Bees aren't the only pollinators

A friend from UVM sent me this link entitled " For Crops, Wild Pollinators Needed.

The gist of the article is that honeybees only account for about 14% of the pollinators needed for crops. Other beneficial insects account for the rest.

What that means to us who love to farm and garden, is to make sure our habitats are all inclusive and that we have the biodiversity needed to sustain all these pollinators. 

I know that last year, in my own garden, I had a wealth of butterflies.  I hadn't thought about their role in pollinating the garden but as I think about them now, I see them as some very beautiful pollinators and will continue to plant native trees, shrubs and plantings to bring more of them to my little part of the world.

Bees survived the winter

Here's what my hive looked like yesterday, March 9th, 2013. Bees were flying all around, even out to the back of the house.  Temperatures were in the 50's. 

I will leave the black tar paper on the hive for about another month.  Today I will also take off the Christmas wreath.  It's looking somewhat out of season! :)

I spent a good part of the day yesterday working in the greenhouse, getting it reorganized and cleaned up. While I was in there, I also planted some Kale and Cilantro.

Inside, I moved the parsley and lettuce that I had growing in the basement out to the porch.  I may need to move them in periodically over the next month, but hopefully they will be fine on the porch until they, too, move into the greenhouse.  I have eaten fresh lettuce and herbs for most of the winter.

 Of course, my electric bill doubled this year because of the grow light and because of a new air exchange system I had installed in November. Between the two items, my latest bill showed usage was double over last year! I don't like that part but I did like having the fresh lettuce.

Bluebirds are here

Bluebirds on tree

 I've been watching these beautiful bluebirds come to my feeder.  They are so colorful and pretty.  When I went outside to take these photos, they naturally took off and were watching me from the tree out front.

I'm so happy to see bluebirds in the area. I know they were hard to find for quite some time.  Now I want to build a bluebird house, or a few of them, to put up around the yard because I'd like these guys to stick around!

A family of bluebirds waiting for me to go inside again before going back to my feeder.

Spring is in the air

Today is March 1st, 2013 and I just finished painting a new beehive.  It'll be my second hive that I hope to populate with bees from last year...and not need to buy any bees at all this year.

I have been told that beehives should be painted light colors and my last one was white.  But I know a beekeeper who has his painted black and he seemed to be doing very well with his bees so I decided to not paint mine white this time.  I painted it dark blue, the same color as my exterior doors to the house and shed. I like this hive because it has a gabled top cover with copper so it'll look pretty as well as be functional for the bees.  I'll let you all know how the color works out.  I bet it's ok but we'll see. So here's the hive, missing the bottom board (where bees enter and leave). I have since added that, nicely painted blue as well.

New hive for 2013

Yesterday was in the 40's so I decided to go check on the bees even though none were outside.  I guess it needs to be in the 50's before they venture out.

But I had done a foolish thing a few weeks ago when I added more fondant to the hive.  I had put the fondant onto a paper plate but turned the plate over, thinking the bees would get to it easier.  However, the fondant melted down into the hive over the frames.  I see it killed a few bees that got caught in the melting fondant.  I was very worried I had killed all the bees by this because I hadn't seen any outside since.  Or course, it's been cold so that's the real reason I hadn't seen them out.  So I looked deep into the hive and heard buzzing and saw bees down there so I have not killed them.

In another month they'll be out flying with warmer days to come.  I can't wait for spring to arrive.  I have some plans for more pathways, using up my wood chips.  And I want to finish cleaning out the area I started in the fall where eventually I want to plant a cut flower garden.  I also want to till up some ground down near the lower pond. There I will plant native plantings that the bees will love.

I am also thinking of lining that lower pond too.  But it will also need a pump to keep the water circulating. But it would be very pretty to have that pond as part of the landscape. I'll think more about this.  When it rains, that pond fills up and looks so pretty.  I would then need to bring in a lot of stone to trim around it or use all the rock walls around my property, which I'd rather leave alone.  So I'd buy stone and then use it to trim the pond.

Winter thoughts bring spring work! 

I've begun selling beeswax skep candles!  It's a fun wintertime hobby and I made enough to sell a few on Ebay. I also made come hand-dipped tapers from beeswax which I'm selling. Especially the skep candles burn for a long time and have such a nice scent.

No, the beeswax isn't all my own.  I bought some as well. But some of it came from my hive.