Farm Update - July 21

We have been working so hard on the farm, I just had to write about it!

We had a farmers' market on both Saturday and Sunday. Right now we have eggs (less when it is hot!), LOTS of summer squash, a few lemon cucumbers, a few Armenian cucumbers, very rare Gravenstein apples, spearmint and chocolate mint. It doesn't seem like much because we are waiting for the show stopping tomatoes to ripen!

Yesterday we got up early (early for me! 6:15 is early!!!) to go tie up tomatoes before it got too hot. It has been getting up to 104 here and I just melt! We tied up tomatoes for 5 hours and then came home. This took place at "Site 3" of our farm which is also known as the "Ruff Garlick Patch". Long story, not very interesting...

Anyway, with long spools of wire and lots of stinky twine we tied up over 100 tomatoes. I guess I need to supply a picture so you can see what I am talking about. Afterwords we came home for lunch in the backyard, and then started building more bee frames. We knew we had to go back into the hives because one was full to bursting and a little more space keeps them from leaving and "swarming".

I had also heard that some bee keepers were noticing that the bees are starving or are out of their honey stores for the winter and this is causing quite a bit of concern. Between folks pulling up everything that is flowering (weeds/herbs) and the drought (no wild flowers bloom when it is too dry) there is concern about how these critters will survive the winter.

Farmer Jeff and I suited up and went into the hives for a look.
We were lucky to see that the bees are very happy and very productive. The best of all was finding that the "girls" are building up stores of honey and started sealing it. This is called "capped" honey.

After we went through each and every frame, we found we were really pissing them off! How do we know? They start moving their wings faster and raising the pitch of their hum...and they try to sting you! We wrapped things up quickly after that...and then went out into the tomato patch on "Site 2", which is thankfully next door. I couldn't believe we were still tying up tomatoes. While tying them up I couldn't help but notice some little ripe tomatoes! Jeff made a wonderful dinner for me with those tomatoes, along with some other yummy food.


Today Farmer Jeff smoked some sausages, we ran an errand to the fabulous garden store, Harmony, and then went back to Site 3 to fix the irrigation system so we could plant pumpkins. That took 3 hours vs. the one hour that Farmer Jeff promised...so I tied up more of the tomatoes. I think Farmer Jeff finally "gets" how wiped out I am from working out all day in the sun. That is why, when he went to work, I took some time off from duties and ...watched some TV. Don't tell him, okay?

So, the last of the crops are in. Well, major crops. Now we just have the raised beds to pull apart, mix some sand into it, and then plant it with more carrots, radishes, and whatever else we can think of! At this point, all I want to think about is when will the peaches be ripe?

Hunting Bees

Three of us newbee beekeepers went out on a call Wednesday morning: Farmer Jeff and I and the beautiful Ms. Kristine. A swarm, the second swarm in a week in this particular yard, landed in a plum tree on Tuesday at noon and was still there the next morning.

The rescue/hunting team went into action. We took our extension ladder, our chain saw on-a-stick, a swarm box baited with used drawn out comb, a smoker, bungee cords and our bee suits.

We entered the yard and located the swarm. WOW. The first one I have ever seen UP CLOSE!!!

We received permission from the owners to cut the tree if necessary (it hadn't been pruned in a couple of years, so the trim wouldn't hurt the tree!)

We extended the ladder. Farmer Jeff climbed up and trimmed away all of the pieces of the branch that was sticking out of the swarm. He got down and then I climbed up, holding the open box above my head with my arms fully extended. Kristine was holding the ladder stable as this was going on.

Farmer Jeff then cut the branch with his trusty chain saw and the branch fell exactly into the box, the rest of the bees that had been swirling around flew in, we lowered the box to the ground and cleaned up the vegetation a little more, and then slid the lid onto the box, leaving a little opening. Then we jumped up and down with joy!!!

The entire operation took 45 minutes and Farmer Jeff then asked both of us, "Is that how it normally goes"? To which I had to tell him, "...um, Honey, this was our first one. Now you know as much as we do"!

Follow up - What did we do next?
(Answer given as though talking to fellow bee keepers!)
We set up a new hive in a new location in the "veggie corral" on a metal box that lifted it off the ground 20 inches. We put in the follower boards in positions 1 and 10. Then we put in new wire reinforced bee's wax foundation in position number 2, and 3. In position 4 we slipped Kristines's built-out frames from which the honey had been extracted. We left position 5 open for the frame that was in the swarm box. Position 6 was another frame of the built out frame from the honey extraction, position 8 and 9 new bees wax foundation.



We lifted the lid off of the swarm box, lifted out the one comb which was COVERED in bees, and set it into the center of the super.

We lifted the branch out of the box (which we had cut off the tree, now covered with bees) and shook it over the top of the new super. Just as we have been told, the bees fell in a clump onto the top of the frames and slid down the sides of the frames like ...honey!

We then lifted the lid to the box and shook/tapped out the remaining bees.


We did all of this with cool and collected heads, no sudden movements and no anxiety (because I felt as though I knew what I was doing!). It was like poetry in motion. I am IN LOVE.

Later that day:
BRAVE Knight Susan captured a wild swarm of bees, Brave Knight Susan moved thousands of bees from box to box.

Gardener Susan was out picking carrots when a bee came charging up and STUNG me on the tip of my NOSE!!! Then she proceeded to call her friends and they got into my hair! During all of this I was swatting at them to get them out of my hair and whacked my blue tooth into the stratosphere.

Sigh...First thing I did was get the last little buggers out of my hair, then rinsed my nose with cold water, then put blue toothpaste on the end of my nose ( a new fashion statement)...and then feeling very silly, rinsed it off and put on some sort of cortisone cream. Sigh...that is how I lost my blue tooth...out in the carrots!

Okay, now feeling calmer, I went outside dressed top to bottom in my bee keepers suit to finish picking carrots! Why didn't I think of that in the first place!

Someone asked me how often I am stung by my bees. The last time I was stung was 40 years ago!!! Really!!!

Here is a video that Farmer Jeff took while I was futzing with the bees!

Catching Bee Fever

You might be wondering how the bee keeping adventure is going...GREAT!!!

I have now attended 3 of the 4 courses, taught by bee expert and mentor to most of the county, Serge Labesque. He is literally so revered and well-known here in Sonoma County that you don't even need to mention his last name. He has raised bees for years and has created modifications to standard bee boxes/hives that are now known as "Serge-Style".

Every night after class I call my brother, Pat, to tell him what I learned that night. (I saw Pat's hive in December and knew if he could do it, so could I!!!) We have discussed what size "super" to use (Serge recommends using the medium size because the weight of the larger boxes are too heavy to handle), whether or not to use queen excluders, a screened level that keeps the queen from being able to move up into the next level of the super. Serge DOES NOT believe in the excluders but most bee keepers think of them as standard equipment.

I am so revved up after class that I have to take something to help me sleep! The day after last weeks class I was burning up the wires by emailing my bee keeping girlfriends asking them things such as "nucs", nuclear bee families with unborn queens, where is the best place to buy supplies both locally and online, who treats their bees with powdered sugar (a no-no in Serge's book) and so on.

There is SO much to learn. The one point Serge keeps driving home: respect the bees and what they naturally do. Don't interfere. I like that philosophy and will do what I can to uphold it.

Supplies can be found at:
Beekind
Western Farm Center
Dadant & Sons, Inc.
Brushy Mountain Bee Farm
Glory Bee Natural Foods and Crafts


Thanks to Carolina Bees and bloglifetime.com for the photos.