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Links n’ Stuff:
Snap Disc Control Switch (Grainger.com)
Builditsolar.com
SimplySolar Yahoo Group
AdvancedSolar Yahoo Group

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Music: The Wyrd Sisters

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Some of the music provided by Mevio’s Music Alley. Check it out at ‘music.mevio.com‘

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Music: Maria Daines

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Music: A Don’t Hug Me Christmas Carol

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Music: Trixie and the Merch Girls

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Music: Kelly Brock

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Music: William Saunders

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Music: Heather Thornton

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(To our international listeners, the bumper music isn’t meant to incite or insult you. It’s meant as a rubuke to the policies of our current leadership that I feel have strayed far from their intended role.)

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First let me say that I don’t take advertising lightly. Part of what I call “brand integrity” is conducting every business transaction with the best possible interest of our customers in mind. That said, I know I don’t have to tell you that things are getting tight financially. So in an effort to avoid raising product prices, I’m looking at alternative revenue streams. The most obvious one is advertising.

But brand Integrity also implies that we conduct our business transparently and in a trustworthy manner. So when we advertise something, you can safely assume that we have done business with the company, actually used the product(s), and feel comfortable making a personal endorsement. And we believe that putting an ad on the site or in the podcast should be nothing less than a personal endorsement.

We’ve been approached by a myriad of marketing companies wanting to advertise on the show and website, but none of them could tell us what products or companies would be displayed in the ad. They go about it backwards, first securing the advertising space (an agreement to host ads on our site) and then sell that space to their clients. Our business model is based on building relationships, and such a practice runs counter to what we believe customer service should be.

How does it work? Well it’s simple. When you click on one of the ads and then buy something from that company, I get a small percentage. At the time of this writing the only company we’re advertising for is Safecastle Royal – which pays 5% on each sale.

Just thought you might want to know.

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Music: Lou Watson

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A sizable swarm in a tree

One of my hives threw this swarm on a warm saturday afternoon. I eventually managed to hive it up, but I missed the queen the first time around.

On my second attempt, I managed to locate the queen and put her in a screend box. Knowing they won’t abandon the queen, I left them to their own devices and came back later that night to pick up the cluster. Easy peasy.

Tiger Blood
Video on Swarming and Swarm Traps
Udderly EZ Milker
Radation Map
Info on doing spring hive splits
Whitepaper on Varroa management in honey bee colonies from NCSU(.PDF)

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Music: Do the Honey Bee | Watch the Video!

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However, in captivity, the need for self defence is greatly reduced. Horns get caught in fences and feeders, pose a risk to other goats and owners, and are generally a pain to deal with. As such, some goat owners choose to disbud their goat kids to keep the horns from ever growing in at all. This process has recently been the subject of controversy in a number of circles, often being lumped in with general animal cruelty. I don’t think you’ll find much argument about the fact that it is unpleasant and painful for the kids, but after much examination, I believe (at least in our situation) the benefits outweigh the draw backs.

Compare the 20 seconds of pain to a lifetime of horn trimming (and associated risks), potential injuries to other animals and people, quality of life if the goat is ever sold, etc. In my mind disbudding comes out on top. That’s not at all to say that it is enjoyable. It’s not. Far from it. Anyone who tells you otherwise has no business keeping these majestic animals.

The process of disbudding involves burning off the cells that produce the horns on the goats head. It’s as simple as it sounds. Disbudding irons that glow red hot in a darkened room are manufactured and sold for this express purpose. The tip of the iron is applied to the goat’s head over the horn nubs where it cauterises the skin and nerves, killing the cells that are responsible for horn growth. In my experience, the kid will usually cry out and often urinate on itself. The only up side to the whole thing is that it is quick – only a few seconds per horn, and that the nerves are burned off immediately making the pain short lived – or so I’m told. I believe that there is some truth to this because after the process, the kids often go right back to playing and romping around as though nothing has happened.

It’s a simple process but disbudding should only be attempted by someone who knows how to do it properly. A botched disbudding can lead to brain damage, disfigurement, or even death. All that and never mind the burns to the person doing the disbudding. In our case, we went to our vet for guidance. She did the disbudding, but I asked her to show me how to do it properly so that next time we can take care of it on the goats schedule instead of ours or the vets. I figure we owe them that at least, right?

Each goat owner must decide for themselves whether disbudding is appropriate for their herd. But properly done, I believe that in most instances this practice is a necessary part of raising goats. The goats and the owner are safer and usually better off in the long run.

It doesn’t make it any easier though.

One of our does a few hours after being disbudded.

LorAnn Oils

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Beans and Grits Blog
Firewise
Mother Earth News – Basics of Tresspassing Laws
CDC info on well testing

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Music: Roger McGuinn
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Links:
Herbs, Etc
Soap Calc

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Links:
Pottery by Mehg
James Larson
Cremello Color Chart
Coles Lake Dairy
In Defense of Food
Morning Land Dairy
The UnCheese Party
Update Article on Morningland Dairy

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Come see us at In Farm Heritage Days!!! Sept 17-19!!
Buy our stuff at Cosmic Connexion

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Cosmic Connexion

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Brooks 1
The last time I checked on this one, I thought it was a goner. No queen, and tons of drones. Multiple eggs sloppily laid – all pointed to a laying worker. To my astonishment, I opened the box this morning to find the number of workers increasing and a working queen laying out a pretty solid egg pattern. How that happened, I have no idea. None. I’m grateful, but perplexed. Added 1/2 a megabee patty and 1/2 gallon of syrup.

Brooks 2
Still a dead out.

Brooks 3
Brood in various stages, but didn’t see queen. Added 1/2 patty megabee and 1/2 gallon of syrup. I’d like to see this one put more stores on.

Brooks 4
Pretty good and perfectly staged for the fall honey flow. The top deep is full end to end with perfectly drawn, empty comb. Same regiment as the others with megabee and syrup. Saw some eggs in the top super, but nothing significant. Most of the action seems to be down below.

Brooks 5
One of the strongest hives. I saw several bees still working honey in the honey super I left on from the spring. Didn’t see a need to add any supplements at this time.

Nuc 1
Pretty much the same as last time. 3 strong frames of bees. I split the brood nest with a frame of freshly drawn comb from Brooks 4 in hopes that the queen would expand her laying. Same addition of megabee and syrup.

Brooks 6
Looks really good. Chuck full of bees and honey. Didn’t add any syrup, but they did get 1/2 a megabee patty.

Brooks 7 and 8
These are doing okay, but are going to need to beef up before winter. Each had 4-5 frames of bees and mediocre stores. Added syrup and megabee. These two may get combined – possibly with the Nuc thrown in too. Wintering Nucs can be challenging.

We’ve managed the mite levels pretty well this year, but I’m going to try using one of the essential oil based varroa treatments this fall to knock the mites down more than just using a powdered sugar program. Probably looking at apilife var.

Brian just checking in here. As always, I want to thank everyone for all the support you’ve given us. Everything from Christmas cards, to Facebook posts, to product orders. BubbaTanicals has become more than we ever thought it would. The core of our business is you, the customer – and we never for a moment let that slip from the front of our minds. Pinky swear.

And we’re not slowing down – We’ve got a few new soap recipes in the mix as well as a new product launch that I think is just freakin cool. Look for Lilac, Orange Patchouli, and Dragon’s Blood soap to be added to the website over the next few weeks. We’re also going to start doing printed soaps. That’s right. Printed soaps. How cool is that? We’re taking on a technology that will allow us to print whatever we want on a bar of soap! Lots of possibilities there. I’m really excited to say the least.

Also, the pricing structure is going to be changing on the website as well. The cost of the ingredients is going up, and that has to be reflected in the cost of the product. Sorry folks – thank our fractional reserve banking system for that. But we’re trying to do it so that we don’t screw you guys. So when the soap cost goes up, the shipping cost will go to a flat rate. What does that actually mean to you? Well, it obviously puts the onesie – twosie purchases out of the picture . But you make out pretty well on the larger buys where you make up the spread in the lower shipping cost. I’m hoping it will all average out and everyone stays happy.

Brick and mortar? Yep. You can now buy our soaps at the Cosmic ConeXion store in Kennesaw, GA (no website yet). We’re slowly looking to expand our offerings to retailers, so if you’re a retailer and want to sell good soap and no crap, give us a holler. We won’t take on more than we can handle (that darn customer service thing again), so there’s only a few slots depending on anticipated volume

Thanks again for stopping by and don’t be a stranger!

-Brian

Muscadines

Listener feedback show with some swanky new bumper music!.

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Some background:

The Peachtree City yard is no more. There was only one hive there, and while it was pretty robust in terms of overall health, it was not productive at all – nothing in the super in the spring. I suspect that was largely due to another sizable bee yard being less than a mile away. So I moved it to the Brooks yard, which is actually at my house. I’m thinking that and the Woolsey yard will be the only ones going forward for the foreseeable future.

So without further delay –

Hive updates –
Brooks 1
Popped this one open and there were tons of drones – which generally means one of two things – a laying worker or a drone laying queen. I didn’t see the queen, but I did see eggs sloppily laid. I believe it to be a laying worker – indicating that the hive has been queenless for a while. In either case, the hive is doomed unless it’s requeened. Unfortunately, requeening a hive with a laying worker is difficult. There were two queen cells – one of which was capped, but under the premise of a laying worker and the time it takes a queen to hatch out, there is very little chance that those cells have fertilized eggs in them. My intention is to do a shook swarm and requeen it. The idea behind a shook swarm is that you take all the bees out to field a few hundred yards away and shake them off the field. The idea is that the laying worker is too heavy to fly back and she gets left out in the field. When the rest of the hive returns, a new queen cage is in there and hopefully they take to her.

Brooks 2
Dead out. This hive is toast and filled with wax moths. This was a hive that deaded out before and I restarted with a few frames from a nuc. It concerns me that it’s croaked twice so I suspect some kind of contamination in the wax or hardware. I don’t have enough bees to restart it right now and time is running out to get a new hive going and prepped for the fall. We’ll see. If I do get it going again, it will be on all new hardware and foundation – and will probably used only to combine with another smaller hive.

Brooks 3
Looks ok, but should be in much better shape. Found the queen, but she was very small and gimpy looking. Gonna requeen this one.

Brooks 4
This one looks good – solid brood nest with a good egg pattern. It’s a single deep, and it starting to get some honey in the super. Probably wouldn’t hurt to requeen this one before the fall honey flow to beef up production going into the fall. This one may be a candidate to combine with Brooks 3 later on.

Brooks 5
Solid colony – probably the best looking of the bunch. There were ants in the jar super which I moved out.

Brooks 6
This is the former PTC hive, and is doing better already – showing alot of honey storage in the 2nd deep and even some storage in the honey super. The only problem is that the foundation strips in the honey super have gotten all wonky since the spring so they were building comb all over the place. I pulled the super and am going to redo the foundation on the frames before putting it back on there.

Brooks 7
This one looks pretty good for a single deep started in late summer. There were about 5 solid frames of bees and a large consistently laid broodnest. With a little feeding, this one should beef up by the fall.

Brooks 8
Just about the same as Brooks 7, but with fewer bees. Gonna start feeding these to get them beefed up for the winter.

Nuc 1
This was a split from a colony that was requeened, and was later used (unsuccessfully) to bolster the population of Brooks 2. It’s presently got three frames of bees with a 2 frame broodnest so I think it’s recovering well.

Canning

Brian and Laura come back from vacation, take some feedback, talk about new critters, try to buy a truck, itch like the dickens, keep deer out of the garden, and do some irrigation.. redneck style.

Links:
Pearson’s Farm (formerly Big 6 Farm)
Richard Scarry
Rain Chains (Our Rain Chain)

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Doing a Farmers Market

A long two-parter where we talk all about the ins and outs of selecting, preparing for, and participating in a local farmers market.

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The City Chicken

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Music: James Larson, Gaia Consort
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From: The New York Times

In its first-ever ruling on genetically modified crops, the Supreme Court on Monday overturned a lower court’s ban on the planting of alfalfa seeds engineered to resist Monsanto’s Roundup herbicide.

The decision was a victory for Monsanto and others in the agricultural biotechnology industry, with potential implications for other cases, like one involving genetically engineered sugar beets.

But in practice the decision is not likely to measurably speed up the resumption of planting of the genetically engineered alfalfa.

A federal district judge in San Francisco had ruled in 2007 that the Agriculture Department had approved the genetically engineered alfalfa for commercial planting without adequately considering the possible environment impact, as required by federal law. The judge vacated approval, known as deregulation of the crop, and also imposed a nationwide ban on planting those seeds. The ban was later upheld on appeal.

But the Supreme Court, in a 7-to-1 decision, said the lower court judge had gone too far, ruling that the national ban prevented the Agriculture Department from considering a partial approval. That avenue, the court said, would have allowed some of the alfalfa to be grown under certain conditions; for example, isolating it from conventional alfalfa.

Full Article Here…

.

The second in a series of honey bee pathogens. Today we talk about mites and beetles.

BeetleJail.com – Innovative ideas for SHB control that I saw demo’d at this year’s beekeeping institute

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Burning AFB Infected Hives

Join me on my way down to Baxley to pick up some bees. The first in a series of shows where we focus entirely on bees and beekeeping. We go over some interesting breaking developments in beekeeping amd discuss some of the microbial pathogens that our bees have to deal with.

Gardener’s Apiary
Baxley, Georgia

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Music: James Larson, Gaia Consort
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Phoenix Rooster

We take some great feedback. Jams, jellies, marmalades, and preserves, oh my! Farmstead updates. Chicken Incest! And we talk some about some of the fundamental answers to the question ‘why?’

Links
Henderson’s Handy Dandy Chicken Chart
Young Harris Beekeeping Institute
Fresh South Market
Nature’s Harmony Farmcast

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Music: James Larson, Gaia Consort
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Chaugg's Swanky Chicken Tractor

Join us for spring updates, great feedback, possum adventures, raised beds, window boxes, and other small scale farming techniques.

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Music: James Larson, Gaia Consort
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Salvaged Comb

A really disjointed podcast this week as I try to cram in some content between trips to the bee yard. We talk about swarms and how to get geared up to be on the local swarm list or even to do a small cutout.

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

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GMO Mouse Testicals

Barreling down the road, we take some feedback, touch on healthcare deform, lament the cost and extent of repairing our house, and scare the hell out of you with a discussion on genetic modification in the food supply.

Lots of Links for this show…

Correction! – It was not a fish gene that was used to create roundup ready plants, It was a type of Agrobacterium

Doctors Urge Non-GMO diets
Genetically Modified Organisms and Biological Risks (PDF)
GMO’s Actually Reduce Crop Yield
125,000 dead – GM Crops create ‘Suicide Belt’ in India
Effects of GMO Corn on Mammalian Health

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Music: James Larson, Gaia Consort
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Thank you High Mowing Seeds for standing up in the face of evil. You are a hero and an inspiration to farmers everywhere. Let’s hope that your determination helps set a legal precedent against these companies and gives some power back to the farmers of this great nation.

September 23, 2009

Local Seed Company Wins Lawsuit Against Genetically Engineered Crops

High Mowing Organic Seeds, a mail-order organic seed company based in Wolcott, Vermont announced today that it has won its nearly 20 month lawsuit against the USDA for the premature deregulation of Monsanto’s genetically engineered sugar beets. Additional plaintiffs include the Center for Food Safety, Organic Seed Alliance and the Sierra Club and were represented in addition, by Earth Justice attorneys. The groups filed the lawsuit in January 2008.

High Mowing’s founder and President, Tom Stearns says, “This ruling is a success not just for organic farmers but for all who have hope for a healthier food system in this country. All wise solutions to our agricultural challenges should serve our physical health, environmental health and the economic viability of farmers and the communities in which they live.”
The U.S. District Court for the northern district of California ruled that the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) violated federal law by failing to prepare an environmental impact statement before deregulating genetically altered sugar beets.

Monsanto developed the biotech beets to be resistant to Monsanto’s glyphosate herbicide Roundup, and promotes the sugarbeets as “Roundup Ready.”
In 2009, 1.1 million acres were planted with GMO sugar beets and almost half of the sugar in the U.S. is made from beets.

Recently, the USDA has shown great signs of progress in support of local and organic food by elevating the National Organic Program to its own division and just yesterday, hiring Miles McEvoy as its head. The USDA, headed by Sec. Vilsack and Deputy Sec. Merrigan have also been making important announcements for the last week as they kick-off their new campaign, Know Your Farmer, Know Your Food. Stearns believes that these are critical and substantial changes within the department and “that a tipping point has been reached and that the USDA is now becoming part of the solution to re-building healthy food systems in this country.”

High Mowing is just one of dozens of farms and agricultural businesses in the Hardwick, Vermont region that have been collaborating with each other for many years. The NY Times, Gourmet Magazine, Eating Well Magazine and authors Michael Pollan, Bill McKibben, Sen. Patrick Leahy and many others have declared the region as a national model for healthy food systems and building economic development through value-added agriculture. In mid-September, camera crews and Chef Emeril Legasse and Dan Rather Reports filmed many activities of the region for their upcoming shows on healthy food systems.

For more information contact:
Tom Stearns, High Mowing Organic Seeds
tom@highmowingseeds.com
802-472-6174 ext. 114

Heirloom Seed Swap

Johnny Max and the Queen over at the Self Sufficient Homestead have just launched their free seed swapping website: Heirloom Seed Swap!
Head over there and sign up today. We’ll likely be putting some of our seed up there later this season.

Great job Johnny Max and the Queen, and thanks for providing such a powerful resource to the community!

It’s about damn time.

Article: Bayer to pay 1.5 Million in rice case Verdict is 2nd against firm over genetic tainting of crop

Excerpt: A jury in Woodruff County Circuit Court decided Monday evening that Bayer CropScience LP must pay more than $1 million in compensatory and punitive damages to Lenny Joe Kyle, a rice farmer, for losses he sustained when Bayer’s experimental variety of genetically modified rice infiltrated the rice supply. More…

Garden Harvest

Laura and I take some feedback, pontificate spring preps, talk about gardening, beekeeping, and other springtime activities. Laura would like to apologize for mistakenly referring to the Brandywine Tomato as a “Rutgers”.

Links from the show:

Roy’s Alaskan Homestead Blog
Ison’s Nursery
Murray McMurray Hatchery

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

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I’ll also be putting honey supers on these hives. It takes a while for the bees to “get” that their hive has changed sizes and move up into the super. We’ve already got a light nectar flow going, which will quickly pick up in the next few weeks, so I want them up in there drawing comb ahead of the game.

My supers have top entrances too. I’m a big fan of top entrances for two reasons. They provide additional ventilation, but the air isn’t pulled up directly through the broodnest, and it gives the foragers a direct route to the honey stores – meaning they don’t have to walk all the way up the inside of the colony to get where they’re going.

http://www.draperbee.com/webcam/beecam.htm

Honey Harvest

This one goes out to our beekeeping friends. A full hour on springtime beekeeping practices and even a small taste of swarm management.

Links
Alaska Urban Farmstead
Increase Essentials by Dr. Larry Connor
Northern Kentucky Beekeeper
Beekeeper Linda’s Excellent Blog
Gardener Apiaries

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

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PTC Hive
This hive is in awesome shape. It had been a month since I last visited this hive and the bees had hardly touched the Megabee patty or the sugar syrup. This is good because it tells me that they have a viable food source. Indeed they were storing honey on both sides of the brood nest. The only thing blooming right now is Red Maple, so I’m assuming that there is ample forage available.
The brood nest was good sized spanning 6 frames with brood in all stages of development. Brood pattern was pretty solid as well. Forager traffic was high considering the temperature (low 50s).
I removed one of the division board feeders and changed the syrup in the other one. I also added another megabee patty.

Woolsey Hive
This hive is also in great shape. Both feeders were empty, and the megabee patty was completely consumed. Broodnest was a good size (spanning 5 frames to the depth of the super) with numerous eggs and larve in solid patterns across both sides of three frames. There were also new honey stores over the brood nest, indicating that this hive had also found early forage.
I removed one of the feeders and added another megabee patty.
Spotted 8 small hive beetles in this one. I’ll be adding a beetle trap on the next visit.

Note: Many beekeepers would question the approach of adding pollen and syrup while the bees have available forage, but it is not unusual (especially during the spring build up) for a hive to completely consume its stores over a few days of bad weather trying to feed the expanding brood nest. We still have nights in the 20s so I look at taking these steps as insurance. If they don’t need it, they’ll just leave it alone in favor of available forage. But if they do need it and it’s not there, the hive could suffer.

PodCast Call in Line: 740-5-MYFARM

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Rest in peace, Manna. We will miss you.

Today we did what every horse owner dreads having to do.

Manna, one of our mares, experienced an acute intestinal blockage yesterday. The vet came out and gave her some mineral oil to loosen things up and Banamine (an anti-inflamitory) to help with the pain and told us to keep an eye on her. He called back several times to check on how she was doing. I slept outside with her last night to keep an eye on her condition. Around 3 or 4 she seemed to improve and cleared a large bowel movement. For the rest of the night she seemed to be comfortable and content to stand instead of laying on her side as she had been.

This morning she was walking around as normal and we assumed things were on the mend.

Later this afternoon she began to run a fever and again became agitated and short of breath. The vet came back out immediately and determined that her bowel was again blocked and had become severely distended. The only treatment in such a scenario is emergency surgery, but with the condition being present for so long and her age (late 20′s), her chances of survival were not good. Even in the best of outcomes, she would have had several months of recovery. The situation was complicated by the fact that toxins from her intestine were now leeching into her bloodstream. It didn’t look good. The vet confirmed this with four words, “I’m sorry. It’s time.”

We cried. We hugged on her. We told her how much we loved her. We thanked her for being a wonderful horse and a patient teacher. And we cried some more. I know that in the end we did all we could. There was no pain. She died quickly, with dignity, and surrounded by love.

Red Maple Flowers

I somehow talk Laura into doing another show where we throw out some updates on the dog, seed starting, and the bees. We take some great feedback, including an actual voicemail! We finally wrap the show up by reading some of the better ads out of the market bulletin.

Ison’s Nursery
Georgia Framers and Consumers Market Bulletin

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

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Proposed changes to the city ordinance dealing with the keeping of agricultural animals on city properties has agitated bee and chicken keepers.

Burgh Bees, a 375-member nonprofit, has put out a “call to action” via e-mail for attendance at a public hearing before the city planning commission at 2 p.m. Feb. 16 “to show how many beekeepers and beekeeper supporters there are” in the city. The hearing is at 200 Ross St., Downtown.

Legal wording currently is confusing and leaves room for abuse of privilege, city officials have said. But bee and chicken raisers say the proposed changes could create unintended ill-effects.

The hearing is the public’s chance to offer input, said Joanna Doven, spokeswoman for Mayor Luke Ravenstahl.

“We support urban farms and groups like Burgh Bees,” she said, “but we have to make sure we are balancing their interests with the safety needs and concerns of other residents.

“There has been a disconnect between what is and isn’t allowed, so we need an ordinance that clearly outlines how we should proceed.”

Under current law, residents must get a variance to raise chickens on properties of less than 5 acres or if their lots don’t allow 200 feet between the coop and a property line, but it’s vague as to whether a five-animal limit means pets are included. In addition, enforcement is driven by complaints.

A proposed 15-foot setback from any property line and 2,500-square-foot minimum per hive would in effect ban beekeeping in many of the city’s dense neighborhoods, “where our members have been safely keeping bees for years,” said Meredith Grelli, founder and director of Burgh Bees.

Full Article – http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/10039/1034293-53.stm

Brooks 1 – Bit the dust. The pollin patty was about 90% intact, and there was still syrup in the feeder. The (now dead) cluster was down to the size of a fist so I can only imagine that they never warmed up enough to break cluster and get some grub. Pisser.

Brooks 2 – Looks really good. Patty was completely consumed and feeders were empty. Cluster spanned 5 frames and was the depth of the super (bees were active all the way to the bottom of the frame). Brood pattern was very good, with larve in all stages of development. Added 2nd deep using drawn comb from the now deceased Brooks 1. Put 2 patties between hive bodies and topped off feeders with 2:1 syrup.

Brooks 3 – In good shape. Patty was completely consumed. Both feeders were empty. Cluster was large – spanning 6 frames. Brood pattern looked good with brood in all stages of development.
Maintenence Needed: The top deep super is rotting out on the left side and needs to be replaced.

Brooks 4 – Still Dead.

Brooks 5 – Similar to Brooks 3. Patty was consumed and both feeders were empty. Topped off both feeders with 2:1 syrup. Cluster was large and busy spanning 6 frames. Lots of brood. Added another patty on top bars.
Maintenence Needed:Screened bottom board and bottom deep need to be replaced.

I’ve read over on Linda’s Beekeeping blog that the Red Maple is already blooming. We have some red maples and I can’t report that, but they look darn close. Time to get the honey supers ready – fingers crossed.

PodCast Call in Line: 740-5-MYFARM

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Anyone who has ever popped the top off a pissy hive during a dearth can tell you that those bees know exactly where your face is.

Bees can learn to recognize human faces, or at least face-like patterns, a new study suggests.
Rather than specifically recognizing people, these nectar-feeding creatures view us as “strange flowers,” the researchers say. And while they might not be able to identify individual humans, they can learn to distinguish features that are arranged to look like faces.

The results suggest that, even with their tiny brains, insects can handle image analysis. The researchers say that if humans want to design automatic facial recognition systems, we could learn a lot by using the bees’ approach to face recognition.

Link to Article

You know, there are plenty of other places where ordinances allowing backyard poultry have been introduced, and I’ve yet to hear anything about declining property values. Nada. Zip. (And I actually keep up on that sort of stuff)

You can’t tell me feeding a stupid chicken is going to cost less than buying a dozen eggs at the store…they’re a dollar at Wal-mart,” said Van Gorp. “If you don’t like your neighbor in the first place, now they’re keeping chickens, it might the straw that breaks the camel’s back.”

Obviously, these people just don’t get it. People don’t keep chickens because they’re trying to save money. They do it to know where their food comes from or they do it because they want to live a more sustainable life, among many other reasons.

“It’s going to make it more difficult for buyers to find the house they want, and sellers to sell their homes,” said Radman.

Last I checked, this is one of the most flooded real estate markets in recent history. People are having no problems whatsoever finding houses.

Show me the proof.

Full Article Here

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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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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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.

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…

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

just a quick note to let you know that I’ve added live help functionality to the shop. WooHoo!

That means that if I happen to be online, you can click that button and it will start up a chat with someone from our customer service department.. which is also the sales department.. and executive management.. well you get the idea. We’re a small shop.

So if you’ve got some questions about a product, a purchase, tracking an order, or just about anything else having to do with BubbaTanicals, just get to clicking and we’ll do our level best to make sure that you’re taken care of.

-Brian

From Mlive.com

JAMESTOWN TOWNSHIP — Did you buy chickens to go with that Christmas ham? If not, John De Vries will lease you some laying hens.
The Jamestown Township man who used to own a deli on Grand Rapids’ West Side has launched a new venture seeking to capitalize on a trend toward backyard chicken farming.
His rentahen.net provides a coop on wheels, three egg-laying hens and accessories for a $99 setup fee and a reduced $35 monthly rent.

Full Article Here

I hope it works out for the guy. I think his premise is absolutely correct that if you can remove some of the barriers to entry that more people will be keeping backyard poultry.

One of my geographically distant (albeit cool) extended family members gave me an almanac of country wisdom this year for Christmas. And I thought it was perfect to put my own spin on some of these tips and share them with you guys on the blog and in the podcast. So as such I’ve added a new category to the blog called.. “Country Wisdom” (Pretty original, I know). I’m also going to be tossing in some of these tips to the podcast, so I’m excited about that.

So in honor of this auspicious occasion, I’d like to present this helpful tidbit to kick it off!

How to store Herbs

Here’s a few tips on how to keep your herbs viable through the colder months when you might not have access to any fresh plants.

Enjoy!

Our 1946 Ford Tractor

Guerrilla Podcasting again with my carpool buddy, Richard. A short one this time where we take some feedback, very nearly die on the road, and talk about tractors.

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

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I thought that in celebration of the holiday that I would share one of my favorite recipes. This is the secret to the egg nog that we whip up every year. Keep in mind that unlike the stuff you find at the grocery store, you are dealing with raw eggs – not a pasteurized product. The alcohol is necessary to kill Salmonella or any other harmful bacteria so don’t think you can leave it out (why would you do such a thing anyways?)

Alrighty – get the following together.

Now do this:

Mix the egg yolks and 1/2 cup of sugar in a bowl. Beat until thick.

In separate bowl beat the egg whites with 1/4 cup of sugar until thick.

In yet another bowl beat the cream until thick. Mix in the cream with the yolks, then fold in the egg whites, and toss in the milk, Bourbon, vanilla, and a pinch of ground nutmeg. You could also add some cinnamon, allspice, cloves, etc to suit your taste.

Chill before serving.

Enjoy!!
-Brian

This is the actual statement (PDF Format)

Arrgh. These guys kill me. I guess they would rather have these chickens in boxes so small they can’t stand up or packed into chicken houses ear to ear. Backyard poultry is better all the way around. The chickens live a better and healthier life and you completely localize a food source.

The best argument is that killing chickens traumatizes onlooking children. I suppose that having a kid know where his food comes from is now a form of trauma.

How did we get to this point??

The New Well House

Happy Holidays from BubbaTanicals.com! Today we go through some quick updates and then geek out on setting up your farm website and blog!

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

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Horse Nuzzles

A short one today. I take some feedback, talk about big brother and how to deal with taxation on your hobby farm, and I even give you some politically correct holiday greetings.

IRS Publication 535 (PDF Format 1.4 meg)

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

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Some pics from my last snow camping trip on the AT. Good stuff!

The dog with a guardian angel

Actually recorded 4 days ago but I’ve been having some internet access problems from the beach house. At any rate, join me as I drive down to Jekyll Island. We figure out how not to kill the dog, go through some updates, and then talk about what to do about finding a barn sitter.

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

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Sincere apologies, but this week has been absolutely insane and I just was not able to work the podcast into the fray. I was oncall at work and averaged about 4-5 hours of sleep a night, and we had a huge virus outbreak of a new conflicker variant which made for late nights and long concalls with big wigs (this one made the news). Our horse busted out of the stall (literally) and I’m doing a dive trip with my kids down to Clearwater this weekend (email me if you’re in Clearwater and we can grab lunch or something.) My oldest and youngest (14 and 10) are getting their open water cert and I’m finishing out my rescue diver cert. Woo Hoo!

I have some good stuff planned for the next show, so I’ll try to up the bar a little.

Thanks so much for your support.

-Brian

Making hot while it's cold.

We take some feedback, talk about the bee-koozies, giggle a little about mustache wax, and discuss the perils, pitfalls, problems and preparations to do with shopping for your hobby farm.

Some Links to get You Started

Rural Property
Farm Seller
Land and Farm
United Real Estate
Farm and Ranch

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

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Merlin's Garden

Join me again on my commute while I blither on about all manner of Halloween stuff, fox hunting, sump pumping, and lament over having to rebuild our well house.

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

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My Podcast Alley feed! {pca-00e8a8f83107b6e317d824b443718429}

Free to a Good Home

The Pre-Halloween BubbaCast! I try to give away my dog, talk about bonfires and drum circles, pimp out my drum teacher, rant about churches, and talk about air rifles.

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

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Bee Koozies!

Man, it’s cold! We take some feedback, I find a long time listener, talk about Fall Fling, install some gutters, make some Bee Koozies (see pic), and explore the many splendid aspects of mulch!

Links:
Permaculture Institute
Intro to Permaculture
Permaculture Principles

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

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“Under a pilot program in Andover, Lucy McKain’s dairy goats will rotate their grazing around the meadow for an all-you-can-eat buffet of grass, brush and other growth. The goats can clear as much as a half acre every three days at no cost.”
(associated Press)

I hope it works out for them; I’d love to see other towns catch onto this idea.

Link to the full article

The Three Amigos - Irish, Hollis, and Casper

Part 2 of 2 where we drive around, I talk about our neighbor’s barn going up in flames, and finish up our discussion on goat breeds.

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

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Irish, one of our Sannen goats

Part 1 of 2 – Time to talk about goat breeds. More UMs and Uhhhs than a convention of Buddhist monks and we finally get the stall finished.

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

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Showing off the Fruits of our Labor

Guerrilla podcasting from the mobile studio today. Sorry folks. It was mobile or nothing this week. We give a recap on Inman Farm Heritage Days, finally get the horse on stall rest, pick a buttload of grapes, and talk about the agricultural side of dealing with flooding.

Special thanks to Ricky for spending his Saturday slogging through the mud at Heritage Days.

Information on Flooding
Muscadine Harvest 2009

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

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We managed to get about a hundred pounds of muscadines picked Saturday which was good. The steam juicer is ready to earn its keep, and I’ll have pics up in the gallery soon enough. We’ll probably have enough to do a run of muscadine wine. Woot!

Here’s a video of the barn I took while on the phone with 911.

Inman Farm Heritage Days

In the days leading up to our favorite festival of the year – the rain threatened, and then – unfortunately for us it then followed up and made good on the threat. In spades. Friday looked good, but Saturday was wet and muddy from the get go.

I will say that given the rain, this was a dedicated crowd. I made enough on Saturday to cover family dinner at the concession stand. The Brunswick stew was to die for and I ate much more than anyone should be allowed to eat.. shamelessly.

I had a tough time keeping the soaps from sweating with the uber-high humidity, so on the list is trying to figure out some way of packaging them so they keep dry. Any of you soapmakers out there have any suggestions? Wrapping them in paper towels seemed to work in the short term.

My daughter helped with the booth and held her own selling cookies and brownies.

Although the heavy rains did put a dent in our bottom line, we made out okay and caught up with some old friends. If anything, this weekend served as a good reminder to me about why I spend all this time and energy lugging a booth around in the rain to try and hock a few jars of jelly.

It’s certainly not for the money. No, It’s the people. Like so many other things.. it’s the people.

It always has been, and for me at least – it always will be.

Thank you Rick, Joanne, Stephanie and everyone else that works so hard to make Heritage Days what it is.

-Brian

Vending at Inman Farm Heritage Days

Pressed for time this week. We get a great shoutout from Sean and Cim, talk about horses, curse the carpenter ants, and badmouth hicks that cannot tell the difference between a honeybee and a hornet.

NewsReal – Enjoy the soap, Cim! And yes it is actually made from lard.

Music: James Larson
New PodCast Call in Line: 740-5-MYFARM

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Even if you’re not a survivalist, Jack really brings home the reasons why every tomato, apple, or bean that you grow is critically important, how it is your key to freedom, and why growing your own food is the most dangerous and revolutionary thing you can do. (Oh yeah – and he does it much more eloquently than I could.)

Even if you never listen to another podcast again, you need to hear this one. And then you need to plant a fruit tree and spread the word.

http://www.thesurvivalpodcast.com/episode-273-the-last-pure-form-of-revolution

Thank you Jack.

-Brian