Ah, May brings new lavender spikes. Up until just a couple of weeks ago, the lavender looked like tight green pillows, dotting the fields. Then suddenly, on orchestrated cue, they all started throwing spikes. Here in the picture to the right, you can see the spikes on my Angustifolia. The leaves themselves have taken a softer vibrant green. Much different than the darker winter colors. And the spikes wear closed buds on their tips. You can visualize the purple beauty that is imminent. If you gently touch the leaves, the wonderful scent will rub off on your hands. I think this year will bring a good harvest.
It has been a while since my last post. I must apologize for that. The days are longer now, so I can work until almost 8pm. Sleep comes early after supper. But I think the real reason for the silence has been more trying to find something significant to talk about. While the days are filled with activity, it is usually a lot of smaller, seemingly insignificant tasks. None seem earth shattering. So I have struggled with what to write.
Some days I work on fencing. Yes, I am still working on fencing. It is a lot to do. But reporting on each first down as I finish the next 10 yards hardly seemed worthy of reporting.
Then there are the grasses and vetch. They exploded in April, then dried out in May. Beautiful in a meadow; a lot of work in the lavender field. Day after day moving along the rows with the hoe, pulling vetch from between the lavender spikes one by one. Very tedious but I actually find the work enjoyable. Lots of "alone time" to think about life, the world, the warm wind, or just enjoy the sun on your shoulders. Very relaxing actually. Except for the occasional thought of everything else that needed doing while I tended to my plants. Of course, that is my purpose. The whole family has pitched in, and this has made the work go faster. I am, however ready to move on now.
May is also the month to get a jump on fire abatement. So triming grasses in the meadows, removing the ladder branches from trees, and disposing of the brush piles. Not terribly glamourous.
I take a day and do a nice distillation of mint hydrosol from fresh garden mint. The distilled mint water is very fragrant. My neighbor will be making soap from that.
Twice a week, I must make the rounds to the hives and check on the bees. The established colonies are not fed. They are successfully finding the food they need from the wild flowers of Spring. I was lucky to make one honey harvest in May. Here is Neighbor Steve. He and I are one-third partners in a honey extractor. We are extracting and straining the honey from the wax. The flavour was absolutely divine. Very different than my August harvests which definitely tasted of lavender. The spring harvests had a wonderful wildflower floral aroma. Very distinctive, and very different from the lavender. I actually liked the variety. Local honey is very popular, and I was all sold out in about two weeks. That's okay more hives are ready for harvest. I'll probably get to the next in a week.
Shortly after capturing the wild swarm in April, I traveled up north of Sacramento to pick up some new colonies to restart the hives I lost last year during the summer fires. Here you can see the bee cages in the back of the car. I always like picking up bees. It's a long drive. Coming home, I am occasionally visited by a wandering bee who happened to be clinging to the outside of the cage and decided to take a little survey flight around the car. Hi there!On the long drive through central valley, I got a reminder about the realities of agriculture in California.
Unfortunately there is still widespread pesticide use. The first observation was at 7am, passing through Salinas, the spray helicopters were in the fields spining up. As I drove through Gilroy there were men in white suits walking through fields with hand sprayers. And as I made my way through central valley, the spray planes were a common sight. I caught this picture through the front windshield as I returned from picking up my new 6 legged friends. I couldn't help but speculate how this widespread use of chemicals is affecting the environment. And especially the plight of those little bees I was carrying home. It was quite sobering actually. As I drove, I hoped to myself that I would be able to protect these new colonies from harm and provide them with a safe, chemical free home in which to flourish.Two of these new colonies were for neighbors. So when I arrived home, I delivered them to their new families who had been busy preparing their new homes. At Neighbor Cathy's, her horses had just had two babies. One philly that was a few days old, and a new colt that was born just that day. Even one of her hens had raised a little brood of chicks that were following her around the yard. True Spring.
Then I introduced my new colonies to their new homes too. Here in the picture, you can see a new queen in her cage. I have placed it on a new frame and plugged the opening at the bottom with some honey and a marshmellow. She and her attendants will have eaten her free within a day or two.The new hives require feeding. A LOT of feeding actually. Each hive goes through about a gallon of syrup every two to three days. They've consumed about 150lbs of sugar in the last month.
Today, I attended a community meeting working on a fire safe community plan, and came home to fix some irrigation leaks and give one of the fields a nice long drink. It was about 85 today. Tomorrow I will do some more field work in the morning, then make deliveries in the afternoon to our CSA subscribers. Each task may be small, but they are all part of a dream.
