This is part two of a three part series on the beekeeping workshop I attended recently. Reproduction: It was interesting to learn that it is up to the female worker bees to determine when it is time to hatch a new queen bee, more worker bees, or drone bees. The worker bees are the ones who prepare the cells (areas in the comb where eggs
Intro to Beekeeping: Part I
Last summer I was introduced to Glen Andresen, a local bee-keeper, at the Lents Farmers Market. He gave a short overview of bee-keeping and I signed up to receive notices about future workshops he typically hosts in the Spring. I was lucky to snag a spot in one of his recent “Intro to Beekeeping” workshops in Portland a couple weeks ago, which eventually sold out.
Wedding Flowers
One of my friends got married yesterday, which was very sweet and exciting. Although I have no experience doing wedding flowers, she enlisted my help since I know plants and have an eye for design. At first I wasn’t nervous because we were talking one casual bridal bouquet for a small, ten person ceremony. But as the wedding grew, my nerves mounted. The final tally
Video: Newspaper Seed Pots
We are in prime seed-starting mode and a few people had questions about making seed pots from newspaper. I decided to make a little tutorial video for reference. Here it is: Hopefully this short video, along with my earlier post that lists out the instructions, will keep things nice and simple for you. Remember that when you are ready to plant the seedlings outdoor, bury
Certified National Wildlife Habitat
Our urban homestead is now a certified wildlife habitat thanks to the National Wildlife Federation (and a small fee). There is a house in our neighborhood with a metal plaque on one of their large trees stating they are certified, which is what originally piqued my interest. A couple months later, the fine folks over at GardenPunks wrote a great blog post about their certification
Building Fort Knox
One giant compromise of letting the chickens free-range in our backyard is allowing them to ravage our vegetable beds from time to time. They scratch up seeds, eat young shoots, and sometimes decide a newly planted bed is a terrific place for a dust bath. Every year I get a little smarter with how to protect my loved green things from the girls, and this
Preparing the Vegetable Beds
During a break in the rain showers, I spent an afternoon outside turning compost. We have one of those black dome compost bins that we fill and turn throughout the year. The food trimmings combined with the used straw from the hen house make the perfect combination. But after three years of composting, I have taken very little out of the bin. While preparing the
Starting Seeds
This weekend I spent a couple hours having a craft party with myself, getting the newspaper seed pots formed and filled with organic potting soil. They have been planted and are neatly resting on my beautiful, old record player. I enjoyed the last of Joni Mitchell’s Blue album before closing up the record player until May, when the seedlings can all move outside. Currently, I
Woven Fence
I was looking through Gayla Trail’s book You Grow Girl the other day and dreaming about gardening projects. It’s early enough to start seeds indoors, but I have been dying to be out in the short hours of brisk sunlight getting my hands muddy. One of her projects in particular, the woven fence, caught my eye. The project requires lots of thin, long branches, which
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