Eating Strawberries

Sunday dawned clear and early, too early for me. I made a cooked breakfast to help get me going. It was a lottery as to whether it rain on not. I went to the lottie first determined to do some weeding. I got a few bags out my store at the lottie and took my spade along to Bed2. This bed had the onions and leeks last year. There were a few Leeks left in. Unfortunately there a several Docks too and they are big. Just for a change they are being out completed so are not too strong. I got stuck in a dug out all the docks and bagged them to be taken off site for disposal. It is quicker said than done. With the Docks out I went round and pulled up the Thistles and the Sow Thistles. They came away easily from the wet soil but as you can imagine a was getting covered in wet soil. The job needed doing though. I stopped after and hour. I was soaked but I had three big bags of weeds to show for my trouble. The plot does not look any better but the weed cover is much thinner and since the Dock were bagged before they seeded I have saved seven years weed. If only that were true. I had a chat with a lottie neighbour and cut some Asparagus before packing up to go to the Bees.

The drive across the farm to the bees was very muddy. Degsy managed the mud without an issue. The chunky cut tyres are coming into their own in the mud. I put on  my bee suit on and wondered what I would find when I went through the gate. I had already seen the River Mease and could see that it had dropped since last week. It was relatively dry underfoot but the grass was wet. There is lot of tall grass in the apiary so I got a second soaking. The hives had weathered the weather and the bees were flying freely. One the Queens has emerged in one of the hives but is not yet laying. I will leave that one until next week. If there are no eggs I shall unite the Nuc with this hive. One other Hive has a plump sealed Queen cells. I hope to find that Queen has emerged by next weekend and with luck may have started laying. The other hives are in good order and are lying in honey. I have just got to be patient. I think the hives are in good shape to bring in a honey crop in the next eight to ten weeks.

Back at home I tidied up my workroom. H and I marshalled our camping gear. We have a wedding next Saturday evening which requires camping at the venue. I hope the promised hot weather turns up this week even if it just dries out the ground. Depending how it goes I might even use my Christmas present which was a non-stick frying pan for my Trangia! We even tried to sit out side to read our books and eat the Strawberries H collected from the garden. It too blustery and cold so retired to the comfort of the living room. H was not far behind. Blooming British summertime.......

A very long day

H and I were in the car early Saturday morning and off to Manchester. My cousin and niece were in town so we arranged to meet. My brother, his missus and a couple of his fiends were also in Manchester that day. They had been to the Bruce Springstein concert the previous evening. It was nice being although together. The party folk had to get on the road back to Devon. The weather was promise foul in their neck to the woods so an early start back was a good idea.

H, coz and Mum and me went into town and sampled the delights of El Rincons for a lazy lunch. Tapas and Spanish wine, all very nice.  Click HERE for the website. Having had our fill we went for a tour of the Castlefield area of town since El Rincons is that end of town. We noticed that there traffic cones being places along the centre line of Deansgate. Deansgate is a major thoroughfare. We ask a chap what was going on...The Olympic torch was coming along in a few hours. We took our tour and tried another Spanish bar right on Deansgate. A bottle of bubbly later and the ladies were getting excited about the torch. We decided to go out ontot he street and join the gathering crowds. H got a flag to wave from street seller and was happy to run back and across Deansgate because:

A. It is very busy road and was closed to cars which was unusual
B. she could.  

The police outriders could be seen at the far end of Deansgate and coming our way. They were high fiving members of the crowd. H was in front of course. The procession slowly made it was to us. It was very exciting. As expected we had no idea who the chap carrying the torch was but it was defineitley the torch. After that excitement we took a circuitous route via the canals back to the car park and the onto my other brother. We spent a couple of hours with them which was nice then it was really time to go home. Coz was on a plane at 5.30 and we still had more than two hours drive to get home. It was a long but very enjoyable day.

Last week....wet, wet, wet

It had been raining most of the week. Somewhere between drizzle and downpours but all of the time some kind of rain was falling out of the sky. It was trailer weekend so I went off to do that job. That took me to the lottie. I tried some weeding but  I got covered in sticky soil as soon as I went near the plot. Nevertheless I yanked out some of the bigger weeds that where about to flower.With the trailer emptied in double quick time and a bit of weed pulling I was done and not too wet.

After dropping the trailer back to the stables I went on to the bees. The bees were flying despite the rail. I don't suppose you get to have evolved for 27 million year if a bit a rain stops you. I gave the hive a tap. The bees gave a buzz back. Some of the foragers were carrying pollen so those hives have Queens. One of the hive as a sealed Queens cell last week. The bees from that hive were not gathering pollen so I guess she has not yet emerged. Next weeks visit will tell.

I did not expect to be able to inspect the bees. The reason went she to see where the river was. Would it be within its banks or not. There had been flooding in other parts of the country. It was very wet under foot. To water was about an inch deep but the river had not over topped its banks but it was very full. The water under foot was just the elevated water table. The main hives are about 18inches off the ground so they would be fine. The Nuc was a different story. The Nuc is just sitting on an upturned plastic produce tray. I move the Nuc to one side and place the hive barrow in its place. I then put the tray and Nuc on the barrow, That lift the Nuc about 18 inches off the ground. Should the river flood and so long as there is little current The Nuc should remain dry. Bees are still coming and going from the Nuc which looks promising.

When I was at the lottie I lifted the roof on the hive and a look in I could see the bees were active and seemed to more of them. That is how it should bee. The bees had found the feeder and had gobbled up have the syrup. That will help build them up. I should say that this hive has a glass crown board so even when the roof is off the bees are contained in the hive. Removing the roof floods the inside of the hive with light which as you can imagine stirs the bees a little. However they are quite gentle and do not pile out of the hive to see who is disturbing them.

Last job was to drop in on my buddy who has found a projector screen for me. He is an avid user of Freecycle. Click HERE for the website. Freecycle is about reusing unwanted items and it is free.

Motoring through the Weeding

Well it has been a couple of tough weeks. The weather has been very wet but there has been plenty of wind, oh yes very windy. I pitched up at the lottie this morning. The clouds were high in the sky but grey. Not hint of rain but plenty of wind. I got myself ready and and got my gear to hand. I got a wheelbarrow full of manure and spread it out along the the trench left form the last efforts on clearing the potato bed, Bed1. I thought the soil would be wet and sticky but it was just the right amount of wet. The rain had penetrated right through the soil. That made the soil very easy to dig and break the weeds out. I set myself the task of weeding and preparing Bed1 for the main crop spuds. The seed potatoes are was past due in chitting. I was able to push the fork more than a spit into the soil. I ended up shifting a lot of soil but the bed did get turned over more than a foot deep. At each pass I generated a barrow load of weeds. Last weekend I had run over the plot with the scythe just the knock back the weeds from flowering or seeding. Scything is very therapeutic and sharpening it even more so but it is no surprise folks figured other ways the cut tall plants. It is back braking work. The point is that the barrow did not fill up so quickly. Each barrow load of weeds went in the big compo bin then I went to the poo bin, which is just next door and filled the barrow with well rotted manure which then went onto the face of the trench. All very efficient.

It was quite soothing with my music playing through my headphones and motoring through the digging. A couple hours saw me finish another third of the bed. I intend to plant five rows of spuds tomorrow. It should not take long to dig the remain part of the bed as a cleared then a little while ago.

I had a chat with Jonny in between his strimming. He did me a good turn by strimming round the front of the plot. That looks a bit tidier too. I had a brew. whilst idling I went and had a look at the bees. They are doing very nicely. They are coming and going but most importantly they a building up slowly. The top end of the plot looks quite nice because the hedge is in full leaf . The hive is just there and surrounded by bright orange Californian Poppies. I don't think it will be long before the self seeded Michaelmas Daisies will be out. I got on my hands and knees a weeded the middle path and the path between beds 1 and 2. It has made a big difference and another barrow load of weeds.


I had a little time on my hands so decided to prepare Bed4 for planting. That required me to dig out the volunteer potatoes that had started growing from the spuds missed in last years harvest. Bed4 is for Brassicas so needs firming up. That is done by treading the soil down. Al ones does is to stand we your heels together and shuffle forward pressing down on your heels. It really compacts the soil. I following a circular path until the all bed had been tread done. I got the rake out and levelled the soil then in tread the soil again but this time starting at one end treading across the bed, back and forth. It tread the soil in a different direction. Then I raked it again. The bed is now nice and flat and firm. The weed seedlings are also stomped and disrupted. Just before packing up I levelled off the compo bin a threw in a half barrow load of manure. Hopefully also the worms in the manure will start to get busy on the weeds. The bin is pretty full.

I am used to the Robins hanging around to grab the worms and pupae I have dug up but today I had a new set of mouths or should that be beaks waiting their turn on the fence.  Bullfinches. Their feathers are highly coloured and they are quite a big finch so made quite a sight. The Robins are looking scruffy but they must have almost finished rearing their brood.

   

New Nuc

The chaps at the lottie have been keen for me to run a hive for the greater good of the area. I consider my colonies too strong to be house near people. Not because they are aggressive just because folk get worried when they see hundreds of bees whizzing round the hive. I most cases these are just the new foragers learning the location.

I decided to do the right thing and ordered a nuc [nucleus] from a supplier I had used before. I supposed to pick them up from Rugby on Saturday morning. I text him to say I had paid and to make sure plans had not changed. He text back "thanks for the cash and by the way I am in Coalville do you want to collect the nuc"?. Coalville is only seven miles from my house. So at 10.30 pm I am in the car on my way to Coalville. I have not seen Paul for a while so we have a chat in the street for twenty minutes. His missus sticks her head out the door of the house to enquire after him which is a cue to put the nuc in my car, shake hands and go home.

I took the bees straight to the lottie and placed the nuc on top the hive I had positioned a few days earlier. I loosely wrapped some newspaper round them so they would not get a chill overnight. Then the tricky bit....pulling the foam stopper out of the door way. It was pitch black at the lottie, it being 11.30pm, but luckily quite cool. I eased out the plug and the bees where free. They came out quite readily but because the air temperature was low they could not fly.

They had a look round and seemed a bit frisky. I supposed you would be if you had a trapped in a box for 24 hours with loads of others on a hot day. The nuc has big mesh covered holes in the side and top which helps cool the nuc but the bees cannot escape. The nuc has stores but no access to water or space for flying, which bees are programmed to do. I watched them for five minutes and having decided they were happy enough I left for the night.

I was back at the lottie the next morning intending to transfer the bees from the nuc to their new home. A tree was shielding the morning sun from the hive which was good in one way but not in another. The good bit was that nuc was not over heating. The downside was that it was a bit cool for handling the bees and that has consequences. I had to move the nuc to dismantle the hive down the brood box and then take out the frames. It was not long before the first of the guard bees where examining the intruder .i.e. me. Getting the first frame out of the nuc is always tricky. The bees glue the frame with Propolis and the nuc is just a plastic box. It is a certanty that the nuc and all its bees will get jostled and bees don't like that. More bees in the air. I gave the frames a quick inspection as I moved them across to the brood chamber of the new hive. I found the queen, marked with a fetching red spot. It is important not drop her off the frame as you transfer her. A Queen on the ground makes for a very unhappy hive and beekeeper. No such worries for me but there were a lot of bees flying. They flew because there hive was upset, because of the upset the had had for the past few days and because it was not that warm. Cool bees don't fly too well and are not in the best of  moods. I got stung several times for my troubles. I filled out he remaining brood chambers with foundation; put on the queen excluder, placed on a super full frame of foundation then the crown board then a feeder full of syrup just show I did not hold the strings against them, then the empty super to house the feeder and then the roof. After that it is was a quick tidy up which only meant making sure the nuc box was empty of bees and picking up the spare brood frames. I made an orderly retreat to my bench at top of the lottie.

I must have made an odd spectacle as I sat on the bench in the full sun in my bee suit. From afar folks would not have seen the bees whizzing round me. In the hour it took house the bees the sun had peeked round the tree warming everything up. The bees where scenting with their Nasonove glands so meant the bees where being drawn into the new hive. Everything began to settle down. Since I had been stung a few times the bees were not that keen to leave me alone. I have learnt to sit still and be calm so as not to give off my human flight pheromones. Over about ten minutes the bees start to settle down to the extent they were landing on me and licking up the splashes of syrup from my gloves. I was happy enough that they settle in but would have liked to have stayed longer however I had to be in Manchester later the same day.             

Rendered wax

One thing I have been lacking is a way of dealing with wax from the hives. It needs to be melted and filtered before it can turned into something else. The wax frames from the brrod chambers needs to be removed from the hive after a few seasons. This to keep the frames full of fresh comb. Old comb, although the bees like it, can harbour all sort of desease and pathogens.

When I went to the BBKA spring convention I came away with the metal parts of a solar wax extractor which is a big tray plus a what looks like the bread tin. The tray holds the unrendered comb and the bread tin catches the melted wax. All I needed was some way to support the two metal items and fit a piece of glass to the front. A trip to B&Q a few weeks ago supplied a couple of sheets of plywood. I sketched out my plan based on what I know of extractors and the metal parts I had to hand. I cut the ply up then glued and nailed it together. It came together over a couple of hours on Monday evening. Although it could be finished a bit better it is very serviceable. The only thing I did not have was a piece of glass for the front cover. I had decided to leave the glass until I finished the build and buy the glasss when I had the final measurements. I got a chance today to nip out in my lunch hour to get a piece of 6mm float glass cut to size. I dropped into the house on the way back to work and fitted the glass to the box. It fitted a treat. I went back to work dreaming of rendered wax and all the things I can make from it. I already have some polish tins in the shed..

A well deserved shower

I had a look in the shed to check on the seed potatoes. They are long over due being planted. The second earlies are really leggy the main crop less so. I did not have anything to do on Wednesday evening and the evenings are light until past 9pm. H decided to come with me. H set herself up at the top of the lottie on a deckchair with her book. I had the floor, roof and brood box of a hive with me. I placed them on the stand at the top of the lottie.

I had dug over Bed1 and it was ready for planting. I got the plank I use as a straight edge and plonked it down across the bed. I used it as a guide to dig a trench. It took two passes to dig it deep enough. As I dug it down I met the layer of horse muck I had introduced whilst weeding.  So the plan worked. I had to pick the individual seed potatoes from the tray making sure I did not break off the sprouting haulm. It made the job a bit slower to complete as I also had to be careful when back filling the trench. I dug each trench in turn, placed in the seed spuds and back filled the row. It was very hot work but the soil was so light that five rows took a little over an hour and half to complete the job.

It was really good to be out in the gathering gloom. H pointed out the Sun. As it dipped to the horizon it was a fiery ball.  There were lots of birds about all making the best of the warm weather. The lottie's Robin is looking a bit scruffy. Times must be hard for him. We saw the Lapwings, Buzzard, Kestrel as well as lots of the small birds. We heard but did not see the Cuckoos and the Woodpeckers.''

I still had some time so went up to the top of Bed2 which is where the Bees are to live. I had weeded an small area round the hive on my last visit. I decided to clear the remainder of the area round the hive. It was a bit tricky because of the wire fence I had put in the way but whose job was to support Sweet Pea. This small area ten feet long by four foot filled a wheelbarrow to the brim and bit more besides.

The grape vines have started to break bud which is not before time. The Asparagus has started to sprout but bit in a random pattern. I think I am going to cut my losses with the Asparagus and use the bed for something more productive. I cut what was there for supper. H spotted that the Gooseberries where doing well. It is odd how plants some plants will do well despite the weather. As a parting shot I ran the hoe over the early potato rows that had sprouted just to knock back the chickweed which make another bid. By the time I had finished I was soaked in sweat so much so my clothes had darken where the sweat had soaked through on my back, chest and legs. It was not just because I had been working but because was so warm. No chance of dropping in at the Railway for a cheeky pint in that state. We trundled home in Degsy for a well deserved shower and a brew.