Pallet for Home: Bee's

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The Bee yard, my first swarm & garden finds

What a week this has been. From heat to snow and back again mixed with odd activity in the Bee yard, there has not been a lack of activity. Lets start from the beginning.

Last week I was out mowing the back and stopped my mower in the area by the beehive. Went inside to grab a water & came back to find the Bee's were up to something big. The sound of their buzzing met me before I even topped the hill drive. There was a cloud of Bee's off to the right of my single hive and thousands of Bee's "bearding" in front of it. I initially thought due to the drastic rise between freezing evening temps to almost 80 {F} in the mid afternoon, they were doing what is called Cooling off on the front porch. Also making me think that extra high Pollen we have been enduring caused a surge in brood. Potentially making the cloud of bee's an orientation flight for the newbies. Or so I thought as I went down the check list of possibilities.

Their Bearding I found:

And for those of you who like a little live action heres a 35 second video clip. My first time using video on the DSLR Camera {mind you, the mic on my camera is on the backside and did not pick up the intense Buzz going on} http://youtu.be/Z1YpB9lnOqI

With all the action happening, I feared a swarm. To the best of my knowledge they did not swarm that day since we went back to freezing temps and rain until yesterday. It is very possible to have happened with a newly made queen. I know my hive is exceptionally strong and filled to the brim with Honey so at this point, I can only guess. . But I am getting ahead of myself. Back to yesterday. Panda was home with Strep and I made her come outside in the sunshine while I finished remodeling the Bee Yard. As I shoveled wood chips of which I got 2 dump loads worth free from the tree trimmers down the road, I hear her say "Mooom, there's a bunch of Bee's over here." Pointing about 20 feet to the right of our Hive. I walk over to find a swarm of bee's clustered onto a wild rose cane just 1 foot off the ground. THIS is not good. I ordered a second complete Hive {Bee Free} for this very purpose and was not scheduled to pick it up until the 1st of May. The bee's in my hive were still bringing in Pollen which is telling me there is still a queen inside {confirmed later on}.

front side of swarm:

Backside view of Swarm

So I dialed up a local guy from the beekeeper society and he was here in just 20 minutes with an empty frame box and all the gear for capturing a swarm.

Time to head out and catch my first Swarm!

This man has been a beekeeper for 46 years. Spending an afternoon with a pesky swarm {we had issues getting the Queen into the frame for a bit} made for a most informative & delightful day.

Eventually the swarm was boxed up and this kind Bee Keeper asked to have a look in my hive. It was FULL of Honey since I had not extracted their first Fall season. The downfall being there is not room for the honey to be made THIS flowering season. His solution? Bring me over a new super for them to fill. I will need another added on in about 2 months. He also brought me out a 1 box setup in case we have a swarm with another queen before I am able to pick up the new hive set up I ordered for pick up on the 1st of May.

He said my hive is stronger then any of his and my queen is still in there. He said that since the Bee's whom were going in had pollen on their legs showed they were collecting and not scouting for a new home.

As we awaited the swarm to finish walking into their new home {once the queen is in there, you can see them "walk" right in}. He took the swarm home and has made plans with helping me split our hive this year, utilizing a friends property miles away.

I rather like the looks of our Bee yard.

During all that excitement, we discovered a new addition in the Potter Shed. Seems by not getting that door on, our feathered friends found the Garden Hoe to be most enticing for their nest building.

No eggs in there, much to the dismay of the children but much relief to me. I NEED my tool holding shed this time of year and truly can not have boarders holding it hostage.

I leave for Texas on the first weekend in May. My little brother has been stationed to a base in Maryland. I am flying in to help them drive the distance from their current location since my sister in Law is now expecting. I am going to have a niece!! Soon, I will have my little brother, his wife and soon my niece within a day trip distance. LOTS of road trips to the East coast are in our future.

The Wine Cap mushrooms have been planted in 2 different spots. One in the backyard rock garden and a smaller ring under an old apple tree in the side yard.

This has become rather long so I best be off. Wishing you all.....

Sweet Dreams,

~Tammie

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Filed Under: Bee's, gardening, potters shed

Ramblings, Heirloom asparagus & more Apron Love

Things have really burst into life here. Making me far busier {and happily so} with this early onset of warmth. The Weeping Cherry tree's bloomed especially vibrant this year. Over the last few days it has become the norm in seeing at least 2 cars stopping in front of our home to snap pictures of them in bloom. I can not blame them. They are such an amazing sight so early in the year.

I have let the chickens out to free roam everyday being there is not much they could destroy this early. Except maybe {hopefully} put a huge dent on the bug population.

I am picking up our second hive next month. Without a colony. As you can see below the pollen count is very high this early which having Carinilian Bee's as we do means they will produce even more then normal amount of workers. Which in turn means restricting their hive space with growth and in hand possiby cause a swarming. I need the second hive for splitting just in case. I have still not received a Honey extractor. The enduring of Flaky people for second hand extractors plus the use /borrowing of one, not too mention the email & phone encounter of a scarey movie waiting to happen has me empty handed. {one of those where a woman emails to tell me she has one I can borrow so I send her the number for contact. Then a man calls here from an out of state number upon which I am told he is her "boyfriend" {she wrote to tell me her "boyfriend" will be calling me since it is his equipment only AFTER I sent her the number}.. Somehow the conversation became even more red flag with him saying I need to bring my frames to his place and all his extracting equipment is in the basement plus it is going to take a few hours to get all the frames done... dun dun dun......}

Back to the bee's, the weeping Cherry blooms have been the hot spot of our yard making much in ease for their close inspection.

We {I } have been spending all my time cleaning up any weeds that continue to show face in the garden. I have been using a 2x4 to make a line mark as I make my way from one end to the other. It may seem silly but with the grass clippings & leaves mulched on top, it takes the wood color to make the weed greens pop out. Think of it as though it were a graph line. It makes for a great marker of where I leave off everyday as well.

. I am just now seeing life in the cool weather garden. The Fava's are just now poking through. I planted the Tall Telephone Garden peas in a zig zag along the bentwood trellis plus Sugar snaps along the side back of the fence. Frog & I have been busy whipping up & watering what green there is with our Comfrey composted tea. Thats her favorite part. The watering.

I am now adamant, concerning aprons, one has no realization how they really are one of the most useful pieces of one's { my } wardrobe. We all know most of my wardrobe consists of thrift store finds.Personally I rather enjoy paying less for almost new looking clothes then the availability of overpriced and far too dressy for my lifestyle. Just like that white sundress above. $4 and looked just as good as it had when new.

I worked in the garden all day wearing that white dress. Not a bit of dirt was on it...I wore my apron which was just an inch past my hem, all day. Sold! Now when it comes to getting dirty, I am just as bad if not worse then my little country kids. From playing with chickens, climbing trees like monkeys, letting their imagination soar with play outdoors with the occasional imitating of a hen taking a dust bath... I kid not. I had asked what they were doing and that was the answer.... taking a dust bath... sigh. Just as bad as pulling in the driveway last night to discover Frog had hog tied her big brother with a jump rope... Now, I understood why the car which had slowed down in front of me was not about the weeping Cherry blooms as I have become accustomed. It was the odd sight of seeing a small child Hog Tied in the front yard with an even smaller child dancing around him as though she were doing a tribal victory dance...

But lets move on to the most amazing gift I received last evening. Mr. J had stopped in to inquire if I would like "some" asparagus plants he has thinned out from his patch. How.. nay WHY ,would I say no? So the Captain long after calls out "Hey, Mr. J is coming up the drive with a big box in a wheel barrow". I thought nothing of it. I mean, it could have been the only box he had & maybe he did not want to drop it coming across the road.... Turned out neither were the reason. That "some" turned into over 3 dozen crowns of the rare heirloom "Conover Colossal" asparagus crowns!! My mind was reeling and I would not be surprised if that man has not come to the conclusion I am a complete airhead the way I fumble on my words. I could not believe they were all for me. Be still my heart.. Be still.

I was amazed he had grown these 2 year old crowns from seed. An impressive feat. After some research, I found out more on my Darlin' Octopus root gems. They became well known in the late 1800's. Touted as the best compared to all other varieties available. An old article pertaining to the beginning of it's popularity is at this link* which describes not only it's abundance per crown of averaging 35 stalks but that it is not from the soil which gives it such superiority. It is indeed the variety created in his {Conover's} asparagus farming.

I am overjoyed to finally have these green spears in the garden. I have had attempts in the past to grow asparagus from the nursery store stock, resulting in just the loss of time & money. I am ever so full of gratitude for a most wonderful gift an asparagus loving gardener can receive.

A few more picture highlights of the last few days. Less talking. More showing....

The lady bugs are out & this lil one fell onto my apron as the willow greens swayed around me.

Ming has discovered my burdock Hypertuffa is the best place to lay & cool down while watching me work in the garden.

Esmeralda is the low hen of the group and an incident of her exclusion from the communal dust bath had the children pampering her with worms fresh from the garden. Ming, of course, wanted inclusion. Liking the worm she was offered? not so much...

I think I may do some back road driving for some camera play. I have been inspired by some photography that was shown in the recent MaryJanes Farmgirls magazine, using old pieces of timber & hardware. Enhancing the presentation/feeling of the photograph. Not that it is a new concept but brought back the inspiration I needed due to being side tracked by the garden.

Sweetest Dreams,

~Tammie

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Filed Under: asparagus, Bee's, gardening, spring