Honey Harvest, Part One

On August 11 our beekeeping mentors Kat and Liz came to assess the turmoil in the bee yard. Two people were attacked with multiple stings while trying to mow. Turns out during a hot humid week, the hard-working Carniolans (hive on the left) had filled and capped eight of ten frames of their second super. They were desperate for space. Those lazy Italians, by contrast, had hardly done any work in their single super. Apparently they spent their days drinking Campari and eating pasta.

Kat removes each filled frame slowly, methodically, gently and transfers them to an empty waiting super. Then the eight frames are moved to a space in the garden where each frame, front and back, is uncapped. Two frames at a time are inserted into the hand-cranked extractor and the honey is spun out. When all frames are extracted the wet frames are returned to the hive for repair and refill.

To be continued.

Kat applying calming smoke

Gently brushing bees from the frame

Setting sun shining through the fully filled frame

Uncapping a frame

Honey Harvest, Part Two

Honey flows from the extractor

The extracted honey flows into a clean bucket. Bits of wax and bee parts are included in the flow. The honey sits covered overnight and the wax and dirty bits rise to the top as the heavier honey sinks to the bottom. The next day the waxy debris is scooped away and honey is poured into a gated bucket fitted with a strainer. When all the honey has strained the nylon strainer is squeezed to remove as much honey as possible. The strainer is rinsed and cleaned to release wax and debris which needs further rinsing to clean the wax. The clean honey is then siphoned into jars to be labeled and distributed.

Harvest yield: 18 pounds.

Hive check two weeks later: The cells in the frames are repaired and intact. A small amount of cells contain nectar. Sadly, the Italian neighbors are still lagging. Girls: winter is coming!

Photos by Mary and Liz: Thanks!

Extractors

Tasters

Supervision by Albert

Kat returns wet supers to the hive

Gravity

Finish!

Bees and Peas

See bee with yellow pollen just right  of center on landing board

We watch with mixed gratitude and trepidation as we leave the rainiest May on record. June is also pretty soggy so far. We've enjoyed lettuce, braising greens, green garlic, garlic scapes, cilantro, sorrel, mint, and other herbs. The pod peas Marni planted in March are ready, with the snow peas in full blossom.

The heat lovers are just stalled. There are signs of promise in the fruit trees: cherries, peaches, pears, gooseberries, arona berries.

Beets and carrots, leeks and onions, cucumbers and squashes to come.
Bonus shots below.

Peas

 

What the Rain Has Brought

The cold crop direct seedlings have emerged! Lettuces, arugula, kales, mustard and collard greens. Last night's gentle rains--20 hundreds--worked magic. Dick's daffodils are starting to bloom and the first blooms on the pear tree are showing.

Seedling Progress Report

 Marni wrote:

Our seedlings are peeking out of the soil, once again the Kale was out in front, cucumbers fast behind…tomatoes, peppers slow as usual.  This afternoon I transferred the tomatoes and cucumbers to larger pots.

17 San Marzano
15 German Pink
18 Nebraska Weddings
18 Brandy Wine
18 Ace

18 Cucumbers that I unfortunately mixed up when taking them out of their original trays, however, was able to amend some of the groupings

I know that I will be giving some of the above to Shannon, Richard has a friend he wants to give some to, Valerie and Mary let me know if you want some for you garden beds.

Next week I will transfer the Asters, basil, and Kale.

Initially we (I) spoke of putting onions between the garlic, but when I think about how the garlic would shade the onions; perhaps we should consider them for bed 6.

Spring Dreams

SPRING.............HERE WE COME!!! Just awesome!!!

On Saturday, February 28, 2015, Marni Vos wrote:
The shelves are up, the lights are hung and the new baby seeds are in the seed starter soil and working their wayto the community garden.

What has been planted:

We’ll give the leeks one more year to prove themselves.

First year for starting onions in the house, we’ll see, I plan to put onion seeds in the ground sometime this month, keep an eye on which is most successful:

Red onions
White onions
Yellow onions
Shallots

Hello cucumbers:
Homemade pickle cucumbers
Marketmore cuc.’s
And first year for Japanese Climbing cucumbers…from seed savers exchange, “Japanese in origin; listed by Thorburn in 1892.
A distinct climbing sort with strong grasping tendrils, ideal for growing on a trellis or fence but can also be grown on the ground.
Tender, crisp, and slightly tart fruit up to 9” long.  Excellent for slicing and pickling.”

Bell Peppers
Red, from an organic pepper…just an experiment.
The rest from seed packs…yellow, red and green.

Hot peppers:
Jalapeño
Anaheim

Basil:
Lettuce Leaf
Italian Genovese

Lacinato Kale (For Mary) :o

Tomatoes:  I will keep them all labeled so we can be more selective of which ones are more productive,
or taste the best:

Tomato Bush Ace
Brandywine (Sudduth’s Strain)
Nebraska Wedding
San Marzano
German Pink

Lastly, I planted Aster; China Aster Blend…for the butterflies, and for us :) Again, we’ll see!

Christy does a great job of saving seeds…I plan to get better at that!  In the mean time, I have
gotten seed packets for:  The below are direct in the ground seeds:

Cilantro/ Coriander:
Sabor
Long Standing

Carrots

Lettuce:
Forellenschluss
(We’ll need to get spinach, more lettuce, like that…)

Okra: Star of David

Squash: Marina Di Chioggia

Pea: Tom Thumb

Purple Prairie Clover

Winter 2014 Books in the Garden

This is not a regular garden post; I am indulging my own interest in reading. Much of my fair weather reading takes place in our beautiful garden. And since every media outlet feels free to post best of year end lists of movies, books, songs, foods, electronic gizmos, I'm posting the list of best books I read in 2014, in no particular order. 

My Struggle Book Three by Karl Ove Knausgaard

Book three centers on K’s boyhood. While not as compelling to me as Book One, I am still enthralled by this six-book enterprise. Impatiently waiting for Don Bartlett to finish the translation of the remaining books. Book Four is due this spring.

Lila by Marilynne Robinson

The third volume in Robinson’s gorgeous examination of two families in Gilead, Iowa.

A Month in the Country by J.L. Carr

A perfect, fleeting English summer in the life of a World War I veteran, recalled many years later.

Gutenberg’s Apprentice by Alix Christie

A terrific literary debut about the invention of printing by moveable type. Comparable to the kind of thing Hilary Mantel does for Cromwell.

I Hate to Leave this Beautiful Place by Howard Norman

Norman, always thoughtful, beautiful, and slyly humorous, memorializes five incidents in his life.

An Unnecesary Woman by Rabih Alameddine

Godless, fatherless, childless, and divorced, aging Aaliya lives a reclusive life in a Beirut apartment stockpiled with books. Each year she translates another book into Arabic.

Honorable Mention.

Before I Burn by Gaute Heivoll

Fictionalized account of Norway’s most dramatic arson case. Translated by the great Don Bartlett.

Adelle Waldman. The Love Affairs of Nathaniel P

Weeks after reading this I looked at every young man with deep suspicion.