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Post by darwinslair on Dec 23, 2009 18:55:32 GMT -5
Bees: - Plant a barrier crop to lift the flight path up over the garden, or you'll be fighting them all summer long. Maybe trellis cukes along the edge of the garden where the hives are at. You DO NOT want to be standing or working in their flight path. Actually, this was one of my favorite morning things: THe bees would mass in a beard on the outside of the hive in the early morning, waiting for the sun to hit them. When it did, you had about 10 minutes where you could just stand there and it was like being in a moving tunnel of bees. I loved it. I did get stung though. I stepped on one in bare feet, and then they got aggressive mid summer this year but we tore the hive apart to check them out and found that the queen had changed color (now we have a dark queen) and guess that meant that they were raising a young queen, and they get a bit protective of that. Once she was producing brood they calmed back down. Tom |
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Post by sandbar on Dec 23, 2009 22:42:58 GMT -5
HEY SANDBAR IS BACK!!!!!!! WELCOME BACK MY FRIEND! I'm just like a bad penny ...  I'm on Christmas break and working on website stuff. Decided to take a real break and wandered in here.  |
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Post by sandbar on Dec 23, 2009 22:52:07 GMT -5
Actually, this was one of my favorite morning things: THe bees would mass in a beard on the outside of the hive in the early morning, waiting for the sun to hit them. When it did, you had about 10 minutes where you could just stand there and it was like being in a moving tunnel of bees. I loved it. You gots mo' guts than me!  Found out in August 2008 that I had developed a deadly allergy to bee venom. Got stung by a yellow jacket (have been stung who-knows-how-many-times by every flying insect in God's creation) and didn't think much about it. Normally yellow jackets just give me a silver-dollar sized welt that itches for about 5 days. This time, I was unconscious in 5 minutes ... out cold. Fortunately, I passed out while riding in the car of a volunteer fireman and we happened to be right at the entrance to the local hospital. When they got me in the trauma center, my systolic blood pressure was 40. Supposed to be 120. Hey, can you find a systolic BP of 40 on this chart? www.vaughns-1-pagers.com/medicine/blood-pressure.htmAnyhow, I now avoid the flight path of bees. Wife and kids wanna swat at them ... I keep telling them that just makes them mad ... hmm ... wifey knows how much my life insurance policy is worth ... kinda like hitting the lottery ... anyhow, I am waiting for the last hive to die out and then I'm going to move them away from the gardens. I primarily keep them for pollination purposes. Honey is just a great side benefit. We use or give away what the hives produce. |
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Post by ozarklady on Dec 23, 2009 22:57:53 GMT -5
My goal for 2010. I have 9 raised beds, I intend to add 3 new raised beds to the existing garden. We are also clearing two other areas, one above the pond and another in a sort of slight depression, that seems to hold soil well. I live in hilly terrain, and flat land is not so flat! But the two new areas are flatter and sunnier than my present garden, and we hope to be able to use a traditional row garden scheme for plants that just don't do so great in raised beds.
I also plan to add an apricot tree, mine is obviously not self fertile. It blooms and sets no fruit, it is old enough, the peach tree that was planted at the same time, bears peaches, when frost doesn't get the blooms.
I am researching many vegetables and grains. My goal overall is to provide 25% of my household food and tobacco needs in 2010. I am going from a hobby gardener, to a more serious gardener. I also have alot of new seeds, since I no longer have old seeds, that I am looking forward to testing. I spent all of 2009 researching seed companies and ordering seeds, they are 2009 seeds, but I ordered them for 2010. They are in the freezer waiting.
I am also making notes of what we eat. What good is it to grow something that you don't eat, unless it is simply for visual, or bee enjoyment. And in my research, I am looking for products for feeding my animals: goats, ducks, geese, chickens, and even stuff to make my own dog food. Have you priced feed lately? With our dollars getting hit with inflation, I keep reminding myself, the prices aren't going up... the dollar is going down. That being the case, the best raise I can give myself, is to not need to use my dollars, by providing all that I can for my family, right here at home!
I don't have bees, but, the elderberries, wild mint, garlic chives and the tobacco were covered with honeybees. The bees were friendly, they landed on me, and I didn't get stung at all. I did watch that I was not harming them either. I do not use pesticides that can harm them, so we seem to get along. I believe that they are wild bees and would love to find where they are living, and bring them home.
Brand new crops for 2010 will be sugar beets, sugar cane, sorghum, and grains like wheat, buckwheat, rye, triticale, oats, etc. I am considering rice, wonder if it would grow in the edge of a pond? I am also looking for a grain mill. So come on guys, help a rookie learn!
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Post by castanea on Dec 23, 2009 23:11:02 GMT -5
Sometimes I do plant stuff I don't eat, or don't eat very much of, just to see how it grows. And sometimes you find out you like things when you grow them yourself. Growing things can also be a goal all by itself. It doesn't neccesarily have to be tied up with eating it.
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Post by darwinslair on Dec 23, 2009 23:14:14 GMT -5
I am allergic to yellow jackets Get a swelling like half a basketball whenever I get hit by one of those. Honeyees dont even raise a welt on me.
Hurt bad though.
Tom
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Post by ozarklady on Dec 23, 2009 23:32:26 GMT -5
You are right Castanea, I don't particularly care for potatoes. But, I grew them, since my family will eat them. I babied them all summer, and added mulch, with every inch they got taller! Finally it was time to harvest them. I had a bumper crop! I was impressed. I cooked some, and took my token, bite.. I mean, I grew it, I am gonna try to eat it! It was nothing like the potatoes at the store... about like the difference in garden fresh tomatoes and the grocers mostly green ones. I found that I do actually like potatoes, I just don't like grocery store potatoes.
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Post by Alan on Dec 25, 2009 13:41:36 GMT -5
Sandbar! Glad to see you back friend!
Ozarklady, nice to have you here, sounds like you have some big plans!
This year we are just extrapolating on last year and getting closer to the ever looming horizen that is near self sustainability.
This year I will be making use of black plastic mulches, 6 mill, 2 year stuff so I can use it for a while and not waste so much. In regards to soil amendments, for the first season ever out of six years I will not have to purchase any compost from neihboring farms, for once it will all have been produced here minus the bat guano that I got from various resources last season. By spring there will be 9 4 x 4 x4 worm bins for harvesting castings and 5 4 x 4 x 4 chicken litter bins for harvesting and 2 4 x 4 x 4 bins of kitchen scrap and humanure compost to harvest.
Regarding plants I will have 3 fields dedicated to finishing up some breeding experiments from the previous five years, I should be able to make the final selections on about 12 or more varieties which I will introduce either through a new seed company here or at least via an existing seed company. The rest of the gardens will supply my family and the farmers market and our market stands, a bit less diversity this year than in previous years, but so few of the things that I'm growing within families will be closely enough related that the diversity will still be outstanding.
Regarding animals, I'm ditching the chickens and going with a huge flock of Turkeys for meat and sale as poults and thanksgiving dinner and jumbo guineas for meat and eggs. To many cross disease issues that COULD come up with maintaining chickens and turkeys together, plus there is a huge demand for heritage turkeys even locally and the price is right, plus I don't mind slaughtering. I'm also going to expand majorly on the meat rabbit business with many new hutches and making some new hybrids here and there.
Of course high on the list is all of the orchard work that we have all been undertaking as kind of a collective subconcious (don't know if any one else noticed that this year) project moving toward more sustainable farms. There will be such a diversity of fruiting trees and shrubs that once they come into bearing no one might ever see me again as I get lost in my eden!
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