2018 Season in Belarus
 

First pictures of my father-in-law country house with some bee-houses in the yard. He is a big fan of honey and bees:)

Early in April we had a lot of birch tree juice (as seen on the picture) :)

Backing to our dacha our old greenhouse (25 years old) has been refurbished in April/May.

Old shed (also 25 years old:)) had been diassembled and a new one was built by our local pale. Now there is a place for a teetor-tottor there under the roof.

Almost everything but pumpkins and summer flowers has been already transplanted.

After a long winter with a lot of snow in March till early April there is a lot of warm sunny weather in May with +20 +30 C, but with minor raining.

Very nice place! Love the bee hives! Thanks for sharing!

Yes, it's good to see those bees!

And some more photoes.
A lot of blooming Apple, Pear and Cherry trees... lilac and strawberries.

April 30 - first Gyromitra mushrooms)

Thank you for the tour through your property, Andre! Very enjoyable to see where you and your family live and garden. You are lucky to have a nice place away from the city apartment, wonderful greenhouses! Your season is much ahead of ours, our tree leaves are just starting to green up. No apple blossoms or lilacs for a while, yet!

Thanks, Dee.
We had snow till mid April and it has been getting warmer after that so we translant all the tomato and sweet pepper plants early in May and even started cucumbers.
It is still quite cold inside our dacha house so we are heating it by wood. It's a weekend place 60km away from Minsk to work on the garden and to have a rest sometimes :)

Thoroughly enjoyed the tour of where you live and garden, my garden is not even postage stamp size next to yours. The Piekny Jas you sent us are starting to climb the netting, doing the happy dance. A few seeds have also made their way to the UK, almost a round trip :).

Annette

Annette,
don't let these photoes get you wrong about the size of our land.
It is only 6х100 square meters including a small summer house with a wood heating, summer kitchen, a small sauna (Russian banya), 2 sheds, 2 greenhouses for tomatoes and 1 small greenhouse for sweet peppers + 1 old ex-greenhouse - now for firewood, 3 apple trees, 3 pear trees, 2 plum trees, 1 blackberry, 1 gooseberry, 1 cherry, 10 garden blueberry bushes and a lot of black and red currents, strawberries + flowers and conifers.
Actually we live abstemiously with no excesses)

Beautiful pics 8-) Are those mushrooms edible? They are scary to look at :panic: How is the taste if they are edible?

Frank,
yes, Gyromitra is edible, but only after a lot of treatment. So we don't risk. It is just like a first prize but when you should give it back after you win))

Loved the tour of the garden and beehives.

Wonderful Andrey! Nice to see.
Are the bees in Belarus in good condition or do they suffer like ours in North America?
How is it that the shed has such a nice floor? My kitchen is in envy!
Lovely spring flowers. Tulips do not last very long but are so welcome for their vibrant colours early in the year.

Very nice, thanks for the tour.

As for bees I believe they have same population problems like everywhere over the world due to the climate changes and industrial fertilizers.
From 7 active bee houses there was 2 where bees died during December-January time when they had to sleep, but actually not sleeping because of abnormal t C and they had no enough food during this time...
We like tulips as well and have several ways of their blooming from very early varieties to some late yellow and dark purple ones like now. All spare places are ready to invite Asters, Zinnias, Nasturtiums and other summer-autumn flowers...
Petunias and Pelargonias have been already transplanted in flower pots. And I've got several Siberian roses to add on our small rosarium.
[QUOTE=GrowingCoastal;700233]Wonderful Andrey! Nice to see.
Are the bees in Belarus in good condition or do they suffer like ours in North America?
How is it that the shed has such a nice floor? My kitchen is in envy!
Lovely spring flowers. Tulips do not last very long but are so welcome for their vibrant colours early in the year.[/QUOTE]

I wish I had Gyromitra growing in the area nearby, I would gladly have one meal a year with them. They are a pain to prepare (boil, cook, boil, throw the water away and don't inhale it while it's boiling), and there is still some controversy about the safest method. (drying vs boiling)
Much of the flavor is lost in the boiling process, but there is still enough left to make a delicious sauce with cream :-)

My goodness Andrey, your gardens are just beautiful!
I love the photo of the spider in her web :)
I hope the whole season is wonderful for you and I am jealous of all that beautiful greenhouse space!
KarenO

Oh my Andre. Such a lovely fairyland your garden is. Those tulips, the fruit trees, all the things a sub tropical girl can never grow. Thank you for posting these.

Great tour, thanks for all the wonderful pics, you have a great looking garden and greenhouses.

Andrey-Great to see you posting, and things look so good at your place!

[QUOTE=NarnianGarden;700302]I wish I had Gyromitra growing in the area nearby, I would gladly have one meal a year with them. They are a pain to prepare (boil, cook, boil, throw the water away and don't inhale it while it's boiling), and there is still some controversy about the safest method. (drying vs boiling)
Much of the flavor is lost in the boiling process, but there is still enough left to make a delicious sauce with cream :-)[/QUOTE]

My mother, also from Europe, used to boil in salt water all the wild mushrooms we picked and then throw away the water. She felt that if we had picked any poisonous ones this would draw the poison. We never got sick but we never picked any questionable mushrooms. This was her way.
Another, tedious, thing we did was to peel all the mushrooms we brought home. Often a big job.

Your country home is charming. You don't see many old world style homes anymore. People think everything needs to be modernized now-a-days.

Truly a treasure. It's amazing you can maintain it so precisely from afar.

- Lisa

Thanks for your warm feedback.
We don't pick questionable mushrooms as well, but we have no many mushrooms with questions)) I've been picking different edible mushrooms from my early childhood. It's our national tradition for hundreds of years)

"All mushrooms can be eaten. Some of them, only once"..

Really enjoyed your tour, giving us a chance to see how you garden. Lovely. What do you use birch tree juice for.

Beautiful pictures and beautiful garden, thanks for sharing! I'll look for more updates!

[QUOTE=nancyruhl;700447]Really enjoyed your tour, giving us a chance to see how you garden. Lovely. What do you use birch tree juice for.[/QUOTE]

We just drink it natural or with lemon. It is a real healthy drink.
Or we can make kvass from birch tree juice along with bread, lemon, honey or herbs like mint, raspberry or black currant leaves + lemon acid.

[IMG]https://polzavred.ru/wp-content/uploads/konservaciya-berezovogo-soka-delaem-poleznye-zagotovki-1.jpg[/IMG]

[IMG]http://cosmetic-oil.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/berezoviy-sok.jpg[/IMG]

[IMG]http://files.vm.ru/photo/vecherka/2018/04/doc6znytewtfv61dax0619m.jpg[/IMG]

Oh wow! That juice collecting looks very thorough and methodological... Is everyone there as industrious as you?

We used to have the same tradition, only now it is very restricted when and how it is allowed... (only when safe for the trees) Some companies sell it in small glass bottles.

[QUOTE=NarnianGarden;700508]Oh wow! That juice collecting looks very thorough and methodological... Is everyone there as industrious as you?

We used to have the same tradition, only now it is very restricted when and how it is allowed... (only when safe for the trees) Some companies sell it in small glass bottles.[/QUOTE]

It's not really me on this picture :) I'm not industrial at all:D
But we have many State agricultural enterprises and local farmers who are doing like that;)

If you are doing it every year in the same forest you always take care of these trees. Nothing really bad about this at all...
And I know that we are still wild people like our Russian ancesors from many many centuries ago, but we like to be so close to the nature :)
We can buy birch tree juice in every grocery store in 1l tetrapack or 3l glass jars like this :)
[IMG]https://ua.all.biz/img/ua/catalog/1579346.jpeg[/IMG]

Andrey your photos are superb, and such a wonderland the springtime at your dacha. :yes: Your garden and greenhouses look great!
I bet that birch juice is delicious... mmmm! :love::)

I really enjoyed seeing your wonderful photographic essay of your gardens and lifestyle practices Andrey! Thank you for posting..your pictures make me want to travel!