Zilchie and her kittens

I marvel at our cat. She's patient, clean, productive, gentle, and wonderful. She had her second litter of kittens. Last year she had four. This year she had five. My son has named them: Episolon, Zeta, Eta (who I call "Fluffy"), Tippy and Boots.

Zilchie just gives and gives to her little ones. Lately, she has been hunting for them and bringing back little mice. They gobble them up right away. But any time she is around they want to nurse. Sometimes she lets them; other times she doesn't. She takes care of herself too. Today, I saw her resting in the shade for a couple of hours. Perhaps I should learn something from Zilchie.

Rest anyone?

Today's Journey Joy: Observing our mama cat

Second swarm of the season

Last evening, after I put my bee suit on and proceeded to jump on the JD 700 to mow around the beehives, I looked up and...well, you guessed it. Another swarm. From the ground it looked massive. Bigger than any swarm I had ever seen. It apparently came from one of my swarm- happy hives. The hive in question swarmed over four times last year. (Which means I need to get in there and make a split!).

After zipping back to the house I asked my wonderful husband to come and help. The swarm was big and the tractor would be needed. (I wonder why they don't land on lower branches.) He went out to the Morton building to get the tractor, another deep and frames and his medium gloves. I got his suit, veil, loppers, and branches.

When I got to the location where we were going to put this new swarm I found out that the deep that we had staged earlier was missing a frame and so I hiked back to the house and found a frame. We got everything ready and then drove the tractor to the swarm.

The swarm was about 15-20 feet high in a tree a little down the hill from the likely hive. I lifted my husband up in the loader. The picture looks like he is standing on the ground. In fact, he is in the bucket of the loader raised about 12 feet high. The plan was to cut the branch and bring the branch and swarm intact to the new hive via the slow moving tractor. It turned out that I climbed the into the loader with my swarm catching honey. He held the branch while I attempted to cut it. Unfortunately, the loppers were pretty dull and when I finally cut through the branch the cut jerked the branch and a bunch of bees fell into the loader bucket.

I carefully climbed down the loader (with bees flying erverywhere and landing on me) trying not to dislodge any more bees. But the branch that was cut had many little branches and I'm afraid that my body hit the swarm a couple of times. That didn't help matters.

Eventually we got to the new hive box and gave them a quick little tap into the deep. They fell into the hive nicely but then decided that the walls of the deep were where they wanted to hang out. Usually the bees move quickly into the frames. Where was the queen? I never did find her. Hopefully she is in there.

We, after awhile, gently filled the top deep with frames (some drawn out and some not). Put the telescoping cover on, the lid, and some heavy rocks. As usual, we put some branches in front of the hive to help them reorient to the new location. In this case the new location was only about 25 feet west and uphill from the old.

I briefly checked on them today. Just to see if there was some activity. And there was. That's a good sign. Looks like we have a new hive. That's ten now. I can hardly wait to taste the honey.

Today's Journey Joy: Catching swarms

What to do with carpenter ants?

A week or two ago my adventurous husband cut down the dying soft maple tree. It kept dropping small limbs on our driveway (where we park the cars). It also easily broke and had numerous danglers. The tree was a beautiful shade tree and every year the helicopters would go flying from it. But there were also signs that all was not well. There was a large crotch area where rain would enter into the tree. After almost every rain there were saw dust-like substances coming out of holes. Probably not good. So, my wise husband, the JD tractor, and I, all had a hand in bringing the ole tree down.

It came down with a crash and a big thud. Big black ants crawled everywhere. They were going this way and that way. Some carrying little larvae, others just running for their lives. But with a quick little call to our chicken friends..."here, chick, chick, chick, chickens!" the question of what to do with all those ants was answered.


Red, our only Rhode Island Red chicken (who believes she is top on the pecking order) found something a little more substantial in the tree debris. Some great big wiggly larvae. Could it be a cicada bug? I don't know. I remember that we found a lot of them last year in a dying hackberry tree. The chickens liked them too. Anyway, Red grabbed this wormy guy and ran with it. It took her several "bites" to down the whole thing. Pretty efficient way of getting rid of bugs.

Today's Journey Joy: Watching chickens enjoy a good meal

First Swarm of 2009

Eight of our 11 hives survived the winter. Pretty good since it was one of the coldest winters on record. I had given them granulated sugar piled high on a cardboard pizza plate and placed in an empty super for emergency supply. Some needed it, others did not. I did a brief inspection about a week and a half ago. Many of the hives were strong and needed supering. So seven of the eight hives were given a box full of frames (some already drawn out) so that they could store their honey.

But one hive was acting a little weird earlier this week. On Sunday when my husband and I were walking back to the Morton building we noticed that at 10:00 in the morning there was an awful lot of activity around the buckfast hive (I only have one buckfast; all the others are Italians All stars). It looked like they were doing orientation flights. But that is usually done in mid to late afternoon. "But," I thought, "Maybe buckfasts do things differently." Alas, it is not so. They were "practicing". Practicing for the great move. You see, when bees feel that they do not have enough room to expand they swarm. The old queen takes a bunch of the bees and flies away to find a new home. That's how bee colonies reproduce. A very natural and effective way of expanding. Great for the bees. Not so great for the beekeeper. Less bees = less honey.

Yesterday (Wednesday) I went to the building again and noticed some bearding on the hive. I thought, "Odd... but maybe 84 degrees is hot for the hive. I will have to check their screen bottom board and make sure it is open." But I didn't get a chance. By the time I got to the building and got the tractor running (less than 5 minutes!) a great cloud of bees were dancing and flying and.... well, you guessed it..... swarming! It was amazing to watch. Bees everywhere. They reminded me of the flock of blackbirds migrating in the fall. They all flew together. Up and down; here and there. Flying to this tree and then to that tree. All I could do was watch and pray, "Please bees, land in a low branch." Fifteen minutes went by and then I saw it. They were congregating on a relatively (12 foot high) low branch of a walnut tree about 15 feet away from the hive they had recently departed. "Yeah!" I said. And quickly went to get my bee equipment: hive, frames, bee suit and limb cutter.

I parked the tractor right under the swarm. Lifted the bucket up and realized that although they were assessable, I would need another helper. I could climb the loader and snip the branch, but how then would I get back down? The branch and all the bees would probably weigh 25 pounds. I'm strong, but not that strong... especially when the 25 pounds could fly away. I would have to wait until my husband came home (One and a half hours later). ("Oh please, don't fly away!")

When he got home he quickly came to my aid. He re-leveled my spot for the prospective new hive and dressed up in his bee gear. I lifted him up to the branch in the loader and then climbed into the loader myself. He held the branch while I cut it. Then I gingerly climbed back into the tractor, gently lowered the bucket while rotating it so that I wouldn't dump my precious cargo(my husband!) and slowly drove the tractor to the new hive location (about 100 feet west and up the hill).

We had previously put a deep full of half drawn out comb and an empty deep with frames ready to go in at the location. My husband simply bonked the branch on the side of the deep and the majority of the bees "fell" into the hive. Some flew around...not too happy we disturbed them. But none were aggressive. They had just eaten. They had nothing to protect yet. No babies, no food stores. Just them. So they were very gentle. I've even heard that many people capture swarms without protective gear. I could believe that. I'm just not quite ready for that experience. The suit helps me. Keeps me calm.

We closed up the hive, put a couple of white cedar branches in front of the hive entrance so they would reorient to the new location and walked away. A successful capture.

I haven't checked on the new hive yet. I sure hope they are happy and have stayed put. I will need to go through the old hive and see if I need to break up the brood so that the hive will not swarm again. I'm happy we got this one. But prevention of swarms is a much better practice.... unless you like climbing trees.

Today's Journey Joy: capturing bee swarms

Let the Weeds Begin

How come they grow so readily? So well? So prolifically? That's one thing I can grow. I can grow weeds. But perhaps the point. I don't grow weeds... they grow themselves. Images of weed-free rows with productive and healthy plants creep into my mind's eye every spring. I plan; I order; I till; I plant. But weeds do not need tending. They grow where they are unwanted. Sucking up nutrients and moisture. Taking from the desire-ables.

Over the years I've learned a thing or two about weeds. Prevent them. Mulch with as much seed-free grass, straw or other clippings. As thick as you can lay it. Lay cardboard between wide rows and cover them up with wet mulch. Grow a winter cover crop. And when prevention doesn't work.... Get 'em early. Get 'em often.

But inevitably the weeds seem to win. Every year I say "It'll be better this year." And it usually is better. The soil is better amended. The weeds are prevented from growing and reproducing through mulch. But every year I seem to make the garden bigger. This year was a monumental expansion. I have never had four huge gardens before. It covers almost three acres. And somehow, in my mind, I think I'm going to keep this under control.

Notice I didn't say "weed-free". No, I am learning to adapt and modify. To live with some weeds. To remove as many as I can. And to help the fruits and vegetables flourish.

As I sit here and contemplate this weedy problem I am struck by the parallel between gardening and organizational structures. Regardless of the organization (or the garden!) the goal is to produce a good crop. But there are weeds. Weeds in the department. Some are noxious and pervasive. Some are irritating. Some can choke out the new idea or venture. Some abscond with the resources. And sometimes I may be the weed. I must remember, weeds are plants or flowers that are not where they are wanted. (Even poison ivy is tasty to goats.) And just as in gardening, I may not be able to get rid of every weed.... I need to learn to live with them. And learn to live well. Can a life with weeds be lived joyfully? I think so. I must learn to do so.

Today's Journey Joy: Looking at weeds afresh

Mulching

Over the past couple of years a very nice tree service has been dumping their wood chips at our place. We thought it was a mountain. We were to find out that our mountain was insufficient to cover the need.

We started the process by first loading the mulch into the old dump truck. (I probably shouldn't call it "old". It's a good little truck.)



Then I would attempt to drive the truck (in low gear) out to the blueberry field. That was an adventure in and of itself. The truck is a manually driven Ford 4X4 (I think it's a F350). It's the manual part that is tricky. I have certainly driven many cars and trucks that are manually driven, but this one requires a different touch. I would jerk and jolt and run up the engine. Not a pretty site.

Anyway, I would drive the truck out to the field and line up the tires on the outside of the blueberry rows. My husband would then rake or coerce the mulch to land in neat piles between the plants. I would then proceed to the next plant. How do you mulch 1200 blueberry plants? One at a time.

We would end up with piles of wooden mulch up and down the rows. I would then follow with the rake and smooth it out. It made a nice 4 inch mulch around the berries.

We are not quite finished. There are about 4 complete rows yet to go. (Each load barely covers one row.) But our mountain is gone. Looks like we will have to use straw or hay mulch until the tree service can help us some more.

Last weekend I went through the field and snipped off all the lovely blueberry bells...the pretty little flowers that eventually turn into blueberries. It was a hard thing to do. But it was the right thing to do. Pruning comes in many forms.... and is usually best in the long run. Much like life, eh?

Today's Journey Joy: growing blueberries