Category: Interacting with nature

unwelcome sight – upset bee hive

I inspected the bee hive last Sunday and on Tuesday I happened by and quickly glanced at the #1 hive.  I kept on walking and stopped as my mind deciphered the image - the hive had been attacked.  This is the first time it has happened.  The hive cover was on one side, the top super was on the ground, the second super half way off, a frame on the ground and the deep slightly askew on the bottom board. I studied the frames - no honey had been removed.  The bee hive boxes were undamaged and Read more [...]

Fall inspection of the bees

In Cherokee county bees attract a lot of interest.  I attended the beekeepers' monthly meeting last Thursday.  We are fortunate to have a commercial beekeeper as our coach and guru.  I had missed the previous month's meeting where they discussed inspecting for mites and chemical treatments.  The meeting last Thursday was about Fall inspections and feeding. First as to mites - most of the attendees were doing sugar dustings and mite counts -you sprinkle sugar on the bees and they vigorously Read more [...]

Bermudagrass campaign ctd., neighborly gifts

I mentioned a couple posts ago the battle I am having with Bermudagrass.  A few days ago we had really good rains which softened the soil and made it much easier to slowly withdraw the long Bermudagrass shoots.  When the ground is dry the shoots clinging to the lumps of sod are easily broken and they remain in the ground to incubate a new invasion.  I have a rototiller which I hardly ever use now I subscribe to the view that the spinning tines, which move at a set depth in the ground, create a Read more [...]

unintended consequences – Bermudagrass, vegetation in contour ditches

When I began planting my vines and blueberry bushes in the field, Bermudagrass (also known as "devil grass" because it can be an highly aggressive difficult to eradicate weed) was not a problem.  Yes it lurked among the broad bladed tall grasses but it was one of many.  Now it is a major problem and it can thank me! Bermudagrass is a wiry perennial (easy to cut your fingers if you are pulling hard on it), and is low-growing (hence easily checked by taller grasses) and it spreads by above ground Read more [...]

trees and Oregon visit

My interest is moving from annual vegetable crops to tree crops and perennials.  Perhaps the bonanza of pears from my Kieffer, Warren and Giant Korean, plus lots of figs from an old established tree have spurred me on. With the summer heat deterring outdoor activity for much of the day, I have been reading extensively.  Now that "Farmers of Forty Centuries" by F.H King (published 1911)  is behind me, I moved on  to "Tree Crops a Permanent Agriculture" by JR Smith published 1929 (freely downloadable) Read more [...]

new visitors

In the woods I came across losts of fungal growth as a result of the recent rains.  In particular groups of strange flower looking mushrooms - Geastrum means earthstar.  The manual shows them white in color with a note that at maturity the spore case is dark brown.  My visitors are black and I assume I missed their earlier appearance (or my identification may be wrong). The name datura comes from the Hindu dhatura meaning thorn apple. Here is a close up view of the thorn apple Many Read more [...]

a Giant Korean pear surprise

Summer crops have been going well and now I am into the season of the pear.  Though a few setbacks - my assorted cucumber plants delivered the cucumbers - large succulent cucumbers - but the cucumber pickelworm, a small green caterpillar is now resident in almost all of them.  I will probably uproot the plants and start my fall crops in their place and next year keep a vigilant lookout for the larvae which appear at the budding stage. It is nice to be surprised.  I planted four pear trees.  Read more [...]

while walking

I notice the butterflies love the zinnia plantings in the vegetable patch. I have  not lost any more chicken to predators, for which I thank my handsome rooster.  His aggressiveness to some of the chickens seems to have abated.  Here he is with Lady Macbeth, who is still missing feathers from the back of her head, but they now seem on cordial terms. And the rains we have fortunately received have promoted sprinklings of mushrooms throughout the woods and perhaps encouraged the turtles Read more [...]

rethinking contour ditches

I have excavated at least half a dozen contour ditches and, in the months following construction, they performed as advertised.  After heavy rains they dutifully filled with water and, because they are on contour i.e. horizontal, they held the rainwater and allowed it to infiltrate into the soil benefiting the plantings on each side of the ditch (actually the plantings on the side of the contour ditches which adjoined the lower slope did better, probably because there was more topsoil on that side Read more [...]

honey harvesting – mistakes

Yesterday, Sunday, I had my best honey harvest in the two years I have been collecting honey from my bees.  I filled just over 32 pint jars, which equals 4 gallons.  Earlier this year (4/29 and 6/3) I collected 1.2 and 1.4 gallons of honey, so total yield is 6.6 gallons.  If I assume an average weight of 12 lbs per gallon, this is about 80 lbs of honey, which is good going for me.  But my activities were tinged with regrets.  I made some mistakes and regret them. I have two hives.  The one Read more [...]