Saving Bees, One Swarm at a Time

Every once in a while, you get the satisfaction of doing something right. Today was one of those days. Today actually started a year ago with an idea. An idea on how to live more compatibly with the bees and save these threatened creatures. An idea that was finally realized today. Last year, I worked with a local resort property, Carmel Valley Ranch, to develop a program to relocate bee swarms safely (for the bees AND humans). Today, that program paid off!

Some of you may know me as the founder of Carmel Lavender. And some of you may also know me as the resident beekeeper at Carmel Valley Ranch, a beautiful resort property in Carmel Valley, California. Many years ago, I began working with the Ranch on their lavender fields and apiary. The owners had a wonderful idea to return some of the unused space at the resort to agricultural production. And more, they wanted to involve the guests in the daily activities of managing a farm. And so I planted 7000 lavender plants, and established the Carmel Valley Ranch Apiary. To engage visitors, I began taking guests on tours of the apiary, suiting up, and paying visits to our 60,000 fuzzy friends that spent the day pollinating those lavender plants and making honey. I have developed these tours into the Bee Experience, which has become a signature program for educating guests of the Ranch about the wonders of these fascinating creatures.

You cannot experience bees without experiencing the society in which they live, which is really inseparable from the bee herself. And seldom a visit to the apiary passes without some question and discussion about how colonies replicate: the swarm. One of the magical things about experiencing bees in a setting like Carmel Valley Ranch, is that miracles happen daily. And while I manage an apiary, created by we mortals, the bees themselves are a natural phenomenon, just like the 500 acres that surround them. And this week, while giving a tour, we were blessed with a natural swarm that thundered over the apiary as we were tasting honey.

For those that have never experienced a swarm, it is an amazing thing. Part of a reproductive process that most likely began two weeks earlier. To understand where my thoughts were as the swarm passed overhead, we have to go back a year, to an incident that occured on a similar spring day in May, when a similar swarm visited the Ranch...

On that day, I was not present, and a thunderous cloud of thousands of bees descended on River Ranch, one of the athletic facilities at the resort. I wasn't present that day, however, and the sound that swarms make can be quite intimidating, even though the realities of the swarm are reproductive, and not aggressive. I received a panicked call for assistance. This incident eventually lead to a discussion with principle and General Manager, Dan Korn where we crafted a plan for dealing with future incidents. In many properties, the prevailing protocol would have been to exterminate the bees if they tried to move into the occupied areas or structures. But the bees had become such a valued and respected part of the property, this would be unimaginable. We needed a more enlightened protocol. So we agreed on a plan that included guest education, marking affected areas, and I constructed and deployed swarm boxes, to lure swarms into safe zones that could be relocated to more compatible areas in Carmel Valley.

So I constructed several of these swarm boxes, and deployed them around the property. However, by then, it was late in the season, and the swarms had mostly passed, so I had to wait until Spring.

Well, Spring is definitely here at Carmel Valley Ranch. So when that swarm passed over my head the other day, I knew there was a good chance they were headed for the River Ranch area. After my tour, I drove over and started looking around and asking if anyone had seen "a swarm of bees" anywhere. No sign of them. But yesterday, I received the call, there was a swarm all over the swarm box by the Activity Cottage!

Today I checked the swarm box, and we had some new check ins at the Ranch! You can see a photo to the right with a red arrow pointing to the entrance. If you look closely, you can see some of our new temporary residents arriving home with food for their queen inside.

In fact, I didn't have just one surprise, but TWO! As a matter of course, I checked the other two swarm boxes in the River Ranch area, and there was one other active box, so we had two swarms move in this week. All that remains is to transport the new arrivals to their permanent home in the fields away from the occupied areas. So they'll be moving soon. But if you happen to pass by the activity cottage at River Ranch, look up, you'll see our bees enjoying their temporary stay at Carmel Valley Ranch.

It took a year to see success, but this week we saved two swarms and will be able to relocate them to a suitable location. That makes it all worthwhile.

For more information about Carmel Lavender Apiaries, visit http://www.carmellavender.com/apiary.htm or for more information about Carmel Valley Ranch Bee Experience, visit http://www.carmelvalleyranch.com/bee_experience.aspx

Happy Thanksgiving!

Well, it's Thanksgiving. Very interesting year. I was out in the garden the other day marveling at the tomatoes. Almost December, and still growing. Of course, the vigor has been much subdued this year. Who knows, maybe they still grow on Christmas? I hope not actually. It would not be natural. The bees were certainly taking advantage of the 75 degree weather today. See them fly!

It's been awhile since my last post here. I caught a slight cold last week. Aster a couple of days, I decided to raid the hives for my remedy. Here you can see a nice chunk of honey and pollen laden comb I scraped out of one of my Carniolan colonies the other day. Chewing on it as I write. Well my cold is gone. Coincidence or bee medicine? You tell me.

Of course that does not fully explain the gap in posts. Actually, I was trying out this new Facebook thing. Posting to my page at http://www.facebook.com/CarmelLavenderFarm link. Nice, but I think I prefer the free form flow of the blog over the sound bite format of Facebook. Must everything be reduced to a two sentence sound bite? I mean seriously, how can any meaningful dialog happen like that!

Well, I am thankful today my cold is gone. I think this natural therapeutic qualities may be one of the reasons I've sold so much beeswax hand balm this past year. The honey and wax are gentle on the throat, and the balms sooth the hands. I love that you can make something so natural from these three simple locally produced ingredients: olive oil, wax, and lavender.

You can purchase this in my online shop if you wish at http://www.carmellavender.com/shoppe.htm

Today is the last day of my shop local campaign. Enter coupon shoplocalforholidays and get 10% off. Someone asked why the deadline of today? Well I have a new field to prep next year. Any purchases up to today I can plan on for my new field. After that, well, I'll have to wait another year... And so you! ;)

Happy Thanksgiving!

Foraging For Bees

Today was a busy bee day in Carmel Valley. Last night I was previewing the film 'Vanishing of the Bees' for a screening this weekend. Today, I had two calls to check swarms in Carmel Valley. With all of the problems bees have been experiencing, a two swarm day is a good bee day for sure.

In case you are wondering, a swarm is the way a colony reproduces itself. So lots of swarms mean lots of healthy expanding bee colonies. Usually swarms mean there will be two colonies where there was only one before. So... this is good. Really good.

Call #1

Look at that beautiful ball of bees on the eve of this log house. I feel it is a privledge to be able to climb a ladder and get your face 12 inches away. There is a beautiful scent when they swarm like this. A sweet scent. Absolutely amazing.

Call #2

Okay, this one is going to take some thinking. The bees landed on a branch high in a live oak tree. But the branch was dead. So it broke off, and the bees are all over the ground now. There was a primary swarm ball, which I was able to pick up and put into a box. But there are hundreds of bees dispersed on the ground.

After spending 30 minutes covering up the clumps with cardboard until they climbed on-board and then brushing them into a box, I had an idea! I got a bigger box, put the box with the primary swarm ball into it, and just wait for the bees to climb on-board. Here kitty... kitty...!

Success, look how they all just climbed into the box by themselves. Good bees. Here's a treat.

Finally, back at the farm in the evening, I set up the new hive boxes which are to bee their new home. The first swarm was mighty big. So this will be a strong hive. Assuming they don't all fly back to that log home eve. It is about 1.9 miles away, so just inside their flight zone. Let's see if they stay put. I put a large box of cane syrup on top to entice them to stay put. The second swarm was very small, maybe no more than 2000 bees. Time will tell.

But if they do fly off, at least they will be out here, in the serenity of Tassajara. Free to find a new home in a beautiful white oak.

Which is the bee?

In the bees I find a mirror.

Which is the bee? The individual or the colony? Watch them perform their tasks, there is no self. To separate the individual from the whole is death. Each bee bears the scent that defines the organism. The colony.

As with us.

I started farming with a vision of independence. But as with life, I learned the opposite. The Earth herself taught me that independence is pursuit for Ego. For perfect harmony, we must be tied to those around us, as well as to the Earth. That was clear with the first stroke of my shovel against the ground, when it bounced back at me laughing. My will too is strong, but I am nothing without the whole.

And yet, the closer I get to Mother Earth, the less familiar the scent I wear. Until it is unrecognizable. And the more comfortable I become with the scent, the further I am pulled from the Earth. Dissonant dilemma that is my condition.

I love to watch the bees. Each seem to possess a profound belonging. A wisdom.

One bee cannot change the colony. But a bee removed, and placed in a new colony, can change the bee. She takes a new scent. A new identity, and becomes a part of a new whole. But they must be protected during this process, or the others will destroy them.

Humans are not bees. In us, are belief and creed. Yet we must wear the scent of our colony. And if it is not in harmony with our self, we must live with the painful awareness of isolation.

A wish burns, to someday wear a scent in harmony with the individual self. With the Earth.

A bliss of true belonging as yet not found.

Ice-ya!

This morning I got up at 7am to check if things dried out. It was 30 degrees, and all was frozen. All went much smoother today! So I got my ice-nine after all. And it didn't freeze the oceans!

The Cat's Cradle

Got ice-nine?

I could have used some today. I was trying to get a three day irrigation project completed today, but the rain last night turned everything into a slurry.

Even the tracks on this baby were getting gummed up. I can see why the military in Kurt Vonnegut's novel wanted to find something to solidify the mud. If only it didn't freeze the oceans!

I tried trenching the cave-ins by hand, but the pea soup that used to be earth just stuck to the shovel and turned them into 50 lb weights on poles.

As if the hip deep mud weren't enough, I think it was the hail that finally caused me to call it a day. The rain was supposed to peter out by the afternoon. But it's after 2 and still raining sideways.

Sigh... Wish I didn't have anything to get DONE today!

These last few weeks, Carmel Lavender has been working hard bringing more lavender to Carmel Valley.

Here in the photo is foreman Alfonso, Jose, Nick, Jay, Nico, Charlie, and Eliodoro standing in the new median field. In a couple of months the hundreds of plants will begin spiking lavender turning this avenue into a purple dream.

This field was prepped by ripping to a depth of 2 feet, which brought up a lot of the roots. And then disked. But each plant had to be hand placed. Drip irrigation lines were run down the rows subsequently. But lately irrigation has not been necessary. Mother nature has been taking care of that quite handily.

Hive Building Time

This weekend, I am building bee hives. More bees are coming in about a week. So I have to get their homes assembled and painted before they arrive. The weather is making this challenging however. This spring has been fairly wet for this area. That's great for the plants. But not so great if you have things to get done outside. For example building and painting bee hives.

So the first thing I did was try to make a covered area where I can work in a light rain. I got a cotton drop cloth. Cotton, not plastic. Cotton isn't waterproof, but hopefully will shed a light rain. Unfortunately those plastic tarps are an ecological disaster. They don't last forever. Then they start flaking into little pieces that wind up all over the planet. Nope. I'll try my luck with cotton. I hung this out behind my lavender workshop and leveled the area a bit. Then I set up two 2x6 rails on which to set the newly assembled hives for painting.

In the picture above, you can see me putting one of the hive super boxes together. They are already cut. I just need to glue the corners, and then put screws to hold them firm. Once they are all built, I stack them on the rails for painting along with the bottom boards, lids, and stands. Here I am enjoying my new outdoor hive workshop!

When I finish assembling, I paint! Unfortunately the sprinkling has started. Cold weather is not the best to paint in. But I suppose the show must go on. At this point, it is still cold enough I wish I could wait an extra week for things to warm up. Would be better for the bees too. Nice for them to have good weather when they start their new colony. Of course, the rain should mean there will be plenty of flowers for them to forage from when it does warm up.

Everything has it's benefits and nuisances. I guess there is something to be said for having a really big barn! Maybe someday.

Moving Day for Chicken

The wheat I planted in the fall is finally starting to look substantial. I wish it were a little thicker actually, but the chickens have been HUNGRY! I suppose with the cold air they need their calories. Well I have had the chicken tractor parked for a while waiting for the wheat to grow thicker. But I felt this week it was time to move, and let the chix graze on the new wheat grass.

If you are new to my blog and haven't read my previous stories about my chickens, let me provide a brief overview. My chickens live in a mobile chicken coop that you can see to the right on the far right of the photo. The coop protects them from the elements, and just as important, PREDATORS! However it is important for the hens to be able to get to the ground. To eat growing plants and bugs in the soil. So the purple beast to the left in the photo is the chicken tractor that attaches to the coop. These can be moved as the chickens eat their way through the ground beneath.

I move each part, the chicken tractor and the coop, separately. They are detached by removing the bridge tunnel. Then the chicken tractor is jacked up and the wheels deployed. The coop is just pulled. Both by tractor. Once they are moved and aligned, the bridge is reattached and the chickens let loose.

Here you can see the happy chickens foraging on the newly available grass. They absolutely LOVE fresh ground. They had so much fun eating the plants and rolling in the fresh earth. I came back about mid-day to find a dozen hens taking dirt baths in the fresh soil. They sure looked happy!

I hope all of this helps their egg production. With the cold weather, they have been a little slow these past couple of weeks. People want eggs ladies! Try not to rest all day ;)

Lavender Vanilla Custard Pie

Lavender is a wonderful herb to cook with. Many people do not think of food when they think of lavender. But when used properly, it can be a very nice herb.

One of my most favorite combinations in lavender and vanilla. These two combine on the palate in such a way that the result is greater than the sum of the two flavors. Most amazing.

Today Carolyn, a friend and star of the video Distilling Lavender Essential Oil (click here to watch video) had her annual pie party. Last year I brought my other lavender-vanilla favorite: ice cream. But it is a pie party after all. So I decided to think about putting lavender into a pie. My inspiration came from a lavender vanilla creme burlee that I have heard about, but never tried. I thought, a lavender-vanilla custard pie would be a wonderful variation.

The recipe is simple. I made my tried and true crust using whole wheat white flower and organic butter for shortening. Then for the custard, it was: 3 eggs (I used eggs from my hens here on the farm), 3/4 cup of sugar, 1/4 tsp salt, and 2 1/2 cups cream, 8oz of cream cheese, a table spoon of vanilla, and of course about a half cup of culinary lavender buds (courtesy of Carmel Lavender). First I scalded the milk. While I was heating it, I allowed the lavender buds to soak in a strainer on top. This makes a lavender cream 'tea'. I allowed about 10 minutes on the stove to keep the cream hot, stirring frequently to keep it from burning, and pressing the lavender from time to time. I also put the cream cheese into the milk to let it melt. Then I mixed the sugar and salt, beat the eggs, and added the eggs to the sugar salt. Next I stirred into the sugar/salt/egg mixture the vanilla. Finally I added the lavender cream mixture and beat with an electric beater. This was poured into the pie shells and baked for about 45 minutes, checking frequently after about 20 minutes.

For my first lavender-vanilla custard pie, it came out great! I took 3rd place in the non-fruit category of the pie contest! I was actually honored. There were almost 40 pies. And they were all quite wonderful. Some were in fact amazing.

Take a look at this pie that took second in the category. This was a honey chiffon pie with an apricot marmalade glaze. The crust was a no-bake crust made from vanilla wafer cookies. They hand made each of the little bees out of dark and white chocolate with almond slivers for the wings. They made the honey comb pattern by pressing and freezing bubble wrap into the custard. Quite creative. And I must admit, it tasted fabulous. There is Wendy and Pam receiving their well deserved 2nd place prize from Carolyn.

Since I raise bees, I particularly liked this one :)

First place was a chocolate caramel macadamia nut pie that was quite intense. It is really hard to top that combination!

In the end, Chef Chaz from the Big Sur River Inn judged best of show. This went to a French apple with a walnut crust.

Now the hard part, trying to sleep after tasting so many pies! I must say, half way through the tasting, I thought I'd pass out from the sugar rush :) Night now!

Variety Includes Baked Bread

CSA Variety Now Includes Yummy Baked Bread!

The Co-op continues to look for new producing members that compliment the variety offered in our CSA Variety Box.

This year, we are pleased to welcome Roxana, owner and baker at the local Carmel Valley Wild Goose Café and Bakery.

Today’s box includes a one-pound loaf, baked fresh this morning in her Carmel Valley ovens. It is a whole wheat bread that includes multiple grains wheat, oats, and millet and flax seed. Roxana sprouts her own spelt and wheat and adds these healthy ingredients to her bread as well.

The Wild Goose Café and Bakery is located at 18 East Carmel Valley Road in Carmel Valley Village.

If you decide to make a trip ‘downtown’ you find other delicious baked goods, coffees and teas.I stopped by yesterday to say hello, and got to sample some of her rye bread, which was fabulous. A couple of weeks ago, I was treated to her home-made panna cotta. Oh my! Drizzled in berry sauce. It was so delicious, I could hardly see while I was eating it! That flavor is something I will remember in my final moments on Earth :)

She also has gluten free options including an amazing blueberry muffin made with rice flour, yogurt, and egg whites, and an entirely vegan rice flour banana bread.

Earlier this year, Roxana experimented with some of this year’s culinary lavender crop and made some lavender shortbreads! I am looking forward to sharing these with you through your Carmel Valley Co-op Variety Box in the future.If you are not a Carmel Valley Co-op Variety CSA member, please go to www.carmelvalleycoop.org and sign-up!

Variety CSA Begins Today!

The Carmel Valley Co-op Variety CSA begins today, February 3rd! Sign-up info is on the www.carmelvalleycoop.org website.

The Variety CSA was introduced last year. The idea is to combine the convenience of a locally produced food CSA with the variety offered from different farms in the area.

One of the favorite features of the Variety CSA are fresh eggs. No, those aren't dyed Easter eggs you see in the photo. Those are the natural colors. Nice browns, brown speckled, blue, green, tan, white. Who says eggs have to be white or brown?

Here at Carmel Lavender, I maintain one of the flocks that supplies the eggs for the Variety CSA. I keep a broad assortment of heritage hens that lay those beautifully colored eggs you see above.

This little lady, the black, grey, and white striped bird is one of those hens. She is a barred rock hen. She lays wonderful brown eggs. I also have Rhode Island Reds, Black Cornish, Buff Orpingtons, Auracanas, and a few other breeds. Each breed has different personalities. The black cornish like to have their backs scratched. The Rhode Island reds do too, to a lesser extend. The auracanas don't tend to like to be handled as much, and stay away from people. In fact, they tend to stay away from the other hens too. And the barred rocks have a nice temperament, but are not quite as forward as the black cornish hens are.

Here you can see two buff orpington roosters. No, they don't wait until sunrise to start crowing. Usually the noise begins around 3 or 4 in the morning. I actually like the sound. Sometimes I wake up partially, but it is kinda nice to feel the life around the farm, even while you sleep. They aren't too close to the house, or it might be more disturbing. I suppose roosters in close urban quarters would require enthusiastic neighbors!

The roosters protect the hens. That is their job. Any time you handle a hen, you can see a nervous rooster standing by, ready to step in if needed. They also keep the eggs fertile. I keep enough roosters to ensure fertile eggs.

The chickens have a pretty diverse diet. I feed them the vegetarian kitchen scraps. They love that. It does mean a lot less for my compost heap though. But the chicken manure goes into the compost instead. I also give them a grain based chicken feed. And important in my farm plan is to let them forage on the grasses and wild plants. Here you can see a field I sowed with wheat a few months ago. The wheat is starting to get higher. When it is ready, I will let the chickens forage on this to supplement their diets.

These days, while the wheat isn't quite ready, I am bringing the chickens the grasses and weeds I pull from my home vegetable garden. I just load up the wheel barrow every morning, and then dump it into the tractor. The hens go to work! They can devour an entire load in one or two days. They sure seem to have fun picking through the pile to find the tastiest weeds!

I hope you enjoyed reading about the hens. And if you are interested in eggs, please go to the website at www.carmelvalleycoop.org and sign up for the Variety CSA! In addition to eggs, you enjoy fresh organic vegetables, lavender, essential oils, soaps, and delicious olive oil. Provided by Catalan Family Farms, Carmel Lavender, Larsen Family Farms, and Carmel Valley Olive Company.

Staking a Field

In the last article I talked about the baby lavender plants, all cozy and warm in their wood stove heated nursery just a few mile north. January is well underway, and it's time to start thinking about preparing a home for the children. Last week I agreed to come out today and start staking out the new fields... with none other than lavender stakes of course! But that was before I saw the weather. I woke up this morning, and yikes! She was really letting loose. I put on my hat and jacket to feed the chickens carrying an empty bucket with me. When I arrived at the coop, the bucket was full. That was how hard it was raining. I broke out my oil slicker and rubber boots for what promised to be a WET day!

The new field is going to be integrated into a functional landscape. And the terrain is not completely flat. So the field planning is a bit more complex than a simple rectangle with north-south running rows and irrigation. The first order of business is to determine exactly where the lavender are going to be planted. In this case, the landscape design company has provided me with some CAD renderings of the fields, but it is important to verify exactly where the fields are going to be, and take measurements for developing the field and irrigation plans.

Now, I have friends who's family farm cattle, corn, and wheat in Kansas. And they to a lot of their planning via satellite. In fact, it's amazing how much is done these days with technology. All those millions of dollars spent during the cold war to try to see where the nuclear missiles were going, are now helping farmers plan and manage their crops. Real whiz-bang Buck Rogers stuff. I suppose someone is still looking out for the missiles, but it's nice to know technology is being used for something constructive nowadays.

But there is nothing better than working right on the ground. At least for me. So I broke out my really high-tech farming gear. Satellites ain't got nothing on a good measuring wheel and compass! They might not be fancy pants, but they git er done.

The work will be done in two stages. First, the field measurements. Second I'll draft up a set of field plans. Since I'm a visually oriented person, I like to have a map with me in the field while I'm taking the measurements. So I sat down this morning at the kitchen table with the CAD renderings and drew up a crude field map. I'll use this as reference. Then I hopped in the car and drove down to the site.

Now, remember the rain. Yeah, well, I'm not a duck. More importantly, without the proper writing instruments and laminated maps, trying to take notes in the middle of a biblical deluge is kinda tricky. So I have to admit, I sneaked a peak on the satellite, even though I was trying to be so Luddite. I could see that the front coming in off the ocean to the west was petering out. My estimates, I could go now and get soaked. Or wait an hour and get there during a break in the rain. Excellent. That was just the excuse to take one more cup of tea.

When I arrived, the storm tail was just passing. So I waited 10 minutes in the car for it to pass, and then got out and started my work. Using the map as reference, I picked obvious landmarks, labeled the map and took measurements. Namely distances and directions using the measuring wheel and compass. I recorded all of these for each field area on the field map.

The nice thing about being on the ground like this when marking the field is that you get a real feel for the soil and terrain. You can make adjustments for tree shade, drainage (helpful to notice when it has just rained!), buried utility boxes and sewers, as well as slope. Things that are just not present, or more difficult to feel on the satellite images. And more importantly, you get to be outside on a beautiful (albeit wet) day, wind in your face, enjoying the deer meandering by, birds, turkeys, cool mushrooms, and squirrels. Well, maybe not the squirrels (see my previous post on ground squirrels here). But you get the picture. Life couldn't be better.

Once the data was collected, I packed up the gear and headed home. Even with the rain gear, I got a bit wet. So I started a fire, took off my wet socks, and warmed up with another cup of tea. Rain started again. That's okay, we can use it.

Baby Lavender

Last month, I took a trip up to Watsonville to visit my new babies. Lavender babies of course.

This year I am partnering with a local resort to plant a brand new lavender field in Carmel Valley. This is an amazing opportunity. Not only is the lavender going to be absolutely stunning, because the field will be located on a property with regular visitors, it is going to provide a real hands-on way to share the amazing experience of growing and distilling lavender with the guests. While I enjoy sharing what I do through the website and blogs, I am looking forward to doing the same work face to face.

Well, back to the babies. This is going to be a substantial field. Several thousand plants. Here you can see some of the little plants in the greenhouse, where they will grow before they are taken into the world and planted out.

This close-up taken in December shows the baby plants in the pots where they will develop their roots. This type of lavender (grosso) is propagated through cuttings. Cuttings are taken from the mother plant, and placed in a special soil mixture, where they form roots. Once the cutting has its first roots, it is now a baby plant. These plants are then transplanted into the pots you see them in the photo. Here in these pots, they will be kept warm in a greenhouse all winter so they can develop more extensive root systems and be ready to grow big and strong in the spring.

To assure they grow to their full potential, the greenhouse is kept

warm. Obviously the sun does a lot of the work with the clear canopy of the green house. Soil activity also contributes to the warms. And this greenhouse has an added helper, wood burning stoves. Here in this photo, you can see one of the wood burning stoves used to heat the greenhouse on the colder winter days. Pretty low tech, but it does the job. Standing next to the stove, I was actually starting to sweat!

It will be fun to check back in a month and see how our babies are doing.

Winter Bee Check

Today I made a quick winter check of the bees.

Usually in the winter, I don't worry too much about the bees. Hopefully if things were done properly in the fall, they would have stored enough food to survive. In the cold weather, they are usually balled up in the hive, and I don't like to disturb them.

Yesterday I heard from a neighbor that she had lost her hive already. The hive autopsy sounded like starvation, but there was still frames with honey in the hive. And the temperatures have been quite mild, save one or two weeks in December. So I went and sat by some of my hives. It was kind of chilly yesterday, and I did see a few bees, but not many. Today it was warmer, so I decided to take another look.

There was much more activity today. Here you can see one of the workers entering the hive. And she's FULLY LOADED. Wow. Seems to be finding plenty to eat. Look at the pollen on her hind legs.


It surprised me to see so much pollen. So I made a quick survey of the surrounding area. There were indeed flowers on many of the plants. The rosemary had beautiful blue blossoms. And the bees seemed to make right for it. Here you can see one of the little ladies drinking from a nearby bush.

The fava planted back in October is also blossoming. There were bees foraging on them as well.

A couple of hives did seem to have reduced activity, compared to the others. I think those might require a closer look. I may check back tomorrow, but if they didn't make it, there really isn't much that can be done until springtime anyhow. So I suppose I might as well let them bee.

Bees are sensitive creatures. It occurs to me that I am going to have to get used to losing hives (though it still makes my heart sink) and follow an annual plan that restores the lost colonies on a regular basis. The troubles do make the honey difficult and costly. But when you taste it, I think you agree it is worth the effort.

Thanksgiving Early

Today was a special day. One for which I have been preparing for some time. Living on a small farm is about getting intimate with the Earth. To build a connection. Or rather to live the connection to the Earth explicitly. Modern life has in many ways removed us from a basic truth, that we are bound to her. Our life comes from her soil, and from her water, and from her air. Modern life brings us food in a store, water in plastic bottles, and yes, I have even seen "oxygen bars" in the city where air comes in cans too. This world is an illusion. It is not real.

Meet Hec-ace. He is in the photo to the right. Hec-ace blessed our farm today with a visit. When he arrived, he said I was blessed for I was living a dream. I agree. And in some ways, the modern life is the real dream, and this is reality. Where life and strength come from the Earth, not from a plastic box.

Hec-ace (which means Mountain Lion) came today to bless the farm and the people here with a saging ceremony. Just, as he describes, to say "Thank you" to the Earth and the people for giving us the gifts that we need to live. He burned sage, and purified everyone, because as he says, you cannot purify if you are not pure yourself. And then he said his thank you. We turned to the East, and thanked the rising sun on which Life depends. We followed to the South, and to the West, and finally the North expressing thanks for all the things we often take for granted: the water we must have to drink and for our crops, and the air, and the birds, and yes, the insects. They are all part of the system that brings us strength.

The ceremony reaffirms my commitment to using the land naturally, without chemicals and without pesticides. To respect the systems that have been here a thousand years before my short life, and will be here a thousand more after I leave. To draw strength from the land and take care of it, but not to exploit it. I like to think of it as living like the honey bee: to take what is needed, harm nothing, and leave the world better than before.

Responding to Hec-ace's words, the winter fava I planted a few weeks ago sprout tall now. Well, his words, and the light rain we had just last night. But that is what he said. Just as the Rolling Stones sing: you get what you need. We needed rain. This is true with faith.

Today I was doubly blessed. For after the blessing, there was a Holiday Faire amongst the olive trees in a grove on Carmel Valley Road. It was a wonderful event. What better life than to share the produce of the Earth with people who are happy?

Today, people celebrated. Us on Lavender Hill, and people in the olive groves. They enjoyed some lavender bread samples I had made earlier this morning. They enjoyed our essential oils grown and distilled right here on the farm. And they enjoyed our soaps. Interestingly today, they especially enjoyed our massage oil. A coconut oil base mixed with Carmel Lavender essential oil.

The perfect antidote for the tensions of our modern world.

Peace to you all this season.

Another Day in Life

Here is a little photo journal of today. Just one day in life on Lavender Hill.

7:00am - Time to rise. Days starting a bit later now. Day breaks around 7ish. Today after my morning tea, I was looking at all those zucchini that on the table and thought I would make a nice zucchini bread. So before I started my outdoor work, I mixed up some bread dough and got that into the oven. For the rest of the day, the house smelled like baking cinnamon. Mmmm.

8:00 - Outside making the rounds. First stop was the Chicken coop. I need to let the little ladies out into the run so they can pick at the ground. Every evening they get locked up in the coop for their own protection. We have had fox and skunk making the rounds lately and I don't want any "encounters". So when dusk falls, and the hens go inside to roost, I close the door.

Here in the picture, is one of the Araucana hens making her way down the gangway to the tractor run.

Next stop was the vegetable garden. I wanted to check on the veggies. Figure out "what's for dinner" tonight! Lots of summer veggies still in production. I hope it lasts though. Last year we didn't have a freeze until late November. However last night got down to 37. Burrr. We'll see how much longer we can go w/o a frost.

This vegetable collage shows some of the delicious food growing. Wonderful zucchini (we saw some of her sisters in the previous photos of the bread!), peppers, tomatoes, and pumpkin. You can see the photo of the grapes that the birds have ruined them. The peck them, and then they shrivel up into raisins. These are Cabernet grapes, so lots of seeds. You know I just had an idea while writing. The Chickens absolutely LOVE grapes. I wonder how they would like picking at these shriveled vines? Tomorrow I will harvest and throw into the coop. We'll see if they like these!

Looking at the mercury, I am a bit sorrowful to think that soon the summer produce will be gone. But every season brings rebirth. These last few weeks I have been working on my winter garden. It will begin as summer dies. I took a looksy. Not much going on yet. Just planted recently. Wanted to make sure the ground was damp and it didn't require irrigation. All was well. The weather has cooled down quite a bit these last few days, so the water it got a few days ago. If I can get a few more days without frost, perhaps the new spouts will be present to console me as the summer crops wither.

After surveying the vegetable garden, it was time to do a walkabout in the lavender fields. I had just irrigated the day before. Unfortunately I found one of the irrigation lines chewed clean through. Judging by the looks of the scat nearby, it was probably the skunk that has been hanging around lately. It was a simple fix, but the ground looked pretty damp. Those plants got a good watering that day I can tell you.

10:00am - I started working on a new field. This is a protected field that will be fenced in from deer and other critters. A safe place to grow crops like basil and other aromatics that need protection from munching deer. This soil is going to need a LOT of work though. It hasn't supported much more than weeds until now. It is very fine and hard. I'm thinking about growing a season or two of cover to build it up before I plant. We'll see. The field is a bit sloping. A bit precarious for the tractor. A little light shaping mades it a bit safer for working.

2:00 - Once the ground work was done, I started surveying the surrounding trees. Some of them could use some trimming. So I spent the rest of the afternoon trimming and clearing away the brush piles. Trimming trees is heavy work. That part I don't mind. But I don't particularly relish climbing. There is nothing like hugging a branch 20 feet above the ground with a running chain saw to make Mr. Newton and his musings seem relevant. I guess that's what you would call a real "tree hugger" !?

7:00 - I quit a bit early today. Had to get ready to head up to Santa Cruz. My neighbor and good friend Kelly is in radio. That's Kelly there at her control console. Today I was invited on her KUSP radio show Talk of the Bay to discuss genetically modified foods, or GMO. Click here to listend to the show.


I am working with a local group called GMO Free Monterey County. We are working to educate people about potential human and environmental health risks of GMO. You can find out more about this effort at http://www.gmofreemontereycounty.org/. There is a petition asking for a moratorium of GMO crops in Monterey County until adequate safegards and regulations can be established. Please sign the petition here. Hopefully the show will be posted on the website shortly if you wish to listen.

Ahh, time for sleep now.

Trip to the Village Blacksmith

Well, it's time to overcome those "technical difficulties" and get this chicken buggy moving again. If you recall from the last article, the Eagle was grounded after her maiden voyage. Well those chickens have completely pulverized every last weed underneath the tractor in about three days. It's time to move the tractor down a length, but we're going to have to get those difficulties resolved first.

We actually had two difficulties, one with the coop, and the other with the tractor. Both were going to require metal work. As I don't have the equipment for that on the farm, I needed to pack up the broken parts in the truck, and head on down to the village blacksmith. Well, I guess Bob is a black smith. The sign says Live Oak Forge. Bob makes some pretty amazing stuff. His shop is full of cool little forged pieces of metal from fire irons with dragon faces, to metal signs, fire place screens with spider webs and weeds. The last time I was in there he was making an amazing iron gate with a sunburst, white oak leaves and acorns. This thing was a true work of art. I like to joke that the stuff I bring him is like asking Picasso to paint your bath room. Oh well, he helps me out! :) And I appreciate that.

On the tractor, the wheels deploy by pulling a lever that rotates the wheel forks down, lifting the tractor off the ground. That tractor is heavy, and there is a lot of force acting on the cam and the lever hub. While positioning the tractor, the force was apparently just too great, shearing the lever shaft right where the bolt attached it to the cam. CRASH! The whole thing came down with a bang snapping one of the 2x6 beams right in half.

The lever shaft needed to be redesigned with solid tool steel instead of the drilled hollow pipe that sheared. Here you can see a photo to the right of the new design. Now THAT ain't going anywhere. The bolt will shear before that goes! We even made up another lever for the other side to take the stress off the one side during transit.

On the coop, the tongue that attaches to the tractor bent. It was a case of a very heavy coop, and a trailer frame from China. It was supposed to handle up to 1475 lbs. Well, you know what they say, you get what you pay for. Well in this case what I got was a broken chicken coop. The metal just folded right in half, and the front end of the coop was dragging on the ground. If you look closely in the picture from the previous article, you can see the front of the coop jacked up on jack stands.

After straightening out the metal frame, we welded a 12foot piece of 2x2 steel 1/4" thick right down the middle. I can attach this to the entire underside of the coop carriage. This way the stress will be distributed better and hopefully solve this problem once and for all. It will be nice to get that coop moving again. You can see the newly fixed part ready for installation in the photo on the right.

Hopefully this weekend I can get these new pieces installed and move the coop and tractor down a length. I'm sure the chickens would love to start pecking at some new dirt. But right now, they seem content to dig holes and take the occasional dirt bath.

And if you need any amazing metal work done, go visit Bob at Live Oak Forge!

The Chickens Have Landed

First, there is the romantic dream. When I thought about bringing chickens onto the farm, I had the idyllic image of flocks of feathered hens running around the yard, bringing life, happiness, and occasionally comedic relief.

But I wasn't completely naive. Everyone I know out here that have chickens have lost chickens. I know there are "bad guys" out there. Predators. Those who would see the new arrivals as the inauguration of the new neighborhood diner. So I enclosed the soon-to-be barnyard with fencing capable of keeping dogs, coyotes, and other predators at bay. Perhaps from time to time I might have to deal with a thief. But the other 364 days of the year would be bliss.

My naivete would last less than 24 hours after the baby chix arrived. Then, during broad daylight, and every day and night afterwards I saw them. The fox. Like a bad cartoon. The 6ft wire mesh fence isn't going to keep those guys out. Nor the skunks. Alright. Nice to meet you Mr. Reality. Time for Plan 9: the chicken tractor.

First I built the mobile coop. A veritable fortress on wheels. I don't know how many of you remember Super Chicken, but this vessel puts the Super Coop to shame. It has a double wire bottom, so the precious chicken poop can drop right onto the ground. The double wire is to prevent the nasties from eating the little chicken toes that protrude through the wire. Concerned about the wire on the little feet, I made 2x4 pathways so that the chickens (and I) can navigate the coop and hangout w/o having to always walk on wire. Built in nesting boxes with side access shutters allow easy egg removal w/o having to go into the coop and play "Who's Your Daddy" with Mr. Rooster.

But Alas, chickens love getting down and dirty. I would put some of them in a wire bottom dog kennel right on the ground and they would pick and dig and bathe in that dirt. If chix could smile, they'd be grinning ear to ear ever time I let them contact Mother Earth. So that's when the mobile tractor attachment was born. To the right is a photo of the partially constructed tractor with the wheels deployed. The wheels raise the coop off the ground so that it can be maneuvered into place, and then the wheels lower resting the tractor onto the ground providing a protective daytime pen or chicken park.

As usual, it took me way longer to build than I thought, including some welding and metal fabrication lessons from the local blacksmith. Sigh, my initial wooden landing gear would not bear the weight. But this week I finally "got'er done" as Larry would say, and positioned the coop and the tractor side by side in a virgin field. Note the three ports on the tractor. These align with corresponding ports on the coop and are connected with a protected gangway.


DAY 1: the chickens were... well CHICKEN. Man, what worry warts. I would open the coop, grab a hen and put her in into the tractor, and she would panic and run right back into the coop. Some of the chickens would get topside where there is a window and look down nervously at their new park. But nary a venture. Finally, one brave barred rock, Nelle Armstrong, the adventurer braved the gangway, and under her own chicken power, jumped down into the tall weeds under the tractor. Here I caught this historic event. One small leap for chicken, one sigh of relief for the man.

DAY 2: A few more ventured out. Up to a quarter of the flock could be seen in the tractor at any time during the day. In the evening, they all went back into the coop, though one fat hen clogged up the door, and two smaller hens were stuck roosting on the gangway. In the evening I gave them a gentle nudge and they got the courage to push their way past fattie and get inside before I locked them up safe.

DAY 3: Still about a quarter of the flock. The auracana's and barred rocks seem to favor outside the most. Occasionally a RI Red or a Buff Orpington would come out, pick around, and return to the coop. Amazingly in three days, they have reduced that weed filled space to COMPLETE RUBBLE. Bare dirt! Time to move the coop and tractor down a bit :)

TO BE CONTINUED: Well, unfortunately I can't move the coop and tractor right now :( during their maiden voyages, each experienced some "technical difficulties" which are going to require a few more lessons from the blacksmith. Oh well, at least the chickens are on the ground where they are happy until I get those parts welded back up again. The remaining weeds will have to wait.