transitions

I’ve been at Sandhill 33 years; our membership has averaged 5-8 members during that time. Several years ago, we noted that our average age was about 50 and rising – that did not appear sustainable. We made an effort to recruit younger members (which we had done in the past w/o much success); this time, it worked!

The current average age of our adult members is about 40; however, that is only part of the story. Equally important is how to transfer managerial responsibilities and a feeling of ownership from older to younger members? It is happening! Laird and I are the only ones over 40 here; Laird has been passing off/over most of his responsibilities over the last decade or so: he has been away from the farm for about half of the time (due to his role in the FIC and his work as a process consultant/teacher), and so others have taken on the work he used to do. He still does our tax filing, but Joe did it with Laird this year and is in training.

The issue of how to transition responsibility/management to newer members has a lot of challenges. My personal experience: I have been managing field crops (wheat, oats, sorghum, beans, popcorn, field corn, green manure crops), honey bees, sorghum processing (this is our signature crop), other food processing for sale (condiments), organic certification, equipment maintenance (including chain saws, plumbing, vehicles, tractors, flour mills, wood stoves), and marketing. I figgered that when I did pass on these managerial areas it would be to several people and that the hardest one to pass on would be farming (field crops). A saying I came up with: it takes a long time to grow a farmer… we’ve had some very good folks becoming farmers: Grady, Dianne, Jules, Jonathon. And now there is Mica – she appears has a knack for it: a combination of intuition, attention to detail, a basic sense of mechanics, and excellent problem solving skills. She is well on the way to taking on management of field crops, honey bees, and a lot of the maintenance. As an example: the combine is the most complicated piece of farm equipment that we operate (to harvest all of our grain & cover crops ). I always made sure that I was on the farm whenever we needed to use the combine – until this last summer. The wheat harvest was early – so Mica did it all. We talked on the phone a few times, but in the end, she “got it”. She did all the adjustments and harvesting – yahoo!! And – on her end: I’m sure she feels a tremendous sense of empowerment in knowing she can do it. As she puts it, I learn the most when you are gone.

Joe helps Mica with a lot of the farm work. They share doing most of the maintenance work. Similarly, Mica is managing most of the bee work: I still love to go out and visit the bees whenever I am at home during the season (& give my input), but in the end, she now does most of the managing.

Other areas:
the garden is an important component of sandhill: we depend on the gardens for most of our own food, our interns come mostly to learn about growing and preserving food (canning, freezing, drying, as well as growing extra produce to sell and/or process into products for sale). The gardens are also a symbol/signature for the farm: we try to be a model of sustainable agriculture: encompassing growing our own food and to sell to make a living. At this time, most of our sales come from processed foods: sorghum, honey, mustard; however, our produce sales have been climbing steadily in the last few years.
bottom line: this last year, the garden management was shared by Trish, Sara, & Jon – all relatively new members. Garden management has transitioned to the next generation.

Finances & accounting is now managed by Mica & Trish – another smooth transition.
Maple syrup: we do not sell maple syrup; it is for our own consumption and we also boil down the sap for our neighbors – dancing rabbit & redearth farms. This year, Joe took it on and fully managed it.

Firewood: we burn a lot of firewood. We heat three different residences with it and use a lot to cook sorghum & maple. Mica came to Sandhill from Twin Oaks in VA; there, she was a member of the forestry crew – main function was to provide firewood for the community. Mica is now managing forestry (firewood) at sandhill. In a sense, forestry feels like a more encompassing term than firewood: the former connotes managing the woods ecosystem for health and contributing to the farm whereas the latter is more the desired product of the former. In my experience here, what we actually do out in the woods is the same; however, I also value having the paradigm of healthy management, sustainability, yadda yadda yadda.

Aha. Sounds like paradise, eh? I am describing success after success & smooth sailing.
And honestly, for the most part, it is/has been.
Now, for a current wrinkle: I am the old man at the commune (I’m 67). In all this transition, I am also transitioning out of a lot of the manual labor; however, this last winter, all of the other members had various body issues: back, shoulder, arm, etc. In the end, who felt totally comfortable running the chainsaw this winter? You guessed it! the old man. I feel totally blessed that I am able to contribute in a very physical way & that my body is totally up to it! hallelujah!

Another personal note:
In all this transition, what do I do now? For decades, I spent my time/energy on the farm; and now? The less work I do on the farm, the more I do off the farm: namely, organic inspections. I am spending a lot of road time on inspections and when I am at home, I am often in my room/office doing inspection reports, making plans for the next inspection trip, etc. Currently, it suits me well: I get to be with farmers a lot of the time and still keep my pulse on our own farm/operation. The down side: it’s a lot of paperwork (actually, computer time).

Down Time

The agricultural lifestyle includes down time: winter is the time for rest: physical activity to slow down, the mind to take leave of daily details, and the spirit to rejuvenate.
I appreciate this down time. During the agricultural year, I find it difficult to relax: my mind is always thinking about what else needs to be done – similar to how it is challenging to take time off at home/on the farm. When i try to take an afternoon or day off, I constantly see unfinished projects or areas that need attention. Sometimes I jot them down on a piece of paper – so that I can forget about them in the present moment and relax! Does it work? so-so. Where will I put this list so that it will not bother me now but that I can find it later?

In the last several years, an increasing amount of my time/energy has gone into my other life – as an organic inspector. Most of my inspections are farms (as opposed to processors), and so the winter months are much less busy (although I am amazed by how many farm inspections I am doing during the winter). This year, I finished all the inspections I had committed to and turned in my last reports on 12/31/12. What a relief! Then the next moment: what do I do now? For the last 8 months, my mind was preoccupied. What is happening on the farm? eg, do I need to remind Mica that something needs to be planted? cultivated? checked for weeds/bugs/etc? harvested? And/or inspections: communicating with several organic certifiers as to which inspections I need to be doing & when, and then, scheduling the inspections, doing them, and filing the reports… I have been doing it for more than 15 years and so I have a routine; however, I’ve also been doing a lot more the last few years (like 130 per year), and so it is more intense. I noted that inspections occupied my mind a LOT this year. When I was done, I felt a vacuum. Wait! This is what is supposed to happen every year – a time of rest. My current challenge: how to relax? I am used to being on my laptop a lot: checking email, weather, writing reports, etc. I am a creature of habit – I can’t stop.

Gradually, I transition: I help Mica cut firewood, read novels, watch movies (DVD), and hang out w/ friends. We have been ice skating and playing hockey a lot the last 3 weeks. I’ve even gone to several parties! I am gradually unwinding. It’s like I have to force myself to relax – even though I yearn for it. Contradiction? Perhaps, but emotions don’t mind contradictions.
Here’s to down time!

The Mysteries of Frost

Mystery? What’s mysterious about frost? Water freezes at 32 F, and when the air temperature reaches that point, we (& NOA) call it frost. Open & shut case, right?
Not for me. Let me share my experiences of the last 3 weeks.
On 9/23/12 we had a low of 39 F – but there was a layer of frost on the windshield of my car that morning. Then I noted frost on the grass along the highway. OK: so how do we have OBVIOUS frost at 39F?? I did several organic farm inspections that day and the farmers reported the same phenomenon. Further: the plants/crops that are usually the most frost sensitive in our area are sweet potatoes and basil. Neither of those crops showed any frost damage; however, I noted that the soybeans on one of the farms I inspected showed frost damage on the upper leaves… totally weird.

fast forward to Oct 6: our low temp was 29 F. We had been warned by NOA that a frost was likely and our garden folks harvested and/or covered sensitive crops. My big concern was our sorghum crop – it is our signature crop: our farm is noted for this crop and it is the largest income crop on our farm. 29 F is the temp when frost can severely damage the crop – or not; ie, sometimes it does, other times, it does not. what’s the difference? I don’t know. I have only been involved in growing/processing this crop for 33 years – what do I know? The old timers talk about how frost damage in crops is totally different depending on whether we are in the dark or the light of the moon. Other folks maintain that the critical factor is the dew point; frankly, in my experience, I have not been able to attribute either of those factors as a critical factor.
Back to Oct 6: the low temp was 29. I had a premonition the night before – this is going to be IT! We are going to get frosted. Mica, Joe, & I went out to the sorghum fields that morning to assess possible damage: we sampled sorghum plants already cut down & laying in the field, as well as crop that was still standing in the field. We crunched the stalks with our teeth: DEFINITELY FROZEN.
OK: so now what? (background: we could have harvested this field already – but decided to delay because the crop was not quite mature and we had another group of folks coming soon to help us with the rest of the harvest).
When the canes (sorghum stalks) are frozen, we usually have 4-6 days to harvest and process it – before it turns sour; it depends on the temps after the frost: as long as the temp is low, it is not a problem (imagine your basil freezing – if you put it in your refrigerator, it will be fine, it is the warm sun that will turn the leaves black).
So we have a pow-wow: we decide we need to cut down the sorghum crop in this field (it is our last major sorghum field) IMMEDIATELY – like today! (This is a major endeavor: because it means that we will harvest the canes with the leaves on instead of stripping the leaves off – that would take too long) – and we get it done!
next issue: the leaves on the plants are still green: we don’t like to process canes w/ green leaves (green leaves supposedly impart a bitter taste to the syrup – who wants bitter in a sweet syrup??). BUT we better get it while we can! so we do. the whole field gets cut down.
Re processing: we still have the last field that was harvested in our regular way (leaves stripped off & the canes left in the field about 5 days – to promote “drying”: evaporation of water and enzymes in the plant converting starches to sugars, after the stalk is cut).
We process that cane: squeezing the juice out of the stalks and then cooking/evaporating the water out to make a thick syrup – in days. Then we note that the canes we thought had been frosted showed no frost damage… what?? Since the plants were still immature when we cut them down, we decide to wait to process them – 2 days. Now we process them and they are fine.

Bottom line: did the sorghum get frosted? or not? I am not sure – even though I have been watching/managing this process for 33 years.

Political Disjunct

So what’s the connection: politics & agric? In an election year in this country, I find it impossible to not have thoughts/make connections between the two.

I started this post months ago, got busy with other stuff, and forgot all about it; however, it seems just as relevant today. I find myself disinterested/disconnected from the issues discussed in the election/campaign politics.

Why? THEY ARE ALL MISSING THE POINT – including the democrats & obama. For me, the disjunct:

1. the farm bill. Overtly, this is the primary place where national politics and agric meet. For the last many decades, the farm bill has favored corporate/conventional agriculture – by paying producers subsidies for various practices: not planting crops, price supports for many crops – eg. corn, etc. This is a complicated issue, which I plan to explore in more detail in a later post; a good reference here are the writings by Michael Pollen as to how agric subsidies support corporate agric and the fast food industry.

2. For me, the issue I would love to be discussed in the election campaign is how we view our environment/nature. People in my community and folks in my every day life – we see nature as sacred. The way we live, grow food, and interact with our environment is an expression of who we are and how we relate to Gaiea/planet Earth; however, the prevailing paradigm in our society is that we humans have the right to plunder the resources on our planet.

Here is the crux of the disjunct: many people are yearning for more spirituality in their lives. “Science” has tried to explain the universe and life in mechanistic/reductionist terms and language; one of the effects is that folks deserted religion – because God/spirit was not part of the discussion. Now – we wake up and realize: surely life is not just about a job, making enough $ to survive, etc. That dulls the spirit and our relationship to spirit/nature/the divine.

In my community, we call it woo woo. We want more woo woo in our lives (my personal definition of woo woo: spirit/energy/soul – not explainable by traditional science/reasoning; it is part intuition, partly the hunger we feel for an overarching meaning to life – more than feeding ourselves, procreating, etc).

So where is the woo woo in national politics? the tea party? rush sourbaugh? the green party? As far as I can tell – no one wants to discuss it: it’s like the McCarthy era of the 1960s in the sense that talk about spirituality outside of the church and traditional religion is like labeling someone a communist. (Just yesterday, I caught the end of a debate between the Libertarian and the Green Party candidate on NPR – neither came anywhere near this issue.)

So where do we go from here?
Personally, I try to stay “centered”: i conceive myself as a spiritual being – beyond the daily vicissitudes of politics, weather, relationships, etc. My ideal is to increase positive universal energy (is that too woo woo?). how does that manifest? ideally, I meet/engage each person in my daily life w/ my best self: I appreciate their contribution to life, society, and acknowledge it (eg, positive feedback).

how does this relate to politics in an election year? as I listen to news on NPR, i feel myself disengaging with the issues that the pollsters feel are the relevant ones. In that state of mind, i easily go to a negative place: what’s the use anyway? BUT I am an optimistic person by nature, and so I fantasize about a situation where one of the presidential candidates or parties would actually dare to embrace the vision/paradigm that our natural world in which we live is sacred? that all life is sacred? And that this is fundamental in our species continuing to be a viable in the evolution of Gaia.

WOW! that would be such an awesome opportunity to engage in all kinds of discussions.
Oops, but then we would have to confront the issue of splitting the left votes in the presidential contest & risk voting in the crazed tea party. Relas: it seems i don’t have to worry about that scenario anytime soon…

Honey Bees – 2012 Update

In my last post about the honey bees more than a year ago, I was enthusiastic about our bees. I still am.

Our honey harvest in the fall of 2011 was once again disappointing: about 1.5 gallon of honey (1 gal=12 lb) per hive. Before the mites (early 1990s), we averaged 5 gal/hive. The last 3 years we averaged 1 – 1.5 gal/hive. So, in spite of my enthusiasm mid-summer of 2011, the bees did not make much honey. They made enough for themselves – which is, after all, their primary purpose. Because of all the attention we focus on them and giving them living accommodations, we feel we are due some honey as well. And yes, they did give us some – but not what we had become accustomed to. But hey! we were/are in a recession, eh? Income is down…..

Last winter, our bees fared well; we lost only 3 out of 22. An immediate explanation is that we had a mild winter; while that may have been a contributing factor, it does not feel primary to me. My intuition is that it was due to the the health of the bees going into the winter. OK, so why were they healthier? I don’t know – but i felt it. We had a mild and dry fall in 2011. Honey bees do better with dry than wet weather. Further, they gathered a lot of fall honey and pollen. Quite a bit of the pollen came from our own sweet sorghum crop (certified organic).

Another interesting fact: in the fall of 2011, we had 19 regular (Langstroth) hives and 3 top bar ones. Many folks think that the top bar hive is a more friendly way of beekeeping – and more healthy for the bees. However: out of the 3 hives we lost last winter, 2 were top bar and only 1 Langstroth. It is a small sample – but it is our reality. There was no obvious explanation; in fact, one of the top bar hives just dwindled and died during the fall – symptoms were similar to ones associated with colony collapse – the first that we have noted.

Another interesting tidbit: 2012 was the first year in my 30 years of beekeeping in MO that we had no bee swarms: ie. we did not see any of our hives swarming (we don’t always notice), nor did we have any calls from local folks about swarms. Usually, when bees are doing well, they swarm. Our bees did well this year – so what’s up with that??

Back to my last post: i mentioned the new class of systemic seed treatments on seeds used in conventional (chemical) agriculture. I did not name them – it seemed obscure; however, more research has been done & published . This class of these seed treatments are known as neonicotinoids, which disrupt the nervous systems of insects. Among the neonicotinoids, the imidacloprids are a common seed treatment, although, various other names are used; I confess I do not understand the relationship among all of these names/classes/whatever (& maybe I don’t even want to).

When I became aware of the neonicotinoid effects and the fact that conventional corn seed treatment is treated with these, I realized that many of the symptoms we had observing in our bees the last few years matched what other beekeepers were attributing to these seed treatments: eg, slow buildup in the spring, queen failure, etc. I realized that if my neighbors are planting this kind of treated corn seed, that would explain our recent bee problems. So I went to our neighbor and asked to see their corn seed tag – it named various seed treatments. I had to go on the internet to determine that yes, indeed, one of the seed treatment was an imidacloprid (neonicotinoid). I told them of my suspicions re their corn crop negatively affecting our honey bees. I had to explain the theory and that the evidence is not conclusive – but my best guess. They were empathetic; so I ask: “If I can find a corn seed that is not treated with this class of chemicals, would you plant that instead?” (they already know that we are organic). They agreed.

I was ecstatic! This could really help our bees. Then I called the local seed dealers to determine the seed treatments on the corn seed they had for sale (none of them knew anything about neonicotinoids or imidacloprids). However, going to the internet, I noted that ALL the seed treatments included these chemicals (under various names). BUMMER! The only alternative was to get totally untreated corn seed. I knew that was not an option they would consider and so did not request it.

So nothing has changed: they still plant the corn seed and it is within range of our bees. We try to plant crops on our land that will entice our bees to stay at “home” (I imagine our definition of home and theirs is different), eg. buckwheat in mid-summer when the conventional corn is pollinating. But I suspect our bees are still getting pollen from our neighbors’ corn.  So what is different this year? I have no idea; was last fall/winter/this year an aberration? an exception? or is it a trend – could our bees be tuning in to the danger of the neighbors’ corn pollen? After all, living critters adapt to their environment.

Following that train of thought: we are no longer purchasing queens. The conventional wisdom is that beekeepers should purchase queens from queen bee breeders – to keep the gene pool varied and/or buy queens that have been bred for mite resistance. We have done that. It seemed to work – for awhile. But those genetic traits appear to be recessive – ie. they diminish and disappear in a few years. An alternative paradigm: left to themselves, the bees breed and raise their own queens that eventually are more tuned into local environmental conditions (maybe even reject the toxic corn pollen?) A trade off may be that the bees won’t make as much honey (queen breeders select for high honey production). Is it worth it? short term? long term? what is short/long term? Stay tuned….

An Inverted Spring

This is certainly a crazy spring – all over the midwest (& perhaps elsewhere) – mainly that the “normal” weather of March & April were reversed. I kept thinking that I wanted the weather in March to cool down and then in April, I wanted it warmer. So what’s the big deal? It will all even out in the end, right?

Maybe. Some of the ways it is affecting us:

* our fruit trees flowered about a month earlier than usual; at blossom time, we all worried that frost would get all/most of the fruit. It did and didn’t. Frost killed off some of the fruit – notably the saskatoon berries, and some of the pears, but it does not appear to have hurt the rest of our orchard: peaches, cherries, apples. My friend Dan Kelly who has a 5 acre apple orchard reported that the apples on the lower third of his orchard froze – but that’s ok, because otherwise he might have had too much fruit to deal with anyway (abundance can be a hardship). BUT we are still wondering – how will this turn out? will we be harvesting fruit a month earlier? or?

* It was interesting for me to watch our gardeners: due to the very warm March weather, they wanted to get everything going early – but hesitated because we all wondered whether to trust the apparently early spring. Anyway, they did get a lot of the beds prepared and many crops planted early. The cool rainy April has not adversely affected these crops. However, we did have an aphid problem – especially with the seedlings in the greenhouse. The aphids were bad enough that we actually purchased some lady bugs through the mail – first time in my 32 years here. (Although I remember that some 20-30 years ago, I had to replant several fields of sorghum due to aphid pressure. The local county extension agent explained to me that the lady bugs migrate up this way in May-June from the southwest – so when I replanted the crop and the plants were big enough to attract the aphids, the lady bugs had arrived as well and a healthy balance was established).

* bees. We have 20 bee hives – they loved this last winter; it was mild with enough warm days for them to fly out of the hive to “eliminate”. Further, the early spring suited them just fine: they got pollen from the early flowering trees, the queens laid eggs, and they flourished – ie, they built up populations in anticipation of honey flows. Then the weather changed – cooled off: it seemed that the bees were still in the GO GO GO energy cycle. They kept building up population and NOW: strangely, they are running out of honey. what? how did that happen? I called it “building up population” – the reason they build up population is to take advantage of the “honey flow” (usually mid-June to end of August). But that comes at a cost: it takes a lot of pollen, honey, and bee energy to raise more bees. For comparison, think of how much energy we humans put into our progeny: years and years of it. In a beehive, they increase their population from about a thousand in February/March to about 30,000 in July. Yikes! – it takes a lot of resources; in this case, that translates to honey & pollen. Early spring flowers are rich in pollen, not so much nectar. When we visited our bees last week, they had sufficient pollen, but some had very little honey. It bummed me out to the extent that a few days later, I poured some raw organic sugar into 4 hives – if they need to, they can convert the sugar to feed themselves and their brood.

*My psyche. Here I/we are: living the idyllic country life – hilly terrain, plenty of woods, wildflowers, etc all around. there is a certain “natural order” that we assume in our daily/yearly rhythms. BUT now it’s OFF! The cycle is a month early. WAIT – where am I? how did I get here? I had planned a month of slowing down/reading/contemplation/etc etc. Where did that time go? Does this mean the end times are even closer? (NOT!, I am a total skeptic of “end times” thinking….). You get it – it is disorienting for me/us….

*** Note: you may notice that I use I & we interchangeably and/or confusingly. It is because it is “I” that is writing; however, I am a member of a commune – I think that most of us in communes have at least 2 personalities: the individual & the group.

**** feedback welcome

Seasonal Transitions

My posts have been scarce – writer’s blah? winter hibernation?

To summarize: we had a decent crop harvest last year – mostly because we had another unexpectedly warm fall. In fact, we had an average harvest of the sorghum, black & pinto beans (for our own consumption0, as well as buckwheat – for cover crop seed (& bee forage).

Today – Mar 15 – we are clearly in transition to spring – although it is early by the calendar. We have had several days over 70 and it’s supposed to stay that way for the next week. We had a very mild winter – results:

- less ice hockey and cross country skiing

- better for the bees; so far, we have lost only 2 hives (out of 21). This is not entirely due to mild winter, cold weather by itself does not kill honey bee colonies, but it does add stress.

- maple: because of the mild winter, some folks were speculating that the maple sap might not flow this year – but we had an average yield this season – even though it ended about 2 weeks earlier than usual.

Now the grass is GREEN again and the buds on the fruit trees are swelling. The first fruit tree blossoms (apricots) opened up today. We are pruning fruit trees, wrapping up forestry/firewood, and the gardeners have lots of seedlings planted in flats

AND the bees are bringing in bright yellow pollen – they are so excited! I love to share their enthusiasm. We went to visit the bees again today (3/15): some of them are very strong/exuberant, others are quite small and just getting going again after the winter. At this time of year, the bottom line is they are alive! & surviving! We made sure that all hives had laying queens and plenty of pollen and honey. Bees are definitely my favorite nonhuman friends….

The frogs – western chorus frogs & spring peepers – have been serenading us for a week now. I try to imagine what it’s like for them: telling us all IT’S SPRING!, an awesome 24-7 party? an orgy? all of the above? I love their exuberance!

Another Glorious Autumn

Looking back over my posts, I detect a complaining tone – about how weather has a negative impact on our crops. But hey, that is only half of the story: after all, weather is also responsible for us having any kind of crop. Further, I like to be appreciative of good times. This is one of those times.

The heading of this post indicates “Another…”. I am referring to the fact that we had a wonderful fall last year. I reported rather dismal crop yields last year – BUT at least we had a crop; in large part due to having warm fall weather, that allowed the crops to mature – at least enough for a decent harvest.

This year we had another challenging spring; due to wet weather, we could not get our crops planted in a timely manner. So the crops were late and I wondered if they would mature (mostly the sorghum) before frost. I could not help projecting: we had a great fall last year – could it happen again this year, 2 years in a row?. Then, we had drought conditions in August: it stunted the beans and put the sorghum crop on hold (delaying maturing). However, we are now having another great fall – unseasonably warm weather. We are harvesting the sorghum before it is fully mature because it is very labor intensive: we now have a lot of visitor help as well as labor exchangers from our sister communities – Twin Oaks & Acorn in Virginia and East Wind in southern Missouri (and because we are already at the average date of the first killing frost).

At this time, we are about half way through the sorghum harvest (2 weeks into it), but I can tell already that we will have an “average” harvest – due to deliciously warm fall weather.

Thank you Gaia, nature spirits, & the Mysterious Ones for two consecutive glorious autumns!

Small Windows

My reference to windows in this context is a limited time period in the weather allowing for specific farm work; currently, I mean a break in the rainy weather – enough time for the soils to dry so that we can till and plant our field crops.

About 2 months ago, my post read A More Normal Spring – indicating that after 3 years of wet springs, we were having  normal spring weather – ie, the absence of small windows; that turned out to be premature. It is being another incredibly wet spring – with small windows.

In an average year (actually, I’m not sure there is such a thing anymore), all of our spring crops would be planted by now: sorghum, field corn, popcorn, corn for seed for SESE (Southern Exposure Seed Exchange), soybeans, pinto & black beans. Right now only about half of our sorghum crop is planted – and none of the others. Earlier this spring, we had windows when we could have planted these crops but it was too cool for us organic producers. A week ago, we had a 3 day window in which to work down the green manure crop & weeds, and plant. We transplanted/planted about half of our sorghum crop; we could have planted more, but the weather was once again cool and the green manure crop was not all dead yet – so we decided not to plant more. Was it the right choice?

It is still too early to tell – why? Since we practice organic methods, we depend on good soil conditions for seed germination and weed control. In seasons of small windows, we are at a distinct disadvantage compared to our conventional neighbors; eg, in that last 3 day window, they finished all their planting: their seeds are treated with fungicides so that if the weather turns cool, the seeds will not rot and/or be picked apart by fungi. Further, they don’t have green manure crops and so what if there are still weeds in the field when they plant? They will be taken care of by an herbicide spray later. In our case, non-treated  seed germination depends on how wet and/or warm the soils are; eg. even though I planted the sorghum seed a week ago, and some plants have poked above the ground, I am still not sure that the germination will be consistent enough for a crop – or that the crop will not be totally swamped with weeds.

For me, small windows are  similar to niche markets: we often have to make snap decisions with little/no info to guide us. We don’t know until much later whether they were good decisions – depending on weather or changes in the marketplace. How to make these decisions? by the seat of your pants? consult your favorite oracle? prayer? At various times, I’ve done all of these. I have no definitive answers/results.

Small windows in agriculture make for stress. Oh well, I am trying to embrace small windows – I assume there is some kind of lesson to be learned here. Here’s to more lessons in life!

Honey Bees – an Update

FYI: for background of my/our experience with honey bees at Sandhill, see http://www.sandhillfarm.org/beekeeping1.php

In my experience as a farmer, it is with honey bees, that I am most humbled. A prime example is this post.

Here is what I wrote May 1:

My last post on bees – only 7 months ago – was very positive and optimistic. To recap, I was very encouraged/optimistic about our bees last fall. They appeared more vibrant and healthy than in many years. We fantasized about the year ahead: we would build up our colony numbers and have a normal honey harvest.

THEN – this winter, we lost more than half of our colonies (11 out of 20) and currently, several more are struggling for survival. How could this happen? I’ve been keeping bees for 30 years – how could I have totally misjudged this situation?

I don’t have an answer; naturally, I have theories/possible explanations:

1. It’s really the mite problem all over again: for about the last 20 years, the varroa mites have been the main challenge to honey bees in this country – they compromise the immune system of the bees, who are then susceptible to various opportunistic diseases.

2. It’s due to a new class of agricultural chemicals: systemic seed treatments; some beekeepers believe that a new class of systemic seed treatments (eg on corn and other crops) have a devastating effect on honey bees. How so? The theory is that the systemic nature of the seed treatments expresses itself in the entire plant including the pollen – which is collected by bees to feed their brood. The effect of this pollen compromises the development of the immune system and health of the bees. Further, the effect  may not be noted for 6 months or more since the pollen is stored in the hive until it is needed – which may not be until the following spring.

The symptoms described by beekeepers due to #2 above match what we have been experiencing with our hives. I noted this a year ago – but then I could not imagine how seed treatments could influence the bees (see explanation in #2 above). According to the movie, The Vanishing of the Honey Bee, beekeepers in Europe first noted the connection between the new chemicals and effects on their bees and then put pressure on governments to the point where these systemic seed treatments have been banned in France, Germany, & Italy.

NOW:

forward to May 22:  I have a totally different assessment of our bees; for those of you who are beekeepers, this may not be surprising. The energy of a beehive can be totally different from week to week – depending on the queen, weather, nectar/pollen availability, etc. Now the hives are radically different – the bees are vibrant, alive, and bustling. The energy is palpably different – they are purposeful, busy, and hum with a contented sound.

What happened? It’s a wonderment. Some factors: some of the new queens were finally able to go on their mating flights (good weather) and the populations built up. It seems they need a critical mass to make it all work right. And there are a lot of flowers out now: cherry trees, black locust trees, clover, etc. They love being busy.

Part of it is the natural cycle of bees: at this time of year, there is lots of honey & pollen, queens lay thousands of eggs a day, thousands bees hatch every day: workers to gather nectar, pollen, feed brood, etc. more bees, etc etc. all to say, that this is the time of exploding bee populations when the mites simply can’t keep up (that happens later – in August, when the mite population catches up when the bees start sizing down, getting ready for winter.)

Today June 11: the bees continue to do well. We had the bees make some queens and we started new hives with those virgin queens. These queens have now mated and are heading up energetic new hives (all is right in the bee world – for now).

I am in love with the bees again.