It is a small hive, and they did not put up enough stored honey to last them for the winter. So, I made a heavy syrup to give to them. They will suck it up and put it in any empty comb in the hive.
The reason that they did not put up enough stores is because that area has a poor Fall nectar flow. I meant to move them, but I decided that I would need help with it and it simply did not get taken care of during the summer. We got a great many OTHER things taken care of, but the hive never got moved!
Another reason is that it was 109 degrees-about 42.8 degree celcius- and I found it difficult to get ANY yard work done!
This feeding for the bees will be the last. It is getting pretty cold, and so soon I will take out the feeding cups and put in some insulation instead.
This hive was a swarm of bees that moved into an empty hive this summer, and it is still not very large yet. They are in an EXCELLENT place to catch swarms: all that I have to do is to set up used bee hives and they simply move themselves in! But, as I said before, there is not much of a Fall nectar flow.
This spring I might sell them, or perhaps I will move them to my home. The city limits me to two hives where I live, but right now I do not have any. I got busy with 2 sick kids and a Mother in Law that was not doing well, and I did not watch the hive closely enough and so I lost the hive.
Bee hives need very little care, but when they DO need care they need care right away! If they do not get it they will PROBABLY leave, or possibly they will die. Bee hives cannot be neglected. And, so I lost my hive and I set out the hive so that more bees would move in, and they have.
I am still not certain I want to work with bees next summer. If another family member gets very ill I will probably sell them to prevent another hive from being lost.
Sunday, December 4, 2011
Teenagers can be wonderfull!
I *AM* somewhat handicapped, and because of the recession my oldest child cannot find work. Fine. *I* hired her!
She works for me for about 2 hours a day, 6 days a week, at $5 an hour plus room and board. For me this is working out very well: She does the picking up and the dishes, which both require a lot of walking (tiring for me). She also does the laundry: she runs it through the machines and brings it to me to fold.
While her enthusiasm for picking up the same stuff day after day is waning, and she is starting to put in fewer hours, this is *STILL* working out well! I really did need the help. I was barely managing until she finished high school.
The money that she earns goes for her half of college (we are splitting the costs), pays for her gas and for hanging out with her friends. I have spoken to her about working enough hours to buy a car, but she is borrowing ours and does not yet see the need. She is not yet thinking ahead yet but that's OK: she is only 18.
Yesterday I had her helping me plant bulbs. In a drizzling rain. I paid her double the usual rate, as I do with other jobs that are particularly difficult. In spite of the light, drizzling rain it was much warmer yesterday than it will be today!
Sooner or later she will find a job that is not from me: with luck my youngest will have finished school by then and I can hire him if he cannot find work! He is 17.
Otherwise we will start using paper plates and store bought lasagna, and we can cook from scratch every other day instead of every day to decrease my work load.
She works for me for about 2 hours a day, 6 days a week, at $5 an hour plus room and board. For me this is working out very well: She does the picking up and the dishes, which both require a lot of walking (tiring for me). She also does the laundry: she runs it through the machines and brings it to me to fold.
While her enthusiasm for picking up the same stuff day after day is waning, and she is starting to put in fewer hours, this is *STILL* working out well! I really did need the help. I was barely managing until she finished high school.
The money that she earns goes for her half of college (we are splitting the costs), pays for her gas and for hanging out with her friends. I have spoken to her about working enough hours to buy a car, but she is borrowing ours and does not yet see the need. She is not yet thinking ahead yet but that's OK: she is only 18.
Yesterday I had her helping me plant bulbs. In a drizzling rain. I paid her double the usual rate, as I do with other jobs that are particularly difficult. In spite of the light, drizzling rain it was much warmer yesterday than it will be today!
Sooner or later she will find a job that is not from me: with luck my youngest will have finished school by then and I can hire him if he cannot find work! He is 17.
Otherwise we will start using paper plates and store bought lasagna, and we can cook from scratch every other day instead of every day to decrease my work load.
Friday, December 2, 2011
Protecting beds of plants inside the greenhouse
Today I covered the beds inside the greenhouse with clear paint tarps.
I will be traveling next week, and it is not likely that my family will remember to cover the beds if a hard freeze threatens. Having a second layer of plastic down will reduce the amount of light but this is unavoidable: if I do not protect the beds then any weather in the teens will execute the lot!
The radishes are ready to be eaten, and I have picked the first 2 turnips but the others are only about 1/4 of an inch across. With protection I might get a good crop: without it I will lose the vegetables just when they are ready to bear.
I only put radish in the salad and some cabbage from the fridge: I could have taken some pak choi but it has not yet re-grown from Thanksgiving. I have not grown much pak choi so I have no idea when it will stop growing!
I will be traveling next week, and it is not likely that my family will remember to cover the beds if a hard freeze threatens. Having a second layer of plastic down will reduce the amount of light but this is unavoidable: if I do not protect the beds then any weather in the teens will execute the lot!
The radishes are ready to be eaten, and I have picked the first 2 turnips but the others are only about 1/4 of an inch across. With protection I might get a good crop: without it I will lose the vegetables just when they are ready to bear.
I only put radish in the salad and some cabbage from the fridge: I could have taken some pak choi but it has not yet re-grown from Thanksgiving. I have not grown much pak choi so I have no idea when it will stop growing!
Thursday, December 1, 2011
Fall Harvest
Winter has, of course, stopped most of the vegetables cold.
On the GOOD side, I am harvesting radishes and greens in my unheated greenhouse, and today I pulled the first 2 turnips to add to a salad.. The turnips tasted fine, but the turnip greens were a little strong-tasting to add, so I didn't. That left me with 2 small turnips, onelarge radish, and the radish greens.
This time of year the store bought lettuce tastes a LOT like crunchy water, and the additions to the salad perked it up and made it taste excellent again!
On the GOOD side, I am harvesting radishes and greens in my unheated greenhouse, and today I pulled the first 2 turnips to add to a salad.. The turnips tasted fine, but the turnip greens were a little strong-tasting to add, so I didn't. That left me with 2 small turnips, onelarge radish, and the radish greens.
This time of year the store bought lettuce tastes a LOT like crunchy water, and the additions to the salad perked it up and made it taste excellent again!
Wednesday, November 30, 2011
I am sick, and the store is far away!
Like most people who do not live in cities, the grocery store is far away and my head hurts BAD! And, my stomach still expects to be fed! For that matter, my FAMILY expects to be fed, either by delivery pizza or.....
At times like this I enjoy being a prepper. I simply put a can of stew from the preps on to heat, and I mixed Bisquick with some milk for biscuits. This will not give me flaky, country style biscuits but we will enjoy them while they are hot anyways!
I call such raids on the preps "Rotating the stores".
And, it cost the family $7 for the meal, while delivery pizza would have cost $25. Cha-ching!!!
At times like this I enjoy being a prepper. I simply put a can of stew from the preps on to heat, and I mixed Bisquick with some milk for biscuits. This will not give me flaky, country style biscuits but we will enjoy them while they are hot anyways!
I call such raids on the preps "Rotating the stores".
And, it cost the family $7 for the meal, while delivery pizza would have cost $25. Cha-ching!!!
Thursday, November 24, 2011
Do NOT cook the radishes!
I have heard that radishes make good soup, and are often used in Oriental stir-fries, So, I decided to cook some.
I was dissapointed! The radishes still tasted like radishes, but were really not as good. And, as for the greens (which I had cooked very briefly), UGH!
Actually, the raw greens tasted fine, so I tore them up and I put them into the Thanksgiving salad, along with some grated radish.
Grated radish adds just a slight bite to the salad: if you enjoy putting pepper on your salad you might try grated radish as well. I dislike big slices of radish because it is just too much, but grated radish gives it a little bit of a nip and it is just FINE!!!!!!!!!!!
I was dissapointed! The radishes still tasted like radishes, but were really not as good. And, as for the greens (which I had cooked very briefly), UGH!
Actually, the raw greens tasted fine, so I tore them up and I put them into the Thanksgiving salad, along with some grated radish.
Grated radish adds just a slight bite to the salad: if you enjoy putting pepper on your salad you might try grated radish as well. I dislike big slices of radish because it is just too much, but grated radish gives it a little bit of a nip and it is just FINE!!!!!!!!!!!
Sunday, November 6, 2011
The survival garden.
Survival gardening is a little different from the usual suburban garden. A modern suburban garden stresses both flavor and beauty: for the survival gardener this might be a bonus but it is not the POINT!
The ideal SURVIVAL garden puts emphasis on the calorie count of vegetables, the ease of storage, yeild, and has vegetables that can be harvested over as long a period of time as possible. If food is running low, it would be little consolation to have a big harvest in September when the gardener is hungry NOW! And, there are virtually no calories in celery, cucumbers, and other suburban garden favorites.
Below is a list of the higher calorie vegetables that I have grown in the garden: I have arranged them in order of the harvest, from the earliest to the latest.
In my climate a late harvest of radishes and turnips is possible, though many years an early hard frost kills the vegetables just before they are ready to bear.
Radishes - 23 calories per cup
turnips - 35 calories per cup
Fava bean - 187 calories per cup of cooked fava beans
Carrots - 45 calories per cup
peas - 134 calories per cup
potatos - about 100 calories for a medium potato
black-eyed peas - 160 calories per cup of cooked peas
tomatos - 50 calories per cup of cooked tomatos
sweet corn - 140 calories per cup of cooked corn
squash - 30 calories per cup of cooked squash
pumpkin - 50 calories per cup of cooked pumpkin
melons - about 40 calories per cup
sweet potatos - 216 calories per cup of cooked sweet potatos
In my opinion, carrots, potatos, and black eyed peas are perhaps the most important of the survival crops: the yield of all 3 can be very high, and they all store easily.
Carrots have the added benefit of providing a very long harvest: They can be eaten early when they are bite-sized, or they can be left to grow large. In many climates the bed of carrots can be covered in the fall under a deep bed of mulch to prevent the ground from freezing, and then they can be harvested as needed all winter long. For maximim yeild I plant my carrots 2 inches apart in a grid pattern, so that every foot of the carrot bed has 36 carrots on it. And, I plant them BEFORE the last expected frost date: carrots actually germinate better if they get some frost!
Two OTHER vegetables (that I have never had much success with might) be considered: beets and sunflowers. Alas, I will give no advice concerning either, as I think that I am doing something wrong when I try to grow them! LOL!
Lastly, a garden does not have to be restricted to vegetables: a bee hive on one end can give you 30 pounds of honey per year. Now, I must confess that my hive has never done nearly that well: my hive is more likely to give me 6 pounds of honey instead of 30. But, the honey is far better tasting than what the stores offer, and the bees pollinate the garden and provide me with better yields as well!
The ideal SURVIVAL garden puts emphasis on the calorie count of vegetables, the ease of storage, yeild, and has vegetables that can be harvested over as long a period of time as possible. If food is running low, it would be little consolation to have a big harvest in September when the gardener is hungry NOW! And, there are virtually no calories in celery, cucumbers, and other suburban garden favorites.
Below is a list of the higher calorie vegetables that I have grown in the garden: I have arranged them in order of the harvest, from the earliest to the latest.
In my climate a late harvest of radishes and turnips is possible, though many years an early hard frost kills the vegetables just before they are ready to bear.
Radishes - 23 calories per cup
turnips - 35 calories per cup
Fava bean - 187 calories per cup of cooked fava beans
Carrots - 45 calories per cup
peas - 134 calories per cup
potatos - about 100 calories for a medium potato
black-eyed peas - 160 calories per cup of cooked peas
tomatos - 50 calories per cup of cooked tomatos
sweet corn - 140 calories per cup of cooked corn
squash - 30 calories per cup of cooked squash
pumpkin - 50 calories per cup of cooked pumpkin
melons - about 40 calories per cup
sweet potatos - 216 calories per cup of cooked sweet potatos
In my opinion, carrots, potatos, and black eyed peas are perhaps the most important of the survival crops: the yield of all 3 can be very high, and they all store easily.
Carrots have the added benefit of providing a very long harvest: They can be eaten early when they are bite-sized, or they can be left to grow large. In many climates the bed of carrots can be covered in the fall under a deep bed of mulch to prevent the ground from freezing, and then they can be harvested as needed all winter long. For maximim yeild I plant my carrots 2 inches apart in a grid pattern, so that every foot of the carrot bed has 36 carrots on it. And, I plant them BEFORE the last expected frost date: carrots actually germinate better if they get some frost!
Two OTHER vegetables (that I have never had much success with might) be considered: beets and sunflowers. Alas, I will give no advice concerning either, as I think that I am doing something wrong when I try to grow them! LOL!
Lastly, a garden does not have to be restricted to vegetables: a bee hive on one end can give you 30 pounds of honey per year. Now, I must confess that my hive has never done nearly that well: my hive is more likely to give me 6 pounds of honey instead of 30. But, the honey is far better tasting than what the stores offer, and the bees pollinate the garden and provide me with better yields as well!
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