The Round Tube Mason Bee Houses are up..

Posted on April 16, 2019 by Just another day on the farm

These readily available houses will cost around 20 dollars and can be found at local garden centers as well as online.. I picked up a number of them, some for ourselves on the farm and some for placement in some of our “guest gardens”

We put up three of them this past sunday and we learned a few things quickly..  that I would like to share today to save folks some trouble down the road

  • Forget about those nails that came in the package.. please just put them to the side and get out your screws and your powered drill. There is a couple reasons for this…
  • Lets talk about the biggest one, there is a slot of the nails, which is pre-done which is awesome but when you place your item on the angle with the wooden wide marking pencil that is recommended to get your required angle so that water can not come in the house.. your nail come out on a angle and are pretty much useless at trying to get them to nail in straight..
  • The next reason is that when you use your hammer on the nail, the filling in the tube starts moving and falling out of the tubes, this CAN NOT be a good thing!
  • The third reason is you are going to need a 3rd screw that will be used on the bottom of the base to create stability.
  • Angle and movement : The angle is required because unlike the bigger wooden houses, there is no cover, no real edge to this house, so they count on you putting it up with a angle being created, however as soon as you get that to happen on the top properly, the bottom becomes a swing feast.  Every single book or site says.. these MUST be stable.. that the bee’s hate when there is movement in the nest or house..
  • So take a third Screw and self-drill it though the plastic base and into your wooden base to that the house is in fact stable! (I expect that this is a cause of a number of the reports of they will not use this house)
  • Forget about putting these up rounded posts or tree’s!  I had picked out a tree that was highly trimmed up in one spot, turns out the truck was a slight angle and nothing we could do would fix the angle needed to keep the water out of the house.. nope.. can’t put that there!
  • I had a nice big old fence post in the one area of a garden that I wanted one on.. nope.. a standard fence post is not wide enough to hold those nails (yes we were still on nails at that point) .. We had to screw in a board, attach it, and then screw in the Bee house onto the flat board.. I will have to figure out how to make it look a bit better at some point.
  • If you can look for a totally flat surface to attach these to, great if you wanted to have more creative placement, be prepared that you might have to build and attach that flat surface before you can put up the bee house.

So that’s as far as we got.. three up..  at least four different placements that didn’t work but were a learning curve at least..  I can see myself fading these out and replacing them with the bigger cedar houses (which I have gotten as well for trailing this year)..

I know that the one house by the deck is within six feet of hatching Mason bees and I am making myself not harvest anything that might be feeding them in what will be my kitchen garden to be until most feeding sources come up and get moving in the yard.

Its a cool slow start to the spring.. we will keep a close eye on these houses and see how they do though the season and so forth, I will report back on the other two types of houses that will be put up by Easter weekend.

So far, they are a 3 out of 5.. losing two full points for the reason’s given above! Maybe they will earn some of that back over the coming season.. we will see..

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Homemade Creamy Spiced Custard Recipe

Posted on April 16, 2019 by Just another day on the farm

Homemade Spiced Custard Recipe

  • 1 pint of whole Sheep Milk (if using Goat or Cow Milk, use whole milk 1 1/2 cups and heavy cream 1/2 cup)
  • 1/2 cup of sugar (can cut it down to 1/4th cup if you want to try it less sweet)
  • 1 tsp of vanilla
  • 1/2 tsp of cinnamon
  • 1/2 tsp of all-spice
  • 3 egg yolks beaten before adding.
  • 1/4th cup of corn starch (for a thick pudding) or 1/8th of a cup for a thinner pudding.

In a good heavy steel pot with a whisk, add your milk, sugar, vanilla and egg yolks at a med heat, bring up to a slow simmer stirring all the time.. it should create a foam on the top of the milk from all the stirring as it heats up.. do not boil it!

Once its steaming hot, then add in your corn starch that has been mixed with a bit of water until its well blended and slowly drizzle it in the heated mixture,  turn down your heat to just 2 or 3 stirring the whole time..  then heat till cooked though. It will thicken up in the pot but it will thicken even more as it cools down.

Can be served Warm or Cold, your choice.. Can be eaten as is or can be used with fruit or served with cake or cookies.  That wonderful color comes from fresh spring egg yolks.

Serves 4

Posted in raw milk, Sheep Milk | Tagged , , | 2 Comments

Sunchoke Stems for the Insect hotel “Frugal”

Posted on April 15, 2019 by Just another day on the farm

On Saturday, the temps were above 0 and the sun was shining, this meant that we started clearing some very small garden area’s. We needed to prune down the rose bushes and all the baby roses that will be dug out and moved into different area’s of the yard.

One of the area’s I wanted to check was the bigger rooted Sunchoke growing area. I was hoping that I might be able to dig some for a meal (yes, the first forged food this year from the food forest garden area)

and we took off the canes that had been left for the winter, just rolling them into a big pile next to the area for the next week.

Once the temps warm up for a couple of days above plus 10, I will move it but not yet..  I want to leave them there to give anything in them a chance to come out and move on before I compost them. This will go a long way to melting out the still frozen main part of this patch and get them to start growing.

However, I looked at the stems and went hmm. hard outer shell and soft pithy inside that would be very easy to chew out to make a nice little bed..  Grabbed the snipers and hubby and I selected and then cut up different sizes canes until we had our biggest 10 gallon plant pot filled up with them..

they are all cut to very close to the same length.. but in smaller, med and larger sizes for the entry holes. I would not just leave them out in the weather at this point, and I only expect them to be a single year in regards to use.

However I am very interested in bundling these up and using them in a few spots in regards to different bug hotels. I see it all the time that folks recommend raspberry canes and such, I am not saying I will not add a few of them as well but these are certainly easier to work with as they lack the prickles

Bamboo canes are not cheap these days that’s for sure.. it’s very hard to find them cut to the right size locally, and if you start buying the bundles off amazon or other one line sites and the prices go up.

You see them often talked about being added to the bee houses or the insect hotels, however it’s rarely talked about the fact that these are really only one year in use as there is no real good way to clean them out year to year..

So I am hopeful and will share and report back what “if anything” uses these, because it a cheap frugal renewable yearly cast off on a plant grown for its roots.  While the leaves can be taken off and used for fodder for livestock. The same could be said for the stems if you wanted to cut them down late fall and given to the pig for chewing on..

However I prefer to leave them as a winter habitat for the natives bugs and so I have not really had a spring use for them until this year..

So what do you think?  Will it work? Who do you think will use it? Have you ever used these canes in this way? What was your results?

Posted in gardens | Tagged , , , | 8 Comments

Dogwood 52- Anonymous

Posted on April 15, 2019 by Just another day on the farm

This my stand in photo for this week.. I will come back to this weeks challenge at a later point..  sometimes you can look and look and still not find what it is you want for a certain word or idea in that time frame.

Posted in photography | Tagged | 4 Comments

Lets talk about Jars.

Posted on April 14, 2019 by Just another day on the farm

I found two cases of Quarts and two cases of half-gallon dark Amber, (takes out 99 percent of UV light) and I bought them all.. I have looked at smaller jars at times but the costs where quite high.. as were these.. the quarts were sitting just over 3 each and the half gallons were pretty much 7 dollars each.

Now they are Ball jar, which means they are top of the line compared to many other cheaper jars and if they are looked after properly with care, they could outlast me 🙂 I know this because I have found and own jars that are older than I am and they are going strong!

Pressure canning is much harder on the jars overall compared to water bath canning, however not using a proper bottom on your water bath canner can weaken the bottom joint ring and cause them to let go.

When it comes to jars, I have the cheaper brands,  but I have found them to have a much shorter “life” depending on the batch and what they are used for.. The Wal-Mart brand hold up well for juice, jams, jellies and for gift giving when you know the odds are you are not going to get those jars back..

However the higher quality jars are a better investment if you are going to be canning up meats and veggies, soups and stews.. I have some soup/stew work jars that are coming on their 15th year that hubby takes his lunches on.

Every time a jar breaks or chips, it’s a waste.. there is really no way to reuse a broken jar on the farm, I do not even like the idea of using it in the bottom of plant pots and so forth due to cutting possibility..  If you know of a homestead use for broken glass, I am all ears.

I have been watching the cost of rings going up and more up.. What are lids costing you this year? I hope you would be willing to take the time to let me know.  I was shocked to see that 12 lids for regular mouth jars is 2.97 and 12 for wide mouth is 3.97 plus 13 percent tax on top of that at the till..

Once again, its cheaper to buy the box’s of 12 new lids/rings combo at the moment then it is to buy just new lids.. I found this last year.. its a glitch that I am sure will be closed soon enough..  I normally like to buy them by the case.

I decided to see if I could order them by the case online and so far no luck on finding a proper full case..  they are trying to sell them in sets of 12 boxes.. ah.. no.. a case is 48 box’s, thank you very much!

I have heard that at least in the states that they changed the rubber compound to the point that the jar’s lids have been failing at a higher then normal rate and that many of the homestead lady’s are ordering in though a few select sites.. I can dig out that stores name if need be.. but perhaps one of you will know?

We still have our Canadian brand and so far to date, while I do believe that the rubber IS thinner, I am not yet having any issues as long as I pre-heat my lids.. They “say” that we don’t need to do that and for pressure canning, I do not.. but even I had a couple lids fail on the same batch when I did it the way they said.. HA..

I went back to hot jars, hot lids and hot whatever when water bath canning and surprise (not) not a single lid gave after I went back to doing this.

So while I certainly am not recommending you boil your new lids, I will stand by the fact that putting a hot lid on does not hurt at all in the process.

Its a sad thing that at this point the replacement lids are going to start costing us canners more per jar then the jars will once their costs are spread out over the years.  I do reuse canning lids in many ways, if I am putting a jar in the fridge or a storage jar or herb jar etc.

However I use a new lid for both canning and pressure canning always.. I know lots of folks that reuse lids and there are times where I know that I would risk it on lids I have taken off but hubby does not have that “touch” and crimps/dents the lid when he takes it off..

It does take a talent to release the pressure on that lid with it coming off clean.. Who in your family is the best lid remover?

 

 

 

Posted in Canning | Tagged , , , , | 15 Comments

Friday Rambles Around the Table – Visitors on the Farm

Posted on April 12, 2019 by Just another day on the farm

Waves.. Dogs are on the deck, rain is coming  so I am taking advantage this morning early to get a bit of garden work done.  Come on in, I will wash up and put the kettle on for us.

O you want to have a little walk around, things are slowly melting out again since that last snow.. I know there are a few little things that are starting to grow and we are finally going to be able to plant out in the horse trough garden this weekend and work on the new garden paths for the front garden.

So yesterday in my email box came a letter from one of my official “provincial” livestock orgs and the whole thing was all about how to protect yourself from the animal rights and how to lock down your farm in many ways from the public.

This included signs, recommendation on wording and more..

I have to admit that I did a huh?

It seems to be it was not that long ago that everyone was talking about farm tours, about that as a small farmer and a connect with those who produce your eggs, your milk, your meat..  come to the farm.. pet the babies.. get your picture taken.

Now I  have ALWAYS had an issue with this..  I can count on one hand the amount of my “friends” or those that visit the farm that are allowed to see everything and there is a dang good reason for this..

Its called Biosecurity and its real and its something that so many homesteaders, small farmers do not practise..  I am bad at it sometimes myself.. there are times where I let folks in the front yards without making them put on the booties. Where If I know that I have X rabbits in a clean hutch that I will take one out for a pet etc

The horse’s do go off the farm but they also get extra vaccines and they also have extra insurance for it as well. I used to have special travel insurance when I showed but now I have basic coverage for here on the farm.  I have asked other people at times, what coverage do you have for when you have these “open days” and only two have ever answered me in detail.. the rest just get blank looks on their faces.

Strangely when you step out of the small livestock and into the horse world, this is the norm.. you need to show proof of vaccines, you need to show proof of insurance.  You need to fill out and sign wavers when you arrive on the farms..

To be honest it should be the same way on the small homesteads, if you are really going to allow folks to stick fingers though fences or worst yet, going to allow people in with the different critters, example goat yoga or walking with the alpaca, then I would hope that everyone had to sign a waiver.. I don’t think many do but they should!

I had someone “petting” a friendly sheep, my focus was elsewhere and if I had not seen him back up and then move into again for “another pet” I would have missed it, I was just lucky that he was giving warning.

That ram was warning that person that he was getting ready to charge and because of lack of knowledge, the person though that the slow movement, care being shown was an invite to be friendly.. it was a interspecies miscommunication.

I know I shocked the person when I went over and reacted in a “BIG WAY” and drove the ram out and back.. but it truly could have all gone VERY Wrong..  I had a fellow sheep farmer who was hit by her ram and he broke her back.  It was an eye opener to say the least, I had allowed myself to get to comfortable with the folks visiting as they come to the farm every year.

It was not their fault, it was not the ram’s fault.. it was mine.. as the farmer, I should know better than to put people and livestock together without full-time care and explaining going on between them.

I have been kicked, bite, rolled and stomped over my life time and pretty much everyone I know that works day in and day out with livestock has stories and war wounds to show..

The rooster that decided that purple was the color to trigger an attack.. the gander that thought you might have looked in the direction of his gal, the ram who has ewe’s in heat, the mare that is heat and who is a total sweetheart most of the time who will kick you if you look at her wrong on the “heat day”, the pig that has been a sweetheart always who snaps when a baby cries wrong..  and her hormones kick in..

However I do my best to keep certain lines that do not get crossed on the farm.. area’s that have the youngest is one area that I try very hard to keep totally only us, or a vet if needed but trust me, he is boot dipping and or wearing the blue booties.

Certain times over the past years, I have totally locked down the farm when certain bio threats are happening and are so easy to spread.  Tires can and do bring things in.. boots, gloves and more.

But this was all about image, this was about the fact that we need to present the white picket fence image.

Strangely despite everything I said above, I don’t agree with the white picket or the hiding behind fences or locking in buildings without windows.  Its spring here on the farm and I know that there is a mud on knees, there are wet feet that I am watching, there is a big shit pile in the one corner of the pasture where the horse’s dozed in the sun for months..

There is muck and mud and piles of bedding hauled out of the barns.. is it pretty.. no, it’s not.. but its real..

We need more care yes, and we need animal welfare yes, but we also need more real!

There is nothing wrong with real, you know!

Not all babies are perfect..

Not everyone is healthy all the time.. are we.. I mean really think about it.. why is there this image that every single animal on the farm must be this glowing picture of health..

If I asked you if everyone in your family was the picture of health all year-long, what is the odds.. someone had colds right? someone needed some kind of tooth care? What about nail care, some got a sliver? Or some slipped? Did someone hit their toes and break it? What about someone who gained weight over the winter or lost weight because they are nursing a baby and running after a toddler?

Or what about your house hold pet.. cats that need help with bite that got infected, or a dog that eat the wrong thing and is throwing up or a split paw or a pulled nail.. we all know that if own pets that there are times we need help, that we take them to the vets.

SO why the heck have we allowed ourselves to fall into the trap that a full-time milking animal be it cow, goat or sheep is to look the same as a dry animal.. they don’t.. they are in full production.. they have a hippy look to them.. it’s not wrong.. it’s just not the same as a unbred animal would look…

Does a mother of four who is in her mid 30’s look the same as a 20-year-old in their prime with no children.. no.. and yet we expect the older females of our flocks and herds to look the same.

I have even had people say.. what is wrong with that chicken! Is it unhealthy, does it need a vet, o my god.. put a sweater on it..  yes I swear, someone say the sweaters on facebook and told me to put a sweater on my chicken.. Sigh!

Its called moulting.. all birds that live longer then a year do it and they do it every single year! Instead of going, did a fox attack chickens due to the feather explosion in the yard.. or going.. that chicken must be cold..

Maybe we could have a chat about the fact that small farm, homesteads and so forth are the fragile keeping grounds of the rare breeds, the heritage breeds and that the best way to save them is to breed them and eat them.

That sometimes we should take pictures of birds in moult and share them on our social media instead of only sharing the perfect photos of the full fluffy butts.. I mean I love a feather fluffy butt the same as the next chicken loving gal.. but I swear I am going to put up birds with missing feathers and moulting chickens this year.

Then yesterday on the radio came a hour long program by a ag lawyer talking about how farms are getting swarmed.. they will have numbers of people arrive in protest  and  refuse to leave and often take animals when they do so, without the farmers permission.. they simply overwhelm the farmer. .. that they have started having to send out alerts to farmers that activsests are planning and talking on the net.

In this case they were focused on dairy and they would steal the calves and then post photo’s of them afterwards.  Its my understanding that this also happened with piglets as well.

A friend of mine in alberta had her dog taken and re-sold (or so it appears) from her ranch yard..  I feel so badly for her,  it seems like every year all over the place, dogs are taken for re-sale (if they are lucky) and for fighting rings if they are not lucky enough to be rehomed.

Whole litters taken from backyards,  someone tried once to steal my Freyja and they would have gotten my mom’s much more friendly house dogs if my farm girl had not let loose in barks and ran away.. stranger should not touch.. I yelled from the window and then left as I went storming out. That same day they took X amount of dogs from the town.. we were just lucky, it was totally random.

However my friend had shared on social media that she was traveling, and I know that while it “could have been ” random, I can’t help but wonder if her farm got targeted due to there being a farm sitter in place. As far as I know at the moment, they still do not know where they much loved dog is.. my heart breaks for them..

I would be so upset if someone came and stole my lambs right out of my barn..  Camera’s have come a long! long way. Tiny little battery camera’s will get the job done.  Get one that shows your lane, one that shows your barn and more.. and put up the signs.. Smile, you are on camera!

So in a nutshell..

Stop having open house farm days, they are being targeted

Follow proper and safe Biosecurity on your farm when you do have people come visit.. they come to visit in the house.. beware and speak strongly to those that they can just wonder around looking at things.

Show real life as well as the pretty on your social media, we need more REAL

Put up camera’s and use them on your farms

Lock things up.. I know its a pain to do so.. but put things under lock and key goes a long way to help makes sure things stay safe. As does chaining things up. I know they can be cut.. but it sure slows folks down at the least!

Don’t tell people if you are going to be away or if you have a farm sitter stopping by, write about your great time after you get home. I do it all the time, folks think its happening in the moment.. but its after I am home..

If they are going to be living on the farm full time that’s a little different but make sure that is shared in such a way as folks understand that.

Its a new world we live in folks.. and its a tricky one to find balance in.

Stay safe out there.. and keep your livestock just as safe!

 

 

 

Posted in At the kitchen table | 12 Comments

Farmgal’s Photography April 11th 2019

Posted on April 11, 2019 by Just another day on the farm

The Canadian Geese have been coming to the fields behind the farm by the hundreds for days now..

We have three deer that have been cross over the farm and feeding around the farm in the local fields.  It appears to be a big doe with two yearlings.

There little trouble makers have broke out of the fence one to many time and are now in lock down after I caught them up by the bean teepee.. sneaky girls.. very sneaky!

The big river is staring to break up now.. the local creek is overflowing its banks and there are local roads closed off other then local traffic and only if you can get to your place before you can’t! Its not effected us, despite the higher levels, it has not gotten even to close to the pasture fields before it started to retreat

However down the road, its been much worse.. this is not a lake.. this is hundreds of acres of fields.. hopefully it will start to drain soon.

Posted in photography | Tagged , , | 10 Comments

The Baby Fowl April Update 2019

Posted on April 10, 2019 by Just another day on the farm

The call was placed to the feed store and the Chicks and Turkey Pullets are now ordered and will arrive on the farm the first week of May.

We ordered in 12 dual purpose large brown egg layers. I love so many thinks that my Icelandic J line land race rooster has added into the main mixed breed flock but the reduction of egg size is the one thing I need to correct in the coming gens. These are sex linked and are all hens.

He reduced egg size from a large to a med in weight on most of his offspring and then I had a weasel attack late winter and sadly lost four of my bigger brown egg layers. I had five years ago added in a some green egg layers but while they were stunning, great temperaments, they did not really lay well.. .. no let me change that.. they really did not lay well.. they were from show lines and produced 3 to 4 eggs a week.

However breed down to the Icelandic line, I was able to increase the laying rates back up to normal rates but the Icelandic helped bring down the egg size.. giving up one thing for another.. I would take regular steady layers that really produce well even if It means I lost some size..

Now that I have the colors I want added in, the smaller combs and that great forage built-in, I want to use the coming laying hens to be to bring in the genes to bring back up the size on the eggs in the next generations.

I ordered in 50 white rock meat birds. I had only planned on 40 of them but it cost me 4 dollars less if I ordered 50 then if I ordered in 40.. as the price really went down at the 50 mark.. so be it.

While I have raised chicks for many years now, I have never raised white rock’s.. I have also gone with the slower growth rates of the heavy dual breed chickens.. but this year, the simple fact is that I had to take a very hard look at the growth rates, the return rates and the feed costs.

I heard from a friend who raises her birds very much like I do and she said they did them last year for the first time and had very good luck with them. I am hoping I will find the same thing.  We will see how it goes and if it saves us money in the long run. They are mixed run unsexed.

It will have to really prove themselves because if I was not buying them, I would be hatching my own chicks, so right off the top, we have earn back the money that it took to buy these chicks from the hatchery.

While I will run the chicks as a group of 50 at the start, as soon as I can, I will be splitting out the bigger chicks (males I assume) into their own group of ideally around 25 and keeping the smaller (female’s I assume ) into their own group.   I have heard they can be quite lazy and I want to make sure that the bigger are not pushing the smaller off the feeder or water or prime shade etc.

I also ordered in 10 turkey pullets, I had planned on buying the smaller white but again it turns out that you have to pay extra to get the mini-classic so I went with the more cost-friendly choice and got the great big White Broad Breasted Turkeys. These are mixed run and unsexed so we will get a mix of smaller females and bigger males.

I am very hopeful that my female turkey will be laying an trying to sit eggs and I will be encouraging her to do so at the right time and I will be able to slip the pullets under her and that she will raise them for me.. It will make things so much easier if I can make this happen..

The plan at the moment is to butcher at smaller sizes for at least some of them, I have no need for 50 pound turkeys, well other then one or two for when I hope to have some family come a nice meal around thanksgiving etc.

I still plan to do all the ducks inhouse as they say.. all my own eggs, my own hatching or the hen hatching and raising them for our own use. I am still wanting ideally a min of 48 ducks but more would be better.

I am excited to see the plans come together here on the farm.

How about you? Have you got eggs in your incubator? Do you have chicks ordered? Do you live in ones those places that brings in chicks of all kinds to the feed stores and you can just go and pick what you want? Do you get your chicks delivered by mail?

Is feed costs effecting your own plans for what you are choosing to raise this year?

So unless something else changes, that is the April update for you, somehow.. somehow I made it though spring and did not make it to a single spring bird sale! O my gosh.. you have no idea how hard it was to not go to a sale lol..

I adore my spring bird sales! So SO much.. but I stayed with the plan! I am working the plan..

Posted in Chickens | Tagged , , , , | 16 Comments

Sheep Milk Yogurt

Posted on April 10, 2019 by Just another day on the farm

I love making my homemade yogurt in my Shuttle Chef because it allows me to make it with very limited heat used. Just heat the milk to the correct temp, hold it for a few minutes, bring it back down a touch and add the culture and into the chef it goes for six hours and out comes a pot of thick yogurt.

I love being able to lift big thick spoons of this out to be used, you can add some fruit, nuts or jam or jelly and stir it in to change up your flavours.

But don’t stop there.. its easy to put in a linen based Reusable cheese cloth (please consider investing in a reusable in this regards) and strain out more and voila..  it pretty close to being cream cheese. Sheep milk is so rich and full bodies that it can do this with ease.

In this case after I drained it, I did a mix of nettle/pink Salt and have made it into a nice log to chill in the fridge till I bring it out for future meal. If you have never used dried nettle in soft cheese, I highly recommend you give it a try. At our local farmers market they sell a old aged nettle cheese that is very good. Its nice to see nettle cheese being sold in such a public way 🙂

I am down to my last pint jar of dried nettles, I still have nettle blends in the cupboard but I am so glad that soon, very soon those baby nettles will be popping out of the ground.. Come on spring!

What is your favorite herb blend to mix into your cream cheese or drained yogurts to use in your own kitchen? Are you running low on anything in your herb cupboard?

 

Posted in Sheep Milk, Sheep Milk Cheeses | Tagged , , , , , | 10 Comments

Climate Change and Waking up to soon

Posted on April 9, 2019 by Just another day on the farm

Yesterday which was the end of a run day of five days of above 0 temps in the day time and below freezing in the night (perfect weather for the sap run) hubby called me..

Three of this furry fat big boy (it would appear “thank you sandy” that these are most likely Osmia Lignaria )  had hatched out with very poor timing indeed given that it was a bad freezing raining day..  We scooped them up and I snapped a few photos and then we moved them to a close by but sheltered area and let nature take over from there..

I truly hope that there are more males to hatch yet from that area for breeding.. and I had better get a new house out for them this weekend.

Where they came from is not a great location but I am also not surprised to be honest.. I will give the females that will come sooner than later a better choice or three close by where they were and will redo that area to highly encourage them to move to the older tree stumps and older logs that I am going to offer them.

We were driving the other day and I said to hubby.. stop the car, we need to go back I spotted something in the ditch I want..  there was an old root/stump section just waiting to be picked up and hauled home. This one is not for drilling holes.. there are others that will have that, instead this one is for the carpenter. We have a lack of older wood at this point.

Lots of fresh cut wood but we will need to haul in and place our older stump parts and logs to give these wonderful pollinators a number of choices (besides my house/deck/barns) a place to set up their homes in.

I had so many bees that used the big old willow tree’s as their homes that I know they must have taken anything they could get their hands on last fall to make the winter though.. No real harm done.. but I can’t allow them to stay there all the time.. after all that is point in fact my deck and I have plans to finish the parts that were not done last time and it’s getting a new paint job as well as new climbers and such.

I am not sure that these guys will have made it.. not only did it freezing rain all day but then the snow arrived and the world is a cover of white over the weight of the ice, I am going to lose at least a two younger trees, I do not think they will be able to come back and I will not be able to leave them leaning like that..

There is a clear lack of feeding things out there at the moment.. The area that they hatched from for many years here on the farm would have had a much slower spring wake up but is this year a full sun area now.

This is part of the reason why I think its going to become so very important that we are food producers take it on ourselves to learn how to work with, help and care for the single native bees that produce coons that can be harvested and kept in controlled conditions over winter.

While I fully intend to continue to support my “wild” native bees in so many ways, I have come to the understanding that we are coming up or we have hit the point where we are going to have to step up our game to make sure we have the pollinators we need in our gardens all season long.

Honeybees are awesome and if you want to go that route.. wonderful.. most folks in the city’s and towns do not have this choice. Even those of us that do want honeybees can be put off by the cost investment into them..  Bees are not cheap at all and the overwinter loss’ can be hard on both new and older beekeepers.

The Native above ground bees on the other hand can be looked at as a way to hedge our bets for those wanting and willing to work with nature.  I give a total nod of respect to those that want pretty flowers and pollinator gardens.. bless you..

Having said that, I am focused on working a program that supports the bees with the intent to increase pollination to increase food crop yields!  Thankfully while there is a learning curve, the investment in terms of money itself can be very little if you are willing to do some of the work yourself.

I will be showing frugal ways to do this as well as showing ways to spend a little money or to be honest spend a bit larger amount for a higher return. I want to share all the different points and spread.

In general on Tuesday’s  (and perhaps other days as well) I will be sharing a pollinator related post.. This can be on anything in this wide subject matter, from plants to bushes to houses to detailed reports on the viewing house I got.

As I watch the almost white out conditions in my winter wonderland, I can only sigh at the fate of these guys that came out yesterday.. To soon.. To soon! I hope you went back into your tunnels and are pouting guys!

So dear readers.. talk to me.. do you have a good amount of native bees in your gardens and or your homesteads? Have you noticed a increase or a decrease? I know that over the past couple years in many area and places, there have been reports of losses and to quiet gardens.. yet a few other folks reported to me that they are good and have lots!

What I am really looking for is, what was it like last year? Did you have lots of native bees and if so, lots though the whole season? or did you see weather and timing effecting their numbers?

I know here on the farm in 2018

Spring : very slow start.. lack of bees.. thankfully we did have a dozen plus  Early Mason bees that got really busy in the spring so while we did not count many bees, we still got a good pollination count.

Late Spring: We had a second native bee appear that they feed on our caned fruits flowers in massive numbers and they did a outstanding job, we have lovely yields in this regards but despite that, we were down our at least 60 percent over our normal numbers.

Summer: mixed bag, we had our first hatching of at least three of our different native’s which was great but their numbers were lean and then the heat did a number on them.

Fall: then we had the massive yard shake up, we sadly know that we cut down and displaced at least five nests or breeding nests.. and we saw that reflected in our fall bees numbers..  this the time of the year where I normally see my asters, golden rod and my joe-pye weed crawling with last minute feeders.

I would say we headed into the fall of 2018 with at least 60 percent of my normal amount missing..  We will see what 2019 brings us.

 

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