New workers

Yes, that's right......we have some new workers here on the farm. About 20 thousand of them! They won't be doing any barn chores, but they will be working away filling their hive with honey. First, to feed themselves through next winter and then, if we are extremely lucky this year, there might be some honey for us. That's the "removal of the duct tape" moment happening above. The bees rode out to the farm in the back of our friend's SUV and the duct tape was necessary to keep the bees in the hive and not loose in the car. Our friends, Mary and Tommy, who came to dinner on Wednesday evening delivered our brand new hive with our bees already hard at work. (He is our "bee mentor" and the source of our bees.) The weather did not cooperate with our plans, so we didn't get to be the ones transferring the bees from their nucleus hive into our own hive box, but they are here on the farm now and busy as, well, bees. This morning I stood close by and watched while they flew in laden with pollen and out again to gather more. The more I learn about them, the more fascinating they become. You're probably going to hear more about these bees than you ever wanted to know!

I can hardly claim to have prepared dinner for our friends. I'd say it was more in the simple summer supper category. We had turkey burgers prepared on the grill, Hudson's 7-day slaw, dressed eggs and chips. Then for dessert we had Lemon Yogurt Cake.

This little cake has become my go-to dessert this spring. It's delicious and light and can be prepared quickly. It's another Ina Garten recipe (I do use other cookbooks....honest, I do).It's from The Barefoot Contessa at Home cookbook and is the Lemon Yogurt Cake. I also combined a jar of red current jelly (melted)and some fresh (or frozen)raspberries for a not-too-sweet topping.

We have had a couple of other new arrivals here at Tanglewood, but I'll save that for another post. Have a good weekend.