HowduYallDoin? From West Virginia!

WannaBeHillBilly

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Welcome from another Texan! I’m north of Tyler, was raised in Houston. I love to garden and will be glad to help. I’m Baymule on all 4 forums, but seldom go to BYC anymore.
I lived in the greater greenspoint area (heritage village) from 2008 until 2018, but originally i'm from Germany. I guess i have not met you on BYC then.
 

WannaBeHillBilly

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Hey thanks for joining us. I am also from Texas. There lots of great folks on here. Need are very interesting i been thinking about them myself. Just been not wanting to spend the money just for them to buzz off for whatever reason and not return.
Same thoughts here! All that beekeeping equipment is crazy expensive and the bees too. - But i love good honey and that is worth the risk and a couple of stings… 😉
 

WannaBeHillBilly

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I was born in Baytown, but moved to the Alvin area (south of Houston) about a hunnert years ago, lol. Definitely can't beat the barbque here... first thing my kids learned to cook was brisket!
I remember David Paul from KHOU having trouble saying "Alvin and Galveston" - he always said "Galvin and Alveston" instead! :D
Stop saying brisket! Now i'm hungry! - Here they kinda cook the brisket in, what they call "bbq-sauce". And i miss the sausages from Chapel Hill Farms!
 

WannaBeHillBilly

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Everyone at BYC ‘thinks’ we are the dark side...silly them..they don’t know that we’re all just having a blast over here! :)
We have a saying in Germany: »Good kids will go to heaven, nasty kids will go to have a hell of a party!«
Already like the dark side! :lol:
 

WannaBeHillBilly

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Hello -- from VA. Yep, closer to WV than TX. We love new members and pictures!

Where are you in WV? I was born in Parkersburg. Don't get that way much as most of family has passed away. Yeah, I'm old as dirt but still kicking hard!!

I had a hive several years back. It was so robust it swarmed 2X and I finally gave it to the beekeeper who collected the swarms. He gave me honey each year. Now one of the big issues is chemical warfare for the hives. Mine never have any of the mites or crap like that. Now, I'm not going to get any....farmer about a mile as the crow flies has 12-15 hives. I get all the pollination I need. LOL He sells honey.

I haven't been on BYC is a long time -- occasionally lurk.
I'm in Big Chimney, just outside of the Chemical Valley. 😉
I sit on 40 acres of steep hills, just enough flat land to grow a few vegetables for ourselves, so i thought bees would be interesting. And i love fresh honey! One of my uncles was a beekeeper in Germany (Lüneburg Heath) and i have tasted so many different kinds of honey - will never forget the black fall honey, can't remember weather it was from spruce or pine but it was so goood!!!
My idea is to keep the beehives away from the road and seed all the openings in the forest with lupines, alfalfa and sunflowers, so maybe, just maybe i will be able to keep the chemicals out of the hives.
But that will be a long way, i need to learn and relearn a lot of things, the time with my uncle is 45 years ago and things were much easier then…
 

YourRabbitGirl

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Hi everybody,
many of you may already know me from BackYard Chickens where i can be found under the same account-name of WannaBeHillBilly too.
Once you start with something »farming« as a former city dweller, there is no way of going back to dull urban life! So in Summer 2018 we planted some fruit-trees and vegetables, got our first six ducks and by now there's 29 of them. Planning on planting even more veggies this year, try again to grow potatoes, try out kabbage and the next big thing: I like to have bees - and that's why i joined here.
Still have to read a lot of articles about beekeeping before i even can start to ask questions, but the time will come.
Hello and welcome to the forums! Me too! I'm not a real farmer, I just started last year, But being in the forums made me learn a lot... thank you for this forums..!!!
 

Mini Horses

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In Florida they use bees for pollination of citrus. But best I've had was from the avocado groves. That honey is dark and rich. Tastes almost like brown sugar & molasses had been added. A lovely taste. The orange was good but, avocado the best! Of course, only available in FL.

One of the local bakers made pecan breakfast buns with it, like an upside down cake. Oh, my. That and coffee was a real eye opener any morning. :D

Yes -- those WV hills can be a challenge. A lot of rock! It is beautiful but not farming land, you are right. And red clay abounds in many areas. But those mountains can be fertile.
 

Duckfarmerpa1

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Hello and welcome to the forums! Me too! I'm not a real farmer, I just started last year, But being in the forums made me learn a lot... thank you for this forums..!!!
:lol: Don’t say you’re not a ‘real’farmer...that’s what I always said until about 2weeks ago. Our farm is just a hobby, and we started 1year ago too, but I work pretty darn real!! :)
 

WannaBeHillBilly

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In Florida they use bees for pollination of citrus. But best I've had was from the avocado groves. That honey is dark and rich. Tastes almost like brown sugar & molasses had been added. A lovely taste. The orange was good but, avocado the best! Of course, only available in FL.

One of the local bakers made pecan breakfast buns with it, like an upside down cake. Oh, my. That and coffee was a real eye opener any morning. :D

Yes -- those WV hills can be a challenge. A lot of rock! It is beautiful but not farming land, you are right. And red clay abounds in many areas. But those mountains can be fertile.
I know orange honey from the island of Mallorca in the mediterranean sea, YUMMY! - But becomes too sweet after a while. Never had Avocado honey, must try it!
My plan here is to plant more and more fruit trees and berry shrubs, first to stabilize the hill-site (we had some slides last year) and then of course enjoy the good stuff and sell some of it. Bees fit perfectly into that picture. Yes, we have that red, heavy and sticky loam which makes digging a drag! And i have to manually break open the grass and remove the largest rocks before i can use the tiller. 😰 Fortunately i have to do this just once and the ducks are helping me! 😏
 
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