Earth Day!

If you didn't hear from me for a couple of weeks in April, it is because I became consumed with our Earth Day project.  We decided as a family we would take on our first event as the Giving Tree Family Farm.  We sat down a couple of weeks ago and mapped out our booth.  Each member of the family had a huge "to do" list.  The first order of business was a logo.  My dad got to work with his favorite graphic designer and came up with this great logo.  Deciding on a name and logo were the most difficult tasks!

My sister came up with the design of the booth.  She had visions of white lace, antique plates to display the soap, and old books and boxes for props.  My mom spent a week putting all of our alpaca yarn into skeins and we designed posters and informational cards.  It truly was shaping up to be a family affair!  We all arrived to El Chorro Regional Park early on Earth Day.  Here is a picture of our completed booth.  We all loved the way it turned out.

Our booth was divided into four sections.  My sister makes jewelry and made special bee pieces for Earth Day.

Glenn and I were the bee experts.  We sold beeswax bars, candles and lip balm.  Glenn got some people seriously excited about keeping bees.  I loved showing off the bear claw marks in our beeswax.  

My mom was the "goat lady."  She spent hours talking to people about raising goats and all of the benefits of goat milk.  

The last section was the alpaca yarn display.  People loved the pictures of Mic, Pablo and Remy next to their skeins of yarn.  

Earth day was a great trial run for our young business.  The kids enjoyed their day in the sun: dancing, planting herbs, and making paw prints out of plaster.  The adults spent the day talking about our hobbies, hanging out with fellow Earth-loving friends, and sipping wine.  It may not have been the most profitable day, but it was a good day. 

A special thank you to Mother Earth for making it all possible!

Bear Attack!

After a long night of barking and loud bangs, I can now confirm we have a large black bear on the property.  Monday morning was spent collecting evidence, clearing bodies and building barriers.

After analyzing each bit of evidence (eye witness and forensic), we were able to piece together the night of "bear terror."  We believe he started on my parents' side of the property.  A barbecue earlier in the evening may have attracted the bear to their trash cans.  The bear left hind footprints in the mud as he stood to knock over the garbage.

After eating some fish, our bear went to check out the chicken coop.  Here you can see he tested the front door with his paw, then put his front paws on the roof of the coop to peer in.

Our hens are old, tough broads.  They were more excited about the chicken food the bear had strewn about the yard than their near death experiences.  

Pooh then walked over to our side of the property to check on his friends, the bees.  This is where our bear had the most fun.  He devoured tons of bee larvae and left the adults hanging on for dear life.  The number of dead bees on the ground was staggering.  The bear had to have been stung countless times.  

I called Glenn at work to tell him about his bees.  He rushed home to try and save all of the bees he could.

The bees were loud and angry, but Glenn was only stung once.  Here is a picture of some brood that was devoured by the bear.  Glenn built a fence around his hive and we are hoping the bear won't be able to knock it over.  It will be a miracle if Glenn's girls survive this attack.

A neighbor called to let us know he saw a bear trying to get into his house the same night.  The neighborhood is now on high alert.  We are all hoping that the bear wanders back into the woods.  In the mean time, we are keeping the chickens locked up tight and have Lotta keeping the livestock safe!