competition in the chanterelle field

Yesterday I took a walk at my favorite spot for chanterelles.  I've had my eye on them for a few weeks and was told that they are slow growers.  But I wanted to see how much they grew over a 4 day period when we also had some rain. 

Previously, they were too small to pick and I have been waiting for them to grow before I pick them.  But as I walked, I saw a few that were still small and decided to wait for my return before I decide whether or not to pick them. 

Then I got to a patch that had been loaded with the mushrooms and I found nothing at first.  Then, I saw that someone had cut them at the base.  That means another good mushroomer has discovered my patch.  Or perhaps I discovered his or hers.

In one place, I saw they had marked the spot by tying a ribbon to a branch.  I took the ribbon!  And I covered the tiny mushrooms there with leaves so they couldn't easily be spotted.

They missed a few.  Any other time, if I didn't have a mushroom thief to deal with, I would have let these fairly small mushrooms grow another several days.  But this time, I picked them. 

It was either pick them small or don't get any at all.

I just fried them up and these will go into the freezer for some future day.  It's hard though because they smell so good!

June 28 bee check

I went to Vermont to check on the bees yesterday.  Wow.  Two hives is double the work and double the time.  I need to factor in more time on my next visit.  Here's what I found and did:

• I removed the feeders.  They were empty and probably had been for a few weeks.  The weather has been so nice though that I wasn't worried about feeding them really.  But I had made sugar syrup for them and then forgot it in Maine.  That made my decision that I was done feeding until the fall.  I'll feed in the fall until freezing so that they won't have to use up their store of honey.
• I looked at almost every frame.  I cut away some queen cells which makes me nervous.  I sure hope I didn't miss any as I don't want them to swarm!
• The frames otherwise looked good.  They were filled with brood, pollen and honey.  I saw evidence of a queen with many eggs but I didn't see the queen.  In some ways, I hate inspections because I'm afraid I might  kill the queen unknowingly.
• Supers were added to each of the hives so that now I have two deeps and one super on each of them. I hope that, in a month, I can add another super to each hive.  We'll see how it goes.
• The electric fence seemed to have plenty of power so I didn't change the batteries this trip.  I'll probably want to go back in a few weeks anyway to check them as well as the bees.

What a slacker I've been in keeping you up to date!

I did get my bees and got them into two hives with two deeps and a top hive feeder.  I replenished the fence and then left them on their own a few weeks ago and went to Maine for the summer.  I was lucky enough to rent my house for 6 weeks, giving me time to catch up with my second home.

I left the bees on their own but I will be going to check on them next week.  At that time, I will add a super, which, if it is filled, as I hope it will be, will be my honey later this summer.  If I'm real lucky, I'll end up with two supers filled with honey on each hive.  That is  my goal but there are way too many factors that could affect that goal. Things like:

- too much rain
- too cold
- poor flowering on plants
- swarms
- Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD)
- the queen dying or not producing enough

I had the hives checked, just visually, the other day.  Bees were flying around so that's a good sign things are just humming along over there.  Apparently the garden is also thriving.  How could it not with all those pollinators! 

However, I still need to cut trees.  I do not get enough light to satisfy me.  I see my shrubs and fruit trees becoming elongated which is them trying to reach for more sun.  I will have more cut this fall.

What is there about light?  I heard that it becomes more important the older you get.  Not sure why but I feel like I crave sunshine at times.

I was speaking with a friend who is also a beekeeper.  She was actually my inspiration in a way as I became interested while talking with her and how excited she would be about her bees.  Not to mention the environmental factors involved and the need for bees in this world. I wanted to help in a small way.  But she said that queen bees used to last longer than they do today so that she's found that she was constantly replacing queens.  Our summer is so short that we need to go buy new queens if we lose one.  It takes time for the bees to create a new queen bee trying to get a good honey crop in this area is impossible if you've lost your queen.  She's giving up and will buy her honey from others. I think that's too bad but she did it for many years.