Rain and cool temperatures!

We had rain all afternoon on Sunday.  Like any farmer, I pay attention to the local news primarily for weather events so I can plan my time.  Yesterday I had the lawn to conquer but fortunately we had a wonderful soaking rain all afternoon.  I totally missed the amount of rain or that it would even rain on the news.  It will be a couple of days before I can mow and the grass will be up to my waist by then but I sure did appreciate the rain!

Sometimes I sits and thinks and sometimes I just sits

I love the Pooh Bear!  Sadly, Eeyore is more my style these last months.  Life has been tragic lately for my family.  We lost my Dad in April.  From my Dad I learned that any soil can be improved and made to support life.  I also learned my love of all things gardening.  He planted much too large gardens and he could have fed the entire Tennessee Valley.  I've spent more time than I care to think hoeing in the hot Alabama sun corn fields spread across 10 acres.

Then we lost my dear Aunt Faye in June.  She loved flowers and always had such a beautiful yard that neighbors would stop and comment on the color.  From my Aunt I learned that flowers and vegetables are companion plants - one does not need to exclude the other in the home garden or lawn.

And now my Step Mom is ill and not thriving.  Failure to thrive is another way to say she is dying.  It is sad and I've cried lots of tears but such is life and we grow on.  I'm taking some time to be with her as much as I can.  Other things can wait for now.

Getting started with beekeeping

The most frequent question I'm asked is why would a woman want a hobby like beekeeping?  First, let's take the sex-ism out of beekeeping.  Women, men, teenagers and children can all enjoy a hobby as fascinating as beekeeping.  Second I don't consider it so much a hobby as an effort to become self-sufficient and know my food intimately.  After last summer's fiasco of chicken house sickness, I was totally ready to get back to what I know from my childhood -  I know how to raise my own food and process it.  Sure you make mistakes but you have many resources locally and via the internet.  Here are just a few:

United States Department of Agriculture, USDA, has a free printable 50 page backyard beekeeping publication at http://www.aces.edu/pubs/docs/A/ANR-0135/.

John Maynard who is the bee inspector for the State of Alabama will answer questions.  As a note, every Alabama beekeeper, even if only one hive is started and is for personal use, must register their hive with the State of Alabama Department of Agriculture and Industries.  It costs very little ($10) and your apiary receives a certificate of registration good for one year.  You are encouraged to brand your hives and register your brand with the state as well.   If your hives or equipment are stolen, your mark identifies it as belonging to you and it can possibly be located again.  Let's face it, beekeeping equipment can be expensive and the hives have value.

Your "hobby" is closely monitored due to disease.  Alabama is one of the few states not reporting colony collapse.  Most states that allow cross border migratory transport of hives to California are experiencing this problem  Alabama does not allow colonies to go to California to help pollinate the almond growers trees.  It could be caused by the stressed state of the returning bees or by something being passed to the bees.  Hard to say right now the exact cause of colony collapse but I'm very glad Alabama is a closed border state.

A wonderful resource for the beginning beekeeper is their local beekeeping club who provides great mentoring and knowledge sharing.  In Alabama, check out http://www.alabamabeekeepers.com to find a club near you and join it.  At this site are numerous copies of their newsletter, Stinger, that provides a wealth of information.  I spent about a year researching different sites and finally taking a couple of beginning beekeeper classes offered by our local beekeeping association.

Finally most of the beekeeping companies market their wares in great catalogs.  You can go online to http://www.dadant.com or to http://www.gabees.com or to http://mannlake.com to find solid information about the ins and outs of beekeeping.

The second most common question I'm asked is why did I select a top bar hive or kenyan hive.  I am a small woman.  My husband is allergic to everything outside (bees, ants, etc.)  So I am a single operation beekeeper.

A commercial hive, the hive that most people think of as a hive, weighs anywhere from 100 pounds full of honey in a large hive to 75 pounds in a medium sized hive to 55 pounds for a small hive.  Plus you must constantly monitor and move the top down or up depending on the location of the hive and the queen.  My back just won't take it.  The kenyan hive is at my waist and you can work with the hive without moving square foundations up and down back and forth.

There are drawbacks to the kenyan hive, also known as the top bar hive.  First the honey is only comb honey.  You cannot borrow the club extractor (assuming you did join that beekeeping club or association) as the extractor works with frames.  A top bar hive does not have frames, only a bar across the top where you will extract the honey by cutting the comb and then squeezing the comb for the honey. This is the old fashioned way of getting honey.  You also will not get as much honey from the top bar hive.  So one has to decide which is most important - what is your reason for beekeeping?  For me, it is a backyard, grow it myself movement.

The final question I'm asked is "Is it expensive?"  The answer is maybe.  Like anything you do, it can be done inexpensively or expensively.  Your choice.  The full bee suit, gloves and veil will run about $90, the smoker another $45 (tobacco burnt in the smoker will kill mites that are parasitic to bees), woodware (the hive) can run $285 and up.  You must purchase a hive tool, which costs a few more bucks.  It is always suggested to have two hives.  Bees and the queen may be purchased or collected from the wild.

Our club keeps a swarm list for anyone who wants to collect the bees for free.  The problem with this method is not knowing the nature of the queen.  If you buy a certain type of bee, it should have a certain personality.  For example, I have Italian bees and queen for their less aggressive nature.

I did not buy the full bee suit but did feel that the veil and gloves would be good.  My hive ran about $300 but is guaranteed to not rot for years and years.  I also bought my colony and queen for about $100.  All told I have spent  about $450 on the bees, including my club membership dues and the state registration of my hive. Did I do this because I wanted something cheap for sugar? No, I did this because I wanted to know where my food is grown.  Could you do it cheaper?  Absolutely!

Bee-tastic!

Started my first hive this year - a cypress kenyan hive or top bar hive.  Ordered the Italian bees and queens from Rossman Apiaries in Georgia.  These are smaller and supposedly gentler bees - less aggressive.  I was very worried that I had killed the queen when I uncrated the hive but had to wait three weeks to find out if the hive was alive and well.  So on one of the hottest days this year I suited up in my beekeeping outfit ( a raincoat, heavy corduroy pants, long sleeve white t-shirt) and my elbow length gloves and baseball cap with beekeeper veil and took my hive tool and smoker and went to find out if the hive lived or not.  The result photos provided by family friend, Nikki, are below and I am happy to report a healthy hive with honey and babies and wax being produced on multiple bars.  They did it!

Bees are less aggressive toward a beekeeper in light colors.
Note the pants tucked into my heavy duty work boots.

Smoke is from cotton seed lint, bellow the smoke a bit away from the opening so as to not burn the bees.

Because I am a busy-bee-body, I purchased the top bar hive with the window so I could keep an eye on them without disrupting them.  Looking for problems with mites, no honeycomb, no bees - just to name a few problems. The bottom of the hive can be opened in the summer to increase ventilation and has a small wire covering that protects it from other varmits coming into the hive.

I love it.  Honey, honeycomb and bees.  The hive was empty when I uncrated the bees into it.  The only thing I did was take some bee balm mint and rub it on the top bars.

I moved the divider bar back to give them more room and inserted more top bars for them to begin honeycomb production.  Everything looks as it should.  By end of July or early August I should be able to take make a light harvest from this first year of capped honeycomb and leave the rest for them to winter-over.  Next year I should be able to make multiple harvests and I am considering a second hive and new queens.

This is one happy hive and beekeeper!

From field to table

Our garden's leaf lettuce is holding up to the 100 degree temps in Northern Alabama.  We had freshly picked lettuce salad for lunch as well as day lily fritters, home grown and canned pickled eggs and salmon croquettes.  Amazing what you can find to eat if you just look.  Were the day lily fritters any good?  They look a bit like a soft shell crab when cooked and they fry up very fast.  See for yourself in the pictures below if they were any good - nothing was thrown away!  Yum!

From field

To batter and flour

Frying up fast

Brown in under a minute

Lunch for Saturday 6/4/2011

No left overs

The pickled eggs up close

To goat or not to goat for dairy

Part of the self sufficient life style that I'm wanting to attain includes making goat cheese and other goat diary products like milk.  I have a time commitment issue to resolve as goats take more time than say chickens and they are more habitat needy.  I do not have an enclosed protected area for milking and I am not particularly fond of working outside in the dark and cold, which I would have to do without an enclosed protected area.  Goats require a diet that is fresh and readily available so there is some expense to maintaining a herd of does and their offspring.  Then there is the issue of culling the herd as goats become less productive.  A chicken is a bit easier to manage for meat than a goat.  Quite a size difference and could I do it without help and get the meat saved before it spoils.  So many considerations.  Taking it slow in deciding whether to get goats or not.
Dairy Goat Breed Standards