How I Got Started

I started Butterfly gardening many years ago. My yard has been a progression over the years, and has made many transformations. Twenty years ago I experienced Hurricane Andrew. My yard and house were destroyed. We decided not to replace the pool screening and open up the backyard and put in some landscaping. That was the official beginning of my love for gardening in South Florida. I added a beautiful water garden years ago, and have been adding host and larvae plants for pollinators, mostly for the butterfly, for as many years as I can remember. I had my yard certified as a Natural Habitat, through the National Wildlife Foundation. To have a natural habitat you need to provide and meet certain requirements: 1. Provide a food source, 2. Provide a water source, 3. Cover, 4. A place to raise young. I try not to use any pesticides in my yard. I vermicompost and recycle as many of my food scraps as possible. If I had more land I would have a huge compost bin to recycle all my yard cuttings. Basically, I try to lessen my carbon footprint on this earth. In my own little world or backyard I try to provide an ecosystem in my water garden, provide birdbaths, birdfeeders, hummingbird nectar sources, feeders, puddling areas, host plants and nectar plants for butterflies and other pollinators. I am hoping to raise everyone’s awareness of the importance of saving our Butterflies, Blooms & Bees. Without them our world and food source will be in trouble. I hope you all enjoy my journey. I am not a Master Gardener, or Master Beekeeper, an Entomologist, or Journalists. I am simply a Backyard Gardener who is trying to lessen her Carbon Footprint of this Earth.

I hope you enjoy my blogs.

Sunday, November 20, 2011

My TBH are one month old!


My TBH are one month old.  They are doing well.  The population is growing.  My biggest issue is that I have a really hard time finding the eggs.  My eyes cannot always see them.  It depends on the sunlight and the color of the comb.  Sometimes it is very easy to find them and other times I cannot at all.  So what I do is look for are open larvae, and capped brood. I look to see how well the queen is laying by the brood pattern.   Usually I find the queen so I know she is there.  Finding the eggs, larvae, and capped brood is to make sure that you have a laying queen in your hive.   As a new beekeeper these are important skills, but not always easy.  I am sure I will look back on these basic skills in six months to a year and laugh and realize how much I have grown as a beekeeper.  (I hope!)

Here's a video of my TBH from when I got started:

http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=2639806878594
Visit My Website:
CLICK HERE

Or Visit My Etsy Shop:
CLICK HERE