https://www.facebook.com/107513328997658/

Freeloader Farm

We are a small urban farm focused on sustainability for our family on less than an acre.

07/14/2024

We got a message about some bees that had moved into the bottom of a wicker chair. This one was more of a challenge than most since the wicker gave the queen a ton of places to hide and dodge my attempts to get her.

Shout out to my fearless, flip flop wearing dad that came out with me a second time so we could move them safely to a hive.

Keep us in mind if you ever need bee removal, we never charge for swarm removals 🐝

07/04/2024

Never Again!

First time with pulling a few frames for comb honey / chunk honey… never doing this again. What a messy, sticky job! If you want some comb honey you better get it now!

04/21/2024

First honey harvest of the season! Our honey pull came in at a whopping 54 pounds of honey!!

01/13/2024

Pollen packing in action!

01/12/2024

The calm before the storm!

If you look closely you will see just about every lady has her pollen pants on!

12/03/2023

With a little effort you can extend your gardening season through winter! These pepper planta are actually 2 years old! They continued to produce for us last year and are still giving us beautiful peppers a week into December

Prepare early and plan out how to cover and uncover your plants easily or invest in a green house.

Here at Freeloader Farm we do both, although our growing slows down some, we are still able to grow organic veggies all year long ❤️

10/10/2023

Unexpected Fall Honey pull. It is dark and beautiful (bottom photo shows spring honey, summer honey and fall honey color difference)

We moved forward with dropping down to two deep boxes for the winter to allow them a better chance at staying warm and less space to protect and maintain.

I really hope our hives make it through the winter and maybe even have a chance at splitting them for additional hives come spring.

09/16/2023

Our loofahs have done amazing this year!

All the credit goes to our honey bees and the native bees!

We took extra time to plant wildflowers between out crops to attract bees and other polinators.

For comparison, last year I only got 1 loofah, this year I have over 20!

09/16/2023

Here is your reminder not to let those herbs go to waste!

Temperatures are getting cooler and we quickly forget to make use of everything we still have.

My favorite section of the garden is the herbs! I give my basil a squeeze every time I walk by because it’s my favorite smell.

I also always let at least a few basils flower and harvest the seeds for next seasons planting.

09/08/2023

Fall colds are upon us!!

Elderberry syrup recipe:
1 cup dried elderberries
3-4 cups water
2 cinnamon sticks
1 tablespoon ginger paste or chunk of ginger
clove to taste

Bring to a boil, turn down heat and allow to simmer until cooked down to 1/2 volume (mine took about 1 hour)

Allow to cool completely

Add 3/4 to 1 cup RAW local honey

Store in refrigerator (stays good for 2-3 weeks)

I recommend using local and raw honey as this will have the most benefit for allergy related issues as well as not heated to kill off any of “the good stuff”

(it is not recommended to give children under the age of 1 year honey ; always consult your medical professional before consuming anything for medicinal purpose)

08/19/2023

Happy National Honey Bee Day 🐝

If you are interested in becoming a bee keeper, contact your local bee keepers association. Many recommendations are location based (South East has mild winters compared to the North East so hive management during the cold months is very different)

If you don’t want to keep bees but you want to help (honey bees and native bees) plant flowers with pollen and nectar sources that bloom in different seasons. Around our house we plant tons of lantana, wildflowers, trumpet trees (what you see in the picture), our garden and we also have different camelias that bloom from October -April, and azelas and privets that are our first spring bloom.

Planting a variety of trees and shrubs that bloom year round will aid in your hive’s success!

08/18/2023

If you are a fan of bumble bees, plant some loofahs!

The bumble bees cover this vine and we often catch them taking naps in the part way open blooms 🐝

08/15/2023

Double rainbow over our homestead today 🌈

08/04/2023

Pindo Palm jelly is a hit!!

08/02/2023

Our first Pindo palm harvest!! We have 3 more big bunches ripening. I think we will do jelly and wine but if you have other recipes please post them!

07/30/2023

Early honey pull is the lighter color in the front, while today’s honey pull is darker 🐝

It is cool to see the color difference between the seasons!

07/30/2023

Last harvest of the season!

All the girls have plenty of honey for themselves as we enter a dearth and I can start feeding them since we have taken the consumable honey box off.

This medium box weighed in at 45 pounds!

07/26/2023

Another swarm removal in the books for us!

These ladies took up residency in a grill drawer. They had already started to build comb and had some pollen and nectar stored.

They are now happy in their new hive and have a feeder attached since they will be working hard to build up enough stores for the winter 🐝

07/19/2023

Our first grape harvest!! Nothing like right off the vine!

07/12/2023

Chicken Spotlight: Destiny

Name: Destiny
Breed: Easter Egger
Egg size/color: Large blue

Fun facts: Destiny is the best snake eater! I have watched her swallow a snake whole like a spagetti noodle

07/12/2023

Gardening can be expensive.

My tip: Save all the seeds you can! I often grab a few of my veggies and flowers and save the seeds for next year. I have had good luck this far without putting them in the refrigerator but I know others that either refrigerate or freeze their seeds. I opt to wash and dry them and then once fully dry put them in a container or ziplock (getting all the air out that you can). I then store mine in an old wooden chest and have a single drawer dedicated to seeds and dried herbs.

07/11/2023

Whipped up some homemade soaps today!🧼

Oatmeal soap, almond oil, rose kaolin clay, chamomile and rose hips, fragranced with wild orange and grapefruit essential oils

06/25/2023

Peach jam late night canning!

We had extra peaches that just weren’t getting eaten… instead of wasting we used the extras for jam which will now be shelf stable with no preservatives!

06/24/2023

Washboarding:

There are many theories on why bees do this… mine is, when the population grows large and there aren’t enough jobs inside the hive, the extras get sent to do outside cleaning.

Its like me tossing my kiddos windex and a rag to my kids and telling them to wash windows when they say they are bored!!

06/23/2023

Last 5 frames pulled, the other 5 frames were given back to the bees. I will be ordering labels and these will be ready to go to new homes 🐝

The big jar in the back is a half gallon for size!

06/21/2023

Our baby quails have now joined their adult family members.

They are 3.5 weeks old, full feathered and have been outside for about a week. It’s warm enough here in SC that they no longer need an additional heat source.

To ease the transition the feeder was filled up and treats were tossed all over their coop for plenty of distraction!

06/19/2023

Today was harvest day! We took 5 frames from our bees, they have about 15 more frames of just honey in my largest hive (they are just producing like crazy).

We extracted in the kitchen because it was raining!

Look at this beautiful golden honey. It was really neat to see some of the color variation through the frames as well

06/15/2023

Our quail at only 2 weeks old already have a good amount of their adult feathers and have moved outside.

There are so many benefits to quail in comparison to chickens:

they start laying eggs by 8 weeks old/ are fully grown by this point if you plan to use them for meat birds

they are very small

they are so quiet so no disruption to neighbors

they are not nearly as picky eaters as chickens

06/13/2023

Matching hair! 🐓

05/29/2023

These babies are tiny!! 13 of our 16 eggs have hatched so far and I am happy to report everyone is doing amazing!

Address

Summerville, SC
29485

Website

facebook.com

Alerts

Be the first to know and let us send you an email when Freeloader Farm posts news and promotions. Your email address will not be used for any other purpose, and you can unsubscribe at any time.

Contact The Business

Send a message to Freeloader Farm:

Videos

Pollen packing in action!

The calm before the storm! If you look closely you will see just about every lady has her pollen pants on!

Washboarding: There are many theories on why bees do this… mine is, when the population grows large and there aren’t enough jobs inside the hive, the extras get sent to do outside cleaning. Its like me tossing my kiddos windex and a rag to my kids and telling them to wash windows when they say they are bored!!

My OG hive view from underneath! She is completely full and busting at the seams!

Shaking’ in the bees 🐝 When picking your bee starter there are a few things to know. A package is 3 pounds of bees including worker bees, nurse bees, your queen (usually mated) and some drones. There are no resources for your bees they are just in a box. I feel 1:1 sugar water so they can get started making wax comb on their frames. A Nuc is also a full colony including the same bees as above but they generally have 3-5 frames build. They typically cost more than a package since they come with frames and resources. I choose packages because of a few reasons. 1- they are more cost effective and 2- our bees usually can draw out a whole frame in a few days. Within 3 -4 weeks they will have almost all 10 frames drawn out and we will be adding another brood box.