Weekend Compost - the happiness of be(e)ing

Even bees stay inside on
a rainy Saturday

On Monday evening we picked up our bee "nuc". Nuc is short for nucleus, which is one honey bee queen and her entourage. I was happy that when we arrived at the farm to pick them up, the beekeeper didn't have an extra jacket, so my honey and a good friend of ours headed up the hill to get their hives without me. There are about 40 hives up there, and the beekeeper didn't want me to be stung.

Not that being stung by a honey bee is always bad, in fact of it doesn't kill you, it is good for treating arthritis. Honey bees rarely sting, you are most like to be stung if you step on one in your grass (only if you have awesome grass like ours, with white clover growing in it), or the hive is alarmed. Here's a video to show how docile they are. The video also highlights how important a strong marital relationship is if you want to have bees. This guy may want to get more hives.

The bees have been fascinating to watch, and fun to talk about. One question that's come up a few times, is if the bees will stay in our yard. As though something with wings would understand property ownership. It also highlights how little the average person understands about how the natural world works. After assuring the people that all of our bees were fitted with an Invisible Fence collar, and would only take pollen from our Marigolds, I tried to explain how flight works, and how the bees will go as far as they need to in order to get their pollen. I also explained how without bees, we are all dead. They are so critical to pollination, which is critical to fruit and vegetables, those things that are so fun to grow and eat. The beekeeper we got these from sets up hives on farms to pollinate the crops, and then takes the bees back after they are done working the farm. The beekeeper gets some of the honey. And a hive produces about 60-100 pounds of extra honey per year.

Some animals are confined by boundaries. After 9/11, the knee jerk reaction was to fence in the reservoirs. No one considered how the animals that depend on the water would be impacted (or the fact that poisoning or contaminating a reservoir would be like pouring a shot of whiskey into a swimming pool, and expecting everyone to get drunk). My honey went for a run yesterday, and as she ran on a road along the reservoir fence, she saw the carnage. Several rabbits, and a red fox were dead. Run over by cars as they encountered a barrier their evolution didn't prepare them for. I wish they'd tear the fences down. They serve no purpose except to add to the pageantry of keeping us safe.

Firewood waiting for the cold

A project I just completed was to move our firewood for the third (and hopefully final) time. I had stacked about a half cord by our house, but the Chipmunks decided that it was high density housing, and moved in. When they started to run across our feet, staring accusingly at us as we tried to eat on the patio, I decided that the backyard along the fence was a much better place. They were upset at having to move, but they'll get over it.

Grown from seeds

Our Witch Hazel and Beauty Berries are doing well. We lost one Witch Hazel, but hopefully the rest will thrive. We try to pick shrubs that provide benefits beyond how nice they look. These will provide pollen for the bees, and berries for the birds. They will also provide habitat for the birds to catch insects, as well as perch between visits to the bird feeders. I'm sure the Chipmunks will also like the shade in the heat of the summer, as they gorge on the sunflowers that fall from the feeders.

Our vegetable garden is thriving, except the Chipmunks run full blast under the electric fence, through the chicken wire, without breaking their speed, and eat the tops off the peas. I wish the squirrels would eat the Chipmunks. Special thanks to DoorGunner for so many productive seeds, our plants are big, and we are looking forward to the veggies the garden will put out. If we can keep the rodents out.

See the plant growing
from the vent

The compost also is working well. We have some volunteer plants from seeds that made it from the bottom of the compost to the garden. We are hoping they are cantaloupe. Or maybe watermelon.

I have a new Internet domain, and a new blog address. I will be transitioning to it over the next couple of weeks. The plan is to change the RSS feeds to the new URL, and post to both locations for another couple of weeks as we make the transition. The new platform will provide more functionality, and control over the types of advertising that shows up. Readership is growing exponentially, so thank you so much for reading, and for sharing this log with your friends.

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