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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Watch us on Youtube!

Music: James Larson, Gaia Consort
Call the Pollin Line: 740-5-MYFARM

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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.

Links:
The City Chicken

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Music: James Larson, Gaia Consort
Call the Pollin Line: 740-5-MYFARM

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

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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
PodCast Call in Line: 740-5-MYFARM

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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
PodCast Call in Line: 740-5-MYFARM

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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
PodCast Call in Line: 740-5-MYFARM

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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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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
PodCast Call in Line: 740-5-MYFARM

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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

Hey, Hey, Hay!

We take some great feedback, talk about setting up webcams, give some updates on the gore-cat, hint at muscadine wine, and talk far too long about hay.

BlueBerry Info
Come see us at Inman Farm September 18th – 20th
Internet Hay Exchange
The Hay Barn

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

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————————

Full Article Here

BARRE TOWN – When it comes to Kathy Rubalcaba’s chickens, the eggs definitely came first. Then came her battles with the town, which the East Barre woman says she’s been fighting ever since the first few of them hatched about 18 months ago.

Rubalcaba’s struggles will continue tonight when the town’s selectboard considers the case of a chicken that reportedly flew the coop and a rooster that allegedly crowed at the crack of dawn.

Both birds belong to Rubalcaba, and both were the subject of separate complaints issued last month under the town’s “Nuisance Control Ordinance.”

They aren’t the first, according to Rubalcaba, who was in district court late last week for a status conference in another case of fowl play – this one involving a months-old complaint of another crowing rooster. She has also seen one chicken-related ticket issued by the town’s police department tossed out by a judge in the past year.

“This is silliness,” says Rubalcaba. “They’re just chickens!”

————————

Just chickens indeed. I’m looking forward to listening to the show.

This quote from Jules Dervaes sumes this phenomenon very well:

“Growing food is one of the most dangerous occupations on this earth because you are in danger of becoming free.”

Happy Labor Day!

My apologies. As you probably noticed there was no show this past week. I’ve been dealing with the “F-Word”. That’s right. The Flu! (cue ominous crescendo) Ahem…

Anyways, I’m on the mend so I’ll try to get one hammered out this Thursday or Friday where we’ll take some feedback and discuss the wide and surprisingly interesting world of Hay. Don’t forget to come see us at Inman Farm Heritage Days! I’ll be giving a freebie out to listeners. More info on that later!

Call the podcast line at 740-5-MYFARM and let know how you’re preparing for Fall and the coming Winter.

-Brian

Our Former Rooster, Drumstick

Uno, Dos, Tres, Catorce! For nearly an hour, show 14 finds me taking our inaugural voice mail, almost making it through the feedback without botching someone’s name, bidding farewell to our rooster, looking forward to Inman Farm Heritage Days, skirting the law.. maybe, and pontificating on the idea of setting up an outyard. Thanks for listening!

Cool Link:
Inman Farm

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

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Our Three Goats

A short one this time. Still trying to get this car recording stuff ironed out – so the audio is kinda crappy. A short one. I prattle on about how I almost crushed myself with the tractor this week. Twice. Then we pontificate on the fad popularity of hobby farming.

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

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Laura Playing on the Tractor

Join me again on my morning commute where I discuss some feedback, give you the wrong number for the call in line, pontificate on homesteading vs hobby farming, touch on gardening, and talk about sharpening a chainsaw.
Sorry about the road noise. This is the first recording using the portable recorder so I’m still tweaking the audio.

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

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A snake that was squatting in our hen house

I go mobile for this podcast and drag you along for my morning commute. We play catch up on some farm updates to do with bees and snakes, stumble through a few verbal blunders, rant about my experience trying to become a certified egg candler, decry the outrage otherwise known as HR 875, and even manage to spit on Monsanto somewhere in the mix.

Cool Link:

Hobby Farms
The Survival Podcast
The Chicken Whisperer

Music: James Larson

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Barn Kittens

The three kittens are now out and about and so far nothing has eaten them. *knock on wood*

Here’s a pic that my daughter snapped of them as they bounded after their mommy.

Our Rainwater Catchment System

The semi-long awaited 10th episode!
On this BubbaCast I answer some feedback, apologize for completely messing up the feed while doing some housekeeping, go over some other webby stuff and talk about designing a rainwater catchment system. Yes, I did edit in a disclaimer around the 39 minute mark. I don’t normally edit much, but I thought it was important. Thanks for listening!

Cool Links:

More Rainwater Harvesting Info
Self Sufficient Homestead Podcast – with Johnny Mac & the Queen
Shurflo Pumps
Uniseal

Music: James Larson

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JERUSALEM, July 21 (UPI) — An Israeli company says it has developed a vaccine that protects honey bees from a virus associated with the widespread collapse of bee colonies worldwide.
Beelogics says its Remembee drug has proven effective in helping bees overcome Israel acute paralysis virus, Haaretz reported Tuesday. The virus is named for the country where it was first identified.

The drug has completed successful clinical trials on millions of bees in North America, the company said. The drug also helps the bees live longer and produce more honey, the company said.

“It’s really a tug of war between the virus and the host,” said Nitzan Paldi of Beeologics. “We are helping the bee tug the rope more strongly and beat the virus. We take advantage of an immune system that the bees elicit for viral disease. But we are really using naturally occurring phenomenon. It’s not a pesticide and it’s not toxic.”

Beeologics is pursing U.S. government approval for the drug, Haaretz said.

Making Peach Butter

In this pre-tenth BubbaCast I go mobile and cover some peachy product updates. I get a HUGE shout out from Sean Kennedy (how awesome is that?!), accidentally drop the ‘F-Bomb’, try to adopt an immigrant worker, toss kittens around, and tell you just enough about electric fences to do some real damage. Thanks for listening!

Cool Links:
Rant Media
Freedom Gardens

Music: James Larson

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Our new roof is finally being put down.

Woohoo! The new roof is going down (or is that up?) today, and it looks great! This crew is amazing. I’ve never seen people work so hard.

Peaches and Cream Soap

Boy howdy have we been busy around here. On the way back up from Jekyll we stopped at Dickies Farm and picked up a few bushels of peaches. Needless to say that on top of everything else we’ve spent our spare moments canning and soaping. And what do we have to show for our efforts? Well there’s the peaches n’ cream soap pictured above. There’s also peach jam, peach butter, peach salsa, and ginger peach jam (amazing!!). My dining room table is covered in mason jars.

Canning stuff is hot work. I can only imagine what it would be like in the dead of a south Georgia summer without air conditioning as it was back the day. I also managed to bang out some more lard soap which turned out really nice thanks to a tweak I made to the recipe.

The bees are doing ok. I’ve lost 3 hives this year, but the remaining colonies seem to be thriving. Go figure. I’ve got several hive updates to post as well, but will get around to those as I am able.

More later…

The makings of peach jam

I was up way too late last night making ginger peach jam. We don’t grow peaches, but we picked up a few bushels of them from Dickies Farm about an hour south of us.

It was a really neat experience and well worth the stop if you happen to be in the area. The fresh peach ice cream is unbelievable.

The ginger peach jam was looking good this morning and we’ll get it up on the site in a few days. We’ve got some other products that need pictures taken so expect those to be fixed around the same time.

I’ll just go ahead and tell you guys.. this stuff is delicious and I expect it to go fast. If you want some, get your order in quick.

Me next to a seaturtle nest on Jekyll

As far as squinty-eyed constipated photos go, this is a personal best.  However, I’m really just hanging out chilling with around a hundred of my closest baby sea turtle friends.

With their nesting habitat quickly dwindling, Jekyll Island is very important to sea turtles and home to the Georgia Sea Turtle Center.

The gloves are because I rode the bike there.  They are not a tribute to the late King of Pop.

Dolphins

In spite of the small craft advisory that the Coast Guard issued this morning, we took the boat out to the south side of Jekyll Island near St Andrews Sound.   To our luck, the local dolphins were still having breakfast and posed for some pictures.

Peach Packing at Dickies Farm

On the way down to Jekyll Island we stopped at Dickies Farm for peaches and fresh peach ice cream.  The ice cream was phenominal.  This is a picture of their packing operation.  According to Dickies, they run the oldest packing house in the state.

Goats Milk, Lavender, & Oatmeal Soap

The Ocho!

On this BubbaCast we go over some tech-geeky stuff that you can do to help the political freedom fighters in Iran.  We take some emails, talk about what’s been going on, celebrate the launch of the new store front, and talk about basic cold-process soapmaking.

Music: James Larson

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Vegetable Garden

Here’s a pic of the vetable garden starting to grow in.  The Brooks beehives can be seen in the far background.

One of the perks of keeping bees is that your plants get heavily pollinated.  Here’s a blackberry bush that sits about 100 feet from 7 hives in my back yard.  It never had a chance.  We’ve already picked pounds of berries off this plant, and it looks like it’s not giving up anytime soon.

I’m thinking blackberry jam!  Yummy!

I continue to have numerous problems with hives going queenless causing me to have to pull brood frames from other healthy hives to allow them to raise a new one.  This practice is not sustainable.  I don’t know why all these queens are failing – hives look completely healthy otherwise.  I’ve setup 2 Nucs at the Brooks yard – split from two of the better hives to suplement the queen rearing needs.  PTC and Woolsey yards seem to be most affected by this phenominon – which is funny because they are in very rural locations and have abudant forage.

I’ll be running a bucket of sugar syrup & mega-bee out to PTC and Woolsey tomorrow to supplement the forage and hopefully encourage the queenless hives to do a better job replacing their queen.

PTC 1

Looks good.   4 Frames of bees – lots of brood.  No SHB.  Treated with powdered sugar.

PTC 2

Not so good.  2 Frames of bees.  No Brood or eggs.  More queen problems.  Pulled a frame of brood from PTC 1.

PTC 3

Again – no brood.  Pulled brood frame from #4 Not Cool.

PTC 4

Looks ok.  Not going gangbusters, but there were brood and eggs.

PTC 5

Looks ok.  Brood and eggs, but spotty pattern.

Fayetteville 1

Doing great.  Lots of brood and eggs.  Treated with powdered sugar.  No SHB.

Fayetteville 2

Good eggs and brood.  3 frames of bees.  No SHB.  Treated with powdered sugar.

Fayetteville 3

Good eggs and brood.

Brooks 1

Most of the brood that was in the honey super has since hatched out.  Looks like I lucked out and the queen was in the bottom deep when I put the excluder on last week.  The bees are moving into the honey super and reusing the old brood cells for honey storage.  So far 4 frames are drawn out, but none capped over yet.

Brooks 2

Ready for 2nd deep.  Pulled 2 frames brood and honey and split off Nuc.  Replaced frames with foundation.

Brooks 3

Looks good.  Bees have moved up into the 2nd deep and have begun to draw out comb.

Brooks 4

No real change.  Some activity in honey super, but no comb drawn out.  Bottom deep is full of bees.

Brooks 5

This is probably the most enthusiastic queen I’ve ever seen.  Pulled 2 frames and started Nuc.  Replaced frames with foundation.

Brooks 6

New nuc colony for purposes of queen raising.  Split from Brooks 2

Brooks 7

New nuc colony for purposes of queen raising.  Split from Brooks 5.

Chicken Tree House

Important Note: Seems that I made a goof up and uploaded the wrong file yesterday (thanks to Net for pointing out the error of my ways.) The feed has since been corrected, but iTunes subscribers may need to unsubscribe and resubscribe.

My sincere apologies for any inconvenience.

I prattle on seemingly without end about the latest energy pyramid scheme, bee-talk, fencing, your emails, and finally about buiding a solar generator.

Links:

- A much better tutorial on building the solar generator

- An excellent tutorial on using a micro grid-tie inverter (even though the unit has it’s own internal kill switch – you still need to install one)

- Kencove and Electrobraid Fencing Products

- Info and more info about worms and chickens

Music: James Larson

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This hive was the strongest in this yard, but now has no brood.  Could not find the queen.  This has really not been my year for queens – although I’ve heard that package queens are frequently superceded.  I’m hoping things will settle down and the girls can get to work.  Pulled a frame of eggs and brood from Woolsey Hive 3 in the hopes that they will raise another queen.  Oi.

Woolsey Hive 2

Not many bees – only 3 or 4 frames, but it seems that they’ve raised a new queen since the last inspection and she is laying like crazy.  With a little luck this one will recover quickly.

Woolsey Hive 3

This hive is doing as well as can be expected considering I pull brood frames out nearly every time I open it.  The queen looks good and what brood frames were left housed copious amounts of brood and eggs. 

Synopsys

These three hives have been pretty high maintenance, leaving me to almost wonder if there is some other factor at play – pesticides, etc.  No way to really know for sure.  The new homebrew hive beetle traps seem to be working extremely well.  Each one had a few beetles, but none were spotted in the hives.

So I spent much of today banging in metal “T” posts – so called because they’re formed kinda in the shape of the letter T.  This goes a long way to getting the back and final pasture fenced in.  Now that these are in, I only have to hang the insulators and run the fence.  For the fence we’ll be using 3 strands of electric rope that we get from Kencove.  I would prefer to use Electrobraid, but the price difference between the two products is insane.  Done for the day on this stuff.

Queen has gone nuts in the honey super.  There was brood on two frames all the way to the top of the frames.  Dammit.  I tried to find her, but couldn’t.  Put on a queen excluder and will see if there’s more eggs in the honey super in a few days (indicating that she’s still up there).

Brooks Hive 2

Looks good.  5 frames of bees with brood.  SHB trap looks clean.

Brooks Hive 3

Packed with bees.  Added deep and moved two brood frames up into the 2nd deep to get some activity going up there.

Brooks Hive 4

Finally some comb being drawn out in the honey super.  Added queen excluder.

Brooks Hive 5

Full of Bees and already needs a 2nd deep.  This queen is a tramp.  SHB trap looks clean.

Notes:

I would have dusted with powdered sugar, but was fresh out.  I’ll swing by the store before headng to the other yards tomorrow.

These girls made the ultimate sacrifice

I snapped this picture while inspecting one of the Woolsey hives.

Whenever someone brings up the out-dated argument that women should not be in the military, I think of the bees.  These girls gave their lives fiercely defending their home from this invading carpenter bee.   The dedication and sacrifice of a soldier transcends gender.  We truely have much yet to learn from these amazing insects.

Looks good.  No need for changes.  Population is building rapidly so I didn’t bother looking for brood.  This one will also need a 2nd deep soon.

Woolsey Hive 2

The one is the worst of the bunch.  Population had dwindled to only a few frames of bees.  No queen and no brood.  I pulled a frame of bees and brood from Woolsey 3 and crossed my fingers.

Woolsey Hive 3

Looks good.  No changes needed.  Found brood on first frame I pulled so no need to look further.  Pulled one frame of eggs & brood to supplement Woolsey Hive 2 in the hopes that they will raise another queen.

PTC Hive 1

Strong hive – even a little defensive, requiring more smoke than the others.  Will keep an eye on the temperment.  This hive was started with a package from south GA, so its possible that there may be some African genes in the mix.  Not likely, but somethig to keep an eye on.  Good honey stores being put away.  Pulled feeder.

PTC Hive 2

No queen but still some covered brood.  Population was smaller than it should have been but not to the degree that it was alarming.  I did find a few queen cells so I’m going to take a wait and see approach with this one.  I’m thinking that they might have rejected the queen that came in the package.

PTC Hive 3, 4, 5

Good growth.  Typical  for what one would expect with a new package.  All the queens were laying.  However, PTC 4 had a spotty brood pattern.  I hate gimpy queens.  If she doesn’t start laying better within a few weeks, I’m going to requeen it.  PTC 5 had heavy propolis on the lid.  Nothing to worry about necessarily, but annoying.

Fayetteville Hive 1

Looks Good.  Feeder down to 1/2.  Saw queen a decent brood pattern.  Saw one queen cell.

Fayetteville Hive 2

Egg city.  Feeder down to 1/4.  Didn’t bother looking for queen.  She was obviously busy.

Fayetteville Hive 3

Huge Brood nest.  Didn’t bother looking for Queen.

Brooks Hive 1

3 frames with some unfinished honey.  High hopes for this one.  Some brood in the honey super, but only a few cells.

Brooks Hive 2

Ready for 2nd deep.  Treated with powdered sugar.  SHB trap was clean.

Brooks Hive 3

This one needs the 2nd deep now.  No question.  Treated with powdered sugar.

Brooks Hive 4

Very little activity in honey super.  Treated with powdered sugar.

Brooks Hive 5

Moved from Nuc to a single deep.  This one was packed with bees.  Pulled swarm cells and mixed up brood nest a little when I moved it.  Hoping that will kill the swarm instinct.

The long overdue 6th Bubbacast.  A short one.  We catch up on some mail, talk about some non-bubba projects, touch on coping with the heat and a little bit on some new fly control methods I’m trying out.

Music: James Larson

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Hey folks, 

As it turned out, I am not vending this weekend at Moondance as I had previously planned.  It’s probably just as well because it’s been raining the whole time.  It’s an open air festival and the sales bottom out if the weather’s bad because no one wants to walk around on vendor row in the rain when they can stay hunkered down at their camp.  Can’t say I blame them.

I’m hoping to get a show out on Thursday, but I’m not really sure what to talk about yet and my brain is in low gear so I’m having problems coming up with topicality.  I have lots of mail to go through, and may talk a little about some other non-farm projects I’m working on.

I need to go wire up the fence on the big pasture like I’ve been saying I’m going to do for the last month or so, but damn I’m tired.

I’ll be vending this weekend at Moondance out in Bowden, GA.  If you’re attending the festival come by and say hi.  Unfortunately, I’m going mad trying to get ready to leave Friday morning so no show this week again.  Fear not, I’ve gotten some great email that I’ll go through as well as other mad rantings for your enjoyment.  Thank you for your your support and feedback and I will definitely get a show out once the dust settles next week.

Looks good.  Moderate activity in honey super.  This one will be ready for 2nd deep soon.  I want to at least get a frame or two of honey out of it this year if possible.  If we do it before the fall honey flow that should be doable without affecting their ability to put away winter stores.  SHB trap was clean.  Dusted with powdered sugar.  5 frames of bees.

Brooks Hive 2

Feeder empty so I pulled it.    Saw queen and brood on 2nd frame I pulled so no need to check further.  Good honey and pollin stores building.  SHB trap was clean.  6 frames of bees.  Dusted with powdered sugar.

Brooks Hive 3

Looks good.  7 frames of bees.   This one will be ready for a 2nd deep soon.  Pulled one frame and found brood so no need to go any further.  SHB trap was clean.  Dusted with powdered Sugar.

Brooks Hive 4

No brood in this one and no queen.  Damn.  Pulled brood and a frame of bees from Brooks Hive 5. Hopefully they’ll raise another queen.  Fingers crosed.

Brooks Hive 5

Population building rapidly.  This one will be ready for another deep soon as well.  SHB trap was clean.  Dusted with powdered sugar.

My daughter found this family of mice in the goat feed bucket in the barn.  The idea of a barn cat is looking better and better.  We keep the feed in locking rubbermaid garbage cans so my suspicion is that one of the kids left this one ajar as a buffet and later raternity ward.

10 Packages of bees

The bees finally showed up today.  Each package contains a mated queen and 2lbs of bees.  They were shipped on the 6th.  What a mess.   Thanks alot USPS.   Considering that the apiary is only a 5 hour drive from here, I may just take a road trip the next time I need to buy some packages.  

These girls are going to their new homes today after work.

-Brian