A river of gold

After keeping bees for two seasons, we finally extracted honey today.  Those of you who know about beekeeping, know that it's really late for us to be extracting honey. Don't worry, we removed the honey super from the hive in September, but it's been sitting in our basement waiting for a good extraction day.  We have a friend visiting, we lit the wood stove in the basement, and let the river of gold flow.  

And now, a photo montage -- it's my favorite way of showing stuff. :)

This is the honey extractor.  Anna's dad used to keep bees when Anna was a kid, and this is the extractor he used then. He stopped keeping bees, lent the extractor to a friend for many years, and now that guy has stopped keeping bees so we have it. I love all our classic handed down manual farm equipment (like our cider press).

We decided to clean out the extractor before putting the honey in it since it sat in our garage collecting dust and pine needles for a while. The farm manager supervises all activities with gusto.

Farm apprentice was not taking advantage of this learning opportunity rather he was distracted by a treat sent to him by a friend. Also, he decided the sawdust was a really cozy bed.

The inside of the extractor.  Originally, it had 4 chambers for frames, but now it's down to two. We're hoping we can find 2 more. It basically works like a centrifuge. You put the frames in, turn the crank, honey goes flying. Amazing.

We only had one honey super to do this year -- 10 frames per super.  Here, Anna removes a frame from the super.

Anna's pretty stoked about all the honey in this frame.  All the part that is capped and pale white is full of honey. :)

The remaining 9 frames in the super.  We're pretty excited.

Lisa examines the honey filled frame. 

Before extracting the honey, we have to remove the caps on all the cells.  

Like a hot knife through buttah.  OK, seriously, the knife is warm, and you just skim the wax off the top of the cells exposing the honey -- sometimes it drips onto your finger. Tragic.

"My favorite part was when Anna cut the wax off and the honey just oozed out. I just wanted to stick my face in it." -Lisa, first time honey extractor.

Here we go...Lisa makes it look so easy!

If only you could smell the goodness. You can kind of see the honey on the sides of the drum.

If the frames were uneven weights, the stand was a little wobbly. This necessitates a team effort.  For the future, we're going to build a solid stand and this thing will live in our yet-to-be-built sugar shack.

The golden goodness.  The chunks on the top are bits of wax from the comb, but it will be filtered out.

  

Look at the river of golden goodness. Sometimes your finger gets in the way.

The bucket has a strainer to catch all the wax bits. The bucket isn't really as full as it looks here.  Next year...

Anna scraped the sides to get all the goodness into the bucket....

...also so she could do this.

And there you have it. Our first honey extraction was a success. I cannot wait until we have more supers to do next year! 

When bees ruled the world

They kind of do rule the world, but that's a different post for a different day.  Here's the saga of how our bees hijacked our productivity for 3 days....

It started as just a typical Wednesday, I went to teach yoga, and Anna went to work at the clinic.  After meeting Anna for lunch, I headed home. As I was walking up the front steps, I could hear the lovely, familiar hum of bees, and I immediately started looking for the flowers that they were so obviously enjoying.  I saw many many flowers around our front steps, but no bees.  That's when I looked up to the left....shit.  I immediately knew that one of our hives had swarmed, and they decided that our house was a great place to live. Of course this happens when Anna's at the clinic.

Bees swarm when there isn't enough food, or if they population gets too big for the current home.  They make a new queen, and half the hive leaves with the old queen when the new one is about to hatch. Bees are pretty amazing.

This is where the bees were heading in and out of our house.  Bad picture, but you get the idea.

Four ladies hanging out on our kitchen window.  There were probably 20+ bees on the window, but only 4 stood still enough for this photo.  The bees were all gathering around windows in our house.  

Because the bees were new residents of our house (less than 4 hrs), if we made the environment undesirable, there was a chance they would leave on their own.  I chose Deadmau5 -- I enjoyed it, hopefully the bees did not.

The music was pretty loud in the house, so when Anna got home from work, I was ready with a gin and tonic and front row seats to the bee exodus.  Anna's talking to her beekeeping mentor about what we can do if/when they don't leave on their own.  

This is how Baxter feels about the whole ordeal despite being stung at least 3 times while trying to catch bees in his mouth -- he deserved it.

This is how Olive felt about the whole ordeal.  She's so sensitive.  Maybe she got stung?  Maybe it was just the bees swarming that freaked her out.  She was in pancake mode hiding by her bed.

If we were going to try to catch these bees, we needed to put some hives together.  So, we put all the frames together, but Anna had left the box down by one of our other hives.  When she walked down there to get it, this is what she saw....

This picture isn't sideways -- that's one of our tiny apple trees being totally bent over by a huge swarm of bees.  

It was pretty amazing. When bees are swarming like this, they're less likely to be aggressive so I felt fine getting really close without wearing any protection.  Bees sting to protect their hive, and since they're looking for a new home, they have nothing to protect.

It was awfully nice of them to swarm so low to the ground so we could easily catch them!

Here's Anna putting them in our hive:

See all those bee butts up in the air?  They are looking for their queen.  They stick their butts up in the air to try to smell the pheromone of the queen -- they have a scent gland on their abdomen.  Pretty cool!

Here, you can clearly see the bees all marching in one direction toward their queen -- and into our hive!

Here they are....marching towards their queen and into our hive. :)

After collecting this swarm, we went back to check on the bees having a dance party in our house.  No change.  We decided to go get some dinner and make a plan for the morning.  When we got home -- the bees were still rocking out --- and still in our house, but they had tucked themselves in for the night so we decided to do the same.

The next morning, we devised a plan by which we would tear down the sheetrock in our house and extract the bees.  Anna's mentor let us borrow his bee-vac -- a special vacuum that you can use to suck them all into a cage without killing them so you can keep the swarm.

Listening for the swarm -- we can definitely hear bees in there.

We made a plan for where we were going to start demolishing our house, and we set up the surgery table.  All possible tools at the ready.

We drilled a hole, then started cutting away.  Yikes!

Turns out, we have a lot of insulation up there....not anymore...

When we finally got all the insulation out, this is what we saw.  Some bees, but not enough to be the colony we were looking for.  Crap.  Useless hole in our ceiling #1.  We could see that all the bees were headed in one direction -- up.  This isn't too shocking since bees like to go up.  So....we followed.

We went up to the highest point they'd be able to reach.  When we looked through the hole....nothing. No bees. WTF. Useless hole in our ceiling #2.

This is what most of our house looked like yesterday afternoon -- at least we had a tarp downstairs.

At this point, we were feeling pretty defeated by the bees so we decided to get out of the dusty house and regroup on the deck by putting some frames together for our eventual capture of the swarm in the house.  While we were working, I noticed that the swarm we had put in the hive the day before had a lot of bees on the outside of the hive.  Bees often do this to cool down, so we figured that was probably what was happening, but since it was a new hive, we wanted to walk down there to check.  When we got down to the hives, this is what we saw in the tree above the hive.

Are you freaking kidding me?!?!  

This is what the hive looked like, and when we peaked in the cover, they were all still in there.  So, could this be a 3rd swarm?!?!

We donned our bee gear again, and headed down to catch this one.  This one was a bit higher in a tree, so we climbed up, cut the branch down,  and carefully lowered the branch over the hive.  Once there, Anna shook the bees into the box.

New bees in our hive.

So, since we were catching all these swarms, we were rapidly running out of boxes and frames.  After 2 trips to the bee supply store, we had enough to catch all three swarms.  This, however, meant putting more frames together.  So, we parked ourselves on the deck to get back to hammering.  While there, Anna glanced over to the lawn to see what Baxter was so interested in.  Lo and behold...it was our tortoise.  Over a month ago, one of our tortoises escaped our outdoor enclosure, and we've been searching for her since.  Yesterday, she just strolled out into the middle of the lawn.

This is seriously the craziest day on record.

After all that, we decided to call it a day and pick up again in the morning.  When we woke up on Friday, it was pretty cool, so there was limited bee activity from our house swarm.  We decided to wait until the day warmed up to make sure they were still in there and to see where they were coming from.  As the day got warmer and warmer....no bees. So, it turns out they left on their own accord.  We like to think it was the Deadmau5 and the hammering, drilling, cutting, etc. that drove them away.  At least then our efforts weren't for naught.

We're guessing that the second swarm we found on the cherry tree was the swarm from our house and they just left when we were demolishing our house.  Admittedly, we weren't paying too close attention to the bee traffic outside the house.  We are happy they're gone from our house, and we hope they like their new home.

Today, we put the house back in order -- except for those blasted holes in the ceiling...

Poultry fence and generally epic updates...

This is going to be a pretty long post -- you've been warned.  I'll try to keep it easy to get through with lots of pictures and not too much text.  Basically, there are a ton of things that I've wanted to post about for a while but haven't managed to do it.  So -- I'm putting them all in one post....whoa.

First things first -- the poultry yard fencing.  After the chicktagon went up, putting up a permanent fence was the next thing on the agenda.  After we lost our chickens, we knew we really needed to do this ASAP to avoid a repeat fox performance.  We managed to find some cedar fence posts on Craigslist (literally the tops of cedar trees from a shingle company), and we were hoping to borrow a neighbor's post-hole digger attachment for the tractor.  It turns out our 3-point hitches aren't compatible, so we were on the hunt for a post-hole digger and a trench digger.  There is not a single place in the midcoast region that rents a post-hole digger tractor implement, so we're stuck renting something else.  After exploring many options, we ended up with a post hole digger and trench digger that attach to a small Bobcat.  We need the posts to go down at least 2 (preferably 3) feet, and we wanted to bury the fence at least a foot to prevent animals from digging under the fence to get at our ladies and gents.  So...here goes....

The before -- chicktagon on the right, fenced in pond on the left in the back.

Anna drives the trench digger over to the  fence site.  She's badass.

Trench digging like a pro -- this thing made our lives MUCH easier.  We would still be digging trenches if we were doing it by hand.  It couldn't handle all the rocks, but it did manage to move a sizable number of sizable rocks. :)

On to post-hole digging.  We decided with the first hole that it was best to dig the hole, then put in the pole.  We're working in a really wet area, and we didn't want the holes to fill up with water before we had a chance to put in the posts.  We are filling in around the posts with a mixture of lime and gravel.  We read that this mixture is better than concrete in wet areas because concrete actually absorbs the moisture and holds it next to the post, which speeds the rotting process.  We don't want that -- mostly because we don't want to do this again....ever.....or at least for a long time.

You knew it was coming.  He just makes it so easy. Clearly, he's not afraid of the Bobcat.

Making sure the posts are at least close to level.

End of day 1 -- trench dug, 24 posts in, 1200 lbs of gravel put down -- total exhaustion. We most definitely deserved that gluten free beer in the outdoor shower. :)

Day 2 -- 200 ft of 6-ft welded wire, another 1200 lbs of gravel, 400 ft of rough hewn cedar boards, and a race against the tropical storm. Rain in the forecast for the afternoon -- we couldn't pick up the fencing until 10:30 -- bring it.

End of day 2 -- all the fencing is up, we even made a separate section for Inga (Russian tortoise).  This section will also be the adolescent/sick chicken/duck area. This day was even more epic than the first -- it rained on us a bit, but not too much.  At the end of the day when we were filling in the trenches, I almost kicked Anna's butt when she told me she was having fun filling in the trenches because we were "rolling around in the mud." I was so tired, I was at the point of crying, and I hate hate hate shoveling (maybe why I like no-dig permaculture?).  There was nothing fun about it.

So the gate location was on uneven ground -- answer -- purposely make a crooked gate.  I'd say my woodworking skills are improving.  This gate required both mitering and beveling.  I kind of love it.  We buried a chunk of cedar post under the gate so it won't wear down over time creating a gap under the gate.  

YAY!  Olive is also happy that the heavy machinery fence building is done....except that the chicken yard was one of her favorite playing spots.  I'm sure she'll find a new one. :)

---------------------------------------------
Moving right along -- one thing we've learned is that farming/planting can be a serious lesson in patience.  Good thing we both already have a yoga practice, or we may be even more impatient than we already are.  We have been doing a ton of planting in the past few months, and I'd like to call this section, "Things we've planted that might, just might, give us something in the next 3-15 years"....yes, 15 years. There are also some things we've planted that won't take that long, but still...

This is American Persimmon - it's native to the US, but few people grow it.  When the fruit is ripe, it is delicious, but if you pick it too soon, it is tarty tart tart!  We have 4 of these, and maybe we'll get to taste some in 5+ years.

This is a Pawpaw - also native to the US, as far north as us!  It is more common in the midwest and mid-Atlantic regions.  If you live there, be on the lookout!  This gem is also known as the Custard Apple -- it tastes like a combination of banana, mango, tropical goodness.  It doesn't like to be transplanted, hence the leaves look like crap, but notice the new leaves at the top! YEAH!  This baby (and it's 3 siblings) will hopefully give us fruit in 10+ years.

This is the Pawpaw flower. It is staaaaanky and pollinated by flies. Photo credit: www.carolinanature.com

This is the fruit -- it is the largest North American fruit.  It probably hasn't been very popular because it has a very short shelf life.  It makes a great smoothie base! :) Photo credit: www.examiner.com

Here's what it looks like inside.  The seeds are not edible, actually poisonous, but look at the custardy goodness! Photo credit: www.tcpermaculture.blogspot.com

This is our row of cylons...there are many copies.  We grafted a bunch of apple scion wood (hence cylons) onto some root stock. The scion wood is the new growth that gets pruned off in the spring.  We took a grafting workshop and came home with 10 grafts -- it looks like they're all making it, but only time will tell.  These may give us fruit in the next 4-5 years. They are mostly rare varieties found in Maine.

Olive in the cylon patch.  She's very brave.

This is a pear tree.  We got it from Fedco at the tree sale.  I'm optimistic it will give us fruit in 3 years (a short wait!).

The strawberry patch -- which needs to be weeded, but that's another story.  We got the roots from the Fedco tree sale.  These would give us fruit this year, but since they're perennial, we're pinching off the flowers in order to encourage the plants to get better established root systems.  It is tragic to pinch off the flowers, but it led me to smell the strawberry flower.  If you've never done it before, you simply must.  It smells like yummy sweet strawberry goodness. Our plan is for the strawberry patch to expand a bit each year until it takes over this entire hill. We can eat strawberries next year.

Asparagus!  We planted about 75 plants, and we were looking forward to our lush asparagus forest.  It isn't so lush right now.  Tragically, we recently learned that most varieties aren't self seeding.  So, it won't expand into the thick forest we were hoping for.  Either we'll keep planting, or we'll look for a variety that spreads.  We can't eat these puppies for another 2 years.  It is torturous.

This is Hablitzia -- it's a perennial spinach vine.  We've planted under the deck, and it's going to crawl up the outdoor shower. The dogs kept trampling it, but now it's better...sort of.  You can see the squished cage.

This is a perennial arugula.  We just transplanted it a couple days ago, and the roots weren't the best.  Hopefully it will pull through. We've started a perennial vegetable bed in our terraced garden figuring that it gets warm first so we'll get lots of delicious greens early in the spring.

These are Egyptian walking onions -- a perennial onion.  The bulbs at the top get so heavy that they flop over onto the ground.  That roots, and the plants 'walk' around the garden.  

This is Water Celery -- ducks love it, and we can eat it too.  It can be quite aggressive in wet areas, so we're keeping it contained in a pot -- which will have to get much larger.  It is right next to the outdoor shower, so it gets watered every time we shower. :)

----------------------------------------------------------
Moving on....I told you this would be epic.  Now, just some things we've noticed around the farm.

This is the view of our field right now -- the lupines and other wildflowers are busting!  We love it...but not as much as some other ladies living here....

When we stepped outside this morning, we couldn't help but notice a humming in the field.  We were wondering if it was just the sound of the bees on all the flowers.  It appears it was.  They're working so hard, and it is pretty awe inspiring to watch them coming and going from the hive.

Here they are in action -- you can see some of their very loaded down legs.  I'm not sure how they can manage to fly with all that pollen!

Don't know who this guy is, but it was really pretty.

This is a spittle bug removed from the spittle (seen top left).  I have never seen one before, so I checked it out while we were watching the bees.

Lots of low-bush blueberries around our hives and in the field.  Can't wait for these babies to turn blue!

Given we have to pinch off all the flowers on our planted strawberries, it is really nice to find a bunch of these wild strawberries in the field. YUM!

Our flowers are loaded with Giant Swallowtails.  They're so beautiful.

And, just to prove it isn't all sunshine, butterflies, and rainbows over here....

We cut and stacked some wood....and it fell over. :(

Our omnipresent trash pile.  We still have to insulate the coop ceiling, but we need the insulation to dry out before we can do that.  I know, we could move it inside, but that's too easy.  So, we have a trash pile....classy.

I took a break from writing this (and other things -- I'm multitasking) to refill my....water, yes, it's water.  This is what I found outside.

Farm manager -- relaxing under a bench.

Olive -- hot, happy, tired, and dirty.

Last but certainly not least -- my wife...planting veggies topless.  Like I said, we keep it classy. :)

 OK -- I think that's it for now. Thanks for sticking with it.  Look forward to an upcoming post about...slugs. :)