Guys! Next time you get caught peeing in the yard, keep this one handy. (thanks Johnny Max!)

Arbico Organics (the good folks that I get my fly-controlling parasitic wasps from) are offering a free garden planner until Jan 31. Use code NEWSITE at checkout.

www.arbico-organics.com

Enjoy!

The infamous Borris

A real treat for you guys today. I get my beautiful wife and garden diva, Laura, in on the podcast action. We go through some updates, catch you up on the latest weimaraner suicide attempt, talk about a pending new addition to the farm, take some great feedback, and finally break the hour mark talking about seeds and gardening.

Music: James Larson, Gaia Consort
PodCast Call in Line: 740-5-MYFARM

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One of our podcast listeners, Josh, sent me this sweet video he did of him building a goat stanchion. For those not familiar with the term, a stanchion is basically a milking stand that holds the goat in place while you milk it or perform other tasks such as hoof care, vet checks, etc. Awesome Job Josh! Thank you for sharing!

May I help you?

Our first 100% listener feedback show. Wow!

Links:

Megabee
Radiologists Making Soaps
The amazing Dervaes Family
Jack Spirco’s The Last True Form of Revolution podcast episode from The Survival Podcast

Music: James Larson, Gaia Consort
PodCast Call in Line: 740-5-MYFARM

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Podcast Subscribe Feed: http://feeds.feedburner.com/bubbatanicals

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We live in an era when even chickens can become government employees.

From: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB126326011266225669.html

Excerpt:
PENNSYLVANIA DUTCH COUNTRY — Nestled in and around this scenic agricultural belt are secret facilities that don’t take kindly to visitors.

“Keep Out” reads a sign near the gated entrance at one site. Some of the stark, windowless warehouses require electronic pin codes and hazmat-style jumpsuits to enter. A sign on a metal gate ominously warns that it is a “Disease Control Area.” Trespassers could bring a swift response from police geared up to fight bio-terrorism.

These aren’t government labs, military facilities or weapons plants.

They are egg farms.

At clandestine farms across Pennsylvania, thousands of roosters and hens have been toiling away for months in confidential conditions normally reserved for important government ops. Their mission: Fertilize enough eggs to keep supplies of swine-flu vaccine flowing.

Cold as hell today, but it’s only going to get colder the rest of the week so it was either today or wait till next week to get pollen patties on the hives. I made a few yesterday from 2:1 syrup and megabee. Each of the hives got one except for the one in PTC. That one got two since it’s more of a drive for me, but also it’s still looking pretty strong as well. I also got the last two hives wrapped in 30# felt paper as well – so that’s all good.

All in all the hives looked pretty healthy. The cluster was a pretty good size and they seemed pretty defensive when I opened the top ( I guess I would be too!). But that’s a good sign. I didn’t want to linger with it being so cold out, but it looked like all the hives still had what looked like plenty of capped stores. It’s too early to say of course, but I’m hoping that I can come out in the spring without any losses. (fingers, toes, and elbows crossed!)

Honey Run Apiaries has some good reading on how to make pollen patties in case you’re curious.

till next time…

The first log of the year and it couldn’t bee (wink) better timing. Today is pollin patty day. It’s supposed to be be seriously cold over the next few days. I swapped out the bee-koozies for 30lb roofing paper and the hive temp seems to get higher during the sunny times of the day. Syrup consumption seems higher as well. Today I used the last of my megabee pollen substitute to make up some pollin patties which I’m going to get on the hives this afternoon. Megabee is far and away the best pollen substitute on the market in my opinion. I have some family coming over for dinner so I probably won’t be able to get over to the other hives this afternoon, but that’s on the list for tomorrow.

Greetings folks!

This has been a phenomenal year here at the old homestead. With your help, we’ve taken what was a small farmers market booth and turned it into what some might even call a legitimate business.

Thanks to you, our customer, we have made and sold literally hundreds of jars of jellies, jams, pickles (some of which were a little soggy it seems.. Sorry!!), and fruit butters! We blew straight through all our honey, and sold through a number of soap batches several times over. We’ve seen the podcast explode in popularity – receiving over 2200 downloads a week on average – for reasons I still can’t fathom in all honesty.

It has been a busy year, and we could not be more grateful for your support in 2009. I hope that our service and our products have lived up to your expectations and we look forward to serving you in 2010.

So what do we have planned for 2010??

More products with better consistency – we’ve partnered with a processing operation in north GA that has agreed to handle the processing and packaging of our harvests using our own recipes. They have a state certified and inspected commercial kitchen and a sterling reputation among other growers for being on the up and up. This also allows us to partner with other local growers to offer you a wider range of products. For example, If farmer Bob is processing 600 lbs of vidalia onions (which I can’t grow), but didn’t get a good apple harvest, we can trade on the raw goods and the facility can process them for both of us. I think it’s a good strategic move for us right now that will allow us to serve you better in the long run – and avoid being shut down by the State Dept of Agriculture.. which is always a nice perk.

Going Official LLC – we’ll be moving BubbaTanicals and all associated operations into an LLC. This is probably something we should have done some time ago, but with volume picking up and money actually flowing through it, it’s become clear that this is a viable effort and is worth investing in.

Podcast improvements – My wife has expressed an interest in being on the podcast so if I can make that happen, it will greatly add to the quality of the content. Not only because she is way more knowledgeable on what we would probably be talking about, but you won’t just have me prattling on in your ear for an hour. And we all know that my public speaking skills are less than par. I’ve also upgraded the podcast equipment somewhat and will be adding some additional upgrades in the coming months. I’m breaking away from my laptop as the main recording device and now using a Tascam DR-7 (sorry Darcy, it was a third the price of the Ederol, but does everything I need it to). This is a hand-held studio quality recording device that will allow us more freedom in how we conduct the podcast. Recording it outside, with the animals, or even at a bee yard are only a few examples.

Website Improvements – We’re always looking for ways to add value to the website. In the coming months look for better integration with the blog, newsletters, and even a live chat feature where you can talk to us directly right from your browser!

And much more.. so stay tuned!

Now go have a happy new year!

-Brian and Laura
BubbaTanicals.com