Blueberry French Toast and local maple syrup for breakfast at the B&B today. See the recipe at www.northforkbandb.net or www.northforkbandb.wordpress.com

Three new gift baskets great for Mothers Day just put on North Fork Gifts, check it out! http://ping.fm/drJxl

Coffee from http://ping.fm/SV6xu and maple syrup from http://ping.fm/ebPb3

Currently serving breakfast to our guests.

Please Follow My Blogs....

Hi,
I'm hoping that everyone who is currently following me will please come over and sign up on my blogs. One is for the B&B and the other is for the gift shop. I write about lots on the B&B, the baking,guests, what's happening. On the gift shop blog it's what's up and coming, new things, what's available. I'm beginning some how to and I hope to start some classes soon. At any rate. I won't be posting here so please come and sign up!

http://www.northforkbandb.wordpress.com/

http://www.northforkgifts.com/

I hope to see you there!!!

I can't believe it's snowing again! But I still love it.

Was I ever surprised this morning when I woke up and it was snowing like crazy! Big fluffy flakes and lots of them. If I hadn't been on my way to the Dr. I would have taken a picture. The trees look very pretty all snow covered. You can tell it's not going to stay around. As I returned home, it was a drizzling rain. Ah...the second day of spring!
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The Black Capped Chickadee

Black Capped Chickadees are found both deep within forests and at forest edges. They are also found in rural and suburan areas where there are scattered trees, old fields and parks. Their breeding season spans from early April thru mid May. In the southern part of their range, the season begins in April with the northern regions beginning in May.
Typically, the houses should be placed in yards with mature hard wood trees where there is 40-60 percent sunlight. Black-capped Chickadee houses should be mounted 5 to 15 feet high and spaced one per 10 acres with the entrance hole facing away from prevailing wind. 1 inch of wood shavings can be placed in the house.
The black capped chickadee is a friendly little bird and usually one of the first to appear when a new feeder is placed outdoors. These houses should be placed one per 10 acres. In suburban areas, one may not be able to determine this type of placement. Putting out the house is still a great idea. If the chickadee frequents your yard, they will be looking for nesting sites so it certainly doesn’t hurt to try. Sometimes, as in my own experience, other birds come and take over the house you intended for a particular type of bird. I personally don’t worry about it. I welcome which ever bird wants to use the house and thoroughly enjoy watching the nest building process, the setting, the feeding and the departure of fledgelings. No matter how you slice it, birding is great fun and a fabulous learning experience.

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Bluebird Houses

Bluebird numbers have decreased 90 percent over the past 60 years in the eastern United States. The four reasons for this are: widespread insecteside use decreasing the food supply, severe winter which have increased winter mortality, changing agricultural practices reducing nesting sites and House Sparrows competing for the remaining nesting sites making nesting more difficult.




The best way to help increase the blue bird population is to provide wooden houses for them to nest in.

Bluebird houses shoule be placed by the end of February in areas around open fields, pastures, golf courses, cemeteries, gardens and large lawns which provide excellent bluebird habitat. These areas usually provide plenty of insects to eat. Avoid areas where insecticides are used heavily.

Place houses 4 to 6 feet above the ground and 50 to 100 yards apart. Face the houses to the south or southeast, if possible. Try to select places where trees, shrubs, utility wires or fences are within 25 to 100 feet of the houses. Bluebirds use these structures for perches when feeding. These perches are also helpful to young birds during their first flights.



If houses are located near woods and brush piles, other species of birds, such as chickadees, titmice, nuthatches, and wrens, will use the bluebird houses. These species, like the bluebird, are welcome additions to the area and should not be discouraged from using the bird house. These birds are also helpful in controlling insect populations. It may be possible to get a bluebird to nest in the same area by placing another house about 10 to 20 feet from the one the other bird is using.



Now is the time to get out there and clean out your bird houses. If you already have bluebird houses in and around your yard, they need to be cleaned out. Bluebirds won't typically nest in a house that has left over nesting from a previous year. Swallows are notorious for taking over these nesting sites. If your bird house doesn't have a proper clean out, you'll need to take the bottom off or replace it with one that does. All or our bird houses are made with vents and clean outs so the birds don't overheat in hot weather and they can easily be cleaned out.

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Lip Balm Golore!

I just finished making just about all of the lip balm needed to complete the fund raising order. Tonight I made Summer Honey and  Berry Lip Balm. Making this is great fun! Everyone seems to really love my lip balm so that makes it even better. Tonigt I'll make the rest and get them all labeled and sealed with shrink wrap.

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Stranded Guests and the Gift Shop Website

Well today was very busy. This morning I spent getting ready for guests. I had an appt. and then groceries and other things. As I was out and about, my guests began calling to talk about the weather. Although the weather here wasn't too bad and their weather was ok, there were white out conditions in the Adirondacks. I'm so glad they all decided to wait and head out early tomorrow morning. I think a fun time will be had by all.

Tomorrow I will await the arrival of our guests, Tim will be doing another tasting in Tupper Lake and Sarah will be skiing. I'm hoping to make it up there on Sunday and go cross country skiing and snow shoeing. We'll see how the time goes.

Very exciting news regarding the gift shop website....more and more is getting on there all the time and if you have a chance, please do check it out! http://www.northforkgifts.com/  I'm very excited about this!! Well it's off to sleep. Tomorrow will be another very busy day!

New Pressed Flower Candles

The pressed flower candles are all done. I have spent quite a bit of time organizing. I've gotten way behind so I'm trying to get things in order so I can make all of the things people are waiting for from our recent fund raiser. My shop was in a shambles. We've run out of gas twice. Both times it was really cold so I had to grab everything that couldn't freeze and run it into the house. The bringing back to the shop part was where I fell down on the job. Having to rush to put things back out and head off to work, things were not in order at all. All of the new products were here and there. Hopefully now it is straightened enough to get some much needed work done. It certainly feels better out there! Here are some pictures of the new pressed flower candles....enjoy!

A New Style Bird House and Pressed Flower Candles

Today I worked on pressed flower candles which I always enjoy. This time I made  some of the shorter pillar candles which are 3x3. Pictures will follow. We had a wonderful ski today as well. Of course, because I didn't have my camera, we saw porcupine. One was wide awake sitting up in a hemlock, munching away. As soon as I can get back out there, I'll have my camera. Warmer weather and rain may prevent my going out there today. The temp is due to drop to below zero tonight so Tuesday looks promising.

I wanted to share this picture of the new bird house style and also some of the other houses that will be upcoming on our gift shop website http://www.northforkgifts.com/  We've started loading products so keep checking to see what's new.

We'll be putting these and more onto our gift shop site. Great time to begin planning for spring and what new and exciting things to put in your yard and garden!

Absolutely Breath Taking!

If you've been following my blog for a while, you probably are aware that I love snow and that I love to ski. I've always considered myself to be pretty lucky because I enjoy all of the seasons of the year and rarely tire of winter. I must say though, I don't really care for rain. Anyway, the snow cover is quite deep now and there's nothing like the hush that one can experience in the woods when the snow cover is this deep. I saw very litte evidence of animals today. It was very quiet. I always worry about the deer walking through the deep snow and having enough to eat. Today I saw a spot where they had stopped to browse. The heavy snow had weighed this cedar tree down just enough so the deer could browse.

A few days ago I snow shoed my way out around the first trail. It was exhausting! Today, I was so glad that I had done that! I was able to ski out there. If I hadn't broken trail the other day, today would have been nearly impossible because the snow is so deep. Here, you can see the snow shoe trail and how beautiful it was to look up the trail as I entered the woods.

I was really glad that I had made the effort to break trail. If you look carefully, you can see the  snow covered, snow shoe trail. As I skiied further into the woods, I was taken by the small and large trees and how the gracefully bend with the weight of the snow. They are so beautiful with the sun light shining down through their snow covered branches.

I skiied through the woods and saw no signs of my porcupine friends anywhere. Very few tracks of any kind were visible today. The breath taking part was all in the hush created by the snow depth and continual drop in temperature. As I came around and began to exit the woods and enter the open field, I saw the beginnings of what proved to be and awesome sunset. All that crisp winter air and all of those fabulous colors in the sky. It was wonderful!

Very excited about going out in the snow! It's hard work though....very deep!! Snow shoeing is even tiring.

Excellent Weekend!

One of the most wonderful things about the B&B business is the people you meet. I've written about this before. This weekend we had such a wonderful time with our guests. They were very interested in the coffee roastery and everyone checked out the gift shop. Lisa baked for SLU Bookstore and the guests were threatening to steal the goods in the night because the house smelled so good. Of course today's game was a topic of conversation with guests rooting for opposing teams. That's OK though because one guest was on Tim's side! Another wonderful experience with terrific people.

Today's agenda is to work in the shop. Tim's cleaning the roaster and then it will be the game. I'm hoping to either make soap or sew, maybe both. I'd like to make more coffee tote bags as we are out of them and people seem to enjoy them. It would be fun to create some new ones. Whatever I do get done, I hope to share with upcoming photos.

And....we're preparing for the severe cold. 28 below is a bit chilly for sure.

Ah the Woods in the Snow.....

This was a close up of the snow on the trees. As we skiied through the woods, the wind would blow and snow would cascade from everywhere. It is so much fun!

These are some of the pictures I took while I was skiing. The first one was taken the other day but all of the rest were taken this morning soon after I posted the first blog. The snow was just beautiful. It looked like it was glitter coming down from the sky. I tried to capture that in my photos but I'm not sure you can really see all the sparkle. It was breathtaking!

This picture was taken the other day as we set out to ski. It was nearing dusk and as you can see, the colors in the sky were just gorgeous.

In this picture you can really see the sparkle in the snow on the ground. If you look carefully you can see the sparkle as the snow is falling as well. Pictures give you the idea but the experience would take your breath away. It was just amazing. I can't wait to go back out tomorrow! Hopefully, I'll be doing some work in the shop as well.

New Products and Blog Changes

Hi, just a quick note to let you know that northforkgifts.com blog is not currently working due to website construction. I'll be updating on products and such later on today. In the meantime, I'll show you one of the large candles that are now ready for purchase.

Just made vanilla lavender soy wax candles in 4 oz. tins. My own scent and one of our most popular. They smell divine!

First person to like a 4 oz. tin lilac candle on our facebook page will get one free!

Just made fresh brewed coffee 4 oz. tin candles. Smells wonderful!!

Making 4oz. lilac tin candles. Great way to spend a winter afternoon....

working on the website thing again!!!