning?” And it’s morning enough for John to be getting out of the shower. But it’s dark enough for me to still be completely comatose. “Craaaaaack! Whump!” That Continue reading
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Making room for a new season of venison… and football
We know it’s hunting season when friends show up with gifts–a heart and a liver that they just harvested from a doe in our woods. While they might normally toss them, they know that John will use them to make an amazing venison liverwurst. The new heart and liver will join what John has in the freezer and will soon appear as John’s redneck Continue reading
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Not a bee, not a yellow jacket, and why is it out at night?
Enormous “bees” bounce off the glass of our front door. Dozens of them. Unlike moths, which flit annoying around light, or June bugs, which bump clumsily against the glass, these look threatening, like mutant yellow-jackets. They are so big they make a wasp look like a mosquito. They scare me. Yes. They scare me. Me, beekeeper wife, who takes a cocktail down to the bee-yard Continue reading
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On Labor Day and Hobbies
Work should not rule one’s life. I say that one week into the school year with a three day weekend to run errands, take a nap, exercise, and play around with beeswax. But I mean it. And I’ll mean it in October when my body is screaming at me and I’m stressed for time–although I Continue reading
Slightly Off the Grid 