Bees – swarming!

As usual, swarming time sneaks up on me and i am surprized. i received a call a week ago from someone about 20 miles away. By the time we got there, it was gone. A few days later, one of our hives swarmed and lit on a small tree – so i was able to capture it. then, another call from total strangers about 15 miles away and another one of our hives swarmed at the same time. Swarming season indeed!

Swarming is the way that honey bees have babies or procreate – make more of themselves. A hive swarms only when it is full of bees and food. The bees decide that it is time to make another hive because there are enough bees and food to do so. they start several new queen cells and prepare to divide themselves. A few days before a new queen is due to hatch, the old queen and perhaps a quarter of the bees leave the hive – this is very high energy. The bees swirl around the front of the hive in a whirlwind (similar to bats emerging from a cave at dusk) gradually lifting higher and building energy and there is a hum/buzz in the air. Witnessing this is very moving. Often they land on a small branch of a tree and gradually settle into a sphere about the size of a basketball with the queen somewhere in the center. Scouts are sent out to search for a new home – if a suitable place is found, they take off for their new home – it could be a hole in a tree, an abandoned farm building, under the eaves of a house in town, etc.

What about the bees back home? they go about their business, raising brood (babies), collecting pollen & nectar. When the new queen hatches, she takes some time getting used to everything, and after a few days to a week, makes her “maiden flight”, mates with several drones and returns to the hive to be the new queen of the hive: lay eggs and set the general tone of the hive.

For beekeepers, swarming is a mixed blessing. On the one hand, it indicates that a hive is vigorous and healthy, on the other, it means that they will produce much less honey.

The photo is of a swarm last Saturday – a rainy day. Usually, the bees would leave to go to another location. This time (due to the rain?) they huddled under the lid of the hive. We brushed them into a box to begin a new hive.

Because we’ve had several swarms, we check all our hives and most have queen cells inside – indicating they are ready to swarm. I am seeing more swarm cells than I can remember in 28 years of beekeeping. I do not know why.

For me, this spring is cool, wet, and dampening of my spirit. In contrast, the bees appear exuberant and are multiplying themselves in anticipation of abundance. GO BEES!

Transplanting sorghum

We transplant sorghum: Wed – 6.5 hours; Thurs – 1 hr in the morning, got rained out and then 2 hours in late afternoon, 1 hour on Fri – rained out again! Saturday morning: we finish – in the rain and mud. it got so muddy we had to keep scraping the mud off the wheels that push the soil back against the plants.

The photo on left is of the transplant flats in the back of the pickup truck – ready to go to the field. The next one is of the crew on the transplanter the last day – it was cold! The next photo is of us in action – moving through the field – taken from behind (on a much warmer day). Jacob is bending down and pushing some of the transplants deeper into the ground. The last photo is of the rows of transplanted sorghum in the field.

We have been wet all spring and transplanting time was no exception. The good news is that the rain is good for the transplants in the ground, the bad news – we were not sure we’d ever get them in the ground.

Transplanting: i drive the tractor and a crew of 4 sit on the transplanter and put the plugs into the machine. I post a schedule: a crew change every 1.5 – 2 hours – at which time, we generally have to come to the yard to get more plants and fill the transplanter with water. For the last few years, the most experienced person on the crew (beside myself) is Renay, now 11. she began transplanting 4-5 years ago and really enjoys it. On the first day of transplanting this year, she signed up for all of the time slots from 9:30 to 5.

Friday: we only get to transplant an hour – but it’s great! at 6 am, with my first coffee, i check NOA on the internet: rain all day. bummer – guess we won’t get to the field today (I don’t count on getting a crew before 9 am); but today, the kitchen is hopping by 7. “hey, can i get a transplanting crew now/soon?” YES – whoopee! we start about 7:30 and within 20 minutes, ominous clouds build up in the west and head our way. we enjoy the visual and audial thrill of the storm building energy. we quicken our pace. it gets really dark as thunder booms & lightning bolts through the dark clouds. at 8:20 it starts raining and we head for home. we are barely in the house before it pours – what a rush!

And i’m a little bummed: a few days ago, the weather forecast was for drier weather and i was hopeful – now they keep upping the chances of rain. It looks like our best chance is get it done Saturday morning – tho the ground is still wet. 4:30 am Saturday: slow rolling thunder – my heart sinks – no more sleep now. BUT no rain; 7am and still no rain. I check the field – still wet, but i think it will work. We head out at 8:30 – just as it begins to drizzle. The rain is light enough that we are able to finish even tho it is muddy. It’s a thrill to finish the transplanting and we celebrate – tho our hands are cold and we are wet. We planted about 70,000 plants in 2.8 acres: 3 plants together every 2′.

It’s a little strange to be transplanting sorghum when the temperatures are in the 50s – sorghum is a hot weather crop – does well on the edges of deserts in Africa.

Soil Fertility

Ever since we humans tilled the soil, we have dealt with maintaining soil fertility; according to some historians, the rise and fall of civilizations is basically the story of how humans treat the soil. When the soil is not taken care of, the culture declines.

In the current paradigm, soil is analyzed for its constituent chemical/mineral properties and then fertilizers, usually chemically derived, are added to address whatever is considered in short supply. Sometimes, we forget that this way of looking at soil and agriculture is only 150 years old.

Those of us with a sustainable and/or organic orientation, generally embrace a more wholistic approach. We see the soil as a living being: it likes being nurtured and abhors abuse – but how to define those terms?

What we do at Sandhill Farm:  we maintain soil fertility by growing crops to feed the soil – usually called green manure and/or cover crops. Common crops we use for this are: in the winter – grains such as wheat/oats with a legume like clover or vetch; during the summer – buckwheat, soybeans, mustard, legumes, etc. We allow these crops to grow to flowering stage and then incorporate them into the earth to feed the soil organisms and build organic matter. In general, we do not leave soil bare – when a crop is harvested, we plant a green manure crop. We also practice crop rotation – planting different crops in successive years to vary what the plants use and/or put back into the soil. This is the heart of our soil fertility program.

We also recycle nutrients: when a crop is harvested, the unharvested part of the plants is put back into the soil. We make compost with our kitchen waste and grow some plants (comfrey, nettles, burdock) to add to compost piles because they add special energy and/or nutrients. The compost is used in our gardens – we do not have enough for the fields. Occasionally, we get some animal manure from neighboring farms, since the only animals we have now are pets and chickens (they are free range, so spread their manure around). In my experience, manure is the best fertilizer – whenever I spread some in the field, the crops there grow lush.

I have spent the last few days incorporating green manure crops in the fields: mechanical cultivation (with tractor) – mostly discing. Those crops are destroyed to feed the soil to grow this year’s crops – sorghum, beans, and mustard. Wheat is left in a few fields for this year’s harvest.

So the cycle continues. Blessed be.

changing face of nature in spring

this is a series of photos taken from the same spot in one week intervals: the one on the left 4/20, the right 4/27, then the next one down on the left 5/4 and the right 5/11. All are photos of one of our garden sites with raised beds – some in the process of being made. Even more dramatic is the difference of one week in the orchard: the photos of the peach blossoms on the left(4/20) and the right(4/27).
Of course, when you live here and see the changes day by day or even during the course of the day – well, sometimes, it’s hard to remember what it looked like a day ago.

This is the beautiful part of life; there is also the darker side – poison ivy; about a week ago, Kevin & I donned coveralls over regular clothes, wore gloves and went on a campaign to control the ivy. The last decade or so, poison ivy has been spreading and invading our homestead here. Some say it is due to global warming. It could be a long term trend – in any case, we are not liking it. Some of us here are very sensitive to it and occasionally have to get an emergency cortisone shot to cope. That’s not fun.  Kevin and I (we  HOPE we are not sensitive to ivy outbreaks) do our perceived community duty to curb the ivy invasion. We pull it up by the roots as much as possible – tho we know it will come back. We concentrate on the areas around the yard where folks walk most often. 5 days later – Kevin has no ivy outbreaks, I have minor rashes on one wrist and my neck. Hope it doesn’t get worse or spread.

Mayday

May 10

We celebrate Sandhill’s 21st annual mayday party – a combination of our anniversary (34th this year) and the seasonal celebration of spring (in pagan traditions, it is a cross-quarter day, known as Beltane – halfway between spring equinox and summer solstice). It is a great time to gather with friends to celebrate the reawakening of nature: the season when leaves on trees are half grown, the grass is lush green, fruit trees blossom, and wildflowers & mushrooms appear in the woods. Our spirits are ready to frolic after winter hibernation. Spring in the midwest this year is being wet and cool and today is no exception – at least the rain holds off until night time. There are about 50 of us and about half of our guests are from neighboring communities Dancing Rabbit & Red Earth Farms.

It is an afternoon & evening party. After lunch, most of us “dress up”; ideas of dressing up vary widely – colorful clothes, men wearing skirts, face painting, nail polish, flower wreaths, etc.  We put out various drinks: homemade root beer, beer, & wine. People arrive and we hang out – visiting and gossiping. Gigi leads the young folks on a treasure hunt – they have a great time and they hit the root beer when it’s over.

The main event is the maypole dance; folks prepared the ribbons and attached them to the pole the day before. we gather at the site and participants grab a ribbon. Apple walks us thru the basic pattern: every other person goes clockwise, and the others counter-clockwise and alternate inside and outside of the next person you meet – thus weaving the ribbons on the pole. A few folks play music and the rest of us dance and weave the ribbons around the pole. I have no idea how or where this tradition began – but it’s a lovely one. After the maypole, we go for a dip in the pond and for most of us, it’s the first one this season. ooooh! it’s chilly!

Time to eat! First, we gather in a large circle and hold hands – to enjoy the feeling of being joined together in a common lifestyle and to celebrate playing together. There are a few announcements, we sing a song, and people introduce the food that they brought. Let’s eat! Most sit in small groups – which are constantly shifting with folks joining, getting more food, and moving on.

Now it’s time for the contra dance. We had planned to do it in our orchard – but it has begun to rain lightly – so we decide to change venue and move to the hayloft of one of our barns. The loft is accessible only by a steep ladder on the wall of the barn – but it is an ideal dance floor. The musicians strike up a tune, several folks call the dances and WHEE! away we go! Everyone who danced reported having a great time.

About the time the dance ended (8 pm?), some folks head down to the sweat lodge. Laird spent some time repairing the sweat lodge in the previous few days and has been tending a fire by the lodge – down by one of our ponds – most of the day. The fire is an open pit to heat up chunks of metal which are then transferred into a pit in the middle of the sweat lodge. After everyone (it holds 8-10) is inside, water is poured over the hot metal to create steam and gradually induce sweating. The idea is to sweat a lot to get rid of the body’s toxins. The sweat lodge in an integral part of many traditions – native Americans, northern Europeans, etc. Our sweats are not particularly ceremonial; however, we do like to chant inside the lodge – partially, so that folks won’t just “chatter” about everyday things and to focus the energy of the group.

Working Wet Soils

5/6

I plant oats in the field. The fields are still too wet to be worked – but in desperation (I am about a month later than my ideal oat planting time) I went to two little fields with tractor and cultivator and disc yesterday to work down and incorporate the wheat/hairy vetch cover crop that was growing to prepare them to plant oats. Apple planted sweet clover in the fields during the time I planted the oats with a mechanical drill – that places seeds into the soil in rows 7” apart.

We also till two fields in preparation for sorghum planting – even though the soil is too wet. Why? The sorghum plants in the flats are about an inch tall already and will be ready to transplant in about 10 days. It takes about 2 weeks for the cover crop (all of our fields are in cover crop) to die and be incorporated by the soil organisms before planting. Since it is constantly wet, I decide to take the risk and start working a few fields – altho I keep having this nagging thought that in 2 weeks I will regret it because likely the soil then will be full of clods and not good for planting; on the other hand, it may be a brilliant move – if weather and soil conditions are propitious, we may be able to transplant in those fields when none other are ready. Ah! The joys of being a farmer – the weather is the final arbiter – it may prove your actions brilliant – OR – “you should know better by now!” (which will it be? Stay tuned……).

I also tilled up a small plot (12’ x 75’) to prepare it for transplanting black currant starts into. When we cleaned up our currant patch last March, I cut a bunch of the prunings into 8” sections and had Michelle plant them in a little bed. Most of them sprouted and are ready to be transplanted. I hope to be able to plant them into their permanent home soon.

Queen Rearing

5/4

Bees. We buy 4 queens from a Mennonite beekeeper, from whom I have been buying queens and small cell foundation for the last few years. We (Apple & I) re-queen 2 of our hives that we have labeled “defensive” (mean!); the energy of the entire hive is determined by the queen’s pheromones and her disposition is largely a matter of genes. How does one “re-queen”? We have to find the old queen and kill her (squish her between my fingers) and then I rub her remains on the cage of the new queen, which we carefully install in the hive. The cage has a candy plug (sugar & honey) in the entrance – the bees have to chew/remove the plug to release the new queen (it usually takes 2-3 days, during which time they get used to her smell/pheromone and accept her as their new matriarch). We also divide 2 hives and introduce one of the new queens to the queen-less divides.

More Rain

5/2

A major thunder & lightning storm last nite – with lots of rain. A mixed blessing: the power/energy unleashed by storms is intoxicating – an energy boost for us all; the plants show it immediately next morning – they are a bright intense green as a result of the nitrogen released by the electricity; BUT, we don’t need any more moisture now – in fact, we’ve had too much all spring; however, since I don’t have a choice, I try to appreciate it. I surmise that the rain is the earth cleansing itself of the poisons we humans are inflicting on her.

Amazingly, we are able to keep up with all the garden work: planting, transplanting, weeding, and mulching – mostly because we have a lot of raised beds and one garden spot has very sandy soil. The peas, potatoes, beets, spinach, carrots, etc are up and we are constantly transplanting: brassicas (kale, collards, broccoli, cauliflower), lettuce, onions, etc. With all the rain, we have a lot less watering to do!