Honey makers!

I just got home from capturing a swarm of wild honeybees! A friend from work called tonight about 8:30 to tell me there were a "bunch of bees" in a tree in her yard. We very quickly packed up a few essentials and went over. The timing was perfect- the privet is blooming and it makes the *best* honey! I seem to be testing myself this week as far as the "dislikes high places that feel unsafe" thing goes, however. I am tired and it is past my bedtime. I will write more later, here are the photos for now. I am going to go read a mindless book for a little while and get some sleep!




Honeybee swarm about 25' up on a pine tree limb.




Kevin and Mr. Wayne setting up the extension ladder.





You can just see the swarm at the top of the ladder- the limb the ladder was on didn't exactly overwhelm me with confidence.

Me taking the nuc (nucleus) box out. It is a small hive body that will give the bees a chance to set up housekeeping and pull a few frames of wax for brood and honey.

Board in one hand, pail in the other, you can see the swarm directly over my head. I was trying not to look down and not think about how that limb the ladder was on was wobbling and making ominous noises. I went up a few more steps and told Kevin I was about to get them and to step back out from under them. I used the board to scrape the clump of bees in the bucket. Most of the clump went into the bucket, but a smaller clump missed and fell not on the ground, but directly on Kevin. He had decided to be chivalrous and foolishly did not move because he "had to hold the ladder". The bees that miss the bucket are the ones that give you trouble. All they want is to find the queen and when they can't find her they get irritable. Fortunately he was only stung once. I do wish I could have seen his reaction....



Checking to see if I got the queen in the nuc box and not on the ground. Rosemary was too busy dodging stings to take a photo of me hustling down the ladder with a bucket full of honey bees! Probably a good thing.



Just a few bees left in  the tree.


And a few in the bucket- I had poured/shaken the others into the nuc box. It was a good capture- Kevin and I only got stung once each. He was a very good sport for holding that ladder.



The nuc box- the queen is in the middle of the clump of bees right where the flashlight is shining.



The bees are realizing the queen is in the box and starting to climb in.

Lid on- confused bees trying to figure out how to get in- they know she is there!

At this point there were a fair number of loose bees flying around. They are not looking to sting, but if they get on you and get pinched or trapped- like up a sleeve or in your hair- they will. Isabelle, who is not as enamored with the bees as Rosemary and I are, was staying well out of range dancing around and playing with a flashlight. All of a sudden I heard the most awful screeching and screaming- it was Isabelle and she was going berserk. I ran over and she was screaming incoherently, but I managed to get that there were bees stinging her feet- she was wearing flip-flops. I picked here up and saw that she had gotten onto some stickers! She was greatly consoled that they were simply thorns and not bees and immediately settled down. She is very much a "scream first and ask questions later" kind of gal. She calmly sat down and picked out stickers. Stickers are just fine and dandy, bees- no way.



Worker bees are starting to line up on the landing board, fanning their wings. This is proof positive that the queen is inside. Within about 5 minutes, the hole in the nuc box had a line of bees just pouring into it. Honeybees have a very complex social system and are utterly and completely devoted to the queen. Very cool. This fanning will waft the queen's scent out over the area and the other bees on the ground and up on the tree will beat a path into the nuc. It is strange to me that they walk and do not fly in. I guess the ones in the tree will fly down. I just hope they like their new home and will stay! I will go check on them in the morning- if they decided to stay in this nuc I will bring them home tomorrow night. Cross your fingers!

Okra

While we are on the subject of love/hate relationships (see my red clay post!) I will share my relationship with okra. I adore fried okra, crispy and golden and green. I adore pickled okra- the way those little white seeds pop and squeak when you bite them. I adore okra fritters.

I think boiled okra is one of the nastiest concoctions that anyone ever considered eating. Stewed okra and tomatoes? Nope. Okra in gumbo? It is a necessity for good gumbo flavor and thickness, but I pick it out. How backwards is that? I put it in the gumbo and vegetable soup all the time for flavor and as a thickener, but won't actually chew it up and eat it. It is purely a textural issue that just isn't there with fried and pickled pods. It's the slime factor- the technical word is mucilage. Mucilage is defined as "mucus like". No thanks.

I just can't get past it.

I also like to grow okra, they are neat looking plants with beautiful flowers. They are a member of the hibiscus family- hibiscus esculentus if you are into Latin, which I am. Thanks to you Mrs. Kendrick, my 8th grade Latin teacher- I didn't appreciate you then as we were conjugating verbs in Latin, but I pay homage to you now. Vita Somnium!




Okra is easy to grow in the hot humid southern summers and once it is established it doesn't need much help from you. Very satisfying. When the okra patch is in full swing you will have okra running out of your ears. I make these fritters when I have pickled enough.

Back to the fried okra. I adore eating it- but I hate making it. It makes such a huge mess you wonder if it is even worth the trouble. It is, but when I am in a hurry or just not in the mood to clean the kitchen all night, I make these okra fritters.
If you don't have any okra they are also good with frozen or drained canned corn. If you don't have any corn, then shame on you, just make them with the onions. If you don't even have an onion, just forget it and have frozen pizza. These are homey and country but company loves them too. If I need "comfort food" I make these with a pot of butterbeans or blackeyed peas. Put the fritters on a  plate, ladle over a helping of butterbeans or peas and top with a heaping spoonful of chow-chow.

Okra Fritters

• 3/4 cup corn meal
• 1/4 cup flour
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1tsp baking powder
• 1 egg
• 1/2 tsp pepper
• 3/4 - 1 cup buttermilk, depending on how you are cooking them
• 1/4 cup chopped onions
• 2 cups somewhat thinly sliced fresh okra- (the frozen kind is generally cut too thick for these to turn out right)

1. Combine everything but the onions and okra  in a bowl.
2. Add okra and onions, stir to combine.
3. If you want them to be thicker and more "frittery"- like hush puppies- mix your batter thick (less buttermilk) and heat about 1/2" of oil in a skillet and drop by 1/4 cup measures in to the hot oil.
4. If you want them to be flatter then mix your batter more thinly (more buttermilk)and cook like pancakes in just a bit of fat until the edges get nice and crunchy/crispy. This is my favorite way, especially if you use bacon fat to cook them!

Garden Update March 18th, 2010

From Garden Update March 18th, 2010

Red Clay. Excellent water retainer and full of nutrients. Some plants that need good drainage do not grow well in clay. Sticks to and builds up on shoes, shovels and tires. Stains everything it touches. I have a love/hate relationship with red clay. It is awful and wonderful and will always remind me of home.

From Garden Update March 18th, 2010

Good Dirt. Tons of organic matter. Drains quickly and doesn't hold moisture for very long.

From Garden Update March 18th, 2010

Nanny berries. (Goat Manure) Very rich in nutrients, won't burn plants like chicken manure can.

From Garden Update March 18th, 2010

Red Clay + Good Dirt + Nanny Berries + Tiller = Plant Bliss.

From Garden Update March 18th, 2010

Start of the new perennial bed. Iris, heirloom and English roses, phlox, several salvias and agastaches and all sorts of other lovelies.

From Garden Update March 18th, 2010

Another view of the perennial bed. Please avert your eyes from the propane tank and the well pump with the gradoo blanket tucked around it so it won't freeze. They will be camouflaged in short order.

From Garden Update March 18th, 2010

Start of the mint bed- cultivar "Kentucky Colonel". It isn't the strongest grower, but it is sweet and smooth, not coarse or funky like some mints can be. I need lots for mint tea and mint limeade.

From Garden Update March 18th, 2010

I do not generally like growing traditional rows of vegetables- I prefer the kitchen garden with raised beds of flowers and herbs and veggies all jumbled together. We are going to grow a few rows because the order they bring to our universe makes Kevin happy. If I am going to put up (can/preserve) tomatoes and green beans (like I hope to do) I also need more than my raised beds will produce. These rows will be for squash, green beans, tomatoes and melons. Oh, and okra! We all love pickled okra. And Okra Fritters. Man, do I love okra fritters. Most of the yumminess of fried okra without the mess.

From Garden Update March 18th, 2010

Here is our pile of Good Dirt with Pearl standing guard. She likes this vantage point and is going to be sad and confused when it is all gone.

From Garden Update March 18th, 2010

Thank heavens for this tractor with the bucket for moving the Good Dirt- it has saved many backs. Thank you, Kubota tractor!

From Garden Update March 18th, 2010

This uninspiring little sticks are blueberries and blackberries. The angle of the photo makes them look very close together, but they are actually fairly spread out. I can almost taste those fresh blueberries now! We planted 2 each of Alapaha, Brightwell, Powderblue, Climax and Tiftblue so that we would could have berries ripening over a longer period of time- we can also decide which are our favorites and plant more of those.

From Garden Update March 18th, 2010

Asparagus "Jersey Knight". We planted two asparagus beds last year- 25 plants in each bed. They need a few years before you can really start harvesting them- the root systems need to build up so they can produce over many years.

From Garden Update March 18th, 2010

Asparagus "Purple Passion". It is taking some serious willpower on my part not to harvest these. I love Spring.

Bad Dog Pearl.

Poor Pearl. She thinks her name is Bad Dog Pearl. Every time I go out the door, I find something else she has destroyed. If I have ever touched it, she thinks it is hers, my gloves in particular. Even if I have pruned a branch and thrown it on the ground she creeps in and grabs it and retires to a comfortable spot to chew on it. In the rare case that I actually catch her doing something naughty, I admonish her with a "Bad Dog". If I don't actually catch her I count to ten, tell myself she is a puppy and that she will grow out of it.

I have been gardening, and not too long ago I planted potatoes in one of our raised beds. Yesterday, I was adding a new perennial bed in front of the raised bed garden and saw THIS.

From Bad Dog Pearl!

My potato bed. With one corner DUG UP. I called Pearl to confront her, because Daisy is not generally a digger.

From Bad Dog Pearl!

Still ran Dingo--Yellow-Dog Dingo--always hungry, grinning like a rat-trap, never getting nearer, never getting farther,--ran after Kangaroo. Note the very muddy forelegs. Hmmm. Suspicious.

From Bad Dog Pearl!

Me: "Pearl, did you do this?"
Pearl: "No way!! How could you accuse me of such a thing?"

From Bad Dog Pearl!

Me: "Are you sure?" "Your paws are very muddy."
Pearl: "I promise! I am wounded by your lack of trust in me."

From Bad Dog Pearl!

Pearl: "I think Daisy did it!"

From Bad Dog Pearl!

Daisy: My legs are pristinely clean. I cannot say they are spotless. I would never stoop to digging in the dirt. 'Humph!' Just 'Humph!' and no more. Like the camel.

Pearl: "DAISY did it- I am sure of it!"

From Bad Dog Pearl!

(No caption needed here)**

From Bad Dog Pearl!

Me: (looking at Pearl, eyebrow raised, hands on hips.)"Wellll?"
Pearl: "Umm, maybe I did dig just a little.....but the dirt was so soft and wonderfully friable!"

From Bad Dog Pearl!

Me: (still looking at Pearl, eyebrow raised, hands on hips.)
Pearl: "I am really, really, terribly sorry." "Honest."

From Bad Dog Pearl!

Pearl: "Am I forgiven now?"
Me: (exasperated sigh, smile) "Good dog, Pearl."

** No animals were harmed in the making of this post. Believe it or not, this is their daily ritual of chasing each other back and forth across the yard "playfighting" and teeth rarely make contact.

We have to stand a little rain

The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band sings "If we're ever gonna see a rainbow, we have to stand a little rain."

We have stood about 5 inches of rain in the last 3 days, so I guess we get to see a double rainbow! It had been raining off and on most of the day. It was getting late and the sky turned an odd color- I went outside and saw a really vibrant double rainbow. The second one was starting to fade before I could find my camera, then realize I didn't have my card in it, go find the card and then finally take the photo. Such is my life lately!

Bear Hunt 2007

This is an old post- not sure how it didn't get published....


March 28, 2007

We had a fantastic day today!

Part of Kevin's job includes monitoring the black bear population in his area and he invited us to go with him and some of the other biologists on a "bear hunt". What we found was something I never thought I would see in the wild!

This particular female bear that they were watching was located on a Wildlife Management Area near Warner Robins and Perry, GA. She had been previously fitted with a radio collar and she was due to have cubs this year. Her signal had been in one place for some time, which indicated that she had probably had her cubs, so we went in with the telemetry equipment and followed the signal until the mother bear was spotted in a heavy thicket. Black bears are not as aggressive as grizzly bears and tend to leave the area when humans approach. She moved away from the immediate area and we were able to go in and discovered two cubs.

They were both females, and they still had milk on their mouths from nursing. We were able to inspect the cubs, assign them numbers and weigh them. Both Isabelle and Rosemary were able to hold one; they wore gloves to prevent human scent from getting onto the cubs. They were about 4 weeks old and one had just opened it’s eyes, the second one had not. They weighed about 3 pounds each and reminded me of large puppies, except their toes and claws were very prominent and seemed too big for their little bodies. I could have stayed for a long time and watched them snuffling around, but we left quickly so that the mother bear would come back.