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Wednesday, September 11, 2013
Saturday, September 7, 2013
Michael Bush Presentation at Palm Beach County Beekeeping Association
Today I had the opportunity to hear Michael Bush present at the Palm Beach County Beekeeping Association. When I first started thinking about getting some bees I watched a video with Brendhan Horne from the Palm Beach County Beekeeping Association. He put together an Organic Beekeeping Conference. Michael Bush was one of the speakers at that conference. Long story short Michael Bush’s book was one of the first books I read, “The Practical Beekeeper, Beekeeping Naturally” It is a great reference book and it supported everything I felt was true about the importance of keeping bees naturally without chemicals, treatments, and pesticides. Once I decided that I wanted to keep bees in a Top Bar Hive, I found my way to Sam Comfort and Anarchy Bees.
I was so excited to hear Michael Bush speak today. I got up at 06:30 am to drive up to West Palm Beach to hear him, but it was so worth it. The icing on the cake was that Sam Comfort was also there so I got to see him and discuss my hives and how my beekeeping skills have grown over the last couple of years. Here are a few highlights from Michael Bush’s lecture. He made 4 very important points. If more beekeepers practiced these rules our bees would be much healthier, despite the fact that our environment is causing issues with pesticides, and GMO crops, and neonicotinoids.
No Treatments
Breeding Local Survivors
Natural Food
Natural Comb
I am proud to say that I practice most of what Michael Bush promoted in his lecture. I got my bees from Sam Comfort. These bees were bred specifically for their genetics, and survivability. They are good feral bees. Although my hives carry some of the same genetics from the original hives, they have since produced new queens altering somewhat the genetics. As you know from my blog entries this has become a slight issue for me because I do think that my new queens are breeding with local drones that may carry some Africanized genetics. Michael stressed the importance of breeding for gentleness. I may have to consider re-queening my hives. I tried that in the past with a nice Italian queen, thinking that the genetic from the Italian queen would make the hive gentler. He actually talked about the fact that this is not the best idea, that the bees from the combination could actually be more aggressive. I did not find that to be true in my case because the queen I received never was a great laying queen. The hive struggled and then finally didn’t survive. I have been thinking about my hives since his lecture and I may have to consider re-queening, maybe with some queens from Sam Comfort.
Since I keep Top Bar Hives many of his other points I practice on a daily basis. I never feed my bee’s sugar water. I do not really need to because living in South Florida, there is always a pollen and nectar source for the bees. If I did need to feed I would make sure my bees had enough honey stores to survive. One of the reasons I chose TBH beekeeping was that the bees actually draw out their own comb. I allow my bees to do what they should do naturally. They are small celled bees, not upsized. They are less susceptible to varroa and other pests. I do have some small hive beetles but because my hives are strong they are in control. My comb is clean. I use no chemicals in my yard or in my hives. When I harvest my honey I actually cut the comb from the Top Bars, therefore the honeycomb is always turned over and the bees are constantly making new comb. My honeycomb is clean without chemicals.
I wish more beekeepers understood these principles. I am glad that I practice them, and I hope my bees appreciate my efforts. Now if we could just change what is going on with the use of GMO crops, and, neonicotinoids, our bees might have a chance….. but that is a whole other story.
Here are some pictures from my experience with Michael Bush! It was a great beekeeping day.
I was so excited to hear Michael Bush speak today. I got up at 06:30 am to drive up to West Palm Beach to hear him, but it was so worth it. The icing on the cake was that Sam Comfort was also there so I got to see him and discuss my hives and how my beekeeping skills have grown over the last couple of years. Here are a few highlights from Michael Bush’s lecture. He made 4 very important points. If more beekeepers practiced these rules our bees would be much healthier, despite the fact that our environment is causing issues with pesticides, and GMO crops, and neonicotinoids.
No Treatments
- Maintain a rich ecosystem in the hive
- Treatments within the hive disrupt this ecosystem.
- Put selective pressure only where it belongs.
- Treating only weakens the hive and therefore breeds disease.
- The pests survive and win.
- Keep the comb clean of chemicals.
- Chemicals interfere with the natural communication within the hive.
Breeding Local Survivors
- Locally adapted bees, feral bees, are more adapted to the climate.
- Breed from Queens that have shown longevity, and good supercedure skills.
- Contribute to overall genetic diversity of honey bees in North America.
- Breed for gentleness, survivability, productivity, and cull for aggressiveness.
Natural Food
- Sugar syrup has a higher ph, 6.0. Honey 3.2 to 4.5 disease reproduces better at a ph 6.0
- Improper diet makes one susceptible to disease.
- Increase ph of 6.0 affects the other 8,000 microorganisms within the hive
- Sugar syrup disrupts the Ecological Balance of the hive
- Leave honey for food, the bees will be healthier
- More balanced ecosystem in the hive
Natural Comb
- Using natural cell size fights against varroa and other disease.
- Standard foundation has been upsized.
- Upsizing has caused a bee that is 150% of its natural size.
- Upsizing the bee makes it more susceptible to varroa, and other pests.
- Clean wax promotes a healthier bee.
- Natural comb is really the way to get clean wax.
I am proud to say that I practice most of what Michael Bush promoted in his lecture. I got my bees from Sam Comfort. These bees were bred specifically for their genetics, and survivability. They are good feral bees. Although my hives carry some of the same genetics from the original hives, they have since produced new queens altering somewhat the genetics. As you know from my blog entries this has become a slight issue for me because I do think that my new queens are breeding with local drones that may carry some Africanized genetics. Michael stressed the importance of breeding for gentleness. I may have to consider re-queening my hives. I tried that in the past with a nice Italian queen, thinking that the genetic from the Italian queen would make the hive gentler. He actually talked about the fact that this is not the best idea, that the bees from the combination could actually be more aggressive. I did not find that to be true in my case because the queen I received never was a great laying queen. The hive struggled and then finally didn’t survive. I have been thinking about my hives since his lecture and I may have to consider re-queening, maybe with some queens from Sam Comfort.
Since I keep Top Bar Hives many of his other points I practice on a daily basis. I never feed my bee’s sugar water. I do not really need to because living in South Florida, there is always a pollen and nectar source for the bees. If I did need to feed I would make sure my bees had enough honey stores to survive. One of the reasons I chose TBH beekeeping was that the bees actually draw out their own comb. I allow my bees to do what they should do naturally. They are small celled bees, not upsized. They are less susceptible to varroa and other pests. I do have some small hive beetles but because my hives are strong they are in control. My comb is clean. I use no chemicals in my yard or in my hives. When I harvest my honey I actually cut the comb from the Top Bars, therefore the honeycomb is always turned over and the bees are constantly making new comb. My honeycomb is clean without chemicals.
I wish more beekeepers understood these principles. I am glad that I practice them, and I hope my bees appreciate my efforts. Now if we could just change what is going on with the use of GMO crops, and, neonicotinoids, our bees might have a chance….. but that is a whole other story.
Here are some pictures from my experience with Michael Bush! It was a great beekeeping day.
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Thursday, August 8, 2013
Mango Wine and Mango Ginger Melomel
Besides being busy and totally consumed with soap making I have also finished bottling the mango wine that has been fermenting over the last year. The wine turned out beautiful, very floral to the taste with mango undertones. We back sweetened the wine before we bottled it, the final specific gravity was 1.002 (very dry), 1.008 (medium) and 1.012 sweet. I prefer the sweeter version and find it very refreshing. I have enjoyed several bottles and have given several to family and friends.
My husband and I also bottled the Ancient Orange Mead which also turned out very good. I love my labels.
Last Sunday we made a Melomel which is Mead made with fruit. We decided on Mango Ginger. I have frozen mangos from my yard. I used approximately 12 lbs of mango and 15 lbs of honey from my hives and fresh ginger. Right now we are having a little bit of difficulty with the fermentation and questioning the original specific gravity. I added a little more honey today. Hopefully it will turn out ok.
When making wine or mead patience is a definitely a virtue, this fermentation process takes time sometimes up to a year.
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My husband and I also bottled the Ancient Orange Mead which also turned out very good. I love my labels.
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Last Sunday we made a Melomel which is Mead made with fruit. We decided on Mango Ginger. I have frozen mangos from my yard. I used approximately 12 lbs of mango and 15 lbs of honey from my hives and fresh ginger. Right now we are having a little bit of difficulty with the fermentation and questioning the original specific gravity. I added a little more honey today. Hopefully it will turn out ok.
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When making wine or mead patience is a definitely a virtue, this fermentation process takes time sometimes up to a year.
Thursday, August 1, 2013
Busy as a Bee!
It has been a really long time since I updated my blog. In February my responsibility for work increased with the launch of Apixaban. There has been very little extra time for writing my blog. Since mostly only myself and family read my entries I figured it really didn't matter that much. I have been really busy lately using the by-products from my yard and my bees so I thought I would give a little update as to what is happening around the yard. I feel like a busy little bee and I have accomplished many projects over the last few weeks. I think it is time I sit down and blog about them.
First of all, the yard is a mess again, very over grown! My new yard guys aren't afraid of the bees but they don't do any maintenance. I really haven't worked in the yard at all. It is just too hot and rainy. Mostly I haven't because the bees have been really irritable because of the heat and rain. This is also the time of year where my hives expand exponentially. I now have 5 hives. I made a split early in the season and all hives are doing very well. The bees are extremely aggressive. I was working the hive one Sunday and when I lifted the bar I immediately had bees sticking to my veil. I have to take breaks from them to let them settle down. They have actually followed me up to the back door. I wish I lived in another part of the country where it was cooler and the bees did not have Africanized genetics, but then there would be other issues like drought, and cold. I think if I wasn't allergic to the bees I wouldn't care but I always need to be cautious. My epi pen and phone are always by my side. I think that this fear is actually preventing me from working in my yard and procrastinating working in my hives. One weekend recently I got stung about 10 times while working the hives. The hives are quite large and the bees are extremely irritable. My mentor wonders if the bees are sensing that I am stressed when I work the hives and that they are picking up on my emotions! I have been trying to bee more Zen like while working the hives and bee at one with my bees. Last weekend I only got stung one time through the glove.
Last year I made my first attempt at making lip balm using my beeswax and honey. I decided to try to perfect my recipe. I also thought that maybe I could make soap with my honey and beeswax. I have so much honey comb in bags in the freezer I have no more room to put anything else. I really need to render the wax and use it in something. That something could be soap and other products. What got me started on this kick was someone was asking for a recommendation for handmade goat’s milk soap. I recommended Megan Paska from Brooklyn Homesteader. I first became aware of Megan Paska when I watched a beautifully made video of her beekeeping. It totally inspired me and I have been following her blog ever since. Megan had a blog about her handmade goat’s milk soap. She was kind enough to share it with me. I have totally been bitten by the idea of making soap and other product that would utilize my honey and beeswax.
I have been totally consumed with the idea of making soap. It allows me to use many of the by products from my yard and hive and be creative at the same time. I have made a few batches of soap since then. My first was a recipe I found on www.thenerdyfarmwife.com. It was a honey and oatmeal soap and was made with olive oil, coconut oil, honey and oatmeal. I did fragrance the soap with lavender and tea tree essential oils. All of the ingredients were organic and natural. I think for my first attempt at soap making it turned out pretty good.
Making soap is both an art and a science. The science, Saponification is when you take a fatty acid (oil) and base (lye) mix them together (saponification) and make a salt (soap). The art is the ability to use my creativity in putting together recipes and then designing ways to make the bars a work of art. I am not really that experienced yet to be too creative but that will come over time. I have been reading several books, watching YouTube videos, and actually went to Jacksonville, Florida to take a Soap Making 101 Boot Camp at the Green Lotus Studios. http://www.greenlotusstudios.com/index.html. It was a great weekend as I spent it with a friend that many years ago made soap. She was also excited to make soap again as it had been many years. We had a great time and made two different bars of soap. Besides enjoying the soap making we totally enjoyed each other’s company.
The second batch of soap I made was a Calendula Soap. My husband suffers from psoriasis. I wanted to make a soap that might help his skin. I infused Calendula petals in olive oil in the sun. I also used a calendula tea that I infused in the sun. Instead of using water to mix my lye I used the calendula tea. I incorporated both the oil and tea in my soap. This is a great example of using flowers from my garden and incorporating them in my soap. The soap turned out so pretty. I colored it naturally with Red Palm Oil.
I am hoping it helps my husband’s skin and improves his psoriasis. I also made a goat’s milk and honey soap. It turned out so beautiful. The trick with working with goat’s milk is soaping at very cool temperature. I froze the goat’s milk so that when I mixed it with the lye it would not burn. I kept the temperature below 85 degrees. That required putting the goat’s milk and lye in an ice bath. Normally when you soap with lye temperatures can reach 200 degrees. I put honey is some of the soap mixture and kept some plain. Honey is also a sugar and will accelerate trace and darken the soap. You can see the difference in the color from the top of the soap to the bottom. The soap is now much darker on the bottom that contains the honey and fragrance oil.
Lastly I made Peppermint Chocolate Lip Balm. I infused the Sunflower Oil with peppermint from my garden. I bought a bar of Theo chocolate which is fair trade, certified organic and non GMO. I used beeswax and honey from my hives, castor oil, mango butter, and peppermint essential oil. The lip balm turned out very nice.
I would really like to become an expert at making soap, and other products i.e. body butters, bath salts etc. I love to cook and this is kind of like creating a recipe but for a different purpose. I love the idea of using products from my yard and using them in creative ways. I am going to continue to study and learn the art of making soap. Maybe someday I will open a small business selling my soap and other products I receive from my yard.
First of all, the yard is a mess again, very over grown! My new yard guys aren't afraid of the bees but they don't do any maintenance. I really haven't worked in the yard at all. It is just too hot and rainy. Mostly I haven't because the bees have been really irritable because of the heat and rain. This is also the time of year where my hives expand exponentially. I now have 5 hives. I made a split early in the season and all hives are doing very well. The bees are extremely aggressive. I was working the hive one Sunday and when I lifted the bar I immediately had bees sticking to my veil. I have to take breaks from them to let them settle down. They have actually followed me up to the back door. I wish I lived in another part of the country where it was cooler and the bees did not have Africanized genetics, but then there would be other issues like drought, and cold. I think if I wasn't allergic to the bees I wouldn't care but I always need to be cautious. My epi pen and phone are always by my side. I think that this fear is actually preventing me from working in my yard and procrastinating working in my hives. One weekend recently I got stung about 10 times while working the hives. The hives are quite large and the bees are extremely irritable. My mentor wonders if the bees are sensing that I am stressed when I work the hives and that they are picking up on my emotions! I have been trying to bee more Zen like while working the hives and bee at one with my bees. Last weekend I only got stung one time through the glove.
Last year I made my first attempt at making lip balm using my beeswax and honey. I decided to try to perfect my recipe. I also thought that maybe I could make soap with my honey and beeswax. I have so much honey comb in bags in the freezer I have no more room to put anything else. I really need to render the wax and use it in something. That something could be soap and other products. What got me started on this kick was someone was asking for a recommendation for handmade goat’s milk soap. I recommended Megan Paska from Brooklyn Homesteader. I first became aware of Megan Paska when I watched a beautifully made video of her beekeeping. It totally inspired me and I have been following her blog ever since. Megan had a blog about her handmade goat’s milk soap. She was kind enough to share it with me. I have totally been bitten by the idea of making soap and other product that would utilize my honey and beeswax.
 |
I have been totally consumed with the idea of making soap. It allows me to use many of the by products from my yard and hive and be creative at the same time. I have made a few batches of soap since then. My first was a recipe I found on www.thenerdyfarmwife.com. It was a honey and oatmeal soap and was made with olive oil, coconut oil, honey and oatmeal. I did fragrance the soap with lavender and tea tree essential oils. All of the ingredients were organic and natural. I think for my first attempt at soap making it turned out pretty good.
 |  |
 |  |
Making soap is both an art and a science. The science, Saponification is when you take a fatty acid (oil) and base (lye) mix them together (saponification) and make a salt (soap). The art is the ability to use my creativity in putting together recipes and then designing ways to make the bars a work of art. I am not really that experienced yet to be too creative but that will come over time. I have been reading several books, watching YouTube videos, and actually went to Jacksonville, Florida to take a Soap Making 101 Boot Camp at the Green Lotus Studios. http://www.greenlotusstudios.com/index.html. It was a great weekend as I spent it with a friend that many years ago made soap. She was also excited to make soap again as it had been many years. We had a great time and made two different bars of soap. Besides enjoying the soap making we totally enjoyed each other’s company.
The second batch of soap I made was a Calendula Soap. My husband suffers from psoriasis. I wanted to make a soap that might help his skin. I infused Calendula petals in olive oil in the sun. I also used a calendula tea that I infused in the sun. Instead of using water to mix my lye I used the calendula tea. I incorporated both the oil and tea in my soap. This is a great example of using flowers from my garden and incorporating them in my soap. The soap turned out so pretty. I colored it naturally with Red Palm Oil.
 |  |
I am hoping it helps my husband’s skin and improves his psoriasis. I also made a goat’s milk and honey soap. It turned out so beautiful. The trick with working with goat’s milk is soaping at very cool temperature. I froze the goat’s milk so that when I mixed it with the lye it would not burn. I kept the temperature below 85 degrees. That required putting the goat’s milk and lye in an ice bath. Normally when you soap with lye temperatures can reach 200 degrees. I put honey is some of the soap mixture and kept some plain. Honey is also a sugar and will accelerate trace and darken the soap. You can see the difference in the color from the top of the soap to the bottom. The soap is now much darker on the bottom that contains the honey and fragrance oil.
 |
 |  |
Lastly I made Peppermint Chocolate Lip Balm. I infused the Sunflower Oil with peppermint from my garden. I bought a bar of Theo chocolate which is fair trade, certified organic and non GMO. I used beeswax and honey from my hives, castor oil, mango butter, and peppermint essential oil. The lip balm turned out very nice.
 |  |
I would really like to become an expert at making soap, and other products i.e. body butters, bath salts etc. I love to cook and this is kind of like creating a recipe but for a different purpose. I love the idea of using products from my yard and using them in creative ways. I am going to continue to study and learn the art of making soap. Maybe someday I will open a small business selling my soap and other products I receive from my yard.
Thursday, March 7, 2013
Some Very Interesting Articles on Bees
There have been several interesting Scientific Articles around bees lately that have made the news. The first was published in National Geographic Magazine on February 21, 2013, and the second in Ars Technica, on March 7th.
National Geographic Article: Bees Can Sense The Electric Fields of Flowers
Article: Plants make bees remember them using a caffeine boost
The article is very interesting it seems that there may be electrical fields around flowers that actually attract the bee to the flower. This may be more of an attractant that the actual color or shape of the flower. Flowers may be more than just a source of color and scent to bees. I can tell you from my own experience that the bees in my yard are definitely more attracted to purple flowers. The electrical field may actually be telling bees when a flower was last visited. Most flowers have a negative charge and a bee is able to change that charge. Sparks don’t fly but pollen does. The electrical field may actually be telling the bee when the flower was visited last. The better the electrical field around the flower the more the bee will visit that flower and enhance pollination. Many animals can sense electrical field such as sharks, but this is the first time that scientists have discovered sense in an insect.
The second article has to do with Caffeine and bees. It seems that some plants such as Coffea and Citrus produce nectar that contains caffeine. We all know what effect caffeine has on neurons. Seems that bees have similar neuron type cells and caffeine actually improves long term memory in bees and they will revisit those flowers that contain the caffeine nectar.
National Geographic Article: Bees Can Sense The Electric Fields of Flowers
Article: Plants make bees remember them using a caffeine boost
The article is very interesting it seems that there may be electrical fields around flowers that actually attract the bee to the flower. This may be more of an attractant that the actual color or shape of the flower. Flowers may be more than just a source of color and scent to bees. I can tell you from my own experience that the bees in my yard are definitely more attracted to purple flowers. The electrical field may actually be telling bees when a flower was last visited. Most flowers have a negative charge and a bee is able to change that charge. Sparks don’t fly but pollen does. The electrical field may actually be telling the bee when the flower was visited last. The better the electrical field around the flower the more the bee will visit that flower and enhance pollination. Many animals can sense electrical field such as sharks, but this is the first time that scientists have discovered sense in an insect.
The second article has to do with Caffeine and bees. It seems that some plants such as Coffea and Citrus produce nectar that contains caffeine. We all know what effect caffeine has on neurons. Seems that bees have similar neuron type cells and caffeine actually improves long term memory in bees and they will revisit those flowers that contain the caffeine nectar.
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