The Bees Have Landed

HE (aka Jim) and the kids installed the bees into their hives on Monday. It was an exciting occasion. Jim donned the white beekeeper's suit, Erica wore the extra veil and Aidan waited for his turn to try the veil out. I kept my distance with the telephoto lens to document the process.  I'm not afraid of the bees, but I'm also not interested in being stung by more than one at a time....

 Box 'o' Bees.

Loading up the cart with necessities....

Erica and Aidan haul the cart to the hive location.

 HE carries the bees.

Opening one box of bees.

Inspecting the queen...

Dumping the bees.

Making their way into the hive.

Sugar water for sustenance.

Closer inspection...

In and out the front door.

All completed without a single sting, though the kids insist they saw Spotters eating some bees a day or so later, so perhaps he had a sting or two... We'll check on the bees this weekend to ensure that the queen was released from her box and that the hives look healthy. Other than that, there's not much else involved. If you have any questions or are curious about the bees or any part of this process, let us know and we will try to answer your questions. Being novices, we are learning as we go and reading as much as we can from the internet and library books, so we might have the information you are looking for. 

Honeybees are actually quite docile creatures. One of the amazing things to me is the way the bees act as one organism. When Jim poured them out of the box, they clumped and moved together (mostly). It was an extraordinary sight. They never swarmed toward Jim or Erica (Aidan, it turns out, was to shy to go very close to the hives even with the veil on). 

As with most farming projects, there are many pest and disease issues involved with beekeeping, so there is no guarantee that we will end up with any honey, but we hope and do our best. Just as with animals and the garden, mother nature might have other plans. Hail could decimate our entire garden, disease or predators could invade our chicken flock. Plan for the worst and hope for the best. Have faith and have fun. And know that we can always start from scratch all over again if things don't go according to plan.

See you at the honey harvest!

This weekend we were to have some friends over to help with the remaining tasks in getting our garden ready for planting. It rained. We truly needed the rain, so I'm not complaining. Plus I was sick......again.  Iron deficiency anemia--not so fun. But that's a whole nother Oprah! I love that phrase: 'a whole nother'. I'm definitely one of those people who cringes at grammar and spelling errors in signs, menus, etc. But I just love the phrase a whole nother. (I'm probably not even spelling it right..;-)

Wow, I digress. Anyhoo, it rained and we spent time inside. As I said I don't mind the rain, but I do have a request for mother nature--perhaps she could just release the rains during the middle of the night or only between 2 pm and 4 pm on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays? It reminds me of a prayer I read in one of my gardening books, Wisconsin Garden Guide by Jerry Minnich. It was originally published in a book titled "The Gardener's Year" by Karel Capek in 1929 in Czech. Here is the English translation, published by the University of Wisconsin Press in 1984:

"Oh Lord, Grant that in some way it may rain every day, say from about midnight until three o'clock in the morning, but, you see, it must be gentle and warm so that it can soak in; grant that at the same time it would not rain on campion, alyssum, helianthemum, lavender, and the others which you in your infinite wisdom know are drought-loving plants--I will write their names on a bit of paper if you like--and grant that the sun may shine the whole day long, but not everywhere (not, for instance, on spiraea, or on gentian, plantain lily and rhododendron), and not too much; that there may be plenty of dew and little wind, enough worms, no plant-lice and snails, no mildew, and that once a week thin liquid manure and guano may fall from heaven. Amen."

I just love this....if farmers controlled the weather....

One task Jim completed this weekend was a trip to Lapp's bee supply in Reeseville Wisconsin. We had ordered honey bees a couple months ago and they were ready to be picked up. Erica went along for the adventure, while Aidan and I stayed home. Jim and the kids had assembled and painted our hives this past week. We should be installing the bees into their hives today--a nice sunny day--and I hope to get some photos of this (delicate) operation.

Harvesting Nettles

Flowering Bulbs

Last November, my mom died. Shortly after, I found myself planting flowering bulbs around our yard. I was working alone and was feeling very low. It was a cloudy, overcast day, but surprisingly mild for November--indeed, the ground wasn't frozen.

While planting the bulbs I thought a lot about my mom and I suddenly realized that at least some of the flowers would likely be blooming on her birthday, April 21st. My heart lightened a bit and I continued planting the bulbs in her memory. I had always said that one of the gifts mom had given me was a love of growing things. She took great pleasure in gardening. She was good at it. I remember thinking at the time that mom would appreciate the beauty. I planted crocus, tulips, daffodils and hyacinth in various places.

I'm not an expert at gardening. Not even close. I love to grow things and kind of look at it as a bit of a crapshoot. At least one thing will come up, right? When I began planting the bulbs, my main objective wasn't to make gorgeous flower beds. I had an ulterior motive--I wanted to see color coming up out of the ground in the spring. I wasn't being neat in my planting or creating perfectly even beds with well-defined edges. I simply (and crudely) removed the sod and plopped the bulbs into the ground. Covered them up and watered them. With mom on my mind, I had a new motive--to plant bulbs every fall in her memory. And to enjoy their beauty each April, especially on her birthday. This seems a natural way to remember and honor my mom's life.

Happy Birthday, Mom.
I love you.
Be at Peace.

Why Buckeyes?

Last winter and early spring (2009), HE built a beautiful chicken coop for our new flock. Unfortunately, the birds never materialized. We had placed our order too late and everywhere else I looked, Buckeyes were sold out. We weren’t exactly devastated, but very disappointed. I remember a friend telling us to just go to the local farm supply store and pick up some of whatever chicks they were selling—perhaps he was tired of hearing me complain about our loss. I briefly considered the idea. It would mean eggs in 6 months (or sooner) instead of a year and a half. The big rush to finish the chicken coop would not have been for naught. And really, I just wanted some chickens running around the place. But my heart had already been stolen by the Buckeye.

 The Chicken Condo

While we knew we wanted chickens, we hadn’t given much thought to breeds. I think the farthest I got was thinking I wanted chickens that laid largish brown eggs. (Don’t ask why—I have no idea!) At some point in our research about farming and animals we came across The American Livestock Breeds Conservancy http://albc-usa.org/. It’s an extraordinary organization dedicated to protecting endangered livestock breeds.

We read up on the Buckeye and discovered that they possess features that we hadn’t even considered—cold hardy, friendly temperaments, good layers as well as meat birds and they (apparently) catch mice. Of course, different breeds would develop different features. We knew this about dogs, but chicken personalities hadn’t really crossed our minds. Our education on various breeds helped us narrow down those traits we admired or felt important to our decision. So in addition to laying large brown eggs :-) Buckeyes are the only breed developed by a woman—Nettie Metcalf.

Another factor that helped us decide on the Buckeye was their critically-endangered listing on the ALBC. We’ve become increasingly dismayed with the homogonization of our farming culture. Just as with everything in America, it seems, animals are being bred into narrower streamlined varieties—built for rate of growth and bulk, profitability and predictability. We’re attracted to the idea that we can raise our own food while keeping rare heritage breeds alive.

For more information on our beloved Buckeyes, check out these sites
http://www.backyardchickens.com/breeds/buckeye/32682
http://www.americanbuckeyeclub.org/Home_Page.html

The gang is doing great!

Tippy, the Amazing Dog

Tippy, our 2 1/2 year-old Australian Shepherd/Lab mix, has been a wonderful dog from the beginning. She's really just a couch potato, but has also assigned herself the responsibility of official visitor greeter, intruder watch-dog and cat herder. Mostly, though she just wants to be wherever the people are. And if there is food being prepared in the kitchen, she stations herself strategically, cleaning up accidental spills. She's a delight and we love her intensely.

This past week we had some of my family visiting from out of state. My neice especially loved to visit the chicks in our spare room and would go upstairs multiple times a day to "say hi" to the chicks. With all of these visits, we had been checking on the chicks more often than usual. While preparing dinner one evening, I could hear Tippy loudly snuffing and whining upstairs (atypical behavior for her, especially since I was preparing food in the kitchen). I thought perhaps something was wrong with Erica's rabbit, James and asked Jim (HE) to go upstairs and see what was up with Tippy. James was fine, but one of the chicks had died. We were, of course, sad to lose a chick, but delighted to find that our dog had assigned herself another role--chick protector (through a closed door, no less)! I have no doubt that she will attempt to herd them once we get them out to the coop and free-ranging. At the very least, I'm sure she will be on alert for chicken predators. She's an amazing dog!

Random Springy-ness

The windy season has arrived. We celebrated Aidan's birthday with a party yesterday and the kids practically blew away while playing "ghost-busters" outside.

Yes we had a ghostbusters birthday party for my son. His idea. Even down to the proton packs he designed and created for each of the party guests.

Fun was had by all. In the meantime, HE worked hard in the garden...

Frogs made soothing music (sound track not available). Kids hunted Easter eggs at grandma's....

Seeds germinated....

Chicks grew bigger wing feathers.....

Kids got spring fever and acted accordingly....

Dogs played....

And the wicked witch resumed her post under the garden shed....

Life is good.