Episode-252- Food Forest Part 4 of 4

The fourth and final video of the series shows what is growing in the front yard. The guild around the magnolia tree is new this year and contains some perennial plants such as comfrey and hairy vetch that is sure to come back next year with its multitudes of striking purple flowers. I chuckle as I just watched this video from June 29 and how glad I was at the time with the way things were...

Episode-228- Not So Squirrel Proof After All

November 23rd, 2013 The birds in my backyard are loving the new bird feeders. They took to them very quickly and can be observed all day taking their turns gathering food. For the first time in my life I've stopped to observe birds and can now actually recognize a few species. Being a part of Cornell University Lab of Ornithology Project FeederWatch is a great way to become better connected to...

Episode-216- Defend Honey Bee Colony From European Hornets

    Vespa crabro better known as the European hornet is an additional menace for honey bees that I see hovering around my hives. They typically can be seen in my backyard in northern Virginia between the months of July and September. Today's short video shows some of the steps I take to identify the presence or these hornets as well as the defensive and offensive measures in place to prevent...

Episode-211- Fruitless Fall Book Review

Fruitless Fall book review: 1. What I learned The difference between the waggle and tremble dances foragers perform upon their return with goodies from the field. Foragers do waggle dances when recruiting others to a good nectar or pollen or plunder site. The tremble dance is what foragers do when in need of receivers of their bounty. If the two are in competition bees will head butt one another...

Episode-209- Get The Word Out About A World Without Bees

This episode was intended be a review of A World Without Bees but I left my notes elsewhere. So before that one I present A Fruitless Fall  by Rowan Jacobson, which is a play on words much like Silent Spring by Rachel Carson in 1962.   Fruitless Fall is no less foreboding in its depiction of a Fall without the buzz of the honey bee. But first a little more on the plight of the honey bee and...

Episode-208- Where Are The Bees In Colony C – Part 4 – Eggs, Larvae, And Hornets Oh My!

The saga of honey bee hive C continues and the colony struggles along. During today's inspection I saw eggs and larvae which could be reason to believe that the colony had a successful supercedure. There were a few of the large European hornets flying around the hive and that is not good for a young struggling colony. Thus, I added a crude home made robber screen to keep them and other unwelcome...

Episode-207- Backyard Japanese Beetle Battle – Part 2 – The Grape Grapple

The grapple over the grapes continues as my initial lathering of the beetles in Surround WP did not eradicate these evil creatures from my 9 grape plants. This video begins with my attempt to control the beetles with a mixture of neem oil and a little dish soap. The neem oil is to make them slippery and confused while the soap will make them sick in their guts. A few days later I noticed the...

Fun With Past Episode-74- For 7-29-13

Home production is in full swing except for the honey production side of operations there has not been much time other than to record all of the things going on and reaping various harvests. Last night the elderberries were harvested for the first time and I will be making some elderberry jelly soon. Right now the berries are in the freezer for easy stripping from the stems. The battle with...