Oh, you have bees! What kind are they? I was toying with Mason bees but was told I would need an orchard for them to survive.

I didn't know it was Marlin, TX! I thought your name was because of purple martins. I have actually been to Marlin trying to do some genealogical research (wasn't much at the library there), and I thought it was a cute little town.

Tell your dh good job on it. Looks like you really enjoy your farm too. I'm bookmarking it so I can get up with it.

Sowthefrikan, we have Italian Americanized bees--very calm, very ladylike, and very, very industrious! We do have a small, young orchard which we hope our honeybees will help.
Marti, we aren't actually in Marlin, but that is the biggest dot on the map near us. It is a cute little town, and just chock full of nice people! We will be offering a free newsletter (we won't share any e-mail addresses with anyone else) starting in May. Sign up if you wish--we'd love to visit with you!

Sowthefrikan,
Try the following site for information about mason bees: What's Buzzin' in my Garden. We will have an article about pollinator boxes and who uses them in our newsletter soon. It seems mason bees are dormant in the summer, and only active in spring. Amazing!

How very cool! I want to come visit your farm. :-> I am in the process of building some gravel paths like yours right now. Lots of work!

What software did you use to create your website? I'm looking for something cheap (preferably free) to re-do my website that will work with multiple browsers.

You have a lot of excellent gardening information. I would like to add your link to my Texas Garden Links page on my website - Is that okay with you?

www.allengardenclub.org

Denise,
We'd be honored to be linked to your website page. Thank you, and we're so glad you like our gardening information. We hope to (virtually) meet many members of your garden club.
As to the software, we used GoDaddy which isn't expensive. I'll ask my husband what else he used and have him post you an answer. He is the technical guru--I just have dirt under my fingernails!

Denise,
Just got the following message from the web site builder (my hubby). Hope this answers your question!

There wasn't any special software, it was a web site builder package (Website Tonight) that GoDaddy offers with their domains and hosting services, so it wouldn't be any use for her. But, I found a site, http://www.coffeecup.com/html-editor/, that seems to have what she wants for $49, with a 30 day trial period. It doesn't appear to require HTML knowledge, but the folks there could clarify that for her.

I must be doing something wrong! i tried going there and the net says expired domain! another search tells me that they could't find that page . Any other name that I can try to get in?

Marcie,
I just tried our website and it came up. Please try again at www.rgf-tx.com
I assure you our domain has not expired! It is possible, that since we are a brand new site, some search engines haven't picked us up yet. Good luck, and we are looking forward to visiting with you!

marlingardener: Your site is lovely!

Denise: I can recommend Microsoft's Office Live as a web host. They charge you $15 per year for your domain name...and that's it! The first year is completely free. (If you already have a domain, re-delegate it to their servers and you don't pay Office Live anything.) Free hosting, customizable templates.

I've made lots of sites for my clients using this web-based service--they make it easy.

Here is a link that might be useful: my Office Live site

You all are right, this is really neat! I was finally able to go there and I really liked the site. Very helpful, I am supposed to plant my garden tomorrow, some from seed and some from plnts alredy started from the general store and of course wally!

Marcie,
So glad you found us! Being out here in the (internet)country, sometimes people pass our website by . . . .
Feel free to drop into our Red Gate Farm site anytime, ask a few questions, look around and maybe sign up for our free newsletter (we won't tell anyone your address).

Thanks for the link - I'm really keen to keep some bees, but hesitant until I know a lot more. Don't want to be responsible for the great bee massacre, too - the great goldfish massacre was enough.

sowthefrikan,
we are posting pictures of our bees on a frame in the upcoming newsletter, and subsequent issues will discuss getting started (since we just got started ourselves, we consider our information fresh and timely!). If you want to contact us at Red Gate Farm, my husband, the computer and beekeeping god, can tell you what books, videos, information sites he found valuable.
Sorry about your goldfish.