Our Bees Are Here Early!

We got our 2 bee packages early!  I picked them up after work today and then Jeff and I installed them using the lights of my car :)  Everything went well, we followed our own tutorial video made our first year (Youtube video on installing bees our first year).  Today I was emailing with my girlfriend and she said, "Thank you for the honey, my face is so smooth".  I thought, 'what a weird thing to say'....  So I wrote her and said, you put it in your tea, NOT on your face!  And she said that you do both.  Once a week she used a brush and applies a thin layer of my honey to her face.  She lets it stay on for 20 minutes and then rinses with warm water.  She says her face is as smooth as a babies bottom!  I was going to post a link to a site that describes this but there are a million and they are all generally the same.  The antibacterial effects of honey as well as the anti-inflammatory properties make it the best facemask!  There is even postings that it cured bad acne!  Oh, what I would have loved to know as a teenager!  haha!

At first we put 2 full hive bodies together.  Once we watched our video we remembered that we only want one hive body to start...

This is a drone comb that I don't need yet.  It is used to encourage the queen to lay drone (male) eggs here.  The mites then attach to the larvae.  I take this whole thing and freeze it killing all the bees (no offense guys, but we don't need male bees) and the excess mites which is a natural way to keep the mite population under control.  Another thing we do is dusting the hive and bees with powdered sugar to get the mites to fall off and go to the ground where they die.

I love bees, I know its crazy!  This whole project started not so much for the honey as my desire to see them all enjoying the garden in the morning.  My favorite thing about having a huge garden was spending the morning with them while harvesting dinner.

We are trying to pick the best comb for the starter body and I needed one with space for my queen who comes in a small package where she lives until the sugar plug is eaten and she is released to her new loving community.  If she gets out early, the loving community may actually kill her!  Scary times!

Jeff is filling the feeder with sugar water.  5 pounds of sugar with 1/2 gallon of water to make a yummy spring syrup!

Shaking the sugar syrup!

Somehow I lost the inside of my cap so I had to keep pushing it up my head.  You have to wear a face mask because getting stung on the face causes enough swelling to make it hard to see!

Taking out the queen and her helpers!

Taping the queen's cage to the comb.

We are about to dump the first 10,000 bees into the hive - then the darn battery on the phone wore out!  OH well!  Goodbye!

Surefire way to reduce wrinkles!

If you are on a diet, stop reading now.  If you, on the other hand, are like me and believe that adding a little wieght every year can decrease your wrinkles, READ ON!

Maple butter
1 stick of soft butter
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/8 cup maple syrup
1/2 Tbsp pumpkin pie spice
Whip it all together!

At the very bottom of this page there is my youtube video giving instructions on making white bread.  Follow these instructions except after you punch the dough down lay each half out flat like a rectangular pizza.  Spread half of the maple butter (instructions above) on the 2 dough halves.  Take some cinnamon sugar and coat a couple handfuls of raisins with it in a bag.  Pour the whole bag over the 2 halfs and distribute.  Roll up the dough to form 2 loafs.  Bake as directed in the video.

When it is ready and has rested 5 miliseconds, cut into it, slather the still hot piece of bread with maple butter and hand that to your spouse or child.  While they are distracted, eat the rest of the loaf.

Enjoy and be well!

NEW INVENTORY!

The best place for the most origional cool hats for the season!



We have tons of new spice mixes. This chili is awesome just for the fun story on the packaging! Award winning Caldwell County Chili can keep you warm this winter!

I LOVE these spices packaged in the shape of a carrot! Lots of flavors to add to our mix! Marc's Salsa, Boursen cheese blend, Onion Dill dip, Dill & friends, Herb Garden, Mulling spice and also a sweet pumpkin dip!

Quick and easy dinners in handsome packaging :) Beans and rice how nice!

These spice packs are shaped as Christmas tree ornaments! Mulling spices and a variety of dips and salsas! YUM!

The Hungry Yankee Moose mixes are back! Chocolate Chip Cookie Mix, Double Chocolate Brownie mix, Chocolate Chip Pancake mix, Chocolate Crinkle Cookie mix, Wheat Beer Bread mix, and Blond Brownie mix!

Lots of new hot sauces and jams and chutneys! Howlin' Hollar Hot Sauce with Pumpkin, Papa Jack's Buffalo Hot Sauce, Hot Sauce Creepin' Quag, Spittin Fire Hot Sause regular and XXX! Jams include Jalepano Raspberry (my favorite to make at home) and Blueberry Rhubarb! We also have all the regulars including Sweet Pepper Relish, Triple Berry, Strawberry Rhubarb, and Apple Cider Jam!

New soaps for your dog including Repellant, Moisturizing, and Deodorizing! New Soaps for your kids made of organic honey, natural yellow clay, and baby powder!

New fun earings!

Great baskets for the dog lover!

Individually wrapped dog treats in Peanut Butter and Parmeson!  YUM!

We have restocked on the Peppermint Bark from Peppermint Bark Company of Bolton, CT - Delicious!

We've restocked on our alpaca survival socks from Valpaca!  These are THE BEST and I wear mine all winter!

Holiday scented goat soaps and candles including tea lights!  We've restocked on felted soaps in holiday scents!  These make great stocking stuffers or additions to gift baskets!

We have tons of origional, affordable, fun, perfect stocking stuffers for everyone in the family!

Lovely Mondays!

Mondays used to be hard to take, but now it is our day 'off' and its wonderful.  We get all the cleaning, errands, shopping, catchingup stuff done on Mondays.  Tonight I went to a cookie exchange which is the greatest idea!  How else can you get a variety of cookies for your parties without cooking a variety?  You save time and money and you get the greatest new treats and recipes!

Also, in the happy new category - My niece Kaylah brought a flashlight over so we could 'candle' the incubated eggs and we have LIFE!  Our first chick is due on the 23rd and I'm sure much will go wrong, but we are getting very excited!  Of course, people don't usually hatch chicks in winter in New England so we will have to keep them indoors and under heat lamps, but it will be an exciting project to have fun with while we have time to deal with new chicks and we have a super set up in the basement.

My sister came over yesterday and helped me make more lotion bars - we made Lavender X which is a stronger lavender for women and natural honey with no scent for men.  I LOVE these bars.  I have the type of skin that suffers in the dry winter and I use the bars regularly all day.  I keep one large bar in my purse and I have a backup tin at work.  And I love the smell of lavender, so soothing.

John has fallen asleep with a book in front of the fire and I should put this crochet project away for the night and get some sleep myself.  Be well!

PS - Gift of the day is Lunastix.  Get the kids off the video games and into life!

Cookstove!

This is my first bread with the cookstove and it is perfect! I made the white bread recipe (you can see it on my channel on youtube - look up 'Connecticut Country Store' or goto our website http://www.connecticutcountrystore.com/ or goto the bottom of this blog) using King Arthur flour with about 4 tbsp of dried rosemary. So far we've made fried eggs, chicken, corn muffins, pancakes, pasta, and now bread on the cookstove AND the house is around 70 degrees all the time! I love this thing!

Cookstove adventures

John and I kept the house at 60 degrees in the winter to save money on oil for our first few years in the house.  Last year we got a woodstove for the basement which helped us save money and keep it at 62-65 degrees.  This year we put a cookstove in the living room.  The house was 76 degrees last night, we had to open a window to cool it back down!  It was like a summer night!  We definately have to get used to this new heating tool, it is too efficient!  We also have cooked dinner, fried eggs, heated water, and last night John made cornbread muffins in the oven while we watched a redbox movie!  Tomorrow I'm going to attempt a white bread (you can get the recipe on youtube, search "Connecticut Country Store" or you can find links on this blog or the website http://www.connecticutcountrystore.com/!)

Holiday shopping!

We've been posting daily shopping ideas on our facebook account and I've been neglecting our blog! Sorry about that!  Here are a few of the pictures!  We have awesome stocking stuffers, warm alpaca hats and mittens and socks and shoe liners!  We've got pottery and toys and foods and books and jewelry and felted purses and wine lights and soaps and candles - We've got everything you need to shop for even the most unique person!

The new building is here!!!!

Craft night making wreaths :)

We all had a great time making wreaths and we had so many people we had to work in shifts!  We also had Pam's delicious lemon cake and I made one of our new hungry moose double chocolate brownie mixes - it tastes homemade, but is soooo easy!  If you want to join our group, check out our schedule on our websites 'upcoming events' page (http://www.connecticutcountrystore.com/).  It is fun you don't want to miss!  Next week is open craft night and the week after is ornament making night!