Bees Buzzing and Walking Stick bugs... walking

I have been neglecting the BEE portion of this blog.... so I decided to make it up to you today while N is taking his nap and I am hiding from the heat and humidity of the day.

While most hives these days are based on the horizontal Langstroth design, some folks are choosing a less invasive method. For example, these are my 2 top bar hives. In a top bar hive less area is exposed when handling the bees. With the devistating effects of Colony Collapse Disorder, I am a firm believer that the ONLY sustainable method of beekeeping is if you don't treat with pesticides and antibiotics and you just let the bees be. The wax is cleaner and not infused with poisons. The 'treatments' effect the reproductive organs of the drones and queen, and are detrimental to the fragile immune system of the honeybee in general. Treatments effect the purity of the honey and propolis as well which are the bees sources of nutrition and medicine. We are so lucky to have the honeybee in our world. I read that every third bite of food on our plate is brought to us courtesy of the honeybee.

There are no pesticides or antibiotics used in these 2 hives. One hive has Russian/feral genes and the other is from a wild swarm found here in NY. Right now, the wild bees are faring much better. More bees, more comb, more honey. I am worried about the Russian cross hive as they had a rough start in May and a bout of chalk brood during the cold damp weather. I have given them a few jars of sugar syrup to try to get them to rear more brood before it is too late. If they do not build up the population soon, and start foraging more and making more honey, I am afraid that they will not survive the winter. Sugar syrup has a much higher pH than honey and a lot less nutrition. On one hand feeding the bees a higher pH, you risk the chance of a higher reproduction of brood disease, on the other hand, lack of bees this late in the season could mean the bees will starve over the winter. It is a gamble and a difficult decision for a beekeeper who wants to do right by her bees. I took another risk as well in hopes that I might help save this hive.... I took a bar of healthy bees and brood from the 'wild' colony and gave it to the weak one. I am trying to read up on every natural method I can to help these bees. I fear though, that the more we mess with bees the worse for wear they become. I will never stop learning from them.

This is a "bar" from the healthier of the two hives. The bees build their own comb the way and size they choose. Their cell size is not predetermined by a factory made piece of plastic that already has the size of each cell stamped into it. The bees cells are scaled down in this method of beekeeping because they are building it without this plastic foundation. It is obviously more natural. The bees are healthier for it and they are also more hygienic. It is thought that the smaller cell size also has a better potential for discouraging varroa mites and other pests from devastating a colony. The comb is like a fortress. Bigger is NOT better in this case. MORE bee buzz to come ....

Oh, and here is another cool fellow... I saved from being squished by the garage door.

The Last Fledgling

blues, greens, whites and yellow ochre

Painting again... finally

This has been a long time coming...

A painting( IN PROGRESS) inspired by one of my favorite poems by John Berger.

This excerpt was taken from - And Our Faces, My Heart, Brief As Photos

I first came across this poem about 15 years ago (yikes) and it was so poignant for me. It would come to mind ever so often while reflecting on the meaning of love. Over time, it's meaning has only intensified.

Some may find this a bit morbid due to the subject matter, but I assure you it is not my intention as I am sure you will understand after reading the poem.

The Poem-

“What reconciles me to my own death more than anything else is the image of a place: a place where your bones and mine are buried, thrown, uncovered, together. They are strewn there pell-mell. One of your left ribs leans against my skull. A metacarpal of my left hand lies inside your pelvis. (Against my broken ribs your breast like a flower.) The hundred bones of our feet are scattered like gravel. It is strange that this image of our proximity, concerning as it does mere phosphate of calcium, should bestow a sense of peace. Yet it does. With you I can imagine a place where to be phosphate of calcium is enough.”

So... this is my humble rendering... I had recently seen a photo of an archaeological site in Italy

and it immediately brought the poem to mind. This sketch was not based on the photo however as you will see if you click on the link. I took sketches from two separate photos/sites and brought them together to give a similar effect. I promise to take better photos soon. Hopefully you can get the gist with these.

the sketch

underpainting in progress..... lots more work to be done

Would love to hear what you think :)

butterflies and bees

my boys appreciating the flowers

the bees have found the allium

a kooky one

3 baby robins right next to the house 7/4/10

frogtopia

From what I hear, frogs have it pretty rough these days... with pollution killing them off and changing he frogs into she frogs, tragic encounters with tires on the moist, warm pavement after rain, etc. :(

I am happy though that we have been seeing so many around these parts.

We have a quite a frog population here in our yard... We seem to find frogs of all kinds throughout spring and summer. N always wants to touch. I know its not that good for a frog to be handled, but we are gentle and always try to just take a quick, closer look so as not to dry out their skin. :)

Here are a few we have been lucky to see and photograph right in our yard and gardens over the past few summers...

in one of our 2 frog ponds

(Statue of THE King of Frogtopia)

on the rose trellis

in one of our frog ponds

on the hose guard (one of my favorites)

they are amazing aren't they?

Week Word- Nothing

I would love to be able to say something clever about nothing.

Maybe try to incorporate quantum mechanics, the general theory of relativity, the big bang theory or vacuum energy.

My brain gets tangled in knots when I try to wrap it around so many theories and concepts and I just try to look for the simplicity in things. Sometimes I wonder though, how amazing it is that some things that seem so simple can be intensely complex at the same time.

It is such an ambigous word and overwhelming to ponder- nothing. Yet it can also describe something trivial. How is that?

Is 'Nothing' to be feared? As in a vast Nothingness, a void, a black hole...

Like "The Nothing" from the movie -The Never Ending Story- where 'the Nothing' is inescapable and it consumes almost all of Fantasia leaving only floating bits?

Is 'Nothing' to be desired? How does one think of 'nothing'? Is nothing idyllic?

If I had no senses, I would see, smell, hear, taste and touch nothing.

I guess there would be no point to this temporal existence.

Would I also have no emotions? No sense of wonder?

Nothing can fill up space.

Nothing is a pronoun.

Nothing is something.

you can hear it

after a heavy snowfall on an early morning before everything is awakened

you can see it

paint it

it fills in the space as

sfumato around a figure

dancing air

alive, real,

it's really something.

but most important

you can choose

to believe that

what may seem like nothing

is something

even if you can't see it

or hear, or smell, or taste, or touch it

See Hanna's blog for more interpretations of "Nothing"

Thank you Hanna for a thought provoking word. :)