Bees, Hives and Impromptu Homeschooling

Sunday afternoon we had a three hour drive to get home from a weekend with friends. We stopped on the way to buy a rabbit for Wesley's "business." (hard to have baby bunnies without a male and a female) The farmer was just about to "catch" a swarm of wild bees as we got there. I wanted to get right back in the car, but Philip wanted to see the "catch!" (and people think I am the curious one of the family!!!) I reluctantly followed the procession - two farmers carrying stepladders, Philip, and the kids - to the "bee tree." The bee tree was just an apple tree. The bees had stopped to rest on some of its branches on their search for the perfect home.
The beekeeper, Michel, had everything he needed, and had obviously caught a few swarms of bees before. The only thing he didn't have was protective gear. Said he didn't need it, and didn't mind being stung now and then. He thinks bees can feel or smell fear and that causes them to sting. (he did get stung a few times but mostly because the bees got caught under his clothes)
The bees were on three different branches so Michel had some work to do to get all (well, ok, most) of the bees into his temporary hive. Amazingly, once the queen bee was in Michel's hive, they played follow the leader and couldn't get in fast enough!
So thanks to my curious husband, the kids got a great lesson about bees!!!

The first bees aren't sure what to do.

Michel was pretty sure the queen was in the last swarm.

Michel couldn't get the whole branch so he knocked the swarm into a bucket. (He made us all back up before he did that though)

And now that the queen is with them, the bees are all headed for the hive.

Ants, ants, ants

This Summer. One of the little boys found an ant hill with eggs etc. He wanted to know more about ants. We found a good book with lots of pictures that I have, and they begged me to read it. Now, it was vacation, and I wasn't really up for too much reading... so after a few pages, I tried to put the book down, but the four youngest (our 12 year old reads just fine on his own) BEGGED me to finish the book. So I did. Then we went online to look for an ant farm. Too expensive. Then we went on Wikihow and made our own ant farm. That jar was the center of attention for many days! (I wish I could say that this is how I teach all the time, but mostly I am just caught up in getting things done, and I don't follow their lead enough. So don't think I am like this all the time! I guess since it was still summer vacation, I felt a little freer…)

Diza is a mommy!!!

We were expecting a few puppies here at the farm last week. A few. The vet thought there would be five or six at most. But as we neared the due date, Diza's size told us that maybe there were more.

Well, there WERE more, many more. Diza is the proud mama to lots of beautiful puppies. What a miracle life is! We will try to put more pictures on as soon as they open their eyes! Anyone care to guess how many there are? (Don't guess if you already know!!!)

Other activities on the farm (Vacation 3)

 Camping out.

 Playing instruments.

 Picnicking.

Celebrating Nathan's birthday

 Playing ping pong, lots of ping pong.

Star gazing. We saw lots of shooting stars.

Bee School (Vacation 1)

We spent a week of summer vacation in an apartment next door to friends who live on a farm near Blois. In many ways it was a bit like being at home. They have a beautiful garden, kittens running around waiting to be played with, and lots of space for children to run. But the weather was nicer and they have bees !!!!!!! One of the highlights of our vacation this year was collecting honey! 

Peter and Laura taking off the protective honeycomb and freeing the honey.

Wesley and Nathan operating the centrifuge to pull the honey out of the honeycomb.

One of several filterings of the honey.

 The sweet, delightful result of lots of work!

WEP (Pentecost Weekend)

The farm was once again invaded by forty young people for Pentecost weekend. (It is a holiday in France, so we have a long weekend.)

Lots of fun...

 Fellowship...

 Reflexion...

 And food!!!! Lots of food.

( Laura with her cousin Jordan.)

Kittens (aka Baby Rabbits!)

It is once again spring time (well, almost!!) and the babies have started arriving. The prettiest babies on the farm (other than our human babies) are definitely the rabbits! Stéphane started the rabbit business years ago, and it is now run by Peter and Nathan.

Weekend at the Farm Two

The big youth event for our youth group is WEC. We drive about three hours to a real farm, for a weekend of fun and spiritual growth. This year the theme was Purity, and Philip's youngest brother, Timothée, was the speaker.

Feeding everyone is quite a feat!

Saturday afternoon is always reserved for canoeing.

For those that chose not to canoe, the farmer got out the horse and buggy!