So, ahem, let’s talk a bit about what’s buzzing around the farm in the next couple of weeks or so.

People get bashful when you talk about the birds and the bees, but I’m just going to dive right in and we’re going to talk about it.

December and January are usually planning months for the farm. It’s decided at that time how many chickens are going to be ordered and what’s going to be new for the upcoming year. Projects that were tried in the previous year that failed are reconsidered for another go or completely scraped.

As you read about in a previous article, 50 chickens were ordered for meat purposes back in January, and after a harrowing trip throughout the Midwest during the cold snap back in April (and the demise of almost half of what was shipped), the survivors are about to approach their final destination of “freezer camp.”

At this moment, the birds are enjoying the green grass and sunshine of their chicken tractor, waddling around like little bodybuilders and stuffing their beaks as full as they can. I really want to film them and use the music from the movie “Rambo,” but I know with Facebook policies these days, it would be shut down pretty quickly.

That’s a shame because who wouldn’t want to see a chicken displaying its best Sylvester Stallone as it stomps along the ground bwak, bwaking. I know the number of views would skyrocket.

There’s a certain “buzz” in the air this time of year, as well. After two years of my saying there would be bees on the property, it is finally going to happen after this Sunday. I’ve been reading up on the life cycle of bees, the diseases of bees, the behaviors of bees, you name it. I am a nervous bee Mutha.

I was initially concerned about the amount of forage that these little Apis (scientific name for honeybee) would have available to them, but I shouldn’t have needed to worry. The previous owners of this farm had beehives for many years and a great number of bee-friendly plants — red clover, thistle, white clover, flowering shrubs, etc. All are just waiting for a little bee action.

I’ve already set the hive in its location, and every chance I get, I try to sneak a look at it in the back field. I even got out the compass to make sure the entrance to the small beehive faces to the southeast. Maybe that’s a bit over the top, but when have I ever done something mediocre?

Getting the bees from Indianapolis and driving with a (hopefully) tightly sealed box of bees in the car back home will be a grand adventure, but you know that just means more things to tell about in the future. I thought I had a lot of puns with chickens, but bees, now there’s a whole new level of wordsmithing.

I can’t wait to be surrounded by the birds and the bees this summer. I won’t even have to censor myself. People I know will probably want to run should they get caught next to me because we all know that’s all I’m going to talk about, but hey, what’s a better attention-getter than, “Hey, want to talk about the birds and the bees?”

Until next time…

Stephanie Strothmann owns Purple Shamrock Farm LLC in rural Seymour. Read her blog at whattheclucker.blogspot.com. Send comments to [email protected].