Reeny's Butterflies, Blooms, & Bees

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.

Monday, February 6, 2012

Ouch!

Update on my beekeeping. The hives are doing well, growing and producing many bars of brood. Was feeling confident and went in to show my sister and nephew a bar with bees and honeycomb. I didn't use my smoker or my suit. The girls are usually sweet and only get agitated if I do something they don't like. I am learning to listen to them while I work the hive. When I went in without my suit, out came a little cluster of bees and I got stung twice. I forgot that I had my black dress on. Bees perceive black as a bear. No wonder they stung me. I also learned how important it is to announce that I am going to enter the hive. I don’t use a lot of smoke but I usually smoke the entrance and under the lid to let them know that I am entering. They say the "honey doesn't taste as sweet without the stings." Well these stings hurt and are swollen. My honey is going to taste really good! I won't be making that mistake again.

Friday, December 30, 2011

Have Bees Become Canaries In the Coal Mine?

Have Bees Become Canaries In the Coal Mine? Why Massive Bee Dieoffs May Be a Warning About Our Own Health

http://www.alternet.org/food/154039

What scientists are beginning to understand about the cause of colony collapse could be a message for all of us.

Monday, December 26, 2011

First Honey Harvest!

So excited, this was my first time harvesting honey. It was kind of by accident. One of the difficulties of managing TBH is manipulating the bars and making sure the comb stays straight. It is called cross combing. I am not really having a problem with cross combing but with very wide and heavy honey combs towards the back of the hive. As I was moving one of the bars it was so heavy that I heard it drop. It was definitely a little intimidating to have to reach in the hive and take out the comb with all the bees, but everything went fine. I did receive one little sting through the glove, as there was a bee hiding on the cushion where I had the container with the honeycomb. I didn’t see her and put my hand right on her. The only way to harvest honey in a TBH is to crush and strain it. It is a very easy procedure. I simply put it in the colander and crushed it with a fork. I got three beautiful jars of amber colored honey. It tasted so delicious!

Wednesday, November 30, 2011

Honey Bee Mystery

Honey bee mystery protein is a freight O for health and lifespan

www.eurekalert.org

Why are bee colonies worldwide suffering mysterious deaths? A unique study describes a single bee protein that can promote bee health and solve a major economic challenge.

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

Our butterflies, and bees and other pollinators are in crisis. Without our pollinators our food sources and supplies are in jeopardy. Albert Einstein once said that if the bees disappeared “man would have only four years of life left.” If we don’t look after our pollinators eventually of food could vanish.

Scientists are speculating as to the cause of Colony Collapse Disorder. I am sure you are all aware that our bees have been in trouble for many years. Many feel there is a link between pesticides and CCD. There are many articles, news reports, and movies to increase our awareness of the dangers to our pollinators. Two movies that are available to view are “Vanishing of the Bees” and “Queen of the Sun”. Both are great movies and really make you stop and think that we as a global society need to protect our pollinators.

I recently became a Backyard Beekeeper. It was the next progression in my quest to help our pollinators. I decided to take a non traditional approach to beekeeping and have Top Bar Hives (TBH). They have been used in third world countries because they are relatively inexpensive to build. They are a horizontal box with bars that the bees draw out their own comb. This has been difficult because most beekeepers use the traditional Langstroth hives. Managing a TBH as a new beekeepers has been quite a learning experience. Most traditional beekeepers raise their bees on artificial foundation, feed sugar water, and use pesticides to control the Varroa mite that is destroying our bees.

Most traditional beekeepers use large cell (LC) foundation which is approximately 5.4mm instead of a more natural size comb of 4.9mm. The larger the comb the more honey they produce. Over the years this is stressing our bees and making them larger and larger and more susceptible to parasites such as the Varroa mite. My bees are raised in my backyard and neighborhood and are able to forage on a diverse plant variety, instead of many bees that are given just one monoculture i.e. pollination of the almond trees in California. I don’t use any pesticides, fungicides, and raise my bees as organically as possible.