Oh, the pure joy that comes from meeting people as an innkeeper at Whiteley Creek Homestead Bed and Breakfast! Over the course of their six-day stay recently, I got to know two amazing women who chose to stay in the “out my kitchen window cabin”. Because of their extended stay, they politely asked if they could rearrange the…

This painting titled Enemy in Camp (printed at the bottom of the picture just above the frame) hangs in our “cabin in the pines”. It depicts perfectly the battle we are waging, except we have chickens instead of ducks and a fox that is stalking our hens rather than a dog. We originally blamed skunks for Phoebe’s…

Last night at 11 p.m. Dick and I heard a loud boom followed by pitch blackness. We had lost all electrical power. The abnormal total darkness caused me to lay half awake until 1 a.m. when I decided to call our power company and report the problem since they apparently weren’t aware of the outage’s occurance. After I was assured that they…

The problem we had with our chickens retiring for the night inside their nesting boxes and on top of them, instead of roosting on one of several tree branches supplied for that purpose, has been resolved by draping a plastic mesh in front of the boxes at nighttime. In the morning, when I open the coop to release the chickens…

The daily downpours, that we have received for weeks, transformed my front porch cement into a lovely carpet of algae. Today we were blessed with a full day of sunshine, so I mopped the porch floor. It wouldn’t have mattered what I did today as long as it was spent outside. Any task was enjoyable.…

Today when I was tidying up the chickens' abode, our leghorn, Greta, paced back and forth outside the door, then she inched her way up the entrance ramp, and finally she flew over the top of my head landing on the perch that runs the length of the nesting boxes. She had a job to do…

It was a drizzly overcast day today… the kind that reminds me of most times that we visit the Black Hills where the dark, heavy-laden rain clouds seem to brush the tops of our heads. The grass and leaves appeared to be a deeper green than when the sun shines and the rain droplets added a sheen…

We have been feeding our bees sugar syrup until nectar becomes available to them. The type of feeder that came with our kit is a long narrow tray that is as deep as this brood chamber. One frame is removed and the feeder is inserted in its place. A better feeding device we have discovered uses an inverted plastic pail…

I normally shy away from purple, especially deep shades, but I had to have this fuchsia because of its unbelievably unique blossoms with intricate folds. They remind me of the Red Hat Society with their standard red hats and purple dresses attire. I could never be a member because I would show up at gatherings…