Category Archives: Nature

Bees gone wild

Bees, Nature, ,

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In the bee world, I am like Joe Francis. When bees are at their wildest, I am there with the video camera!  A few weeks ago, we harvested honey.  The extraction process does a pretty good job of removing the honey, but it can absolutely not remove all of the honey from the comb.  That leaves the beekeeper with a potential problem.  The remaining honey will draw ants or bears or the Cavity Fairy if stored “wet”.  The remaining honey must be cleaned up.

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How the cleanup is best accomplished is a bit of a religous debate among beekeepers (as is most everything for beekeepers).  The bees do a fantastic job of cleaning the supers and will remove every last drop of honey from them and carry it back to the hive.  The religous debate is where the wet supers should be placed for them to clean.  You see, bees have this funny tendency to get frenzied when presented with a bunch of sweet honey.  They begin what is called robbing.

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The term robbing sort of makes more sense in the other context in which bees rob.  When a nearby hive is weak due to disease, swarming, etc, other nearby, stronger hives will raid the weaker hive and rob all of the honey.  Of course, a battle ensues and many bees die.  It’s not much fun for humans to be around either.  But the stronger bees will rob every bit of honey from the weaker hive, often killing the weaker colony in the process.

BeesGoneWild

(click for video)

So back to the religous part…some beekeepers suggest putting the wet supers a long distance from the hives so as not to encourage robbing behavior between the hives themselves.  Others (like me) say that if all of the colonies are healthy and strong, it won’t be as issue.  The bees will “rob” the wet supers and leave each other alone.  I also don’t have 500 acres to work with so I have little choice.

BeesCleaningUpEquipment

(click for video)

This second video was taken 5 minutes after I put the wet supers and equipment outside.  The bees smell it very quickly and start to work.  It takes 1-2 days for the bees to clean the supers completely dry.  Afterwards, they quickly settle back into their routine and act like good little bees.  But, like Joe Francis, my cameras are always rolling and I got the evidence to make Bee-Momma proud!

My Lucky Cricket

Nature, Technology,

I woke up this morning and the crickets were absolutely marvelous. There must have been a couple dozen of them, all chirping their own way. Their sounds were different and sort of surrounded me as I stepped outside.

Audio

(click to hear my crickets)

One of my favorite Disney movies is Mulan. I’ll leave you to find the details if you haven’t seen it. Anyhow, Mulan’s grandmother gives her a lucky cricket. The poor cricket goes through all sorts of things with Mulan and her “guardian dragon”. When things are at their worst, they all have a time of confession at which point the cricket admits he’s not really lucky. But really, they had gotten lucky over and over as the story progressed.

I was a bit of a pre-caffeine philosopher this morning, but it occurred to me, as I listened to the crickets, just how lucky I am. I have a great family, good health, incredible good looks, a good job, nice house, etc. I couldn’t really ask for more. I suppose I must be surrounded by lucky crickets…

My Wife’s cankle

Bees, Nature, Thoughts, ,

I mentioned awhile back that we were supposed to have foundation work done. Originally, they were to begin the work on June 29. That got postponed until July 20th…yesterday (and was postponed again…more later). In preparation, we had to move the beehives that I have at the house as they were very near where the work needed to be done. Emily valiantly attempted to help me move the bees but took two stings to her ankle early on in the move. For several reason (including footwear…I need to wear shoes when I mess with my bees!) I took around 30 stings. I have been stung so many times over the years that those stings don’t really bother me (though I typically prefer to minimize my exposure…when I am using my brain). Emily, on the other hand, has been stung much less frequently. As much as stings don’t affect me, they do affect Emily. Her ankle swelled to double it’s original size and hurt/itched.

I hear lots of people say they are allergic to bees. A reaction similar to Emily’s is not really an allergic reaction..at least not how most people intend it.  Most people will react like Emily did.  Her reaction was localized and not life threatening (though she may beg to differ).  The allergic reaction that is of concern is one that causes an anaphylactic response.  An anaphylactic reaction is a widespread and severe and may lead to death in a short time if untreated.  Very few people actually will show an anaphylactic reaction to bee stings.  Of course, I am not a doctor…I only played doctor as a teen so don’t take my word for these things.

So, while bee stings may be unpleasant, most times they are bearable.  She’s still suffering some, but fear not, she is not suffering in silence.  I can’t say as I blame her though.  She’s a tough one so it must really hurt.  I suppose she’ll pay me back for that someday.  Still, I appreciate her help and willingness to dig in!

My Shiitakes are fruiting!

Food, Nature,

I have always said that I never met a mushroom I didn’t like.  I guess I don’t like the ones that could kill me, but aside from that, I really dig mushrooms.  In some ways, I suppose I feel a certain kinship with mushrooms.  I am usually in the dark and they keep feeding me bull…well, you get the idea.

A friend of mine is a mushroom enthusiast and helped me inoculate several white oak logs with shiitake spores last summer.  Shiitakes have apparently only been grown outside of East Asia since 1982 so I am not too far behind the curve…I was at least alive in 1982!  Anyhow, the mushroom spores came mixed in a damp sawdust filled container.  We used a 1/2 inch spade bit to drill inch and a half deep holes all over the log and packed the spores into the holes.  I melted beeswax and covered the inoculated holes to seal in the mushroomy goodness.  I pitched the logs out behind my shed and waited.  Just this weekend, they started fruiting!

We used white oak logs because their bark apparently is best at remaining tight on the logs for a longer time than other tree varieties.  Over the past year, as the log decayed, the spores began to run through the log and finally fruit as they have taken hold.  The logs I inoculated are 4-8 inches in diameter and 2-4 feet long.  I expect that they will fruit for 2-10 years depending on how things go.  We’ve had such a wet spring and summer that I suppose they will fruit a lot this summer!  We’ll eat a bunch fresh but I will probably dry some for use over the winter.  For this kind of payoff, I can handle being in the dark a little!

Anyone else grow mushrooms?

Swarm in Kanawha City

Adventure, Bees, Nature, WV, ,

The kids headed off with Momaw and Granddad last night so Emily and I planned to grab a bite to eat and then go pick blackberries.  Literally, as we were walking out the door, the metro emergency center called and said there was a swarm of bees up in a tree in Kanawha City, a section of Charleston near where I work.  I looked at Emily and she rolled her eyes and crossed her arms over her chest.  “Fine, go get your bees.”  Obviously, she wasn’t thrilled but she agreed to ride along.  She’s never been on a swarm call with me before so this was sure to be fun!

We drove to Kanawha City and found the home owner out in her yard looking up in a tree.  I knew we had the right spot right away.  We chatted for a bit about how her Dad had bees.  It’s interesting but it seems like almost everyone over the age of 60 once had a family member who had bees.  It’s such a shame that there are so very few beekeepers left and even fewer under the age of 65.  Anyhow, there was indeed a small swarm of bees about 8 feet up in the oak tree in her front yard.

I brought a ladder and I always carry pruners on these calls.  I donned my suit for proper protection (note the crocs on my feet!) and headed up the tree.  Swarms that are close to the ground often can be brushed into a hive box with a gentle hand (or shook into the box with a rough hand).  Swarms in trees are a little different.  When possible, I like to trim the branch on which they hang and bring them down to a manageable height, i.e. the ground.  I clipped the branch with the bees and gently laid the small branch into the hive (I removed 4 frames to make room) once back on the ground.  Sometimes I shake them into the hive so I don’t need to add the branch but this one seemed to fit without shaking.

I just stop up the entry to the hive and put a strap around the hive to travel.  As I mentioned, Emily was with me and not too keen on riding in the van with bees.  I don’t officially recommend this to anyone, but I have found that riding with bees in the car is actually a little easier than riding with kids.  The kids fight and yell and can’t do anything but stare at each other making menacing faces.  Bees, on the other hand, don’t care a lick about me but prefer to hang around the back windows hoping to find an escape.  I have never been stung while carrying bees in the van.  But, don’t try it at home…

The swarm was pretty small and will not likely be worth much alone.  I have a few hives that are very full of bees so I will add a few frames of bees from those hives to the new swarm to make a good, strong colony.  With any luck, they will grow into a stronger colony, ready for the honey flow next spring!

Other swarms

Washboarding

Bees, Nature, ,


Bees are funny critters.  They seem so primitive in one way…in fact they are primitive having originated 35 million years ago.  But in another sense, they are incredibly advanced.  They communicate the location of food to each other through the “waggle dance”.  They live in community (uncommon for insects) and they know how to do laundry.

Well, they don’t really do laundry because bees are naked.  But if they wore clothes, they would know how to wash.  See, bees do this funny thing called washboarding.  In the bee world, washboarding is the term for when bees congregate on the outside of the hive in good numbers and appear to scrub the hive with their feet and tongues.  It’s sort of difficult to describe so make sure you see the video.


(if that video doesn’t work on your machine, please try this one)

Bees that exhibit washboarding are apparently happy bees.  The first time I saw it, I was sure that the bees were getting ready to swarm or attack my kids and wife, or maybe eat holes in the o-zone layer.  It turns out that washboarding bees are pretty docile, in fact.  I get mesmerized by watching their simple rhythmic behavior.  It seems that all of the bees work in unison.

So, if you ever see bees washboarding, consider that this 35 million year old species is doing laundry now and may be ready to take over the planet in another 35 million years!  They do appear to be benevolent so we may be ok though!

p.s.  I am heading to the beach for a week starting tomorrow.  This is how I feel:

See, you can tell by my exuberant “thumbs up” and my snazzy shirt!

I am tired…but I have raspberries

Garden, Nature,

I am tired.  I get plenty of sleep most days but my tired is a little more than that I think.  I am tired of running.  I am not one to usually chase after stuff so that’s not really it either.  I don’t know what it’s all about (aside from maybe I am crazy), but I am tired.

So, for awhile, I am going to take pictures of simple things that make me not-tired.  Kim over at Achorn Farm is who made me realize that simple stuff is the best stuff.  I’d love to hear if you have stuff that makes you not tired…

Anyhow, we have raspberries now!  They are really starting to give the berries and Abigail loves to pick them and feed them all to me.  Fortunately, I can eat raspberries all day long!

So, here is a simple thing that makes me un-tired…

Dandelion Wine

Food, Nature, Tinkering, ,

I mentioned a few weeks ago that I was making homemade hooch but I didn’t say what type I was making.  It’s sort of a funny thing…Emily hates dandelions with a passion.  I don’t understand her issues with them but she goes around the yard picking the heads off of them all the time.  Occasionally she’ll dig the roots, but mostly she just wants the flowers out of sight.  Always one to see an opportunity, I asked her to save the dandelion heads she picked for a project I had in mind!

Wine can be made from all sorts of things including various flowers.  Most people have heard of dandelion wine, but wine can also be made from clover, roses, pansies, coltsfoot, and golden rod among others.  Anyhow, the real key to dandelion wine, is to use the flower petals and not anything green.  I picked a ton of dandelion heads and cut the petals off of them until I had 2 pints of dandelion petals.  That doesn’t sound like a lot, but when you consider the sticky factor, you’ll understand the effort that went in to this project.  My fingers were very yellow and sticky and I left yellow fingerprints all over the place!

Anyhow, I kept remembering how tasty the last batch of dandelion wine was many years ago so I pressed on through the allergies and rainbow of colors on my fingers.  I wrapped the petals in cheesecloth so they would be manageable and started my brew!

In a big open pitcher, I added the petals, 6 pints of water, 3 Campden tablets, 3 lbs of white sugar (as an approximation…remember 2 cups a pound, the whole world round…2 cups of about anything weighs a pound),  1/3 oz of citric acid (taste some of that straight up sometime!), and yeast nutrients.  I let this mixture sit for 2 days in the container loosely covered to keep dust out.  After 2 days, I added champagne yeast and let it sit another day.  Finally, as it started to bubble, I moved everything but the pouch of petals to a fermentation vessel.  The bubbler on top allows the carbon dioxide to escape.  Of course, carbon dioxide is a by product of the yeast converting the sugar to alcohol.

Funny story time…I know someone who was creative and decided to forego the typical bubblers used for fermentation.  Really, the whole point is to allow a bit of CO2 to build up and then force its way out without allowing other contaminants back in.  Some folks take care of that issue by stretching a balloon across the mouth of the fermentation jar.  Well, being extra creative, this person stretched a balloon-like male birth control item over the jar lid.  Of course, this method would work just fine to allow the CO2 to escape.  I am not sure how I would feel about the CO2 building up and…uh…inflating the “balloon” though.  Anyhow, without thinking about it, this winemaker bought the variety with spermicide too.  Some folks say that too much drinking may lead to pregnancy, but I think this may be a solution!

Anyhow, now I have to wait a few months until all of the sugar is converted to alcohol or the alcohol content rises enough to kill the yeast.  Either way, the bubbling will stop and the wine will be ready to settle/age/bottle.  I’ll post more on that when the time comes.


(Here is a windows media version if the above doesn’t work)

In the meantime, I will certainly enjoy watching the bubbles rise through the murky yellow concoction.  It bubbles and fizzes like crazy, very similar to a bottle of pop when first opened!

Stuff that makes me smile

Nature, Thoughts,

You know, sometimes I just get home from work and I get a big smile on my face.  There are so many cool things going on during spring that I just can’t help myself.  Here are a few things that made me smile yesterday when I got home from work.


This color yellow…

This color purple…


And this color purple…

The smell of black locust blooms…the bees were enjoying as well of course.  Gosh, the smell is heavenly.  I wish I could share the scent in the air with you.  When I release my own perfume line, it will be called “Warren” of course, but will be the smell of black locust blooms!


We feed birds all sorts of seeds and suet cakes. This one female rose breasted grossbeak has learned to open the suet cage and help herself. She’s no dummy for sure. I smiled (out loud) when I saw her going to town with no impediment!


And finally, although this didn’t happen yesterday, Jim Carey almost always makes me smile!

Anyhow, what makes you smile?

Our litter bug

Family, Nature,


Abigail’s class had an assignment to make a litterbug in preparation for Earth Day.  The litterbug was to be constructed from recyclable items found around the house.  Lucky for us, all our recycling was sitting in a huge pile in the kitchen rather than being taken out by the road.  Abigail decided to make a fly so she gathered pieces and laid it out so we could plan.

I did the spray painting but she did the hand-painting and hot gluing.  Initially, we had planned to give the fly rigid legs so he could stand, but we couldn’t find anything good in our junk pile.  Instead, we decided to make him flyable.  We had just emptied out some old cough syrup so the empty bottle made a perfect handle.  So we constructed her litterbug and she flew it to school.  It occurs to me know though…I wonder if her litterbug will ever be recycled now?  I suppose if he makes it home, he will find his way to the recycle bin during one of our seasonal “hoe outs” where we run the kids out and then throw away everything in their rooms (shhhh…don’t tell).

The other cool thing the school did was to take Abigail’s class (and others?) to the movie theater to see Earth, the new Disney movie.  Abigail gave it 2 thumbs up so I figure we’ll all see it soon.

All this got me to thinking about how we might celebrate Earth Day.  I am not one to go hold hands and dance around a tree.  Still, I see the day as a neat time to consider what we might do to lessen our impact on things.  We have already changed to using all CFLs rather than incandescent lightbulbs.  We recycle or compost much of our waste and I stopped using gas powered lawn equipment.  I don’t mean to try to sound like Captain Earth or something, but I wonder what other things we ought to be doing to lessen our impact and live more sustainable.  

What sorts of things do you do to live more sustainably?