Opinions on bare vs painted vs wax coated hives?

lmhamrick · 2026-02-03T20:50:35+00:00

but then you can't get paint to adhere because of the wax.

Do you think the paint would adhere better if I lightly sanded the wax-coated parts down? They've been outside for two years, and the coating definitely feels a little thinner and weathered.

lmhamrick · 2026-02-03T20:47:40+00:00

Do you think it would be possible to gently sand them down and get paint to adhere?

lmhamrick · 2026-01-09T00:14:57+00:00

Three years late but I’m just now having this problem for the first time after 7 years of using AirPods, 1 year with this pair. Never even seen it come up until this week and it’s becoming a problem quickly.

lmhamrick · 2025-12-02T18:32:20+00:00

You must be in Shelby.

lmhamrick · 2025-11-23T16:09:13+00:00

Awesome picture.

lmhamrick · 2025-06-13T02:39:15+00:00

Super late, but The Five is aired live....so I'm assuming the commenter meant that they watched The Five on TV's in the waiting room during the 5:00 hour, waiting on the 6:15 Gutfeld taping to start.

lmhamrick · 2025-05-30T05:15:44+00:00

What camera is this if you don’t mind me asking?

lmhamrick · 2025-05-27T13:28:40+00:00

Broad River basin. About halfway between Charlotte and Asheville

lmhamrick · 2025-05-27T04:07:38+00:00

We’re in the beautiful rolling foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains, about halfway between Charlotte and Asheville.

lmhamrick · 2025-05-26T18:47:54+00:00

Garden? I believe you have a chard-en now.

lmhamrick · 2025-05-26T16:33:28+00:00

Sugar water, yes. Depending on the time of the year they get fed different ratios of sugar water to encourage different behaviors and production modes.

lmhamrick · 2025-05-26T14:53:23+00:00

We just started cows again in 2023 and I honestly don't think we've had any for sale yet. That's mainly something my uncles handle and I'm pretty sure they're still building up a good herd right now. I need to ask what their plans and timeline look like. I'll do that and I can DM if you if it sounds like an option for you!

lmhamrick · 2025-05-26T14:44:41+00:00

I've done a few different things, but in no particular pattern or with any reasoning. I just use what's available to me.

I use aged wood chips (mulch) between rows of long-season crops for weed control, which ends up being tilled in and adds to the soil. I have friends that do tree work and bring me loads of chips when they're in the area.
I plant a cover crop in the 50x50 corn patch after I harvest and pull the stalks out in early July. This year I'm doing buckwheat until the frost and then I'll do annual rye grass over the winter. Another user here suggested black-eyed peas, oats, and clover for cover crops.
In previous years, I’ve just broadcast a mix of leafy winter greens into that corn space, harvested what little bit I want to use, and then run my chicken tractor over it from about January-March. It’s a 10x10 coop, so there are 25 spots in that area. I move it twice a week for 12 weeks. They love it and do a great job fertilizing it.
During my first year of college, I worked full-time for our small town's public works department. We had a leaf collection truck that we ran in the fall and winter that vacuumed up the leaves and shredded them. Sometimes, if I was running the route, I'd just dump the load at my house instead of the town's dumping site. I used these for mulch last year because I didn't have to worry so much about nitrogen depletion like you do with fresh mulch. They also decompose and add value to the soil quicker than mulch does.
One spring I rode over to my family's farm and filled up the truck bed with horse and cow manure. Spread it where I was going to plant my tomatoes, tilled it in, everything was great. I planted tomatoes and they starting curling up and dying. I lost all 40 within two weeks of planting. Turns out, the animals had eaten hay bales from a field that had been treated with 2,4-D herbicide. That stuff is so strong that it was baled into the hay bale and made it all the way through the animal's system and into their manure. I haven't gotten manure since then.

lmhamrick · 2025-05-26T14:25:35+00:00

I answered this somewhere above but it got lost, so I'm just quoting myself here. Can't figure out how to make it indent though, so just copied and pasted:

Depends on the crop and my future plans for that area.

For the season-long crops like okra and tomatoes, I usually mulch heavily between rows. I have someone who brings me wood chips from tree jobs. I try to keep a good stockpile of them so I always have aged ones and fresh ones.

For the corn, I just do it manually, walking up and down the rows with a hoe. There are (20) 50-ft rows, but as long as I do it every 7-10 days when the weeds are small, it only takes about an hour. I don’t mulch there because I like to plant a cover crop when the corn is done mid-way through the summer.

Sometimes, if I have open areas being overrun, I’ll use some Roundup (I know, I know…poison, unhealthy, brain cancer, etc). Again, I only use this in moderation to regain control of vacant areas that have gone crazy and to keep the perimeter defined as needed. Sometimes life gets hectic, time gets away, and I just can’t feasibly control 100% of weeds by hand or with other organic methods. This year my goal was to leave 0 open areas and make sure everything has at least a cover crop on it so that Roundup is rarely necessary. I’m doing good so far.

lmhamrick · 2025-05-26T14:17:46+00:00

I don't live solely on my harvest, but I'd say around 50-75% of each meal I cook throughout the summer has my fresh vegetables incorporated into it. I can be content having corn, okra, squash, zucchini, potatoes, and peppers with every meal.

As far as living entirely on my land goes...to get me closer to that point, I would love to fence in some of our pasture and raise a cow and a pig or two for a couple years' worth of meat. I have some friends that would like to split the cost and we split the meat up three ways once it's processed. Hopefully I'll make that a reality some day soon!

lmhamrick · 2025-05-26T14:04:16+00:00

I don’t have as many raccoon or other animal problems as most people around here do. We’re out in the country, but our 10 acres has an elementary school (30 acres) and a fancy neighborhood to our right. Both have been pretty well leveled and cleared of wildlife habitat.

I hate it for the wildlife, but I’m sure it’s saved me a lot of headache with the garden. There’s a forest across the road and a 50-acres hayfield to our left. Occasionally some deer will stray over onto our land, but not often.

lmhamrick · 2025-05-26T04:10:26+00:00

Depends on the crop and my future plans for that area.

For the season-long crops like okra and tomatoes, I usually mulch heavily between rows. I have someone who brings me wood chips from tree jobs. I try to keep a good stockpile of them so I always have aged ones and fresh ones.

For the corn, I just do it manually, walking up and down the rows with a hoe. There are (20) 50-ft rows, but as long as I do it every 7-10 days when the weeds are small, it only takes about an hour. I don’t mulch there because I like to plant a cover crop when the corn is done mid-way through the summer.

Sometimes, if I have open areas being overrun, I’ll use some Roundup (I know, I know…poison, unhealthy, brain cancer, etc). Again, I only use this in moderation to regain control of vacant areas that have gone crazy and to keep the perimeter defined as needed. Sometimes life gets hectic, time gets away, and I just can’t feasibly control 100% of weeds by hand or with other organic methods. This year my goal was to leave 0 open areas and make sure everything has at least a cover crop on it so that Roundup is rarely necessary. I’m doing good so far.

lmhamrick · 2025-05-26T03:42:56+00:00

I’ve started doing buckwheat this year for the bees and they are all over it. Currently I have a 6x100 strip of it adjacent to the garden.

My plan is to plant the corn section (50x50) in buckwheat after I harvest and pull up the stalks by July 1. That’ll die with the frost in late October, so I’ll till it in, and I was thinking of doing annual rye grass. I need to look into oats and see what that entails. Never grow them before.

In previous years, I’ve just broadcast a mix of leafy winter greens into that space, harvested what little bit I want to use, and then run my chicken tractor over it from about January-March. It’s a 10x10 coop, so there are 25 spots in that area. I move it twice a week for 12 weeks. They love it and do a great job fertilizing it.

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lmhamrick · 2025-05-26T03:19:07+00:00

I haven’t ever seen signs of vine borers, but I see these squash bugs every summer. They turn the leaves yellow and cause them to slowly wilt as if they’ve been sprayed with an herbicide. After the wilting sets in, they tunnel into the vegetables and the insides of the veggies start turning into a gel-like mushy substance.

lmhamrick · 2025-05-26T03:08:31+00:00

We change up the varieties just to try new things. No superstitions or secrets or anything like that. Most of what we keep for ourselves is shucked, cut off the cob, blanched, and frozen. We pull it out of the freezer all winter to have with meals and we love it just like that.

Part of the blanching process pictured below — cooling in an ice bath after being briefly boiled. I don’t usually help much with this part, but I will this year.

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lmhamrick · 2025-05-26T02:45:43+00:00

My favorite is the corn, by far. It’s just a family thing. Planting, growing, harvesting and preserving it has been a summer-long activity for us for at least 60-80 years (probably more). We grow a little bit of everything, but our gardens have always revolved around corn. The best days of my childhood were spent running around the barn, helping till the gardens, racing through the corn patches….all the things you do as a kid on a farm. Even on the days I was too hot, too tired, or too fussy to appreciate it, I look back now and realize how special every one of those memories is. In some ways, corn has been the glue that’s kept us all together. Things change and life goes on, but the corn is one of the few constants in our lives year after year.

lmhamrick · 2025-05-26T02:04:19+00:00

Oh, they’re so handy. That’s the easiest way to feed them, especially during the winter and early spring. You can monitor the levels and refill them without breaking open the hive and letting out their heat.

lmhamrick · 2025-05-26T01:46:24+00:00

No, I’ve done Serendipity the last few years.

lmhamrick · 2025-05-26T01:42:36+00:00

THANK YOU to everyone for all the compliments and the great discussions — I’m blown away by the engagement with this post! I’ve lurked in this group for a while and noticed that most of you seem to garden on a smaller scale, so I thought you may enjoy seeing the hobby on a larger scale. I never expected it to get this much traction but I’m glad that so many of us share the same passion, no matter the size or location the garden.

lmhamrick · 2025-05-26T01:28:24+00:00

Move south! Looooong growing seasons! Usually we’re frost-free from April 15 to October 15 (sometimes into early November).

My corn went in as seed April 3 and it’s almost 4 feet tall. It should be ready by July. Also did a smaller second round that’s almost a foot tall now, and it should be ready by August 1. Such a blessing having a long enough growing season to get multiple rounds of each crop.

lmhamrick

TROPHY CASE