Thread: Here we go again

George Shirley wrote:
> Miz Anne brought in a bucket of green beans this morning plus she
> thinned the carrot crop again. Along with some fresh lettuce from the
> garden, carrots, summer squash, fresh cukes and herbs I reckon we're
> going to have a nice salad for lunch.
>
> The green beans I will blanch and freeze, there's not enough to run the
> pressure canner. Will go out in a bit and pick the chard and then cut a
> lot of oregano, basil, and thyme to dehydrate for winter use. Nature's
> bounty is flowing into the house.


I think (hope!) that our snow and freezing nights are over. I have
planted all the flowerpots for both front and back porches this week
plus the herb whiskey barrel.

Now the garden needs planting for both cutting flowers (zinnias,
snapdragons, and blue salvia) plus a few vegetables: tomatoes,
golden zucchini, chard (ugh), and some romaine. It get very hot here,
we get little rain after June, and we have a short season so it's
useless to plant peppers, eggplant, and things that go to seed quickly
in the heat. We've had some nice peas in past years and green beans,
but we're lazy about picking them and I don't like either one when they
are old and tough.

We also have been gifted with a beehive this week and evidently the
place chosen for it (by the donor and DH) was on one level of the garden
so I'm a little leery about going close enough to plant and possibly
disturb the bees as they are getting acclimated. I haven't been stung
in years by anything and I'm not afraid but I'd rather avoid it if I
could. ;-)

Happy harvesting!

gloria p

"gloria.p" <[email protected]> wrote:
> [ . . . ]
> We also have been gifted with a beehive this week and evidently the
> place chosen for it (by the donor and DH) was on one level of the garden
> so I'm a little leery about going close enough to plant and possibly
> disturb the bees as they are getting acclimated. I haven't been stung
> in years by anything and I'm not afraid but I'd rather avoid it if I
> could. ;-)
>
> Happy harvesting!

Good luck with your bees, Gloria. Besides the germination they do, honey is
a wonderful byproduct of their efforts. When I was a kid, we had three
hives at my Grandmother's place. I used to love watching them flying in and
out, and of course, getting that honey in the Fall. They didn't sting much
or bad, but those reddish-brown wasps . . . yeaow!

--
Nick, KI6VAV. Support severely wounded and disabled Veterans and their
families: https://www.woundedwarriorproject.org/ Thank a Veteran!
Support Our Troops: http://anymarine.com/ You are not forgotten.
Thanks ! ! ~Semper Fi~ USMC 1365061

Nick Cramer wrote:

>
> Good luck with your bees, Gloria. Besides the germination they do, honey is
> a wonderful byproduct of their efforts. When I was a kid, we had three
> hives at my Grandmother's place. I used to love watching them flying in and
> out, and of course, getting that honey in the Fall. They didn't sting much
> or bad, but those reddish-brown wasps . . . yeaow!



Thanks. They don't really belong to us, we are housing them for a
beekeeper who needed to relocate a bunch of hives. We met him when he
took a swarm out of a tree across the street from us. We will get some
honey, I'm sure, but he said he'd do all the labor involved unless we
really get into the project. They are about 3 weeks too late to
pollinate our apricots this year but we have a load of olive-pit sized
fruit on the trees and you could hear the whole tree humming with bees
when they were in flower.

For the most part, I think they are too busy to sting much. I have
also found that they don't come out of the hive until the sun warms it,
and they return to it as soon as it begins to cool down in the evening
so we have a time window when we can plant the garden pretty safely.

Thanks again for the encouragement,

gloria p

"gloria.p" <[email protected]> wrote:
> Nick Cramer wrote:

> > Good luck with your bees, Gloria. Besides the germination they do,
> > honey is a wonderful byproduct of their efforts. When I was a kid, we
> > had three hives at my Grandmother's place. I used to love watching them
> > flying in and out, and of course, getting that honey in the Fall. They
> > didn't sting much or bad, but those reddish-brown wasps . . . yeaow!
>
> Thanks. They don't really belong to us, we are housing them for a
> beekeeper who needed to relocate a bunch of hives. We met him when he
> took a swarm out of a tree across the street from us. We will get some
> honey, I'm sure, but he said he'd do all the labor involved unless we
> really get into the project. They are about 3 weeks too late to
> pollinate our apricots this year but we have a load of olive-pit sized
> fruit on the trees and you could hear the whole tree humming with bees
> when they were in flower.
>
> For the most part, I think they are too busy to sting much. I have
> also found that they don't come out of the hive until the sun warms it,
> and they return to it as soon as it begins to cool down in the evening
> so we have a time window when we can plant the garden pretty safely.
>
> Thanks again for the encouragement.

As long as you don't block their flight path or threaten the hive (don't
bump into it when they're active!) you'll be safe. You'll notice a few
'guard bees' around the entrance. They're there to keep 'foreign' bees out,
not to attack you. You can learn more on alt.hobbies.beekeeping and
sci.agriculture.beekeeping.

--
Nick, KI6VAV. Support severely wounded and disabled Veterans and their
families: https://www.woundedwarriorproject.org/ Thank a Veteran!
Support Our Troops: http://anymarine.com/ You are not forgotten.
Thanks ! ! ~Semper Fi~ USMC 1365061

Nick Cramer wrote:

>
> As long as you don't block their flight path or threaten the hive (don't
> bump into it when they're active!) you'll be safe. You'll notice a few
> 'guard bees' around the entrance. They're there to keep 'foreign' bees out,
> not to attack you. You can learn more on alt.hobbies.beekeeping and
> sci.agriculture.beekeeping.
>

Thanks, Nick, I've looked at both sites. The former has had no postings
in weeks, the latter seems a mixture of too technical and too many
trolls. I may be more successful with library books.

gloria p

On May 23, 2:58*pm, "gloria.p" <gpues...@comcast.net> wrote:
> Nick Cramer wrote:
>
> > As long as you don't block their flight path or threaten the hive (don't
> > bump into it when they're active!) you'll be safe. You'll notice a few
> > 'guard bees' around the entrance. They're there to keep 'foreign' bees out,
> > not to attack you. You can learn more on alt.hobbies.beekeeping and
> > sci.agriculture.beekeeping.
>
> Thanks, Nick, I've looked at both sites. *The former has had no postings
> in weeks, the latter seems a mixture of too technical and too many
> trolls. *I may be more successful with library books.
>
> gloria p


Hello!

Continuing off topic, I know, but if you're interested in keeping bees
yourself, I suggest you join a local bee club. There are lots of them
around, just google "bee club (your location)" or ask the beekeeper
who has the hive in your backyard about local clubs.

I didn't even know that these existed, but when my husband started
thinking about keeping bees, that's what a local beekeeper
recommended. We've been to a couple meetings and it's really
fascinating! You can meet lots of people from all experience levels
and learn a lot.

We started two hives two weeks ago, and we're hoping to have enough
honey by the end of the summer to make mead.

Libby

Libby <[email protected]> wrote:
> [ . . . ]
> We started two hives two weeks ago, and we're hoping to have enough
> honey by the end of the summer to make mead.

Check out rec.crafts.meadmaking and rec.crafts.brewing, too.

--
Nick, KI6VAV. Support severely wounded and disabled Veterans and their
families: https://www.woundedwarriorproject.org/ Thank a Veteran!
Support Our Troops: http://anymarine.com/ You are not forgotten.
Thanks ! ! ~Semper Fi~ USMC 1365061

We planted the garden today with seedlings: Tomatoes and golden
zucchini squash on two levels, cutting flowers for bouquets on the
other: zinnias, snapdragons, blue salvia.

The beehive is on the middle level of the terraced garden and we got
within ~12 inches of the hive when planting. The bees were completely
disinterested in us. Whew. I hate wasps and yellowjackets but I am
surprisingly unafraid of the bees.

gloria p

"gloria.p" <[email protected]> wrote:
> We planted the garden today with seedlings: Tomatoes and golden
> zucchini squash on two levels, cutting flowers for bouquets on the
> other: zinnias, snapdragons, blue salvia.
>
> The beehive is on the middle level of the terraced garden and we got
> within ~12 inches of the hive when planting. The bees were completely
> disinterested in us. Whew. I hate wasps and yellowjackets but I am
> surprisingly unafraid of the bees.

That is too cool, Glo! Are you ready to try giving the bees a drink of
water from your hand? It's fun!

BTW Preservation with the use of honey or sugar was well known to the
earliest cultures. Fruits kept in honey were commonplace. In ancient Greece
quince was mixed with honey, dried somewhat and packed tightly into jars.
The Romans improved on the method by cooking the quince and honey producing
a solid texture.

--
Nick, KI6VAV. Support severely wounded and disabled Veterans and their
families: https://www.woundedwarriorproject.org/ Thank a Veteran!
Support Our Troops: http://anymarine.com/ You are not forgotten.
Thanks ! ! ~Semper Fi~ USMC 1365061