Amazing- a Bee Update

I just returned from the bee yard. It's 70 degrees, sunny, and very humid. we received 3.9" of rain last night and the forecast is for more rain and warm weather throughout the next several days. I was going to do my inspection on Wednesday but pushed it up to today because Ceili is sleeping and the sun is out. I brought my second hive body with me in case I needed to add it. It's about two weeks early but this weather has been very nice. When I arrived I smoked the entrance, and then smoked under the cover. When I removed the inner cover I could see fat drawn comb, and lots of bees! I figured they must be starting to emerge. As I inspected each frame I was looking for drawn comb, eggs, larvae, sealed brood, and honey. The first frame was undrawn with a few bees on it. the second frame was full of drawn comb on one side and the start of comb on the other. the third through eighth were completely drawn and very heavy. These frames were packed with honey along the top edges with some of it sealed. They also contained pollen, sealed brood, lots of larvae, and at least a full frame of eggs. On one frame I saw a sealed brood wiggle a bit and I paused to watch a bee chew its way out of the brood chamber and emerge as a new bee! I can't explain how incredible it was to witness this first hand. Hopefully I can figure out how to take pictures of the frames for next time. The final two frames were also undrawn. I figured that the first box was over 75% drawn and decided to add the second box. I also removed the entrance reducer and the cork from the first box. I moved a frame of broodless, drawn comb into the second box and spaced the remaining nine frames out equally. The second box containing the frame of drawn comb was placed on top, followed by the inner cover, and finally the outer cover. Good luck bees, see you in about 10 days!

Productive Weekend

We have been working very hard lately and the gardens are looking great. All of our plants and seeds are in. There is about a 16 square foot piece of garden left open due to the fact that we went vertical with our squash, cucumbers, and pumpkins. Although it seems like a waste of good garden space we are going to try growing sweet corn. We read about a variety of red sweet corn in Organic Gardening magazine called "Ruby Queen". Unlike most colored vegetables it maintains the unique red color when it's cooked. The area we have left open is right next to our squash and pumpkin patch. Squash and corn are natural companions and are often planted along with pole beans. This "three sisters" grouping was practiced by Native Americans as a way to increase yield. The corn offers support for the beans who in turn supplies much needed nitrogen to the soil. The beans also act as a sunscreen for the delicate leaves of the squash. The prickly vines of the squash help deter raccoons from attacking the corn by making it uncomfortable to walk in the garden as well as obscuring their view of potential dangers. Raccoons LOVE sweet corn but have to be able to see their surroundings, if they can't see danger, they will stay away (in theory).

We attended a local plant sale on Saturday and were able to find over twenty different perennials we didn't have in our garden. For less than thirty dollars we were able to increase the size of our gardens along the house and add a shade garden under the trees. Everything is still pretty small but we see the potential and are excited to see everything grow and fill in. The challenging part has been cutting out the grass and sifting through loads of rocks and debris on our 100 year old homestead. We have found many interesting things over the years including many nails and broken glass but also marbles, jacks, and a brass garden hose nozzle. It's nice to stand back at the end of the day and marvel that where there is now a garden was once a rocky weedy piece of lawn!

A local visitor stopped by the neighborhood on Saturday. Jon was working back by the bee yard and looked up to see the neighbor's Newfoundland dog roaming the back yard. But wait, the neighbors don't have a Newfie. A second look confirmed that it was in fact a very large, very healthy black bear! The bear was about twenty yards away and just walking around. Jon alerted Erin and Ceili and returned with a camera. The bear ate some seed from a bird feeder and continued on its way. Very cool to see in the middle of the morning, however, we hope it will stick to bird seed and stay away from the bees. Guess that's why we installed the electric fence for the bee yard.

Jump Start Summer

We started gearing up early this year in order to be more prepared. The weather this year, however, has been incredible. All of our plants from seed have been ready for weeks and are way ahead of the traditional planting date for Duluth of June 1st. Night time temps are no lower than upper 40's with daytime highs in the upper 60's to 70's and even approaching the 80's! This along with a beautiful 10 day forecast has encouraged me to roll the dice and get our transplants in the ground.

This year we started four varieties of tomatoes, squash, miniature pumpkins, cucumbers, broccoli, cauliflower, two varieties of peppers, basil, cilantro, sage, and dill. I may be forgetting something but that's the bulk of it. Hopefully these all go in today. We'll keep you posted.

On the left you'll see several photos of some things we're trying this year. The wooden trellis is one of four installed in our raised beds. In the past we grew pole beans on a makeshift trellis and tomatoes staked with wooden stakes to support them. They were difficult to maintain and the weight of the plants as well as wind often toppled the plans and we suffered some damage. these trellises are constructed of 2x3 lumber and are lag bolted to the beds so they can be moved around the garden every year. Our vine crops (squash, pumpkin, and cucumbers) will be grown on these to save garden space (think vertical garden) and increase air flow. we hope this prevents some of the problems we've had with these types of crops in the past. Also on the left is a photo of two large black cylinders made out of a plastic compost bin. We will be planting potatoes in these to save space in our garden. The idea is to grow them vertically and add dirt, compost, etc. as the grow. at the end of the season we simply open them up and pick up the potatoes. no digging, no hilling, and we use a piece of our garden near the house that we haven't been sure what to do with.

The sprouts in the third photo are the radishes we planted from seed about a week ago. we also have spinach, lettuce, carrots, and peas popping through the soil!


On the right is a photo of the inside of our bee hive. I have trouble taking pictures and doing my hive inspection so I'll have to have Erin suit up and join me. We'll get you some better pictures in the future. Anyways, the bees are doing very well. they are bringing in lots of pollen and are drawing out the comb nicely. I saw alot of eggs and larvae and had a couple of frames with sealed brood. Eggs are about 3-4 days old. Larvae molts daily as it grows. after four days it releases a pheromone that calls the bees to cap it with a wax cap. brood is capped after six days. About eleven days later (21 days total) the new bees will emerge and the population will begin to grow! Everyone appears happy and healthy and seem to be a few days ahead of where I believe they should be. I flipped the entrance reducer to the next larger opening to encourage the colony to get out and take advantage of the early spring. I'm hoping to add another hive body after the next inspection.

Bees!

We are trying something new this year. After nearly two years of reading and researching Jon took a class in Minneapolis about beekeeping in northern climates. As of May 1st we are now keepers of one colony of Italian honeybees! We are very new to this and will post information as we learn. We purchased 3# of bees which is about 10,000 bees and 1 queen.

On May 2nd Jon installed the bees into the hive. It went very well aside from the fact that he forgot to wear his veil until he was half way through the process. Needless to say he learned his lesson. It was 53 degrees and sunny when we put them in their first brood box. We installed them at about 6:00 pm to encourage them to stay in the hive overnight.

The next day Jon checked on them to make sure they were eating the 2:1 sugar syrup we fed them so they have a constant supply of food until the flowers are producing plenty of pollen and nectar. They need alot of food now to build comb and get acquainted with their new home. The queen will also begin laying eggs.

On May 9th Jon did his first hive inspection to check the sugar syrup and check to see if the queen is laying eggs. The bees are quickly drawing out or building comb. some of the cells already contain colorful pollen. This early spring is nice for the bees. Jon also got to see the queen so we know she was accepted by the colony and is still alive. With his back to the sun and the light shining down over his shoulder to light the tiny cells Jon spied the first of many tiny bee eggs. Success! New sugar syrup was added and the hive was closed. Happy Mothers Day Queen.

We will check their progress again in about 10 days. Keep working ladies!

Our Garden

In August of 2008 we moved into our new house. What we didn't realize when we first went to see the house that would become our home was that it sat on an acre of land within the city of Duluth. We fell in love with the house and spent the next few months getting settled in. In 2009 we replaced our old cedar deck. Jon salvaged much of the cedar to build four 4ft. x 9ft. raised beds, a 9ft. x 2 ft. herb garden, and a large 4ft. x 4ft. three bin compost bin. In addition to this we overhauled an existing garden area to serve as an asparagus patch. Erin set to work on documenting and cleaning up the overgrown perennial and bulb flower gardens.

The previous owners had let several raspberry patches grow out of control and become weed choked. We weeded and pruned everything back and have been fertilizing and thinning to hopefully bring them back. Our gardens are a great way for us to spend time together as well as supplying us with some of our food.

Ceili has enjoyed working with us and often can be found picking through the garden and eating many of the vegetables and fruits. We will try to share with you our philosophy of gardening and eating and will share with you our successes and failures. We hope you enjoy exploring our woodland garden!