A look back at my garden from 2013 so I can look forward to 2014.

Yesterday my first seed catalog arrived in the mail.  I am one of those strange people that find this quite exciting.  I wait until all my favorite seed catalogs arrive, Johnny’s, Harris, Jung, Gurney’s.  I sit down with my post it notes and a pad of paper and I write my wish list, marking all my favorites as I go.  I usually order my seeds by February so that I can start several seed varieties inside the house around March.  Wanting them to be ready to plant outside in April (with any luck).  I have a great enthusiasm about starting seeds each year, it’s uplifting coming into a new year.

 I know we make our new Years resolutions, but we still carry our worries and mistakes, and that holds true for the garden as well.

The only way to improve is to look at the mistakes and try to correct them as best as we can.

Some mistakes and success I found in my garden in 2012.

FLEA BEETLES: I plan on using row covers earlier rather than later.  The flea beetles were pretty severe this year, and I lost my eggplants before I could harvest a complete crop.  I will cover as soon as I plant my eggplant, cauliflower, broccoli and kale plants.

A success were the root vegetables, I had great success with rainbow mix carrots, golden beets and rainbow radishes.   These all did so well and I was able to make so many delicious recipes with these guys and they will store in the refrigerator.  The Onions, garlic and Zucchini  also gave me a large yield.

The Onions and Zucchini were in abundance.My beekeeping was a bit mediocre this year.  I still have four hives, but two were struggling as the cooler temperature arrived, so I am hopefully they will survive, but if not, I will only keep two hives next year.  I also plan to plant a bit of a wild flower garden in hopes of providing food for the bees and a great environment for the local wildlife, frogs, snakes, and birds.

If you are interested in keeping bees next season, check out my How to Set up a beehive video.

A success was sharing my garden, chickens and bees with friends. If you ask most gardeners, they keep their gardens for the food of course, but also to share it with others.  It really is a wonderful feeling to share all your hard work so that others can enjoy it.  Whether it is your produce or a walk through the garden.  Last summer we had two visitors stop by to share some time learning about the chickens, collecting eggs, seeing the beehives and just enjoying Mother Nature.  So, I hope to do more of that next year.

This year we had two wonderful guests Lily and Autumn who came over to learn about the chickens, feed them some crackers and bread, collect some eggs to take home and see how many bees were coming in and out of the bee hive.

I hope you had a wonderful year in the garden, and that next year will be even more successful.  I love hearing what is working and what isn’t in your garden.  Like Whitley’s first experience with the dreaded and freightenening hornworm, or Brains huge success with Canna Lilies.   I find inspiration in hearing your stories, so I hope you will continue to share in 2014.

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This week my friend Liz who is a beekeeper by profession spoke to the local garden club about beekeeping and how important gardeners are to the bees.

Liz’s belief is that there are not enough local wild flowers for the bees in the more manicured neighborhoods and the bees suffer there more than the more urban settings where weeds and wildflowers are allowed to grow freely.  The garden club was not only enthusiastic about allowing wildflowers in their own garden, but agreed to speak to the local park district about growing wildflower.

Having bees and being a gardener for years, I see the benefits of bees in my garden first hand, especially the vegetable garden.  While we make our lists of plants we want to add to the garden next year, I thought I would share some tips on what plants make our vegetable gardens more inviting to the honey bee.

Bees see the world much differently than people do. A small cluster of tomato blossoms won’t catch their attention, but a lawn peppered with clover and dandelions sends then into a pollinating frenzy. If you’re serious about attracting bees to your vegetable garden, plant flowers. A flower border along your vegetable garden is a great way to attract the bees. Plant the same species of plants in a large mass. Bees habitually return to easily visible flowerbeds so the larger the area, the better chance of getting a bee’s attention. Think 3’ x 3’ groupings. While a mixed flower border is fine for our eyes it won’t necessarily attract the bees eye.

Not just any flower will do; wide, daisy-like flowers and native plants are much more attractive. Coneflowers (Echinacea spp.), sunflowers (Helianthus spp.), Asters (Aster chilensis), Salvia (Salvia/Farinacea-Strata/Splendens), Cleome / Spider flower (Cleome), Thyme (Thymus), and Zinnia (Asteraceae) are a few that attract bees and are pleasing to the eye as well.

Avoid spraying pesticides. These treatments control aphids, squash bugs and other vegetable-destroying insects, but pesticides aren’t selective. They’ll kill bees, ladybugs and hover flies just as quickly as they take down a stink beetle. Keep in mind these sprays don’t simply kill on contact; the residual chemicals remain on the plant, and the visiting bee picks up poison in addition to pollen. Avoid spraying pesticides whenever you can.   They do more harm than good, killing the good bugs that help keep a balance in your garden as well as the bad.  Think of preventive methods such as row covers, and insecticide soap.

Also when planting flower, vegetable seeds and bulbs try to purchase organic. Buying organic is the only way to ensure that they have not been coated or cultivated using pesticides with GMO (genetically modified organism). GMO seeds may be linked to the rise in bee colony collapse. Though most home gardening seeds are GMO, it’s better to be safe and buy organic when you can. If you must spray, target small areas where the destructive insects congregate. Aphids, for example, prefer the undersides of leaves, while squash bugs often remain near the base of pumpkin vines. Wait to spray until the vegetable’s flowers fade.

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Gardening in the Month of May is one of my favorite times of the year.  There is so much to do, but there is so much possibility.

During the end of May the garden is alive with color, and you want to spend as much time as you can outside enjoying.  Which is a good thing because there is plenty of work to be done.  Besides pulling weeds, deadheading blooms is usually on everyone’s to do list.

Deadheading, the removal of spent blossoms with the aim of forcing a plant to rebloom, is our technique for tricking the plant into thinking it has failed in this reproductive process. By removing the blossom before it has had a chance to fully develop a fruit, the plant sends out regrowth hormones, produces a new bloom, and tries again.  It also helps us to control plants spreading seeds to reseed.  The Shasta and Chive are prolific reseeders, so even if you remove 3/4 of the spent blooms you will have new young shoots up before the end of the growing season.

Others need a little more care deadheading, especially repeat-blooming plants such as roses.  Deadheading roses has multiple functions.  Not only will it conserve plant energy and produce more blooms, it will also remove hiding places and food for insects which often become pests in our garden. It may even permit minor improvements in air circulation, thus reducing the potential for fungal diseases.

Generally when deadheading your roses all cuts are best made at an angle away from and slightly above the node (where the leaf bud grows from the stem)  This is true with most roses but not all, if you have a rose that blooms with clusters, cut further down the stem.

As you are laying your mulch remember to keep iris rhizomes exposed (roots of iris). Unlike bulbs, which thrive deep underground, iris rhizomes need a bit of sun and air to dry them out. If they’re covered with soil or crowded by other plants, they’ll rot. So lightly mulch around your Iris. Don’t forget that Iris can not be composted, so throw spent blooms in the garbage or a brush pile.

Out in the vegetable garden we have been cutting and eating our lettuce, radishes and onions.  There is nothing, I **MEAN** nothing better than home-grown lettuce.  I highly recommend it!

I have also started pinching my indeterminate (vine type) tomato plants.  You need to pinch and remove suckers that develop in the crotch joint of two branches. They won’t bear fruit and will take energy away from the rest of the plant.  You also want to prune suckers out so the overall plant doesn’t get top-heavy and sun light and air can reach the entire plant.

Not all types of tomatoes need to be pruned. If you are growing determinate (bush type) tomatoes, you don’t want to prune. The reason for this is that determinate plants develop all of their fruit at one time, so if you prune, you’re sacrificing tomatoes for no reason.

I have also planted my second crop of green beans and cilantro.  You want to plant a second crop of cilantro because your first crop will quickly go to seed (flowers will form) and once it happens the herb no longer has the same flavor.

I had a bit of a misstep with one of my beehives last week.  I forgot to remove a sugar feeding bottle and they started to build comb with larvae around the bottle.  I suited up and went out last Thursday night around 8:30 just before dark to remove it.  I didn’t make sure that my suit was tucked into my shoes and two very angry ladies crawled up into my suit and stung me.  I also got stung on each hand.  About 30 minutes later I broke out into hives and was itching all over. My poor worried husband had a very irritable wife on his hands, but he was very sweet and worried about me and made me swallow a few Benadryl.  He kept a close eye on me until the Benadryl took effect and I was snoring.  Then he was over it!  Keeping bees can be vexing.

The hens and roosters have been enjoying the meadow garden that I have growing.  They love to walk in the tall grass-eating the seed heads and any bugs that they can find.  Two of my roosters have been squabbling and Foghorn has a raw patch on his back from Houdini.  Though don’t feel too sorry for Foghorn, he takes every available opportunity to catch Houdini’s girls alone, if you know what I mean.

Have a wonderful weekend, and enjoy the last few days of May.

xo Amy

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On the heels of my post yesterday on why all The Bees Are Dying, I thought I would show you guys how to set up a beehive.  It can be a very scary idea setting up and caring for bees so I thought I would do a quick YouTube Tutorial.  Let me know if it was helpful or if  I can answer any questions.  I really want to encourage anyone and everyone who is even remotely interested in keeping bees to give it a try.  If you are interested in keeping bees but are scared to death, don’t be!  If I can do it, you can do it.  If you would like bees to be part of your garden, but don’t want to take care of them, contact your local bee association and see if they have a local beekeeper who might be interested in keeping some hives on your property. You don’t need a lot of space.  Bees will travel up to 3 miles away to collect pollen and nectar, so don’t think you alone will have to feed your bees. Read my post on Why I Keep Bees to find out about how bees can impact your garden if you need anymore encouragement to give beekeeping a try.

Liz, who helps me with my bees, keeps hives all over Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky.  It works extremely well for me, because she just gives me a heads up when she plans on stopping over and I suit up and mirror what she is doing with her hives with my own.  For me having her here makes the whole process of beekeeping much more enjoyable.   Liz is kind, calm and intelligent when it comes to beekeeping, where as I am usually in a bit of a rush, so she makes me slow down take a deep breath and enjoy the time with the bees.  Most beekeepers are very generous with their time and really want to foster new beekeepers so if you make some inquiries I am sure you will be impressed with the number of beekeepers that will be willing to help you.

If you plan on keeping your own bees you will need to make an initial investment.  You will need a suit, gloves, a smoker, hive tool, deep hive box, screened bottom board, medium boxes, frames, inner lid and top.  You will also need to come up with something for your hive to sit on.  I use 4 cinder blocks stacked on top of one another.  Walter T. Kelley Company, which is one of the larger suppliers of all things bees, has a starter kit that starts out at $172.00.  Again, if you contact your local beekeeping association they might be able to set you up with some used hive boxes, which may be better because you will already have foundation  (comb) that is built-in the frames for your future hive.

One thing that I strongly recommend is a bee suit, gloves and a hood.  Now, I have been called a wimp by another beekeeper (not Liz) for wearing my get-up, but the last time I was stung I had a pretty bad reaction and maybe, yes I am a wimp, but I just feel more comfortable and relaxed. Since one of my favorite beekeepers is August Boatwright I am sticking to her opinions on beekeeping

“After you get stung, you can’t get unstung no matter how much you whine about it.” ― Sue Monk Kidd, The Secret Life of Bees

“I hadn’t been out to the hives before, so to start off she gave me a lesson in what she called ‘bee yard etiquette’. She reminded me that the world was really one bee yard, and the same rules work fine in both places. Don’t be afraid, as no life-loving bee wants to sting you. Still, don’t be an idiot; wear long sleeves and pants. Don’t swat. Don’t even think about swatting. If you feel angry, whistle. Anger agitates while whistling melts a bee’s temper. Act like you know what you’re doing, even if you don’t. Above all, send the bees love. Every little thing wants to be loved.” 
― Sue Monk Kidd, The Secret Life of Bees

You will also need to call your beekeeping association to get a package of bees to install.  Swarms will be occurring throughout the season and that may be a way for you to get bees if you cannot order them this late in the season.  If you are here in Cincinnati you can contact Southwestern Ohio Beekeeping Association for help on classes, finding supplies and who may be willing to set up hives on your property.  You can check out Liz’s blog TwoHoney’s Bee Co. to learn what she is doing with her bees and a few of her favorite poems.  Another great Bee blog is from my friend    Emma who is a beekeeper and aromatherapist and her blog is called Miss Apis Mellifera and she is based out of Northolt Village, London.  Its nice to hear what beekeepers on the other side of the pond are doing.

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Over last winter all four of my beehives died.  Liz who is my beekeeping teacher and helper lost almost 3/4 of all her hives.  We weren’t sure what happened.  I knew in late fall right before winter that the hives were gone.  There was no activity and a quick peek inside showed empty hives.  When we opened up the hives this spring, there were still honey and dead bees stuck with their heads in the comb.

We aren’t alone in the mysterious death of our bees.  Hives that started out so strong last spring were dead before the first snowflake fell.

American beekeepers have been struggling with the mysterious colony collapse disorder over the last decade, but last year was particularly bad.

The New York Times wrote an article about it in March and reported that commercial beekeepers reported 40-50% of their hives were wiped out.  Scientists are studying the disorder since 2005 and can’t seem to come up with a conclusive explanation.

However, the Times article stated some interesting facts that beekeepers and researchers have been saying for a few years now, that a new class of pesticides knows as neonicotinoids that are incorporated into the plants as seeds may be playing an important factor in last years mass colony collapse.

What are Neonicotinoids?   Neonicotinoids or Neonic as farmers call them are a class of neuro-active insecticides chemically related to nicotine.

They are systemic pesticides, often embedded in seeds so that the plant itself carries the chemical that kills insects that feed on it.

Here is an example on what may be happening, the pesticide Neonic is incorporated into a Sunflower seed and the seed grows and flower sprouts and the bees come to the flower to collect pollen and nectar that they then take back to the hive to feed themselves, and their larvae.  It is a concentrated day in day out shot of pesticide for the bees.  It would be like you digesting a bit of poison everyday.  Your nervous system would begin to shut down and paralysis would happen and then death.  Which is what is seems to be happening to the bees.

The explosive growth of neonicotinoids since 2005 has roughly tracked rising bee deaths.

Two quotes from commercial beekeepers in the New York Times article, mirror what Liz and I have seen here in Cincinnati.

“They looked so healthy last spring,” said Bill Dahle, 50, who owns Big Sky Honey in Fairview, Mont. “We were so proud of them. Then, about the first of September, they started to fall on their face, to die like crazy. We’ve been doing this 30 years, and we’ve never experienced this kind of loss before.”

Bret Adee, who is an owner, with his father and brother, of Adee Honey Farms of South Dakota, the nation’s largest beekeeper, described mounting losses.

“We lost 42 percent over the winter. But by the time we came around to pollinate almonds, it was a 55 percent loss,” he said in an interview here this week.

“They looked beautiful in October,” Mr. Adee said, “and in December, they started falling apart, when it got cold.”

 While the pesticide Neonic is not the only culprit to the decline of the bee population, beekeepers still believe there are other culprits such as other pesticides, fungicides and herbicides that are used to control pests.

Whatever the culprit may be we need to take the loss of our bees seriously.  The Agriculture Department says a quarter of the American diet, from apples to cherries to watermelons to onions, depends on pollination by honeybees. Here is a complete list of foods that are pollinated by bees. Fewer bees mean smaller harvests and higher food prices.  We need our precious bees to eat many of the foods we love.

What can you do?  DON’T SPRAY PESTICIDES OR HERBICIDES!  I know this may mean more work out in the garden, but I truly believe spending time in the garden even if it is pulling weeds or picking slugs off your plants is good for the soul.  Plant “bee friendly” plants in your garden.  You can find a good list of plants that might work for you in your garden at the daily green.

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Trees:

• Fall is a great time for planting trees, but some varieties prefer a spring planting. (Conifers, Japanese maples, dogwoods, sweetgums, oaks, crabapples, and birches should be planted or transplanted in the spring.)

• Keep watering trees and shrubs until the ground freezes.

• If you’re planning on buying a live Christmas tree with the intention of planting it this winter, dig the hole now, before the ground freezes. Remember to keep the soil covered, so that it too does not freeze and can go back into the hole.

Perennial Gardening:

• Don’t remove chrysanthemum foliage—leave it to protect the crown.

• Cut back other perennials (except spring bloomers, roses, and grasses) to a few inches above soil level.

• Prune tea roses back to 8 to 12 inches high, mound compost around the bud union, then cover with a rose cone.

• Make sure your climbing roses are tied securely to their supports to prevent wind damage this winter.

• Spread clean straw, marsh hay or oak leaves over tender perennials, newly planted bulbs before temperatures drop into the teens but after the soil surface has frozen.

• As long as the ground is not frozen, you can still plant daffodil bulbs.

Get those bulbs into the ground NOW!

 Vegetable Gardening:

• Dig up remaining root crops.

• If your grown has not frozen, plant your garlic and onions.  Find out how in my post Garlic.

• Still time to haul in a pot of parsley: Pot it, water well, and set in a bright window.

• Cut back asparagus fronds after they turn brown from a hard freeze.

• Cover strawberries with a straw mulch. Wait to mulch your beds until after the first hard freeze, when the soil is frozen to a depth of about 1/2 inch

All Yard Gardening:

• Detach watering hoses from outdoor spigots. Drain them, roll them up and store in a dry location. If your outdoor water is on a separate system from your indoor pipes, shut it off and then turn the faucet on until all the water runs out. Place an insulating foam cover over the spigot to keep ice from cracking the metal.

• Keep mowing your lawn as long as the grass is growing.  

• Change the oil, sharpen blades, clean air filters and replace spark plugs on all of your gas-powered equipment.  You will have a head start on many spring projects if all of your equipment is ready to go.

• Clean bird feeders and stock up on seed and suet.  Remember if you start feeding you must stay consistent.  Birds become dependent on birdfeeders through harsh winter days and if you stop feeding they could die.

Chickens:

• Chickens have been raised and bred to withstand cold. You don’t need to do a lot to protect them.   A single 5 lb laying hen produces something like 10 watts of heat, so having 10 chickens in the coop is about the same as running a 100W lightbulb. (That being said I have electric pane heaters in my coops with a Thermostatically Controlled Outlet) 

• All year long I add apple cider vinegar to the chickens water and also add garlic powder, priobiotics and  food grade diatomaceous earth to their feed.  These additions to their food and water help your flock to cope with environmental stressors.

• On a bright sunny day, disinfect your coop with a mixture of 1 gallon of warm water and 1/4 cup of white distilled vinegar.  Wipe down the walls, roosts and floors with this solution and allow it to air dry.  Once the coop is dry, dust its nooks and crannies with organic food grade diatomaceous earth to keep your flock free from bugs.

• Freshen up the run by removing excess waste by doing a quick rake.  You will be surprised with all the sticks and debris that you remove.  I like to spread a layer of compost and rake it in to their favorite dusting areas.  I also spread diatomaceous earth in with the compost.

• Insulate around your coop with bales of straw, if needed.  I add a bale or tow a few feed in front of their shelter to add a barrier from the harsh winds of winter.

• Provide a thicker layer of pine shavings on floor of coop.

•  On cold days feed your flock scratch 1 hour before they retire for the night. Chickens’ metabolism is higher in the winter as they burn more fuel keeping warm.  A full tummy of scratch helps them to generate heat and an egg if they desire.  While grains are nutritious, they only contain about half the protein that chickens need in their regular diet, so should be only given after your chickens have had a chance to fill up on their regular feed.

• Ensure that your chickens’ roosts are wide enough and their feet are completely covered by their bodies when perched.

• Repair areas of the coop that are vulnerable to water leaks.

• When you know the cold has hit,  apply Vaseline to the flock’s combs and wattles to prevent frostbite.  The roosters in particular are susceptible to this because of the size of their combs.  I have been told that if a Roosters comb gets frostbitten it makes him infertile.  Don’t know if its true or not??

Bees:

• If you didn’t feed them sugar or candy and you have a day that goes up to above 50 degrees.  Do it now.  It will be your last chance to give them a back up if they run out of honey to feed themselves through the winter.

• Insulate with tarpaper or Styrofoam.

Houseplants:

• Cut back on water and stop feeding houseplants. As the days become shorter your plants shift from an active growth cycle so they take up less moisture and don’t require additional nutrients.

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In the spring before the flowers start to open and in the fall when the flowers are closing for the season, you have to feed your bees.  Yep, I feed my bees, Liz feeds her bees.  If you are a beekeeper most likely this time of year you have purchased a big bag of sugar from the grocer and have saved  one or two of your empty plastic gallon milk jugs to store sugar water.

I have heard several different recipes for making sugar water for bees.  I have decided 1/2 sugar + 1/2 water mix cooked over medium heat stirred until sugar dissolves is just fine, and simple.  You know the simple syrup you use in your cocktails, that’s what bees like to be fed.

They take the offering and store it up to use over the cold winter months.  A colony should have at least 40 pounds of honey in mid October for winter stores. This is equal to one full super and six frames in the second super. One hive body filled with honey weighs about 60 pounds.

Mine is a little light so I started feeding, probably a week or two later than I should have, but who knows what the weather will throw at us.  If we have a long warm fall, the asters, goldenrod, and clover will continue to hold blooms and give the bees a food source.  If a frost hits kills the blooms I will be feeding my bees and hoping they will store enough before winter hits full force.  I just need to make sure that the bees have enough time to take the offering, covert it into honey and cap it.  It should be remembered that bees need warmth to work and a reasonable daytime temperature is essential to allow them time to convert. With fall feeding, a lot of sugar fed in a short time is key.  I will know when they have stopped feeding when the sugar water no longer needs replaced.

How do you feed bees?  Liz’s hives are the easiest, she designed it so that the bees enter her hive from the top box, the bottom of her hive sits on top of  a screen that covers a feeder box that is where she can fill the sugar water.  Nothing to add, just a small lid to remove and she fills up the box.  The bees can come down and lick at the sugar, carry it back up into the hive and work their magic turning it into food for the winter.

Really Liz’s set up is genius!

My hive is your typical apiary where the bees enter from the bottom so I have to feed from the top, which means I have to add another box.  More work and I have to open the hive to feed them.  They do make feeder boxes, and I have used a wooden box and a plastic box.  In my experience they both are wasteful!  The bees can’t reach all the sugar water and it crystalizes and/or other bugs climb into the box and make a mess.  I use mason jars that have pin size holes in their lids, the jars sit on a small wooden plate with a screen attached so that the bees can come up and lick as the sugar drips.  This has many negatives as well.  One sugar water inevitable leaks down through the hive, two the holes get clogged and three mold grows inside the jars if the bees don’t drink it fast enough.

So there you have it, that is how I feed my bees.  I hope to feed at least a gallon of sugar water in the next month.  I will check the hive once a week to see how much sugar water they have taken and feed according to that.  Here is hoping they make lots of honey to feast on over the winter!

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Beekeeping follows seasonal cycles.   Last time Liz and I opened the hive, Liz gave me a quick tutorial on the seasons of the hive.

Here in Cincinnati the yearly colony cycle can be broken into four seasons:

• Spring-build-up
• Late Spring & Early Summer– honey flow
• Late Summer-Dearth
• Fall– honey flow

The flowering of plants and more importantly, nectar flows, are influenced by seasonal weather patterns. The honey bee colony responds to these changes. When resources of both pollen and nectar are plentiful, the colony is stimulated to raise more brood and thus the colony population increases.

When resources are low, brood-rearing decreases, and the colony population decreases- this cycle is called Dearth.

By having the maximum adult population during the time of the major nectar flow, beekeepers can take best advantage of the flow. However, these conditions also make it a prime time for swarming. A colony that swarms just before a major nectar flow usually produces no surplus honey on that flow. Which is why Beekeepers try to prevent swarms. Of course it is impossible to prevent all swarming, but with management it can be minimized or controlled.

In the spring when my garden is busting with flowers, the bees are busting with honey.  Now that we are in mid summer, the garden is rather hushed and so are the bees, though the are visiting the clover in my lawn.  Making it unsafe to walk barefoot in my yard.

I am patiently waiting for the Asters, Goldenrod, Mexican Bush Sage and Rudbekia (black-eyed susan) to bloom in late summer to help the bees start their fall flow.  If you grow Aster, cut back the stems now to encourage a later bloom.  Its nice to have the color later in the season and it will give the bees something to visit when their supply is low.  Consider planting Goldenrod along your property line, away from your flower beds.  Goldenrod is one of the bees largest sources of nectar here in the fall, it is a beautiful flower, but very invasive.  You don’t want to plant this in your flower beds, but it does make a great naturalizing perennial in tall grass or along a tree line (as long as it will get full sun).

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We did a check on the hives and wanted to find out which one swarmed.

All the hives are flourishing, even the captured swarm has started building out comb.  We went through the “swarm” hive and could not find the queen or any evidence of new brood (eggs).  Which is not unexpected since they had only been in their new home less than a week.  But to be on the safe side Liz went into one of the other hives and found a frame that had some brood that was just a few days old.  She then knocked off any bees that were on the frame back into their hive and transferred the frame to our “swarm” hive.  The hope being that if there is no queen they can foster one out of the few day old brood.  If she was there no harm they will just raise the brood as their own.

See the white larvae in the open holes?

The old hive was the one that swarmed.  No surprise.

You can tell by going through the hive and looking for a queen cell.

If a hive decides it’s time to swarm a number of queen cells are started, these look like a peanut husk, usually at the bottom of the frames between the first and second box, plus one or two in the center of the frames. Once these are started the bees will begin reducing the egg-laying of the queen, by reducing the amount of food fed to her. This has the effect of slimming her down ready for flight, which causes problems for beekeepers when it is necessary to find her, as she will be not much bigger than a regular bee, just a different color.  Which is another reason possibility of why we couldn’t find her int he swarmed hive?

Can you see the queen cell in the middle in the top photo and on the edge of the bottom?

Even though this hive had a swarm and lost half of its occupants it is still doing very well.  It is loaded with brood which will help increase their numbers and they have started capping off frames of honey.  Hopefully, in the next month, I may be harvesting my first batch of honey.

We also added a few new boxes.  The towers are getting taller which is a sign of healthy hives!

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On Friday morning when I was writing my post “Why I have Bees” I thought I should add a photo of the Blackberry flowers because the bees help in their pollination.  So, I grabbed the camera, put on my down coat and headed out to the orchard.  It was a beautiful sunny morning, but chilly around 40 degrees.  The dogs escorted me out and I took a few pics of the blackberries, took a peek inside the hives and  thought I might take another few pics of the Pear and Peach trees so I walked on over and aimed my lens at the top of one of my pear trees and guess what?

There looking down at me was a huge swarm of bees.

Now I know its bad when bees swarm, but I was overjoyed, giddy,and you could say thrilled!

We had set up and kept an empty hive box to place a swarm when Liz captured one.  I had asked Liz to call me when she went to pick up her next swarm so I could tag along and photograph the procedure to share here with you.

Here in my own backyard 10′ away from the waiting empty hive was a swarm.

Of course, I took a pic on my phone sent it to Liz and hoped she could come over and take care of the swarm.  I went in the house and downloaded the pictures I took to see if  they were any good and waited to hear back from Liz. I soon learned Liz was out of town and it was up to little old me to get the swarm in their new home.

I watched a quick youtube video to see how it was done, enlisted my hubby to photograph while I did the operation, put on my bee suit, grabbed the ladder, a bucket, and our loppers and headed back out to the swarm.  I emptied out the frames of the top box on the empty hive and laid them and the lid off to the side.

Now it was time for operation swarm removal!  I was fired up!

 I know I am a little weird!

So, I head out to the  swarm, I set the ladder under, placed the bucket on the paint shelf directly beneath the swarm (to catch any bees that fall off).  Made sure my husband was taking pictures.  Grabbed the branch below swarm with my left hand, placed the loppers around the branch below my hand using my side I pushed the loppers closed and held on for dear life to the branch.  I dropped the loppers to the ground and VERY, VERY slowly lowered the branch to the bucket.  Made sure my husband was getting the pics.  Holding on to the top of the branch with one hand and the bucket with the other I SLOWLY walked over to the empty hive.  Using the top of the branch I lifted the swarm out of the bucket sat it in the empty hive, cut off the top branches above the swarm (to help fit it into the hive box), made sure my husband was getting the pictures and lifted the branch about a foot in the air and very quickly and violently knocked the branch down to dislodge the swarm into the empty hive.  There was a big swoosh and I was left holding an empty branch.  I kid you not, the whole swarm fell right into the box!  AWESOME!  I asked Jim, did you get that shot, “YES” he said.  You can imagine how he said it!

Have I told you I have a very patient husband?  Well, I do!  He’s even allergic to bees, so he says.

I was pretty pumped!  My first swarm all by myself and it went off without a hitch.  I put the empty frames back into the top box and closed the lid.  There were a few bees hanging on to the top of the ladder, probably because it was cold and the black on the ladder was holding heat, so I sat it near the new box in hope that they would find their way in.

Mission complete, I gave my very patient husband a big kiss thanked him for helping and ran into the house to download my pictures.

Have you figured out what I did wrong yet?

Yep, no freaking memory card in the camera, it was sitting at my computer when I came in.  Now I am sure you can imagine the nasty words that came out of my mouth.  In walks the patient husband, and what does he do??? Laughs!  Now, you can imagine the nasty words that came out of my mouth!   Want to know how many times he has asked me if I have my memory card in?  Ha Ha, he’s a comedian!

Anyway, I did take a few pics after so I will share them.

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Why do I keep bees?

Our last home sat on 47 acres overlooking the Ohio River.   The home was built in the 30’s and the original owner had cattle, sheep, and chickens.  The chicken coop, which was huge, still stood on the property.  That was one of the reasons I decided to start keeping chickens.

In the process of cleaning up the coop for the new chicks, we discovered that bees had built a hive in the walls.  Now when I tell you a hive I mean a big hive.  We predicted that the hive filled a 15′ x 15′ area inside one of the walls.  The reason we could tell was when you placed your hand on the interior wall it vibrated.  Now it’s not good for buildings to have hives in them, the honey destroys everything.  But, this hive was not new and it was a barn, and we saw no damage so we left it.  THANKFULLY!

That first year I put in a huge vegetable garden.  I had never grown my own food so I used friends help and books to guide me.  My first year I reaped  an explosion of vegetables and fruits.  MY FIRST YEAR!  Now my friend who was a seasoned gardener and who had her own several-year-old vegetable garden was stunned.  I actually think she was a little ticked off.  Since I had nothing to gauge it from, I thought my garden looked like everyone else’s.  No she explained your garden looks like it’s on steroids, she put me in her car drove me to her house, walked me in her backyard and pointed to her garden.  There was a huge difference, hers was half the size.  Now I was the one stunned.  Of course, my first thought was I am a rock star!  Of course, no that was not the case.  Yes, I did put a crap load of compost in the garden first.  Get it crap load

What we figured the biggest differences was… I had a resident army of ladies pollinating my garden all day long!  Who knew?  Not me, it was just luck that they were there, that I am the type to not kill first and ask questions later but choose to leave them alone and left them to do their work.  It was an education for me; you really need to depend on nature’s help to find success in gardening.  It also made me go organic.  I learned to spray to kill bugs, also kills the bugs I need!

Fast forward to where I am now.  We moved into our new home, I put in a garden and guess what?  It didn’t do that well.  So, I ordered my first package of bees.    Now thanks to helping from Liz (my bee guru), I have three hives in my backyard with hopefully two more to follow.  So, I thought I would show you some pics of how busy the ladies have been in the garden!

I had no idea when I started keeping bees, just how many plants need them.

The list of crops that simply won’t grow without honey bees is a long one: Apples, cucumbers, broccoli, onions, pumpkins, carrots, avocados, almonds … and it goes on.

Just remember when you think of  bees simply as a summertime nuisance.  These small and hard-working ladies actually make it possible for many of your favorite foods to reach your table!

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Liz stopped by to do a check up on the hives.  It had been one week since she installed her three hives and she wanted to make sure all was well.

She has been receiving call after call over the last week about bee swarms.  She routinely goes out and captures swarms and then places them in empty hive boxes.  That is why she left one of the four hives empty here in hopes of filling it with a captured swarm.  She found out today she will need to capture two swarms.  Yep, one of the new hives up and flew the coop, I mean hive!  Not even here a week and they left.  Well, who wanted them here anyway!  WE DID!

That’s okay, the new hive will be better anyway!

The two remaining hives she installed are doing fine.  Actually one was doing so well she installed another box.

Here is a picture of the queen doing her work!  She is the longer, lighter lady in the middle.

If I may say so, my existing hive was banging!  We opened it up and it was oozing with honey.  Last time we checked the bees were not building up into the next box, we wanted to try something out and placed the empty box below the boxed filled with bees and comb encouraging them to build down.  Which they do in nature when they build on their own.

After today we know it’s working, they are filling the bottom box, and we added a third.  Because my hive had a little comb built up that was filled with honey, Liz scrapped it off and we placed it on an unused hive top for me to strain later.

I learned something new today.  Bees are little mathematicians and architects.  They measure the space and if the numbers don’t add up they draw up new plans and build to accommodate. What the heck does that mean?

It means we left a little gap in between two frames when we closed them up last week and since then they filled it up by building new comb.

Can you see the gap we left?

Counting down from the top, between the third and fourth frame.

Here is the comb they built.

This is the lid, turned upside down. Exactly enough comb to fill the gap.  Crazy, huh!

After Liz headed home I took my recovered honeycomb and placed it into a screen strainer over a bowl.  I used a Pestle to smash down the comb to squish out as much honey as I could.  I did this outside, as you can see in the second picture I still had some ladies hanging out.  Sadly a few ladies died in the process.

  I then poured the honey into a mason jar.

 Since the comb was uncapped its shelf life is short so I figured I would put it to good use  I’m  making a honey cake tomorrow. Recipe to follow!

Oh, and by the way, my dogs love the beeswax!

Have a sweet day!

A Healthy Life For Me - Cooking, Gardening and Living a Healthy Life

I am not in any way shape or form a morning person.  You can ask the people I live with, I don’t like to get up and I can be a bit grumpy in the morning, or so they say!  Anyway since I ended up with all those darn roosters, I have to keep Foghorn Leghorn (our latest rooster) in his own coop at night and I need to let him out in the morning.  I have been trying to make it out between 6:30 and 7:00 so he gets out before the other roosters. he-he-he-he (that was my evil laugh).

Anyway, I am grudgingly going to admit that I have started to enjoy my short morning walk in the morning.  The sun has been rising a bit earlier each day and the sky is usually lit with a brilliant red glow.  Not a bad way to start your day (even before you have your coffee).  Thursday morning there was a fog hanging over the ground adding an almost ethereal feeling.  On top of the visual stimulant, was a heavenly sweet smell in the air.  Probably made stronger from the heavy air from the fog.  I knew at once it was the Black Locust trees that are blooming all over my yard.  Because I was so grateful for the little five-minute piece of heaven that was given to me, I thought I would share it here with you.

On top of the lovely fragrance of the blossoms each spring, Bees are also drawn to the fragrance of the nectar-rich blossoms.  An acre of honey locust is said to produce 800 to 1200 pounds of honey.  Moreover, the black locust blooms late enough in spring that the blossoms are rarely damaged by frost; thus, black locust is a reliable annual source for bees.  Even more, the reason to grow them!

I actually thought my trees were Black Walnuts because the first bee inspector I had named them that and informed me of their importance to sustaining bees in our area.  When no nuts fell in the fall I figured out he was wrong.   They are quick-growing trees reaching up to 75′ tall.  Sadly, I believe most of the mine are close to this height so I may be losing them in the near future, therefore I have decided to plant a few new in the fall.

Black Locust prefers soils that are rich, deep, moist, well-drained, and of variable pH, in full sun to partial sun. However, it is often found under poor soil conditions, especially soils that are thin and near limestone outcrops. It tolerates salts and other pollutants in its water, salt spray on its bare bark in winter (near roads), and air pollution. It can grow almost anywhere in zones 4 to 8, provided that it is not near wet soils or over shady conditions.

Now that you know all about the Black Locust and their magical fragrance, plant a few for your neighborhood bees.  They will thank you for it!

Hope you have a really smelly (good smelly) day!

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Today was a busy day around here!

Yesterday it started raining around 10:00 a.m and it didn’t stop until around 6:00. So nothing got done after we set up the bee hives.

Today was sunny and beautiful outside with the temperature reaching 82 degrees.  So with all the rain and today’s heat, weeds decided to raise their ugly heads!  Which means I was out in the garden waging war!  We also finished up the poles in the Blackberry beds, planted some seeds in the vegetable garden, checked on the new bee hives and made an outdoor playpen for the baby chicks, and grilled out and had some friends over for dinner.

A pretty awesome day!

The bees were out in full force today.  They were working away collecting pollen and coming back loaded down.

Bees  have something called ‘pollen baskets’ on their legs. This is a large flat space or hollows on their hind legs surrounded by hairs to make the ‘basket.’ The inside of their legs have lots of hairs that make brushes or combs. The pollen sticks to the hairs and the bee gathers the pollen together to mixes it with a bit of nectar to make it sticky and packs it into the pollen basket.

The Lily of the Valley is blooming right now, which the bees have been visiting.

The Dwarf Lilac trees are blooming, which smell divine!

I also have beautiful Wood Hyacinth, Spanish Bluebell ‘blue queen’ blooming which looks wonderful in the garden!

I also decided to allow the chicks to have some outside time since it was so warm.  I thought a small outside “chick playpen” would be a nice treat for them.

I took a short run of chicken wire, doubled it over itself and rolled it into a circle and then hammered to stakes into the ground to secure it.  I draped a towel over the chicken wire where it met.  I was just worried about any sharp edges.  I am using the rule of thumb that chicks will get into any trouble they can find.  They were a little unsure at first, but took no time at enjoying themselves!  A few pics down you can see the old adage “the grass is always greener on the other side of the fence” holds true with chickens too!

Our friend’s daughter Grace helped me put the babies back in the brooder after their playtime outside.

I hope you all enjoyed your weekend as much as we did!

A Healthy Life For Me - Cooking, Gardening and Living a Healthy Life

Liz arrived this morning to place the bees in their new homes.

The back of her SUV was filled with at least 15 wooden boxes, each filled with 3 pounds of bees and a Queen.  VERY COOL!

The boxes are referred to as “packages” and in each, you have the worker bees and a Queen who is held in a Queen cage that is suspended from the top by a strap to hang down inside the box. 

Why is the Queen kept in a separate cage inside the bees?

Because the queen and the worker bees are originally from different hives they separate them so that  they get use to each other’s scent.  By the time they arrived at their new homes, they are a bonded group.

The weather was a bit cool and overcast which didn’t make for great photo shots, but helps in keeping the bees calm.  The cooler the weather, the calmer the bees.  The hotter the weather, the more aggressive the bees.  Which is what a smoker does, calms them down so they don’t swarm and sting and amazingly we didn’t use the smoker once.

Here are Liz and a fellow beekeeper opening the 1st bee package.  She is removing a can of corn syrup that is provided to feed the bees through their travels.  The can was punctured with a small pin to allow the syrup to slowly drip out and feed the bees without making a gooey mess.  Removing the can leaves an opening for the bees to be removed from the box.

The white strip to the right of the syrup can is the pull tag for you to hold while you remove the Queen cage.

Yes, that is the Queen cage.  The Queen is behind the screen waiting to be released and that is some of her workers that hung on when we removed her cage from the box.

Once you have the Syrup and the  Queen cage removed you need to get all the bees into their home.  You hit the box with the bees on the ground to jar them loose.  This allows you to shake them into their home.  A bit violent but the quickest and best way to make the transfer into the hive.

That’s what 3 pounds of bees look like!

Now that the bees are in the hive Liz had to release the Queen.

The Queen cage has a cork on one end a candy plug on the other.  The candy plug allows her to eat while they are traveling.  Also, in each Queen cage are a few attendant bees to take care of her along her weary travels.

Liz removed the cork and candy plug which allows the Queen to escape and join her hive.  We had to make sure to do this inside as close to the hive as possible, to make sure the Queen made it in her new home safe and sound.

Now that everyone is home, Liz gave them a little sugar water to feed on until they are ready to head out into my yard and start collecting pollen to feed themselves.

Liz only filled 3 boxes today, leaving one empty.  She wanted to leave it empty for her next swarm she collects.  I’m hoping to tag along to see her in action!

In the next few days she will come out again to feed the hives and in one week we will open them up to see what’s been happening.

I’ll keep ya posted!

Before she left she stopped by to meet Grace and say “hello”.  It was her first time holding a chicken!

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It is time for my Honey Bee Hive Setup.  Yes its true, I thought of myself as NOT a very good beekeeper.  I was finally willing to admit I had failed miserable and it was time to admit defeat.  Which if you know me , you know is very hard for me to do!  GRRR.

Lucky for me, I have a dear friend Dee who introduced me to a local beekeeper that was willing to help me and encouraged me to continue on!  She came out last fall inspected my current hive and said she would come in the spring, set up some new hives and that it wasn’t my fault I was failing.  I thought she was just being nice.  “No, ” she sai, “really you just have the wrong equipment, once we set you up you will find success, I promise!”  I felt a glimmer of hope but still had my doubts.

My Beekeeper guru is Liz and she keeps bees at several sites around the area.  What I really like about Liz is her approach to keeping bees is very relaxed and open.  She is willing to try something as long as it’s not going to hurt the bees.  She also is willing to work a little harder to make the hive healthier for the bees so that no pesticides are used.

Which it seems was one of the reasons I kept failing.  In the beginning of me Beekeeping career I had several beekeepers come out and help me get started, but their philosophy was to treat the bees with pesticides to kill the mites that attach the bees, kill any hives that get infected and mass produce as much honey at the bees expense as you can.

Well, that didn’t jive with me, I  believed that bees have been running the show for thousands of years- they know what’s best and putting chemicals in is not the answer.  So, I refused to treat the bees and I have had two of my three hives die out, most likely from mites.

So what is Liz’s thinking on why the bees are dying from mites,etc?  When you set up your first hive you order pre-made starter comb that is stamped out by a machine.  The size of each individual octagon in the comb is larger than what a honey bee in the wild would make it.  Why do the bee companies make the shape larger?  Because their thinking was when the queen lays the larvae and it hatches the bee that is born is a larger bee.  Therefore the bee can carry more pollen, and produce more honey.

Smart right?

NOPE!

Liz informed me that when the bigger bee is born it is covered in an exoskeleton made from small, movable plates of chitin.  Well because the bee is bigger there is more space in these movable plates of chitin and a perfect pathway for mites to enter and attack the bees skeleton and killing them.

DUH- how simple is that!

So, Liz uses plastic pre-starter comb that is made smaller.  But, here is the catch.  The bees you order (yes, you order bees, usually from Georgia)  are large style bees.  But, here is where you trust your bees to fix it.  When the queen lays in the smaller starter comb, the larvae hatches earlier and you get your smaller bees!  TA-DA!

Now there is more to this story about why we will take out the plastic starter comb and allow the new smaller bees to make their own, but that is for another time!

For now, we have set up the boxes.  We set next to my hive on two 4 x 4 and leveled them with shimmies.  So the new homes are sitting empty waiting for the brood.

A Healthy Life For Me - Cooking, Gardening and Living a Healthy Life