Google makes me crazy

Google is getting crazier and crazier.  The new trick is to ask you to connect your posts to Google+. Which sounds fairly innocuous.  But if you do, no one can comment on a post without a G+ account.

If this was an "also" thing, I would be OK with it.  But it's all or nothing and I don't want that.  And it looks to me like they are working hard to force users to coerce other people into using their products. So, this blog is being moved to Wordpress.

Someone else had already used the labyrinthfarm address so I have had to stick a C at the beginning.  C for Chuck.  C for Cunningham.  C for See Labyrinth Farm.  Whatever mnemonic works for you. 

Anyway, we'll leave this here until Google does something REALLY stupid.  With this link to future posts.

http://clabyrinthfarm.wordpress.com

Bees out of the box

I'm a little surprised.  When I tried peeking in to the hive yesterday, bees were sitting on the box and I didn't see a lot of movement toward the front of the hive.  It appears that they got moving when I finally calmed down and left them alone.  This morning when I went out to remove the box, they were ALL clustered up at the front and about a quarter of the quart of sugar syrup was gone.

 

It's difficult to take a picture through the plexiglass, but you can kind of tell.

It looks like about 20 didn't make it and considering how they are put in the box, that's pretty impressive. 

Actual package creation starts at 3 minutes.

More bees

Monica and Todd of The Carolina Bee Company drove for nearly 24 hours yesterday to bring packaged of bees from Georgia to North Carolina.  One of those boxes was for me.

AND it's raining today, which isn't prime bee-handling weather.  But, you have to do what you can when you can.

So, I used Monica's no-shake package installation method, waited for a break in the action and went for it.  The queen's carriage is dangling between 2 bars that are simply pinching the little strap in place and the box is in the back where bars 11-23 will go when I take it out tomorrow.  The quart sized sugar syrup bottle is between the box and the queen.  The queen is between the bottle and the entrance.

They are so busy that I can't put the flap down to take a picture, but I think they like it here.

Weed killer

Mix 1 gallon of vinegar with 1 cup of salt and a tablespoon of liquid soap.  The soap helps it cling to the leaves.

It works better on broad leaf plants but does affect some grasses.

Bees 2.0

I ordered another package of bees from Carolina Bees who are on our Natural Beekeepers list.

Annalys suggest that the the colonies may have absconded in the fall. To abscond is to leave with no forwarding address.  That description matches what I have seen in the hives.  There was a sudden drop in population like a swarm had happened. They left enough workers to tend to the brood they left behind and they left food for them.  There was capped and uncapped honey and lots of uncapped pollen. 

Yesterday, I extracted the honey that remained after all the abandoned bees died. We have a little more than 2 quarts.

I have 3 empty combs in one hive, kind of hoping it will encourage a swarm to wander in and call it home. The other hive is clean and will receive the new package on April 29. 

Bees

It was finally dry enough and warm enough at the same time to have a look in the hives today.  There is a little honey, some pollen and some half finished (uncapped) honey in both hives.  Dead bees in the bottoms.  Some bees on the combs in Rosamund appear to be dead.

If the single cluster I saw had a queen in it and they are alive, she has less than 50 attendants.

I saw no evidence of disease.

I take it back.

The bees may be OK.  I may have been seeing the change from summer bees to winter bees for the first time and panicked.

They aren't taking the syrup I've been putting out very quickly.  However, there were bees visible in Rosamund and syrup visible in the comb in Lucretia, today.

We'll know the truth when Spring actually springs.

Update 12/30/12

Haven't updated in a bit and I want to make sure to keep track for future reference in years to come.  As you can see, the broccoli is doing great, probably the best head development we have had so far.  There is also cabbage starting to come around and still waiting on cauliflower, maybe early Spring.

Starting to get some Brussels sprouts as you can see.  This bed had plenty of water and I have not opened it in a bit, partly due to our being out of town for Christmas.  Some of the sprouts plants had considerable mold, at least that is what it looked like.  I cut them back to the dirt and tossed them on the compost.  I am hoping for more new sprouts in a couple of weeks.

The lettuce bed is still producing, though it's days are numbered except for the arugula.  I will replant the same mix for salad into early Summer.  We have been eating it as hard as we can for the last two months at least.

And of course the greens are doing great, fresh in my morning smoothie every day.  I will probably braise a mess for New Years Eve dinner tomorrow.

The root veggie bed just didn't do much.  I replanted it and hope for a Spring crop.  That's it for now.

Mourning

Looks like the bees are dead.

We fed them during the worst of the summer dearth and quit when they had mostly quit taking it.   After about 3 weeks we started feeding again as we saw goldenrod drying up.  But, apparently, it was too late.

There was a time when there were so many bees we were afraid of a late summer swarm.  Now there are practically none.  There is nectar or sugar syrup visible in cells and capped pollen. But, almost no bees and the sugar syrup hasn't gone down any for about 3 days.

Did we not feed enough?

Were they poisoned by the corn growing down the road?

Do we try again next year or sell our gear thinking this area is bad for honey bees?

First Freeze?

We may be in for a different winter this year.  There is a freeze, not frost, warning out for tonight and I had to get the cold frame covers out of summer hibernation.  I had intended to get them out this past weekend and do some maintenance/reinforcing, but Sandy's wind and rain made that a poor choice.  In any case they are on and will hopefully do their job.  It was late November before we needed them last year.

I took some photos of the "crops" before I covered them.  We have been enjoying all the salad we can eat with mixed lettuce, arugula and spinach.

The far end of the above bed also has some pepper plants still producing, but I fear the cold will shut them down pretty soon.

This bed has swiss chard and three kinds of kale plus some spinach on the side.

This one has turnips and beets with some arugula at the ends.

This one has brussels sprouts, broccoli, cabbage and cauliflower, all coming along very slowly.  The cover buckwheat crowded out the new starts at first and I am hoping they make a comeback with the extended season covers.

This is our spaghetti squash tree.  The vines climbed the crepe myrtle and also latched on to the fence.




There was a volunteer sweet 100 grape tomato plant that I was letting grow in the greens bed that started very late in the season.  With the freeze coming I harvested all the fruit and have put a couple of bananas in the basket to hasten the ripening process.  Maybe fresh tomato candy for Thanksgiving?