Well, surprise of all surprises. We have been suspecting that Mr. Skunk had set up housekeeping under the honey shack but little did we know he has been up to more than just housekeeping. We definitely have a Mrs. and either 3 or 4 babies!

As planned, Joshua showed up right at 5 a.m. at Tara and Lyle’s to make his attempt to relocate the colony in their water meter. We always move honeybees before daylight or after sunset when the largest number – hopefully all – of the folks will be back in their home for the night.

We feed the birds multi times daily and with the absence of precipitation along with rising temps, keeping the water bin really ultra-full has become paramount. Every variety of creature is looking to wet a whistle and in the case of our raccoon visitors, more than a whistle seems to be popular.

Who was it said that a picture is worth thousand words? Ain’t that the truth! See for yourselves as we start with a rare lobster and shrimp fest at TSH.

This week saw Fiona Pappillon up to some nonsense having captured this 8” lizard, species unknown, but a homerun on the color spectrum. It wasn’t injured albeit feigning death when Joshua discovered the near-crime scene. Luckily, Fi gave in quickly and the not-so-little guy survived. Check out his turquoise cravat and vest – pretty snazzy and uptown, right?

ROLLING INTO JUNE! As difficult as it is to believe, here we find ourselves rolling right into the halfway mark of this year – can that even be possible? This month is revealing all varieties of Mother Nature’s [...]

May on the mountain is simply exquisite – perhaps the month of May at its zenith! - so we want to give you a fun glimpse of what’s waiting for you, starting with our first spotting of a new hummingbird nest in one of our pear trees.

Mother Nature always wins out on Her terms and never more evident than with our hit-and-miss success or lack thereof with our passionflower vines and our attempts to transplant wild penstemon. This season in the mural patio the passionflower blossoms RULE.

You may remember that the 3 honeybee colonies we received last year with such hopeful promise were all lost to us – one colony abruptly swarmed and left while the other two perished over the winter . . . ‘bee-grettably’ beekeepers across the country, and likely the world, are reporting this as an all-too-frequent occurrence.

What more could there be you ask? How about sweet peas, daffies & narcissus regaling the dining room, volunteer kale, peppers, The Youngster as always 4-6 weeks ahead of the Grand Old Gramma, and a breakfast offering of a homemade deep dish chicken potpie . . .