Welcome to Our Weekend Homestead. Follow along with us on our journey. CA ➡️ MT Building our Montana Homestead. Sharing as we learn new skills, bring back traditional living and get back to what's most important.
Follow our day to day on Instagram @OurWeekendHomestead
Rubus ursinus is a North American species of blackberry or dewberry, known by the common name California blackberry. Perhaps it’s called wild black raspberry where you’re located. They sure are tasty and make delicious jams. Jam recipes do call for a lot of sugar, I agree. I’m sure you could back out some and give it a try. Thanks so much for watching & commenting.
Hi there, The recipe I used is in the video description along with all the links to the items I used. Here are the ingredients for blackberry jam: 9 Cups Blackberries 6 Cups Sugar 4 Tbs Lemon juice Thanks for watching & commenting!
Wonderful video! Please keep producing more Mason bee videos. I'm just starting to get into it. My wife and I just planted three apple trees and a big garden. 4A climate zone
Thank you so much!! We are so glad you enjoyed the video. We plan to keep documenting & sharing our solitary bee journey. We hope you will subscribe & follow along!! Good luck with your orchard & gardens.
Most people get confused about refrigerator pickles and fermented pickles. Refrigerator pickles use vinegar and are easy to make, while fermented pickles use only water, salt, spices and no vinegar and no refrigeration until fully fermented.
Thank you! So glad you enjoyed it. I typically wash the jars in hot soapy water and then put them in the water bath canner while I’m cooking the jam. That keeps the jars hot for when it’s time to transfer the hot jam into them. It’s no longer necessary to boil jars for sterilizing if you are water bath canning the jam for 10 mins or longer. Thanks again for watching & commenting.
We raised them in Southern California for years with great success. Check with Crown Bees, they will have more information for the Florida area. Links are in the video description. Good luck with your gardens & bees!! Thanks for watching & commenting.
Florida is home to 300 species of bees, some endemic. Get a nest house, mount it a foot and a half off the ground and facing east. Get a 5/16" and 3/8" drill bit and start sinking holes on the east side of fence posts for them. That and some flowers is all it really takes.
So cool you guys, I didn’t realize you are building a barndominium! Looks amazing and I'm so jealous! Something we have always dreamed of ourselves! Way to go Dave and Lisa, I'm totally stoked for you both! I know how much work that all is.
Thanks so much for the kind words & encouragement!! It’s been a lot of work mixed with great memories!! We love it. Hope you enjoy watching the videos 😁
Looks amazing!!! Happy Birthday Baby Asher! Love mini splits!!! We had some in Cali and now we installed on in our garage. They are super quiet!!! You will be happy with it! Miss you guys and I’m so happy for you!❤
Good to hear on the mini splits! We sure miss you guys too. Excited for you guys to have a grandson 💙 they sure are fun. Working on another video and more trips back before winter.
Just found your channel. Cool stuff. I’m on the same track, smaller lot over in Troy and just getting ready to build. Where are you guys at? Looks like Cabinet Mtn views.
Hello watched you from Mauritius. Great recipes. Ty. I believe they can't be kept outside unless they are canned! Please correct me if I'm wrong. Ty. Tc.
I accidently picked up a mason bee at the end of the summer last year. Tried to save it but was too late. After crying about it. Came this year a local grocery store had mason houses. Well we bought one and man did we get a swarm off them. Eventually one of them nearly died from falling into our water pitcher. Got lucky and saved it from drowning.
Oh no! Yes, this year’s weather has been strange for sure. We have started seeing more as of late. Hopefully you will as well. Good luck to you with your bees & gardens. Thanks for watching & commenting.
@@OurWeekendHomestead I am doubtful bees will return they only live up to 6 weeks, and about 3 of those weeks have already passed. Very depressed over it
Hi there! Yes, we have been growing more and more of our own herbs and using them in all our recipes. We are working on a new video with more pickled egg recipes. Stay tuned! Thanks for watching & commenting.
Hi there! Each batch is different. I go off the temperature versus time. If I had to guess I’d say 25+ minutes for larger batches. It will also depend on the size of your pot. Hope that helps. Thanks for watching & commenting.
I let mine come to a rolling boil and then crank down the heat to slow simmer 30mins at most. The trick is to keep it hot enough to soften the berries without cooking them
Thanks for the comment. Thats a great idea. Next time I make it, I will be sure to weigh it all out and add an update. I’ve only ever made it by cups. Thanks for watching.
I accidentally created the perfect conditions for mason bees on my balcony. I couldn't believe they came to my house in the middle of the city. i bought one of those wooden houses you have with the bamboo sticks already planted inside and I hang it up at face height just for fun. The balcony is facing south and it's in the shade of the upstairs neigbours' balcony. I do have a modest amount of flowers on my balcony and I also have two buckets hanging there. I forgot to make a hole in the buckets so every now and then they are filled with rain water so you have a clay like substance in there between rainy periods. Of what I read they will only hatch 11 months later so I'll have plenty of time to increase the amount of flowers since not many people in a 300 feet radius are active gardeners. Good thing is that mason bees don't sting.
I live in the city we have at least 6 people i know who have bees they have any from 2 to 10 hives. My neighbor love them watching them in there little pond and on all there foowers and garden.
Hi there! We have lots of videos on canning & even one on soap making. Go to our channel & view the playlists. We hope you find them useful. Thanks for watching!
Just found this site after Greg Alder's post on creating a bee garden for pollinating avocados. Thanks for your information. Now to get ready to see what i can still get from Crown Bees. thanks!
hi I am trying to use Mason Bees, but they only stay a few days then gone, I don't think my garden has enough kind of flowers for them so they seam to leave what type of plants with food for them, When i do leafcutters they stay no problem. thanks Fred T.
Hi there! We had the same thoughts our first year of Mason bees. They are quite elusive. However, upon further inspection of our bee house we noticed filled tubes so we know they are still around. We don’t see them buzzing around as much as the leafcutters but when we do find one it’s an exciting sight. Our gardens are primarily vegetables & herbs. We do grow chamomile & calendula in abundance. We practice all organic gardening so no chemicals are used anywhere on the property, to keep the pollinators safe. We hope you see filled tubes this season with many Mason bees. Good luck. Thanks for watching & commenting.
New sub here! We're in Oklahoma and we've purchased acreage outside Missoula, with the intent of building our retirement home. We've been through two rounds of bidding on successively cheaper house builds and we're now looking at barndos. Crazy expensive up there! I found you searching for barndos in MT and here we are. Starting with this video we're going to watch them all as you put yours together. Can't wait to start watching! Oh - we're gardeners and canners and enjoy making our own stuff so you guys are a real treat!
Glad you found us! Welcome to our little corner of social media. We are slowly getting things built & doing as much ourselves as we can. We have found some amazing help for the things we can’t do or don’t have the right equipment for or just don’t have the time to get it done. That has been a true blessing. It really all goes back to community and building friendships along the way. It takes time to find them but once you do, they will set you up with all the right people. We hope you enjoy our videos and look forward to hearing about your journey too here in the comments! Thanks for watching & commenting!!
I've seen where others have placed logs or wood pieces at the bottom of the tank to cut down on the amount of expensive soil needed to fill the tank. The wood breaks down eventually and adds to the soil.
So your video is great..I'm a bee keeper too but your video doesn't say how to use a house if it only comes with the house and tubes. A lot of kits don't include the bees or cocoons. Do you know what time of the year to attract the naturals to use the house?
American Bee Journal (Feb 2024). Honey Bees are only 5% efficient in pollination. Mason and Leaf Cutter Bees are 95% efficient! Ideal for Small Gardens, and a lot less work, Native and Mason/Leaf Cutter Bees are ideal for the Home Garden.
Fun! I have been Beekeeping for years and decided to try Mason Bees since reading American Bee Journal (Feb 2024) and the revolution in Beekeeping in Orchards....where Mason Bees are being considered! I have brought Mason Bees to my home recently, and put a Leaf Cutter Bee house at my daughters home (20 miles away at a lower altitude) where I saw them on shrubs recently. The area where I moved to last year won't really support Honey Bees because of the dearth of nectar in the Summer months. The Mason and Leaf Cutter Bees are ideal....
That’s so great to hear! Glad you enjoyed the video. Good luck with your bees!! Thanks for commenting. More bee videos coming soon. Be sure to subscribe.
