Choosing a simple life vs. advertising.

I was reading this blog this morning, and found myself thinking about the simple life I choose.

Deep in the comments section of that blog above, I found people questioning why they might feel marginalized by the consumerist society at large.

Well, I have the answer and it isn't pretty.  Advertisers and merchandisers and producers will do everything, ethical or not so ethical, to marginalize those who chose a different path from the one they want.

Examples:

1.  Microsoft vs. Apple advertisements.  Apple makes Microsoft users out to be nerdy geeks, while the Apple user is cool, hip, and "normal".  This kind of advertising makes for a desire to belong in the "in" crowd.

2.  Sex sells.  Always.  Advertisers will figure out ways to sell the most un-sexy stuff with sexy advertising.  Why?  Because it works.  Just the inference that if I use product X, I'll get more sex, makes that product somehow better.  Don't believe me?  Ask yourself why advertisers use airbrushed photos of women in magazine advertisements.

3.  Why are basic society mores devalued by advertisers?  Because if everyone pulled their heads out of the advertising for too long, their products wouldn't sell.  Good, just, people who choose to spend time with friends and loved ones, aren't out shopping, watching movies, consuming music, or surfing the internet and seeing all the other advertising that they have paid for.

I'll stop here. Piling on too much is not good.

Until next time,
Live simply that other's may live.

May the 4th be with you!

A small homage to George Lucas.

Voluntary Simplicity is the way to go.  Sometimes it is difficult hearing folks at work talk about the TV shows they watch, but then I start to tell them what I got accomplished instead of watching TV.  And suddenly, it isn't so difficult anymore.

When I choose my simple lifestyle, I have my small group of things I like to do, and they are done with mindfulness and joy.  And I don't have to feel that I'm deprived, because my life is wrapped up in my family.

Freecycling Plants

If you haven't tried your local Freecycling group, I wholly recommended it!

This week I gave away periwinkle, strawberry plants, asters, sun-chokes, lots of chocolate mint, creeping euonamous,  black-eyed-susans and ornamental grass.

I put the post on Freecycle, and had about 20 people interested.  With the bounty of my gardens I had plenty to give away for everyone who could come by to get it.  I met lots of interesting people, all eager to have free plants.  These are plants that have multiplied so much they were taking over paths, and trying to escape enclosures.  Giving them away gave Mary and I lots of "plant Karma".  Hopefully they grow well for the people that received them.

Some of the Freecyclers were very impressed with our gardens, and wanted to know more about what we are doing.  Mary suggested having a gathering of people who are interested and giving a more in-depth tour.  So we are setting that up too.

Looking forward to sharing more knowledge of what can be done!

It's been a while.

Yep, I've decided to restart the blog. Not sure it will go anywhere, or if anyone will care want to read about my simple life.

I'm still gardening, with amazing results. Some of the trees gave amazing fruits last year, while others didn't. Stink bugs came and feasted, but left us plenty. Harlequin Beetles ate the kale, mustard, collards and horseradish down to the ground.

I harvested 22 butternut squash... I won't plant quite so many of them this year... maybe 2 plants?

The beans didn't do so well, because of the intense heat of the summer, but the fall brought some good ones.

The old shed finally gave up the ghost... I spent most of last week dealing with the wreckage, cutting it up, hauling it off (Thanks Bill!) and sealing the well-built wood deck that was the floor.

The old deck makes a wonderful platform for my 2 top-bar bee hives.

About the bee hives. Two winters ago saw both hives die. I didn't have a go at the hives last summer. So this winter, I built a couple of feeders, and will try again this summer. I missed having bees in the garden!

Anyway, I don't know if it will be daily or a bit more sporadically that I get posts in, but I'll try to keep it going!

spoons

Wooden Spoons, that is.

I've carved several, and I'm getting pretty good at it. Also got lost in facebook. Way too much fun there.

I've been keeping it simple and really just enjoying life.

I spent last weekend taking care of sick family and getting a few garden beds weeded and ready for planting. Did you know that if periwinkle gets away from you it can take over an entire bed in a single summer? I didn't know that. I'll pay much closer attention to it this summer!

Simplicity for Simplicity's Sake

I've been thinking often about my simple life. Some would say that my life isn't simple at all. But I think it is.

I refrain from watching TV, which gives me enormous flexibility in my time.

I cook my own low-fat, plant-based vegetarian meals. Some would say that is way too complicated, but like all things practice makes it easy.

I enjoy working in the garden. There is always something to do. This weekend, I've been mulching leaves that I scavenged from the neighbors leaf raking efforts. They so nicely bag them up, and then I come along and grab up the bags full, and take them home, and run them under my mulching mower. I then spread them over my garden beds about 2 to 4 inches deep. Not hard work, but it does fill the day.

I enjoy exercising with Mary. Our afternoon walks are a joy, even when the weather turns colder. We have a "hand holding" glove specially made so that we can hold hands inside it. Simple joy there.

Other simple joys.
A fire in the fireplace in the autumn chill.

A hot cup of tea to warm me on the inside.

Hot banana bread, fresh from the oven.

Warm waffles with pecans and real maple syrup.

Minestrone soup with home-grown Swiss chard.

A clean kitchen with counters clear so that I can easily cook.

Looking in my love's eyes, and enjoying her smile, a mirror of my own.

Keep it Simple, Silly!

Dinner!

'Shrooms!

I took about a dozen shiitake mushrooms off the log in the kitchen this afternoon, and cut them into thin strips. I then went outside and cut a huge handful of purple basil. Then I peeled lots of garlic cloves.

I wound up with a wonderful mushroom centered meal. I'm serving the concoction over bow-tie noodles and I'm having trouble waiting for Mary to get home. The house smells absolutely wonderful!

I think I've already got my $$$ worth out of the purchase of the spawn for the mushrooms. Wow. If I had to buy all those mushrooms at retail prices, I think it would break me.

It's a shame there isn't anything for vegetarians to eat! (light sarcasm)

Anyhow, enjoy your dinner...

More 'Shrooms!

That log I brought inside over the weekend has decided to fruit! There are mushroom buds coming out in many different places on the log. I have a large clear lawn-and-garden bag draped over the log to provide additional moisture retention. It seems to be working.

I showed Samuel the mushroom buttons coming out and he seemed excited. Miriam was not thrilled, or at least she didn't seem so.

I'm very excited that we'll have fresh 'shrooms for our dinner this week. And if we have too many, I'll dry what we can't use right away. I'll have to let the log rest for a couple of months, then I'll see if I can get it to fruit again.

Not bad for waiting a year to let the fungus grow in the log!Lentinula edodes: Shiitake

I plugged them last year with Lentinula edodes spawn. That's the Latin name for Shiitake mushrooms.

Here is a picture I found on the net that shows what a fruiting log looks like!

Now I lay me down...

To sleep, perchance to dream.

It is autumn now. It wasn't really obvious here until this week. The tulip poplar trees are now turning yellow, and some leaves are falling. The temps have dropped, and the house is cooling down. I've started making lots of soups, chillies, and other dishes that warm you up from the inside.

I've begun to put the gardens to bed. I've pulled the tomato plants and made some changes to the outside.

We had our first shitake mushrooms last week. Mary suggested that I bring one of the logs inside. So I found a large plastic pan (used for concrete mixing) and took a large piece of flat pine and made a stand to hold up the log. The shitake log is now in our family room next to the orchids, so that I can keep an eye on it, if it decides to send out 'shrooms. I'll keep it watered and such to make it really good for the mushrooms. Hopefully we'll get some through the winter. I have 3 other logs outside, and I'll let them do their thing there. Miriam came in while I was getting dinner ready and said, "We have a stump." I told her what it was, and she just shrugged and went back to her room. I guess she thinks her step-father is crazy.

Flannel sheets are on the bed, and Mary and I have gone back to closing all the windows and curtains at night to hold in as much heat as we can.

So the garden goes to sleep, and the trees get ready for their winter's nap. And I have already ordered seeds for spring...

Bowed Psaltery

After wanting one for 3 years...
Wait, let me start at the beginning of this story. It is short, but makes more sense this way. (Clicking the image will increase the size.)

I live in Maryland. We have one of the best Renaissance Festivals around. Anyway, three years ago, my wife and I went to the Maryland Renaissance Festival and enjoyed ourselves very much. It was a wonderful day, and we saw many shows, and heard lots of music we liked.

As Mary and I were walking along, there was one stand where a young lady was playing an instrument that I had never seen, nor heard before. She was pushing a small bow across the metal strings, and it was making a fantastic sound. Very simple, and very pleasing. She let me try it. I was able to rough out a tune in just a couple of minutes. I was hooked. But the price tag at that time was more than my family budget could afford. So I passed.

I went back to the festival last year and heard the instrument again. Again I wanted one, but didn't get it. I wasn't sure that I would actually make time to teach myself to play it.

This year, we went to the festival on opening day, and I decided I wanted that instrument. I discussed the purchase briefly with Mary and she was supportive in this purchase, because I think she wanted to play it too. When we arrived at Unicorn Strings, we played a couple and chose the one pictured above.
So I bought it, with a soft padded case, and two bows (for advanced playing.) It came with a book, extra strings, rosin and a demonstration DVD.

I've been spending some time learning to play some simple tunes on it. I've been having a ball. I love the sounds it makes, and the way the strings resonate when they are played. Very rich sound.

I'm having a bit of a challenge with the music theory, and am teaching myself again how to read music. It is a C instrument. It has 2 1/2 octaves, and has the beautiful wood work on it. I've been looking on the internet for sheet music to old tunes, and figuring out how to make them work on the Psaltery.

How does this purchase fall into the frugal and sustainable areas of my life's philosophy? First the frugal. I've put off the purchase for 3 years. It isn't a survival item, but it does help pass the time, and also allows me to make my own beautiful sounds (I can't sing that well) when I want to. As for the sustainable aspects... I'm helping keep alive a sound from the Elizabethan and earlier times, as well as supporting the artists, woodworkers, and musicians who built the instrument.

APLS Carnival

I took part in this little exercise of definition. It's called a carnival. And APLS sounds so much better than leaf-lickin' tree-hugger!

So link on over and read a bunch of great posts on what others are doing to achieve sustainability and a simpler lifestyle.

Home Made Foods

I guess I'm a bit strange. I have a whole foods, plant based diet. I only rarely eat out. I don't eat meat, or dairy. I cook. I clean, and yes, I do laundry, but I don't like to. Anyway, I am one of those males in America that doesn't show up on the media radar, because I like to do so much stuff that would traditionally be called "women's work". I know, housekeeping and cooking and such really is everyone's work, but I didn't make this up, I only know that I have been labeled "Martha Stewart" and my own wife said I would make a good Mormon wife to someone. But I'm not Mormon... but I digress. You get the idea. I like to do things that are commonly thought of as "keeping house." And one of those things is making muffins and cookies.

Last night we had some guests over and I honored them with my Chocolate Chocolate Chunk Pecan Muffins. These are made with no added oil, and only as much fat as the chocolate chunks and the pecans have. And they are so good, everyone is always surprised to hear that they are vegan.

Anyway, since I made the muffins last night, and they were devoured for desserts and snacks and even breakfast this morning, I decided to make Apple Spice with pecan muffins for dessert tonight. And now the whole house smells like cinnamon and apples.

Oh, and did I mention that I ground the flour for the muffins too?

Sometimes eating good food is a BIG part of that simple life that I'm creating for myself and my family. I think we live a slower paced life than the "rat race" that so many of my coworkers aspire to.

Basic Muffin recipe:

4 cups whole wheat flour (any kind works, I grind mine into pastry-four fineness.)
1 cup rolled oats (quick cook or long cook, doesn't matter)
1/2 to 1 cup sugar, depending on how sweet you like your muffins
2 Table spoons baking powder
5 Table spoons ground flax seed
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup natural apple sauce (can be home made if you want)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract


And to make Chocolate Chocolate Chunk:
Add to basic Muffin recipe above:
5 Table spoons cocoa
1 cup chocolate chunks
1 cup pecans (halves, pieces or ground fine. Optional) You can use any nut you like if you don't have pecans. This is a very forgiving recipe.



Heat oven to 400F.
I use silicone non-stick muffin pans, but if you use metal ones, you will need to grease them somehow. I'll leave that to you.

Combine the dry basic muffin ingredients in the mixer bowl, mix all dry ingredients so they are well mixed. Add wet ingredients, then add enough water just so the batter is wet through, and still thick, but not so thick as bread dough would be. The consistency needs to be loose enough to spoon easily into those muffin pans.

Spoon into muffin pans (this makes 24 muffins!)

Bake the muffins for about 30 minutes, then test to see if it is done with a wooden toothpick.


If you want Apple Cinnamon muffins,
add to the basic muffin recipe
1 chopped apple finely chopped
1 cup pecans (halves, pieces or ground fine. Optional) You can use any nut you like if you don't have pecans. This is a very forgiving recipe.
2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground ginger

Prepare as above muffins

You can try other kinds of fruits - Banana and Nut is good
Pumpkin and spice
And blueberry.
Add or remove spices as you want, until it sounds like it would be good for you.

Good luck.

APLS Carnival

Sustainable Living in my life takes on several forms. I've been on this path for many years now, and each time I get on my bike, turn on a light that has a CFL bulb, eat home grown vegetables or water my plants with water I've harvested from the roof, or flush the toilet with saved shower water, I'm putting into practice my version of sustainable living.

Is it enough? Probably not. Can I do more? Yes. Do I need to do more.... maybe. Will I do more? Eventually.

I wrote up and published a list of "small steps" in my church's newsletter a couple of years ago. It came to 23 different habits or behaviors that could be done to reduce use of resources.

I came to many of those small steps in my pursuit of frugality. Each step seemed to lead to a fork in the road. Taking the path of frugality lead me toward other more sustatinable steps, and so on.

My giving up red meat lead to eventually giving up meat all together. Which lead to eliminating dairy and eggs from my diet. Results - Savings at the grocery store, and less weight on James. Also lower cholesterol, less sinus problems, and reduced seasonal allergies. Also saving the world from having to raise the meat that I would have eaten. Again, each step along the way was small, but had BIG affects on me.

My choosing to build rain barrels wasn't frugal, since it cost money, but turned out saving my family huge amounts of money on water bills during my state's drought last year. Being able to water the vegetables with saved rain water greatly reduced our need for tap water. Same with saving our shower water to flush the toilets. It is a small thing, but adds up to large savings. Imagine if everyone used the water in their house twice before running it down the toilet. How much would that save? Boggles the mind how a small step like that can make such a difference when magnified by thousands, millions, even billions.

Gardening. Ok, so I like to grow things. Handed down from my grandmother honestly. Green thumb and all. Sure it is work, but the rewards are many. I get to be outside. I eat fresh food, sometimes right off the plant! I don't have to mow grass endlessly every week, wasting fuel and breathing fumes, and get to use my labor to take care of things that are beautiful and can be sustain my family too.
The small steps lead me to getting rid of all of the grass in my 1/4 acre lot, and building new top soil where before was depleted clay. I forgot to mention the mental rest and relaxation I get from walking around my garden, and enjoying the naturalness of it? That is my quiet contemplation/meditation right there.

Taking a frugal approach to laundry encouraged me to get a clothesline, and a couple of portable indoor racks to dry clothes on rainy days. Saved bunches of money on drying things, our clothes last longer, and it doesn't take much time at all. Added benefit is that solar clothes drying is carbon negative!

Many of these small steps lead to other things. Some I can't do at the house I'm in, because it would be too expensive to put in a brand new gray water system to water trees. But we are planning on "greening" our next house extensively.

I quit watching TV. Ok, so I watch Le Tour de France and other bike races during the year, but I watch very little TV. I find that I can still live my life without the "boob tube" parading endless consumables to entice me into buying things that I don't really need. I enjoy how much better my life seems, now that I don't care what people are trying to sell me, nor do I care what is "trendy" what the best new gadget is, and what the flavor of the day is at the burger joint down the street. Heck, I don't even know what movies are going to play next week anymore. I get that kind of information from friends and family, who always make sure that I see the movies that are good, and skip the rest. And you know what, I haven't felt like I've missed anything either.

Sustainable living also means making choices about our level of living. How much is enough? What makes you happy? I don't mean the temporary thrill you might get from making a purchase, or that feeling you get from externals. I'm talking about inside. What makes you really happy? I'm sure it isn't driving a big gas guzzling car that will take 5 years to pay off, or living in a house that you can't afford to buy in 30 years. Or watching an entire season of some TV series. But I have found that hosting guests at the house, having a community around me, and also enjoying the people and relationships that are important to me bring me much more happiness than any material goods could ever do. And as a fellow blogger from Australia mentions, taking pride in the small tasks that need to get done gives a sense of accomplishment and self-worth. Even if I'm the only one who recognizes that the job was done.

Sustainability can be done. It is easiest done in small changes, working toward a goal. When shopping for a new appliance, get the one that is the best on energy use, and that you can afford. When buying new clothing, get what you need, not what loads up your closet. So what if you only have 5 days worth of clothes to wear, and people notice that you wear clothes until they, OH HORROR, wear out! Just smile and tell them that it doesn't make sense to throw out perfectly good clothing. Heck, I have some pairs of jeans that have made it into my "gardening and berry picking only" stack. They have too many stains to wear out in public, but work fine as "chore clothes."

Small steps. Small changes, lead to huge differences over time. But you won't see any differences if you close your eyes and wish to make it happen. It takes making a decision to be less of an impact than you were before. Today. Worry about tomorrow then.

Canning - First try!

So I got a canner. Mary had long ago acquired many canning jars that have been resting comfortably in the crawlspace under the house. But now that the garden is in, and the Farmer's Markets are full of beautiful produce, it is time to start preserving some of this local bounty.

So I got a canner. And I had to learn how to use it. I figured it couldn't be all that difficult, just takes some time, right? Right. Lots of time. But I think, like most things, when I get the hang of it, it will take less and less effort to make things happen.

Here is a picture of what I was doing today. (Click on the picture for a larger image)


The first 3 jars are green and wax beans from my garden, picked just before they were canned. The next five jars are corn, then there are 10 jars of blackberry jam, and 7 quart jars of dill pickles. Not bad for the first day's canning. It wasn't too difficult, and I made several trips to the internet to look up recipes and procedures. Here is my favorite canning/preserving website.

Thank you Mary for helping to pick the wild blackberries to go into the jam!

And how does doing my own canning lead to a simple life? It might not, if it isn't something you are passionate about doing. But for me, sustaining my family with healthful, local food is important. And choosing to do things that might at first be a bit more challenging, but less so as you get into the groove actually does make my life much more simple.

Berry Pickin'

While Mary and I were eating dinner, she asked if I would go for a walk with her after. She went on to say that we could go to the berry patch and pick some during our walk. I love her so much! We garbed ourselves in long pants and long sleeve shirts and big hats and went out a-pickin'! All told we hauled in about 96 ounces of berries in a little over an hour.

We have several spots where we pick berries, and we just about cleaned out the place we went this evening. At least until the new ones ripen up.

We came home and added them to our freezer stash.

We went to our local grocery store, and bought pectin so that we can make up some blackberry jam. Since you can easily make jam from frozen berries, this won't be a problem.

Oh, and my pressure canner arrived today! Combined with Mary's large stash of mason jars stored up under the house, we are just about set to preserve lots of food for the winter time!
And the Farmer's Market is tomorrow morning. And Sunday afternoon, if we want to drive all the way over to the mall.

Garden Plenty

I work full time. That is 40 hours per week. 8 hours per day. And I still find time to garden.

I came home from work today, and checked my front yard squash plants. I got 7 good sized summer squashes. (I missed one of the yellow squashes and it grew to about 18 inches long, and 6 inches around. It was too tough to eat, but the worms will like it!)
I went around to the side yard, and harvested a half-basket of beans. Then thought that some steamed Swiss Chard would be good with dinner too, so picked several leaves of it.

I came in the house and cleaned the food, prepared it and had it ready for when my dear Mary got home from visiting a friend. She brought 2 loaves of bread home with her, and we had that with the rest of the veggies.

Oh, and I had chilled beets from the farmer's market as well as sliced cucumbers in vinegar with home grown shallots.

Life is grand when you can eat what you grow yourself.

My garden doesn't provide enough to feed us all year long, but it surely provides lots to eat, and inexpensively also.

My garden is such, that once it gets going, there is very little need for hard work. In fact the hardest thing I did today was pull a few little clumps of crab-grass from a path. It is easier to pull after it gets big enough to notice. :)

Where do I find the time? Well, I don't watch TV much at all, and really enjoy the whole frugal, sustainable thing. It is easy to do, if you only take small steps toward your goal.

Berry Picking

I spent about 2 hours this evening picking berries. Blackberries.

Now let me paint the picture for you. I'm home alone, since Mary is visiting her sister. I have nothing to keep me inside. I dress in long pants and long sleeve shirt, preparing for the thorns and possible poison ivy to come.

The temperature outside was about 97 this evening. I drank lots of water, and put on my cowboy hat to keep the ticks off my head.

I slowly walked about a mile away from the house, over to the grounds of the college where the berry patches are. I enjoyed the silence. But reflecting on it, it wasn't silence. It was a flurry of sounds. Birds, insects, breeze rustling leaves. Frogs in the distance. A car going down the highway. An aircraft on final approach to BWI. All of this I took in, as my attention was drawn to those little and big wild blackberries. What a relaxing way to spend a couple of hours. Oh, and I must have eaten about 2 cups of the berries right off the brambles.

By the way, you have to focus on the berries, as well as keep the very prickery brambles from tearing into your skin as you pluck that juicy berry. My index finger and thumb are still purple from the juices of the over ripe berries. Those are the ones I ate, because they wouldn't have traveled well anyway.

I finished picking the ones I could get to and returned home to the garden. I harvested a zucchini from the plant in the front yard down near the road, and then walked around the house. I nibbled a couple of ripe blueberries from the bushes, and noticed that there are some strawberries ready too. I'll get them tomorrow. I continued to walk around, just enjoying what I see. Tomatoes that are coming on, Swiss chard ready to pick. Salad greens for lots of salad.
What's this? A few beans peaking out from under their leaves. So I went inside and got a basket to catch the few beans. I went around behind the trellis and my jaw dropped at the sight! There were bunches and bunches of beans back there. I could have sworn they weren't there yesterday! Anyway, I set about picking beans, and by the time I was done, there was a whole basket full. I brought it inside to the kitchen, washed, snapped, blanched and froze about a gallon of beans. I kept some aside for tomorrow evenings celebratory meal. Mary returns!

What I notice about this simple life that I've chosen, is that I have time to notice things. I have time to be with people I love. I have time to be with myself, without feeling rushed, or harried or stressed-out. This simple life isn't for everyone, but for me it works extremely well.

Gardens and Ticks

Yes, that's right. Ticks. I guess I had a DEER TICK sometime last week, because when Mary was giving me my haircut, she found a bulls eye rash on my scalp. I went to the Med folks and they gave me a 14 day course of antibiotics to hopefully kill off any Lyme bugs that are trying to take over my systems.

But other than that the garden is doing fantastically well. I have all the salad greens I could want. Fresh strawberries, green beans and swiss chard coming in. The blueberries are coming, but not too many this year. Hopefully more next year. I've planted kale again, so when the fall comes, we'll have greens then too.

I've been to the farmer's market and bought beets, watermelons, other melons and sweet corn. Lots of sweet corn. I froze 10 20 oz tubbies, then transferred the frozen corn to large zip bags. That is easier to store, and I get my tubbies back too.

The freezer is getting full, so... Mary and I are going to be "putting up" more food for the winter, and toward that goal, I've purchased a pressure cooker, and a pressure canner. I'll get the canning process down, and keep things going in small batches, as the farmers and I have produce to spare.

This weekend, I've been eating corn on the cob, fresh steamed beets, and okra and tomatoes. Wow. The food tastes so fresh and good. And is so filling.

Tie Dye!

Mary, Tori and I had a great time Saturday tying clothes up to dye. Let me digress a bit.

I bought a few white shirts at Berea Christmas Country Dance School last year. I thought it would be fun to tie dye them. But it took a while to get all of the things together to do it. Namely lots of fun things to tie dye.
Tori also thought this was a great idea, and created a skirt and 2 pairs of really wild pants. Mary thought Tori's pants were so great that she decided to make a pair for herself. Tori and Mary had a great time last week creating patterns and sewing up the clothes.

So Saturday finally arrived, and the fateful tie dying was to take place. We went at it like most people would, fully engaged, and just enough knowledge to be dangerous! We checked out a few YouTube entries on various tie dye folds, and techniques, and then went to it!

Here are the results drying on the line today. (Click the picture for a LARGER view)


Of note to anyone who wants to do tie dyes - It takes longer than you might think. Set aside plenty of time to do the tying, the dying, and the 8 to 12 hour rest period, then time to rinse out the dyes, and then washing and hanging out the finished project.

It was a lot of fun, and I'm sure you will all see these various clothes around on Tori, Mary and myself.

Bees! In the Top Bar Hives!

I got my BEES!

Mary posted a little bit on her blog, but I want to put some on mine too. I'm quite psyched up about the whole process.

I drove down to overnight with my parents, which conveniently are about halfway to the beekeeper Don in Lula Georgia who keeps Small Cell (SC) bees. SC bees are kept organically, in that they are bred to resist mites and diseases. Also no chemicals are used on the bees like some commercial beekeepers use. The thinking here is that if the strong bees are bred, then you will wind up with stronger strains of bees, the weaker ones having succumbed to disease and such. Also the SC bees are quicker to emerge from their cells, and thus interrupt the varroa mite's reproduction cycle. Fewer mites reproduce, fewer mites to bother my bees.

I contacted Don last year in order to get on the waiting list for the bees. He does a good business, but is at the mercy of the bees, and Georgia is in that drought which makes the bees a bit slow to reproduce. Anyway, long story short, I was able to travel to get the bees.
I arrived at midday, completely surprising Don, because he doesn't check email very often. I had contacted him earlier in the week to remind him I was coming, and he confirmed. I also emailed that morning, but he hadn't logged on.
After introducing ourselves, I was shown around his apiary, and wow, did he have a lot of hives. We were walking around without any protective gear, and the bees completely ignored us. I had the occasional bee bounce off of me, but that was because I was between her and her hive. She just bounced off me, then flew around me to her home.
Don then collected up a couple of package boxes, the shaker funnel, and the scale. Don is extremely good a judging how many pounds of bees are in a box, just by looking. I guess for someone who has been doing this for 50+ years, that gets to be easy! Anyway, we opened hives, and caught 2 queens, and put them in queen cages, then opened other hives and pulled out honey frames, and shook new bees into the package boxes. It was amazing, I had on my veil, but Don didn't even worry about it. I didn't have on gloves, and had bees on my hands, but no stings. Don's SC bees are extremely good natured, and rarely sting.

At one point Don pulled up a capped honey frame, and invited me to taste pure organic honey. I poked my finger into the honeycomb and popped my honey covered finger into my mouth. The honey tasted fantastic! The bees would soon fix any damage I had done to the honeycomb after Don put the frame back in the hive.

Here is a picture of one of the package boxes sitting on my hive. (click pictures for a larger view)

It didn't take long to get them in the top bar hive. You can see that I am working the bees with no gloves on, and still no stings. For those that don't know, 2 pounds of bees is about 2500 bees.

This is me with the smoker. I smoked the bees a little for the first package, but didn't smoke the second package, just to see how docile these bees were. They were a little more agitated than the un-smoked bees, but still gentle.


And here is me holding the queen cage that has a ball of bees on it. I shook the bees off, so that I could open the little cork on the queen candy side, so the bees will eventually free her.



This last picture is after I've shaken the rest of the bees into the hive, and put on the top bars.


I put the lid on after that. Also inside each hive, I put a gallon zip baggie full of about 3 quarts of sugar syrup to feed the bees until they get going on their own. I poked some small holes so the bees could suck out the fluid. I'll get into the hives next week, and remove the empty bags, and check out the hives and see what the girls have been up to. Hopefully by that time, the queens will be out of their cages, and I can remove them.

I've been caught by my kids and wife, outside watching the comings and goings of these silly bees. My dear wife Mary jokes with me, "What do those crazy neighbors do on Sunday afternoons? Sit outside and watch the bees fly around." Well, I can't think of much that is as calming and soothing as watching those girls do their thing.

Mary was so fascinated by the bees that she wanted to look into the hive to see what they have done. She told me that I need to build another hive, and this one should have an observation window that we can open and see what is going on in there. I agree. But I'll put 2 windows, so that when we remove the shutters we can see through the hive and watch what is going on.