Sunday, November 30, 2008

I'll Fly Away

So, I finally managed to get a recording from my phone onto Youtube. My brothers and sister and I sang two songs at my father's funeral (no, I'm not ready to go there, yet); one of them was "I'll Fly Away".

This was only a practice run, but it's what I have. It was the first time we had ever worked on anything like this. Our time together was very special.

Friday, October 17, 2008

Autumn

Took a short walk at Mom and Dad's yesterday, right around sunset. It had rained - a nice, solid, autumn rain - and there was a vivid orange blanket of leaves, lying soft on the ground. The trunks of the trees were black and wet in contrast, lending to the the impression of some calendar photograph: a scene from a Japanese garden, or an illustration alongside a Robert Frost poem.

Definitely inspired some meditation. I stood there, wishing I could carry back the scene, the moment, to my father, who loved to ride down these trails, pointing out blackberries to my mother in the summer, watching for deer in the fall. He would have stopped here, too, I think, and said to my mother, "Well, would you look at that..."

Saturday, October 11, 2008

Tearjerkers

I have been watching lots of period romance, can-never-be-together tearjerkers, lately. Why is that? Maybe I'm just hormonal, mooning around wanting romance. Maybe I'm trying to process the things I've been thinking about lately (people, relationships, etc.). Maybe I'm looking for a safe, controlled outlet for tears.

Today I sat in a room with my dying father, watching through the window as my seven-year-old son rolled down a sun-splashed hill in brilliant flashes of white T-shirt and red sweatpants. Life energies and generations; one waxing, the other waning.

I have buried myself in classes and causes, but none are a perfect escape route. Reality continues, with or without my cooperation.

We're caught in the grey, now. Not knowing when, we feel the need to watch and wait, cling to moments. We look back, and look forward. Both make us cry.

Tuesday, September 30, 2008

Time to Get Seed-Crazy

Took a woodswalk today with the kids; I wrote about it in my seed journal blog, since we were mainly gathering nuts. Come to think of it, I guess what we were really doing was foraging, but seed-gathering is the frame of mind I have been in, so that's where it went.

The trees are loaded with nuts and fruit this year; there was no late freeze like last year, and we had good rains through the spring, to make up for last summer's drought.

I should be busy in my seed blog this fall; it's time to start thinking about winter sowing, and Paul has mentioned the word "greenhouse" more than once this week!!!

Anyone who knows me is well aware of my behaviour in the fall; all I can see are seeds, I'm in full gathering mode, and my thoughts are full of seed orders I need to make. You can try to talk to me about something else, but I'll manage to bring it back around to seeds, in the end. I can't apologize for it, I am hard-wired this way, and enjoy every minute of the insanity.

Lest anyone think I've given up all other tangents - fear not!

Although I did my typical routine with a recent online writing workshop I signed up for (barely met the deadlines at first, gradually stopped submitting any work), I keep moving forward, and have signed up for a beginning painting class with a local artist. I'm really excited about this, have wanted to take one of his classes for years, but there were always schedule issues. This year, we'll already be in town with the kids' soccer practice, so my hubby can just drop me off on the way to their field! Woo hoo!

Friday, September 26, 2008

Bees - Fall Checkup

Aagh! I am just devastated. My poor bees - here I thought they were doing great, even overcrowded. I assumed wrong. When I went out to add some space for them to expand, I found that they are practically starving! Too dry, the pond nearby is covered with algae, maybe they are unable to get enough water? Anyway, will be feeding them and setting up a water source right next to the hive. I feel terrible.

Thursday, August 14, 2008

Rain

This video sends me. Done by a great friend; my evil twin, in fact. Who never calls, by the way. Ahem.

Rain 2



Another image he created. If you knew this hill, you would realize the awesome size of this imaginary building, which I will call a citadel, because it's my blog, and my hill (sort of), and because I like that word.

Laughing at Myself

Sometimes I crack myself up. Once again, I find myself sitting up into the wee hours of the morning, mind racing, stack of books I'm wanting to read, posts to make, excited about the John Adams mini-series I've finally started watching...and honestly wondering where all of this energy came from!

Duh...I drank a huge cup of McD's sweet tea earlier tonight - that stuff is potent! And yet surprises me every time. Ha!

More random thoughts: that widget on the right side of this page, that says "What I'm Listening To"? It's based on a few picks from my current favorites, but I really am listening to the samples, too, lol. And do rather often. Thirty-second snippets, and strangely, I love it. So, yeah, I need to add more songs. Or, maybe, to quit procrastinating, and get some work done. Ya think?

Thursday, June 19, 2008

Wild Asparagus

Thought I'd post some pictures of the wild asparagus from last month. It was exciting to find it, I knew the plants were there, but had only seen it in the fall, when I gathered the red berries for my own wintersowing.

Photobucket

The asparagus grows on a hill across the road from us, probably the escapee of some long ago garden. The kids and I would walk over every few days, and scan the spots where last year's old stalks and branches could still be found (the farm is mowed for hay, but with last year's drought, I guess they were able to grow unhindered). We had almost given up, and the kids probably thought I was crazy, but we kept looking. Finally, after a couple of warm, sunny days (and right about the time my asparagus seeds were sprouting), we spotted our first spears.

This is what it looks like coming up out of the ground:
Photobucket
You can see why it can be hard to spot. The sticks in the photo are some of last year's stalks, after they had fallen down. As the grass and weeds grow taller, it becomes harder to find; the stalks and tips take on the same green and dusty purple as that of the surrounding grass and its seedheads, and searching for asparagus becomes a game of hidden pictures.
Photobucket
Asparagus needs to be gathered soon after it emerges, within a day if the soil is warm and growth is fast. The stalk becomes bitter once its scales have opened,
Photobucket
to form branches:
Photobucket
Another interesting thing is a ferny version - this is probably the male or female plant, I've read conflicting viewpoints on that, but I'm guessing female, unless both sexes produce spears and ferns.

What I'm curious about are the small red beetles that seemed to love the ferns, they were on every plant we found. Wish I'd taken the time to observe them more closely; I don't know if they were eating the plant. It's possible that they lay their eggs on it.
Photobucket

Oops, I forgot to mention the eating! Well, I can't yet compare it to garden asparagus, but I can tell you that the store-bought spears I cooked up, while much thicker, were also much tougher; I had to cut off quite a bit as unusable. The wild asparagus, cut within a day or so of appearing, was tender almost to the ground. And oh, so good. Just steam it (or microwave in a covered dish with some water) for a couple of minutes, and it's ready to be eaten (yummy with a cheese sauce!) or canned.
Canned Asparagus
The canned asparagus in the photo is mostly store-bought, with some wild thrown in.

I'll try to add a photo of the mature plants in the fall, if they aren't mown down this year. I also need to find out how to wrap photos into the text, this post looks like one of my infamous Lists!

In the meantime, Stalking the Wild Asparagus, by Euell Gibbons, is a related title that others have recommended; I've had it on my wishlist for a while:

Friday, June 13, 2008

Something Someone Said...

My friend Crys recently wrote, in her blog, Simply Living:

So when we meet someone who actively listens and doesn't pass judgment on our opinions or feelings but rather lets them stand for what they are, we want to be consumed by that person. Our entire lives have been created behind barriers, and now we have the opportunity to tear those down. We don't know how long it will last. We don't know if it will ever come again with another person. We want to be consumed, if only for a moment.

I've been struggling with something similar, lately. I spend so much time with only my family, and even where we are open, we have rituals and routines built into our relationships. Seems doors shut before you can go anywhere new, based on familiarity, or annoyance from pushing one another's buttons. We settle into our roles, to remain comfortable in close quarters.

Then, I venture out into the "world", and suddenly find myself making a connection with someone new, realizing we hold the same thoughts on some favorite author, or discovering that we have something else in common I'd thought long ago buried or forgotten in myself.

I tend to get a little too intense when I find that understanding, even after the individual has moved on. It's not about them, though; it's that I suddenly feel like a whole person, seen through another's eyes. That feeling excites my mind, even sends me into little daydreams about alternate lives and potential.

It's silly, really, because that individual cannot have anywhere near the view of my whole self that my family does. Still, I begin to resent the casual familiarity in my own home; wishing my husband and I stayed up at night debating science or philosophy, without resorting to picking at each other's choice of words; wishing life in a secure relationship didn't sometimes feel so mundane; wishing that my children knew that when I am away from expectations and preconceived notions, sometimes I shine.

But then, I realize that they have no preconceived notions that I have not set for them, that I am the only one limiting how much of myself I share with them, and that in order for them to be able to grow into whole persons, they must be encouraged; they need that same interaction and appreciation. They need to shine, and to know when they do.

There are reasons for these little reminders of how we see ourselves, and of how we choose to interact with others.

Wednesday, June 11, 2008

Bee Checkup

Photobucket

So, yesterday I went out to check on the bees. They've been happily buzzing around, enjoying the wild roses and other flowers. Looks like they're doing okay, but what do I know?

I'm going to have to ask some real beekeepers (at the beemaster.com forums) about what may be supercedure or swarm cells on the bottom of a couple of the frames. Could be nothing, could be they aren't happy. Could be I'm anxiety-prone. I didn't see the queen during this inspection; I only pulled out two or three frames. But I did see some larvae, so she has to have been around recently, at least.
Photobucket

They are putting up some beautiful honey. I stole a bit from the burr comb that was opened when I removed the inner cover. Light, clear, and sweet. Nothing like the stuff in the bear-shaped bottle from Save-a-Lot. Easily addictive, and my mind instantly went to recipes, buttered biscuits at breakfast-time, and beautiful jars lined up in the pantry. The bees may be telepathic, because at that point they began head-butting my hat and rear end. Time for me to move along!

Photobucket

Still no stings, but go figure, as I was sitting here looking at photos of the hive, something stung me beside my shoulder blade! I ran out to grab some plantain, but had to have hubby put it on the sting, since I could barely reach it.

I'll try to get out and work with them again soon. Today I placed an empty frame between two that were partially filled with honey; they are mainly working in the center of the hive. I need to get some new frames ready and add a super, to give them more space. Hopefully they'll stick around!

Wednesday, June 4, 2008

Spring cleaning of a blog...

This evening, I transferred some of the posts from my blog at freeminded.literalminded.com , to the I'll Try It section of Live and Learn. They're mostly about the beginnings of this year's beekeeping, although some are just random thoughts, naturally!

It seemed to make more sense to have them here, since they are related to tangents, and learning something new! Besides, it looks like I may start blogging over there about Ron Paul's books and other writings. So, just a bit of rearranging.

I have other projects in the works, too; hope I don't spread myself too thin. Ha!

Wednesday, May 28, 2008

Eastern Redbud

Photobucket

Everything is green here, in May. Flower and vegetable gardens are in full swing, and tractors are in the fields, baling hay. But in late March or early April, when it seems the sky and woods will always be the same dreary shade of grey, the eastern redbud is one of our first signs of the hope of spring.

The purple blossoms fill the woods overnight, scattered with the white of the occasional wild plum, cherry, or dogwood, and after a warm rain or two, the spring grass lends a complementary green. Trees, bushes and brambles start to bud out, and before long there is nothing but growth and birdsong. The eastern redbud then retreats gracefully, going unnoticed until fall, when clusters of seedpods hang below its heart-shaped leaves.

Photobucket


This is a beautiful tree, would probably make great shade in the yard. In thick woods, it sometimes gets very tall (up to 40-50 feet, according to my older tree book), and the blooms seem more sparse, then. Other places, it lives in the understory, and takes on an umbrella shape. The trunk is not thick. The seedpods are plentiful, legume-like, but not as long or large as the pods of the locust-tree, and they dry flat and brown. The leaves are large and heart-shaped. We do have one redbud here that I have seen not bearing seedpods, so I'm wondering if there are male and female trees.

Something about it reminds me of the catalpa tree. Must be the leaves, and the feel of "cool shade" when you're near it.

Trees

I've always loved trees. Whenever I get a chance, I like to wander through our woods, and I'm always trying to identify the trees I see.

This week I found elm trees, sugar and silver maples, some large ash trees back behind the house, and discovered that two of the trees growing beside the old shed are a hackberry and a box elder. That poor box elder, it's right by the shed door, and I used to cut it down close to the ground, every summer. It kept coming back, and after letting it go one summer (or two?), I no longer have the heart to kill it; it's a "real" tree, now, and I have a climbing rose that has clambered up through the lower branches and bloomed out for the first time. Don't know what we'll do when it finally blocks that door...but I have a feeling that the tree will be around longer than the shed.

Photobucket

The locust trees have been in full bloom, and now the white petals are starting to float down into the garden whenever the wind blows.

This spring has been cool and wet, giving everything a chance to recover from last year's drought. We also didn't have another late freeze. Blossoms survived, and it looks like we will have nuts and fruit this fall.

I really need to start carrying my camera and a tree book. Wouldn't hurt to have binoculars, for those hard to spot leaves and flowers, twenty or thirty feet above me!

I do have some photos from previous walks. I think I'll start posting them here, it would be a neat way to keep track of them.

Monday, May 26, 2008

Conspiracy Theories

Posted ? July 26th, 2008 by JennyWren

Okay, so I was all set to write a series of blog entries on the "conspiracy theories" I’d been researching, which mostly turned out not to be conspiracies or theories, but fairly blatant plans made by various groups. But in the process of trying to objectively follow one rumor or another to its "official" source, I started realizing that all of this stuff played right into my natural tendency to view things in a sort of survivalist way. By that I mean: expect the best, but plan for the worst.

I’m a bit of a hoarder, in a heard-stories-of-the-Great-Depression way. I’m convinced our nation’s food industry is killing us through what is lacking, as much as by what is added. I’ve collected books for years on do-it-yourself everything. I don’t need anyone to convince me that general preparedness for whatever may come is smart (although convincing me to get up and do more about it…that might help). The parts I skipped were politics and money. The two things that can actually decide whether or not you end up needing the skills I’ve been obsessing over. I’ve finally taken a peek at both, and wish I’d worked harder at so many things.

This is all one huge mess, it’s impossible to know where to start when describing it. Rather than dwelling on the negative and scaring myself out of my wits, though, I’m going to work on what was always my goal, whether we’re headed for chaos or not: raising a family in a way that makes sense, with what we have.

Thursday, May 15, 2008

Canning Adventures, Here We Come!

Today's the day! I've got the chicken cooked, the veggies I need to make chicken soup, and a beautiful pressure canner that I haven't had the nerve to try using, yet.

A friend is on the way over with her canner; we're going to make a marathon of it. Hopefully I'll have some pics if I don't blow us up. ;)

Sunday, May 11, 2008

Bees and Cell Phones

See? I'm not completely insane! Cell phones ARE making the animals wacky!

Apparently, scientists are looking at cell phone radiation as a possible culprit in Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD). They went looking through previous work, and according to a study that had been done in Germany in 2003, when cell phones were placed near hives, as much as 70% of the colony failed to find their way home after foraging. Now I'm not sure how much radiation they were exposed to in order to have this effect, but that's what's happening with CCD, as well. The bees aren't dying in the hive, they just aren't there anymore. So it's possible something like this is at least involved.

Of course, I am also reading that certain pesticides used against aphids can cause bees to behave erratically.

I have to wonder, if we ever actually figure out what's causing this, and it turns out to be something we aren't willing or able to change...what happens?

Combine the fact that bees pollinate most everything except our grains, with the grain issues due to weather (not mentioning corn for ethanol, I'm not!), and I'd say we're in for a long, bumpy ride this year on food prices/supply.

Saturday, May 10, 2008

Bees Update

A friend said:

I suppose that’s alright if you will get to work on it later, right?

I suppose! LOL

Turns out I did work on it, but of course I waited until the last minute. I ended up ordering a complete new hive - get this, you can order them pre-assembled! for around the same price as unassembled - so that I wouldn’t panic, thinking I’d forgotten something. Besides, this way I will have extra "supers" (basically additional stories for their house, like the second box I added).

Photobucket


I also waited until the last minute to paint the hive. Something about that didn’t seem right, and sure enough, according to one of the books I have, the bees were likely to be "outraged" at the smell. Great. They were due in one day, and I had probably just royally offended them. The package arrived Monday, much to the joy of our local post office, I’m sure. The bees came in a box, with wire mesh sides:


Photobucket


They had a can of sugar syrup to keep them happy for a while, which was good. It was so cold here, I was worried about putting them in the hive, so they lived in my kitchen for a couple of days. Now THAT was interesting. Did you know they sleep sort of like bats? At least that’s what it looked like to me. They are quiet and still, and because they’re in a swarm, they hang like leaves, or almost like shingles on a roof. Once in a while, one will get fidgety, and a bee next to her will buzz irritatedly at her to settle down. Anyway, it was fascinating.


So on Wednesday afternoon, it was time to "install" the bees in their hive. I’d spent two days listening to them, talking to them, feeding them sugar water, reading the beekeeping forums at beemaster.com (the guy I linked to in an earlier post about smaller cell size posts there!), and watching installation videos on Youtube. That last one was a big help. Watched one more to get my nerve up, fired up the smoker, put on a long-sleeved button-up shirt, hat and veil, and got started.

Photobucket


I opened the package, was overcome by the swarm of Africanized killer bees that came boiling out, and was stung to death.

























Okay, okay, it went just fine. I didn’t get stung at all, unless you count the bee I accidentally squished when I was picking up my supplies to go back inside. I felt a slight prick through my glove and found her. :(

All in all, it was a rush! I was ready to do two more when I finished. I could have climbed a mountain, right then! lol

Photobucket
My two youngest kids shouted instructions to me from a distance (they’d watched the videos, too), and my oldest took pictures, probably hoping for something she could send to America’s Funniest Home Videos. Anyway, if I can get that posted on Youtube at some point, I will.

I shook out the bees, but apparently I don't shake very hard; there were still tons of them in the box, so I propped it against the base of the hive. Here's a pic of the rest of the them marching into their new home, and checking out the paint job:

Photobucket
I went back out yesterday to make sure they had released the queen - ooh, I didn’t tell you about the queen. She comes in her own little cage, with a couple of attendants to care for her. In one end of the cage, there is a candy plug. I removed a cork covering it, and placed her cage between two frames in the hive. The bees then ate their way through the candy, and by the time she was released, they had become familiar with her, and accepted her as their queen. At least, that’s what I hope happened. At any rate, when I checked, she had been released.

I refilled their Mason jar of sugar water, moved it to the front entrance and removed the extra box I had used, took out the empty queen cage, and then pulled out a center frame to look for the queen. I didn’t see her (I asked to have her marked when I ordered, she has a yellow dot on her back), but the bees had started to draw a small amount of comb. I hope everything is well, I felt clueless standing there looking at it. Will have to do more reading, and check again in a few days.

Well, that’s it! I hope the pictures aren't too huge. It may not sound like much, but I definitely recommend beekeeping. It’s a strange combination of both an adrenaline rush(I’m going to get stung, I just know I’m about to be stung), and zen-like calm (just staaaaaay calm….you’re not being stung). LOL

On Being a Scanner

I've always called myself a Browser, with a capital B. I'm never more happy than when perusing, picking through, and considering. That applies to everything from picking green beans to choosing a book at the public library, and I'm always looking for that next new thing to learn. Consciously or not, I can't help it; I'm always watching for something delicious.

When I've found that Next Great Thing, I jump in, taking all I can find (grab it while it's ripe!), staying up until the wee hours researching, studying, then planning and designing. I am completely focused on that subject for a few days, a week, a month or so. Then, when I've had enough, I move on. I'll come back later when I get a craving to revisit that particular topic.

My friends and family shake their heads and laugh, they can tell when I'm on another tangent, usually because I'm babbling excitedly about how fascinating it is. And really, there is no end to all of the glorious things left to be studied.

The downside to all of this fun is that I lose track of TIME, that annoying thing that everyone else seems to use to measure their lives. There's just not enough of it, is there? Certainly not enough to keep up with the dishes and laundry! The competing guilt and my lack of organization keep me frazzled, and it seems I never finish any of my great ideas or projects.

Turns out I'm not the only one who lives this way. A few months ago, I picked up a book by Barbara Sher, Refuse to Choose: Use All of Your Interests, Passions, and Hobbies to Create the Life and Career of Your Dreams, and I'm not exaggerating when I say that reading it has changed my life.

According to her, I'm a "Scanner" (my type is the Sybil Scanner, to be exact, and I've never been so relieved to sound like I have multiple personalities)!

If you've ever felt frustrated or inadequate because you never seem to stick to anything, you leave unfinished projects for something new, or you just can't seem to choose or commit to a career because you might be missing out on something else, you might very well be a Scanner, yourself.

Here's the part where Barbara Sher changed my life - being a Scanner isn't a bad thing!

What? You're kidding. You can't seriously mean that the stress of dealing with piles of books and craft clutter and laundry is a good thing. Inability to make a decision or be satisfied - those are character flaws, right?

Well, I was looking at it wrong. Those things are often the result of me trying to force myself to do things the "right" way, rather than allowing what feels natural to me. I'm wired differently than someone who is able to choose a project, move through it at a regular pace toward a set goal, and finish neatly. But my way of doing things is just as valid, and in my case, sometimes better!

Sher's book explains the perfectionism and guilt, and even our own mistaken assumptions about what we should be doing. But then she moves on to give pure inspiration to discouraged Scanners like me, with organizational tools that fit the way I think, and methods for developing the life I want to live. She even describes fulfilling careers for Scanners.

I've gone on long enough, but I'll just mention one of the tools in Refuse to Choose that I have found most helpful - after sketching out some ideas in my Scanner Daybook and making The Big List (okay, so I mentioned two more!), I condensed my interests into about 30 categories (like gardening, writing, homesteading, crafts, business ideas, etc.) that each cover more specific topics, and then I started making a 3-ring binder for each of those categories! I already had one for Homemaking, and had various notebooks floating around for my gardening and writing projects. But everything was scattered, just like my thoughts. Now I have a shelf started, just for my binders. When I come back to an interest, I know where to find it, and I can add notes, research, ideas, photographs of finished projects, anything I want to include. As Sher points out, over the years I will be creating my own books, and I will also have something to show for all of the time and work I put into things. Sounds so simple, but it was a light bulb for me, and has helped me organize my mind, and actually control my tangents a bit better - I have somewhere to jot down an idea, without going overboard when I don't have time.

Now I'm thinking about blogging in a similar way, maybe having a few blogs, each covering certain subjects. It might keep me from tangling up so many things in one post, anyway!

We'll see if I can pull off the balancing act of not spending more time writing than doing!

Wednesday, May 7, 2008

Spring Things

Woo hoo! How's that for keeping up with things? It's been what - nine months?

I'll jump in again, might as well.

Just to keep my future self abreast of what was going on in 2008:

January: Ron Paul. Dove in completely. This transformed into
February's research on various "conspiracy theories", many of which turned out not to be conspiracies or theories, but flat out plans by various groups.
In March, I realized I wanted to keep bees again,
And by April, I was in full-tilt survivalist research,
Which brings us to May, where I have bought a canner and a grain mill, the bees are in their hive, and I have my veggie garden barely started!
(There are more than a few smaller tangents in there, like bento boxes, and Japanese crochet, but I'll skip those for now. You're welcome!)

Ooh, back up. Forgot that in December, we ended up buying a house in town. The internet situation here was not good, satellite created a lag that interfered with hubby's work. After having our hopes raised and dashed repeatedly by local phone companies, and cleaning the house enough for the guys to come in and install lines that wouldn't work (we are just a wee bit too far for most things), one company finally installed DSL that isn't as high-speed as "real" DSL, but has a great connection with no lag. By that time, though, we were already buying the house, because the quoted costs of various lines had been higher than a mortgage payment!

Anyway, we went ahead with the "town house" for a few reasons: hubby plans to use it as office space, we can set up a schoolroom there, it is within walking distance of the kids' activities, the theater, etc., and since it is zoned for business, I can have a little shop there!

Now, of course, these plans have been lying dormant, other than a bit of dejunking that resulted in a great yard sale on Saturday. And with the economy looking the way it does, did we make a mistake? Because yes, we kept this place...

So the plans for the shop have changed a bit. I'll go into that in another post, though. No, really!

Sunday, April 6, 2008

A View of Today

It wasn't until I sat down and looked back at the day that I realized how many little bits of "nature" had affected me today, even though I didn't go outside until late afternoon.

I talked to my mother this afternoon, she was ecstatic about the beautiful weather we're having, and excited to tell me that she and Dad had seen honeybees and blooms all over their yard today.

My oldest daughter spent the night with friends. Today, they went down to the river to look at how high it had gotten from all the rain we'd had (yesterday, some spots in town were underwater).
I phoned a friend, and we ended up talking about ponds and fishing. I have a great-aunt and great-uncle who fish together; wherever they live, they like to have a good pond nearby. I love to fish. I could stare at a bobber or the ripples on the water for hours, plenty of time for contemplation, no pressure to do anything else. It would be a nice way to spend old age. My husband doesn't like the idea of actually catching fish, but he'd come along to read a book. He's got the idea, he just doesn't know it. You can fish without bait or a hook, you know. ;)

I mowed some of the yard with the new reel mower. It's no harder to push than a gas mower, and works well, but the bolt that holds the little back wheel on keeps working its way out, so I guess I'll have to dig through the toolbox for something I can use to tighten it. The kids were fascinated with the whole thing, and followed me around, asking questions and pointing out spots that I'd missed. I explained the scissor-like cutting action, that it was a bit like giving the grass a haircut, and they let me know that the grass was thanking me, the barber. Apparently I couldn't hear the grass, so they translated, before running off to build more "anthills" under the swingset.

After we watched three deer cross the road, I took them walking to look for any signs of wild asparagus on a hill near our house. Nothing yet, but we'll keep checking. I collected seeds from the fall plants a couple of years ago, and I didn't know if they were still viable, but the ones I sowed this winter are germinating! Long, white radicles are reaching out and pushing into the soil. I wonder if the spears on the hill will come up at the same time as the sprouts. Hmm...

On the walk, we stopped to look at tiny spring flowers, and when we found acorns, the 6yo remembered last summer's acorn collection. Did we still have it? Sure! So when we got back, he decided that he and his little sister would plant them all, throughout the yard. I didn't put up too much of a protest; they're probably dried out, so I don't expect little oak trees everywhere. But you never know!

While they dug and planted, I sat down at an outdoor table and leafed through Eliot Coleman's Four-Season Harvest, thinking about all of those seeds and roots sitting in my kitchen, waiting to go into the ground. I heard a clicking noise and looked up to see my first bat of the year, fluttering around above our heads. There was still a good amount of light, and there was a reddish tint to its fur where last bit of sunlight was hitting it. Click, click. Click, click. That was interesting, I've never heard one do that before. Another bat showed up before long, but it was smaller, darker, flapped its wings more...frantically? I watched them swoop and dive for a while, that sudden stop-then-dart thing they do, then wider and wider circles over an area.

You know how, on summer nights, kids like to throw rocks in the air, then watch a bat dive down to follow it for a bit? I got a silly notion, and wondered if there were other ways to play with a bat. Would waves of any sort interfere with a bat's perception? How about cell phone signals? Don't laugh, it was the only thing I had on me. Okay, so just for the record, cell phone tones, at least, don't seem to send out anything particularly interesting, based on limited study. LOL I do wonder about waves in general, though, and got the idea it could make the basis of an interesting short story. Bats driven mad by personal devices invade city! ANYway.

So, I'll skip all of the birds, the spring peepers singing, the way the cat's pawprints look in the pressed-flat, wet clay spots in our yard. It's been a good day, with exhilarating air, and almost drowse-inducing sunshine. A day to be outside.

And a bit ago, I found the 6yo using scissors to give the grass a trim!

Tuesday, March 4, 2008

I'll Try It Again: Keeping Bees

Okay, this one's getting started, because now it's official - a few minutes ago, I ordered a package of bees, to be shipped on April 29th. Woo hoo! I got an adrenaline rush, just making the call.

*gulp*

Okay, so now on to the details. I have my old hive, which has been damaged a bit by exposure and high winds. It's still usable, but I need a few new pieces, and I think I'll give it a fresh coat of white paint, even though the bees won't mind the grey of weathered wood.

I've also been doing some reading, trying to catch up with the current state of beekeeping. The big concerns last time were varroa and tracheal mites, treating your hives for them,and the concern that feral honeybees were disappearing across the country.

Those are still a concern, but now there's something bigger: CCD, Colony Collapse Disorder. Unexplained disappearance or dwindling of hives, on a large scale, and showing up everywhere. Coincidentally, in the UK, they're calling it "Marie Celeste syndrome" (that's the third time that name has come up for me this week, including on this board!).

Tons of theories flying, no one thing pinpointed yet. Is it the mites? Is it a new virus? Is it that they're foraging in pesticide-laden fields? With GMO crops? There does seem to be some sort of immunity compromise. But again, nothing conclusive. Then, other factors:

- It's more prevalent in commercial hives than in smaller hobbyists' yards.

- Beekeepers managing their hives organically are not reporting issues with CCD.

That has added other potential influences. Commercial keepers are more likely to feed their overwintering bees with HFCS (high-fructose corn syrup) than sugar syrup or honey (not to mention the fact that the corn used may be GM).

Commercial hives are moved often, being rented out to orchards and other farmers who need the pollination. This stresses the bees.

Non-organic beekeepers use more chemicals, pesticides, medication, etc.

Something that I didn't know, and found interesting: The standard starter combs used in the industry, [url=http://bushfarms.com/bees.htm]have larger openings than that drawn in a natural hive[/url]. This apparently produces larger bees, as well as leaving more time for mites to get into a cell before it is capped off. Organic keepers are now switching to the smaller cell size.

Many keepers are now using plastic starter frames, rather than wood and beeswax. Bees sometimes have a hard time adapting to the plastic. I tried a couple of frames last time, but the bees never really built on them.

And organic management means being far enough from pesticide-treated fields to avoid having it show up in the honey.

There are many other common practices that might be factors. Some may even be reducing the quality or quantity of propolis that the bees are producing - their natural sealant, used to protect the hive from germs or pests.

It already suits my nature to lean toward the idea that the more naturally you manage a hive, as with most things, the better results you are likely to have. Hopefully there is still room in our chemical-laden landscape to do that. Looks like I will have to do some digging into this idea of organic/natural beekeeping.

Monday, March 3, 2008

Spastica said:

Holy C**p! They send you bees in the mail? A box containing 12,000 bees?

That’s insane! And so, so funny! I can’t even imagine the postal workers… "Whatever you do, don’t drop it…" "Wha? Sh*t! Sh*t! Sh*t!"


I can’t stop laughing. That image is so funny.

The cool thing is that a swarm of bees, whether in a box, or hanging from your porch railing or from a tree branch, is actually not as dangerous as messing with a hive of bees. When you see one, you know they are on the move, looking for a new home. They are usually full of honey (or sugar water in the case of the box), stored up for the journey (and for building new honeycomb in their next home), and that keeps them pretty calm. Same reason you use smoke to work in a hive; something about it, possibly the instinct to evacuate the hive in the case of a fire, sets them to gorging themselves on honey, which keeps them busy, then calm.

Ever see one of those crazy people who make a "beard" of bees, or cover their head with them? Those bees are in a swarm. They’re just hanging out in a cluster, waiting for one of a few scout bees to come back and tell them she’s found the spot for a new hive.

If you do see a swarm hanging out around your house, and you’re worried about them building, say, in the walls of your house (or even if it’s just freaking you out), you can call a local beekeeper to come and get them. They are usually glad to come, because they can take the bees back to their own beeyard, to set them up in a new hive.

You’d also be doing the bees a favor; due to various mites and viruses, honeybees are in danger of being wiped out in the wild.

Sunday, March 2, 2008

I'll Try It: First Things First

Well, as soon as I declared this project, I went into rebel mode. Couldn't think of anything good to try, couldn't find any of the hundreds of lists I've already made. Go figure.

So, I decided to think about other things. Yesterday was a fairly warm day; it feels like spring is just waiting around the corner (Sorry, spastica! I know you just got more snow!). As great as that sounds, it also reminds me that I'm behind on all of my grand plans. Every year, February is "crunch" time, time to make final decisions on some of the projects I typically like to start. I'm supposed to already have all of this year's seeds ordered (I don't). If I want to order chicks for spring delivery, February's the time, but I think I'll hold off on that this year. So, what's left?

Bees!

If I want to keep bees, I need to order them in February! Ack! I hadn't decided! Was this the year I would take it up again? Was it too late to order?

Long story (sort of) short, I think I'm going to try it. Technically, the bees I kept the first time came to me already in their hive; I bought them from a keeper who helped me get started. This time, I would have to receive a 3 pound (@12,000 bees) swarm in the mail, in April...and put them in the hive myself...and I'm so there.

Looks like there will have to be categories in this blogging project. I think this one can fall under: I'll Try It, Again!

In the meantime, I’ll have to come up with some more immediate things to try. This really wasn’t a weasely attempt at procrastination.

I'll Try It!

I have this crazy idea, and I'm going to run with it. It's inspired by a few things, including Make Magazine, and their series of short, do-it-yourself projects on Youtube, and also the website, 43things.com, where you set up a list of things you'd like to do in your lifetime, and then interact with others who have one or more of those same things on their list.

I'm planning on blogging about my attempts at various activities. Could be anything from making a Japanese bento box lunch, to skydiving, who knows? (Don't count on that last one) Not sure how often I'll add posts, or how long it will last. But I am still hoping that this will be the Year of Doing. Maybe this will be the boost I need, to get me going!

After I get an idea of how I'm going to do this, any suggestions for things to try will be cautiously considered...please, no jumping off of cliffs! :O

Links:

http://www.43things.com/

http://www.makezine.com/