The Chicks Meet the Chickens

My day of rest after Earth Day Weekend involved gardening: watering, weeding, some sowing (calendula, chamomile), staking and training the sour cherry and continuing to lay the drip irrigation (hard on the hands, that). It was pretty warm, above 70F, so the fig trees came out, as well as the two chicks. I knew that …

Thoughts on Earth Day 2013

What a rush. Wayland’s 2013 Earth Day Weekend, organized by Transition Wayland and the Wayland Green Team (both of which I am an active member), is over. It was a two-day community extravaganza of open houses all over town: people showing their retrofitted or super insulated houses, gardens, solar PV and Hot Water systems, heat …

Full House, with Seedlings

On this rainy, chilly day I find myself alone in the house for the first time in over a week. My in-laws are here, and over the weekend we had a crazy house full of friends and family – eight adults and two kids, all sleeping over. I love extending the dining table to the …

Dissection of Two Dead Colonies – and Hive Box Cleaning

Having discovered that two of the three colonies have died over the winter, I dismantled them to have a closer look at the cause. For Hive 2 my first assessment that there were next to no dead bees in it was correct. I counted 55. Here is one frame that was a good tip-off:   …