Urania was washboarding again over the weekend, this time I was prepared with camera!
The bees are in their own space when they are doing this. The fact that I was sitting next to the hive did not faze them at all. They just kept with the behavior. This little bee got me giggling a bit - the rhythmical pattern made me think of vacuuming.
Monday, June 29, 2009
Sunday, June 28, 2009
and if nothing else, Eddie Izzard explains beekeeping.
it's hot this weekend! Not sure if garden work is going to happen today.
Saturday, June 27, 2009
"don't expect honey your first year"
If by "year" you mean "month", then yes! do not expect honey your first month.
Thursday, June 25, 2009
The White House bees!
(I'm puzzled by the caption of collecting the first batch of honey - maybe this is the comb going back into the hive? where's the cappings?)
Last night I made my own ginger ale. Left the bottle in the shed next to where my bike gets hung up. In case of explosion, most of the shed can be hosed down with no problem. This is not really the case for the kitchen. The other advantage is I'll be sure to check it at least twice today. When I left this morning the bottle was already feeling more full. My guess is it will be ready tonight, yum!
Also got a whole wheat bread soaker and biga started to make bread tonight. Was going to make some granola bars as well, but the kitchen got commandeered for dinner instead. Hopefully can make those tonight if I get home early enough. :)
(I'm puzzled by the caption of collecting the first batch of honey - maybe this is the comb going back into the hive? where's the cappings?)
Last night I made my own ginger ale. Left the bottle in the shed next to where my bike gets hung up. In case of explosion, most of the shed can be hosed down with no problem. This is not really the case for the kitchen. The other advantage is I'll be sure to check it at least twice today. When I left this morning the bottle was already feeling more full. My guess is it will be ready tonight, yum!
Also got a whole wheat bread soaker and biga started to make bread tonight. Was going to make some granola bars as well, but the kitchen got commandeered for dinner instead. Hopefully can make those tonight if I get home early enough. :)
Tuesday, June 23, 2009
Bearding or Washboarding
excellent!!!
Asking around paid off- what my bees were doing is either bearding or washboarding. I was directed to this blog first, and the blogger used the term bearding. I googled this, and found another blog site that talked about bearding. I noticed in the comments it had an update - that this was not bearding, but washboarding. The idea is that washboarding may be related to bees cleaning the hive. (!!!) More searching and a similar post, and found something about it on Beesource.
Because of the hives location, it's difficult for me to watch the front for very long without getting the bees a bit concerned about the big thing looming nearby. What I did see looked like all of these photos and videos. The photo isn't clear enough to see if their probosci are out. I did notice they were doing the same thing tonight when I got home, about 7:30pm.
Fantastic. :) Clean, happy bees!
Asking around paid off- what my bees were doing is either bearding or washboarding. I was directed to this blog first, and the blogger used the term bearding. I googled this, and found another blog site that talked about bearding. I noticed in the comments it had an update - that this was not bearding, but washboarding. The idea is that washboarding may be related to bees cleaning the hive. (!!!) More searching and a similar post, and found something about it on Beesource.
Because of the hives location, it's difficult for me to watch the front for very long without getting the bees a bit concerned about the big thing looming nearby. What I did see looked like all of these photos and videos. The photo isn't clear enough to see if their probosci are out. I did notice they were doing the same thing tonight when I got home, about 7:30pm.
Fantastic. :) Clean, happy bees!
Monday, June 22, 2009
carrots and I didn't read about this in the books!
We picked our carrots! They went into a delicious chicken pot pie.Thursday, June 18, 2009
Wednesday, June 17, 2009
Sunday adventure(s)!
On Sunday June 7, we took it light. I was still feeling tender from the bike fall, so we just went down to the Bay Trail and walked along the bay. We walked about two miles total, it was a simple walk down the mixed use path. It was windy! I didn't bring my camera, so no photos. The Bay trail is paved and goes for miles - I know a lot of bike commuters that use it to go between the city and the south bay. I enjoy how close and uncomplicated it is. It's great for walking to clear the mind, as it requires very little concentration.
Sunday, June 14, 2009
Growing Challenge: Update!
Things in the garden are great!
The sugar snap peas are on their way out. Over the next week we'll be picking the last of the peas, and then pulling the pea plants to add to the compost pile. I am hoping to plant Scarlet Runner Beans along this same line for late summer / fall picking. May be best to get them started in the greenhouse first, we've found some of the seeds are getting dug up by our persistent bird friends. (that's why none of our sunflowers grew! every seed picked!)
Saturday, June 13, 2009
Bikes and Bees
also known as - still here!
Last weekend (June 6 & 7) we were going to open up the hive, check on the new honey supers, and see if we had a Queen that wasn't interested in laying in them (thus requiring no excluder) or if we did have eggs / larvae in the honey supers, thus requiring the addition of the excluder. It was a great plan, but unfortunately my accident prone self had other plans.
Last weekend (June 6 & 7) we were going to open up the hive, check on the new honey supers, and see if we had a Queen that wasn't interested in laying in them (thus requiring no excluder) or if we did have eggs / larvae in the honey supers, thus requiring the addition of the excluder. It was a great plan, but unfortunately my accident prone self had other plans.
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