Today I named our three hives...Aphrodite, Beatrice, and Cynthia (A, B, and C for the unromantic). The Lord of Dragonwood refers to the hives by location, but location can change. Also, different hives do have different personalities, and I'd like to honor that. Besides, if Neil Gaiman can name his beehives and have people ask after them, I can, too.
For those familiar with Dragonwood, Aphrodite is the tall hive that sits at the edge of our property, facing the farmer's field. This year, we took some young brood from her to start a new hive (Beatrice). Shortly after that, we fretted because Aphrodite's queen didn't seem to be laying well. The bees knew she neared the end of her reign, so they made a new queen from one of the most recently laid eggs. Instead of a small bump over a pupa, we observed a peanut-sized structure surrounding the new queen-to-be. The next time we worked the hive, we saw the young queen, beautiful and full of eggs. She was lighter in color than her mother, and much fatter. The hive Aphrodite is now full of brood and honey. We put on a super, which is the part beekeepers use to collect honey for themselves. This is good news, as it means Aphrodite is socking away enough honey to last her through the winter, and shows no signs of stopping. Aphrodite's queen certainly is doing a fabulous job. We removed some messy cross-comb, too.
Beatrice is descended from Aphrodite's old queen, who managed to make it through the winter. We'd had another hive that seemed to be doing well, but was lost in a late-spring cold spell. Discouraged and nervous, the Lord and Lady of Dragonwood purchased pollen patties and sugar-water feeders. We believe feeding has helped Aphrodite become strong and Beatrice to take off. Beatrice's population rivals Aphrodite's. Although a bit smaller, they too work at filling their hive with honey. They had less pulled-out comb to start with, so they have a lot of work to do. However, we observed lots of capped brood, which are the pupae transforming into adult bees. Both Beatrice and Aphrodite have drones, the male bees, present. This means the hive is confident enough of their resources to produce males that do nothing but eat and maybe get the opportunity to mate with a virgin queen. In the fall, these guys will be kicked out to starve and freeze, because they have no value to a hive struggling to survive the winter. The Lord of Dragonwood remembers that splits in the past did not ramp up population so quickly, and is quite pleased with the effects of heavy feeding directly after making a split. We plan to feed another week or so, until the super we added has comb drawn out.
Cynthia is my baby. I split her off of Aphrodite all by myself, with the assistance of my friend J. I moved frames of young brood into a temporary cardboard hive, and took it under the eaves of the woods behind my new herb patch, right next to Beatrice. A day or two later, I transferred the frames and feeder into a hive body. The bees had already begun transforming a larva into a queen cell. Hooray! Today, Cynthia was full of life. Some of the capped brood that I moved has already hatched, and they are working very hard to keep their hive healthy. I cannot wait to meet their new queen.
Sunday, May 31, 2009
Friday, May 15, 2009
Leeches and a Musical Moment
It's been a wet Spring. The forest is lush and green, and so are the weeds in my garden. I can barely keep pace with them. Leeches stretch across the driveway, black and glistening. They look like giant earthworms as long as my hand from wrist to longest fingertip. They are Annelids, segmented worms like their cousins. It is beautiful to watch them move, stretching and bunching with peristaltic action, blindly seeking their ways across the gravel. Above sits a now-hidden hawk's nest. I found a feather one morning, just as I was singing:
"Oh what a beautiful morning,
Oh what a beautiful day,
I got a beautiful feeling...
(here I stooped to pick up the feather I had just noticed)
Everything's going my way!"
Indeed, sometimes there ARE moments in life that are straight out of a musical.
"Oh what a beautiful morning,
Oh what a beautiful day,
I got a beautiful feeling...
(here I stooped to pick up the feather I had just noticed)
Everything's going my way!"
Indeed, sometimes there ARE moments in life that are straight out of a musical.
Nature Journal, The First Year (2005)
Here are the pages of my nature journal from the year we moved into Dragonwood.
Autumn Equinox, Sep.22
Saw beans harvested today.
September is the time of berries.
False Solomon's Seal - red, they start out pale and turn wine-red at the end of the stalk.
Solomon's Seal - blue-black, all along the stalk.
Jack-in-the-Pulpit - bright red clublike clusters, no leaves.
Acorns and hickory nuts are falling. Squirrels scramble among the trees. Yellow and brown leaves fall to the driveway. Still, there's lots of green in the tree canopy.
The sun in the morning makes the East stide of the tree trunks glow orange.
Kitty keeps catching mice.
Mist/Fog embraces us in the morning.
September 25
Rain all day. Really pouring tonight. More yellow and brown leaves fall. The huge pawpaw leaves glisten, water falling from their dark green surfaces. We harvested and ate their fruit earlier this month. The fruit drops when it is greenish yellow and quite soft. Mice have been coming into the house in droves. I haven't seen or heard the wrens for a while. We still hear the owls, though. Temperatures are predicted to drop. No Daddy Long-legs in the house any more. Still lots of moths. Lacewings, too. A squirrel was swinging from the branches out back. All this rain makes the earth a muddy mess. Burrs are brown, small, and harder to find. Still some mosquitoes, though fewer.
September 28
Took a walk last night with [Faerygirl] and [the Lord]. Ate small soybeans from an unharvested field. Milkweed pods along the ditch - not open yet, though. Bright star/panet low in the Western sky. Crickets chirping in a different, softer tone than summer. Very cool in the night, but in the woods it is still and warm. [Faerygirl] caught another walking stick, skinny and in its dark lacquered-brown phase. Much of the field is brown and dry, although there are still a few plants flowering here and there.
More oak leaves are falling to the driveway now. The diversity of fallen leaves increases daily.
Skies are still my favorite crisp blue. Saw a white roundworm in a puddle.
October 6
Saw a tree tipped with red yesterday. Can smell skunk in the woods. Field mice invading my home. Kitty had 2 last night. Virginia creeper turning red. A few trees are almost bare. Hickory nuts hang precariously in trees. They drop to the ground, crashing like mini bombs. Chipmunks and squirrels are quite active. Bees are meaner. Saw a huge fox on my way home last night. Mournful sounds in the air - owls like harbingers of bad news, coyote howls like lost souls, nervous crickets forecasting their end. Weak crane flies observed. This is the time of the spider. The beasts are becoming more competitive, more saveage, eager to protect themselves against the ravages of Winter.
October 16
The pawpaw trees/bushes are turning yellow. There are more trees crowned with yellow and red all about the countryside. Most of the fields are now harvested. Cooler temperatures, but pleasant and appropriate for Fall. Much of the undergrowth is dry and withering. Nuts continue to fall heavily. We still hear owls at night and squirrels chattering in the daytime. I've seen more beasts crossing the road - deer, possums, coons, foxes. Milkweed seeds fluff out - here they grew near the thistle patch. The woods is warm at night - warmer and stiller than the fields at night. When the wind blows from the North, we feel the "breath of the Dragon." Gleaned corn and husks (for corn dolls) from the harvested fields.
November 3
The field out back was harvested last night. It's one of the last cornfields to go. Maple trees are ablaze with yellow, some tipped with red. Not too many nuts now - they've all been "squirreled" away. Big deer tracks in the dirt lead from the woods to the field. Mornings are dark. The sun goes down about 5:30 P.M. But the stars are brilliant. Venus appears low in the west, Mars comes out low in the east. Last night, an owl hooted frantically. There are still green leaves among the yellow and brown undergrowth, usually low to the ground. Still some insects on warm days - lady beetles, yellow jackets, flies, and mosquitoes. Driveway is BEAUTIFUL, paved with fallen leaves.
Autumn Equinox, Sep.22
Saw beans harvested today.
September is the time of berries.
False Solomon's Seal - red, they start out pale and turn wine-red at the end of the stalk.
Solomon's Seal - blue-black, all along the stalk.
Jack-in-the-Pulpit - bright red clublike clusters, no leaves.
Acorns and hickory nuts are falling. Squirrels scramble among the trees. Yellow and brown leaves fall to the driveway. Still, there's lots of green in the tree canopy.
The sun in the morning makes the East stide of the tree trunks glow orange.
Kitty keeps catching mice.
Mist/Fog embraces us in the morning.
September 25
Rain all day. Really pouring tonight. More yellow and brown leaves fall. The huge pawpaw leaves glisten, water falling from their dark green surfaces. We harvested and ate their fruit earlier this month. The fruit drops when it is greenish yellow and quite soft. Mice have been coming into the house in droves. I haven't seen or heard the wrens for a while. We still hear the owls, though. Temperatures are predicted to drop. No Daddy Long-legs in the house any more. Still lots of moths. Lacewings, too. A squirrel was swinging from the branches out back. All this rain makes the earth a muddy mess. Burrs are brown, small, and harder to find. Still some mosquitoes, though fewer.
September 28
Took a walk last night with [Faerygirl] and [the Lord]. Ate small soybeans from an unharvested field. Milkweed pods along the ditch - not open yet, though. Bright star/panet low in the Western sky. Crickets chirping in a different, softer tone than summer. Very cool in the night, but in the woods it is still and warm. [Faerygirl] caught another walking stick, skinny and in its dark lacquered-brown phase. Much of the field is brown and dry, although there are still a few plants flowering here and there.
More oak leaves are falling to the driveway now. The diversity of fallen leaves increases daily.
Skies are still my favorite crisp blue. Saw a white roundworm in a puddle.
October 6
Saw a tree tipped with red yesterday. Can smell skunk in the woods. Field mice invading my home. Kitty had 2 last night. Virginia creeper turning red. A few trees are almost bare. Hickory nuts hang precariously in trees. They drop to the ground, crashing like mini bombs. Chipmunks and squirrels are quite active. Bees are meaner. Saw a huge fox on my way home last night. Mournful sounds in the air - owls like harbingers of bad news, coyote howls like lost souls, nervous crickets forecasting their end. Weak crane flies observed. This is the time of the spider. The beasts are becoming more competitive, more saveage, eager to protect themselves against the ravages of Winter.
October 16
The pawpaw trees/bushes are turning yellow. There are more trees crowned with yellow and red all about the countryside. Most of the fields are now harvested. Cooler temperatures, but pleasant and appropriate for Fall. Much of the undergrowth is dry and withering. Nuts continue to fall heavily. We still hear owls at night and squirrels chattering in the daytime. I've seen more beasts crossing the road - deer, possums, coons, foxes. Milkweed seeds fluff out - here they grew near the thistle patch. The woods is warm at night - warmer and stiller than the fields at night. When the wind blows from the North, we feel the "breath of the Dragon." Gleaned corn and husks (for corn dolls) from the harvested fields.
November 3
The field out back was harvested last night. It's one of the last cornfields to go. Maple trees are ablaze with yellow, some tipped with red. Not too many nuts now - they've all been "squirreled" away. Big deer tracks in the dirt lead from the woods to the field. Mornings are dark. The sun goes down about 5:30 P.M. But the stars are brilliant. Venus appears low in the west, Mars comes out low in the east. Last night, an owl hooted frantically. There are still green leaves among the yellow and brown undergrowth, usually low to the ground. Still some insects on warm days - lady beetles, yellow jackets, flies, and mosquitoes. Driveway is BEAUTIFUL, paved with fallen leaves.
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