Bees!

We are currently staying in Cupertino, CA with our friend Charlotte, who has two beehives in her backyard. Charlotte was kind enough to allow me to help harvest a frame of honey last week, and of course we took some pictures. She has a fairly low-tech way of doing things: we scraped the honey off of the frame with an ice scraper and it went into a 5-gallon bucket with a paint strainer cloth in it. The honey drained out through the cloth and the wax stayed in, to be melted down and made into candles later. We got about 7-8 cups of honey from one frame. The bees were extremely mellow during the whole process, possibly because none of them got squished when Charlotte took off the top of the hive.

I think I'm definitely hooked, although I can't possibly contemplate buying all the equipment yet - maybe in 2-3 years. I did get a copy of 'Begin To Keep Bees' from Franklin Carrier, the local (San Jose) beekeeping guru, and it's fascinating reading. And, thanks to the magic of Google, I've discovered the Mt. Baker Beekeepers in Bellingham. Perhaps one of them will have extra hives/suits/etc. to loan/rent/sell cheap to a beginner? Only time will tell...

Post-workshop musings

Yes, I'm updating after over a year. Try to contain your excitement...both of you who actually know this blog exists...

I just completed the 3-day workshop at Ecology Action in Willits, CA. I plan to write down all the facts and figures at some point, including what the future garden plan will look like and what my goals for the next few years are, but I wanted to get down my thoughts and feelings while they're still fresh. It was amazing, overwhelming, thought-provoking, tedious, and transformative all at once.

The room was full of people who are looking for change and new ideas. Most were probably in their 20s, some just out of college and figuring out what to do with their lives and some who were already garden veterans who needed new input. There were a few 30- or 40-somethings, established in their careers and looking for better solutions for their lives. Many in this group were gardening for a living or partial living in one way or another. The remainder were retired or close to it and wanting to help specific populations: one man had plans to work in Afghanistan, another man is running an urban garden program in San Francisco, one woman is a nutrition expert, one couple is thinking of moving to the Willits area to garden seriously without having to deal with the high mortgage payments of Marin County.

I haven't ever been around this many people who were already convinced that the world is going to hell in a handbasket. No one seemed to need the introductory lecture on disappearing resources: water, farmable land, oil, knowledge of sustainable practices. We were all there to learn and that's exactly what we got - my head is spinning right now with random facts about Jerusalem artichokes (biomass + calories!) and the best way to transplant seedlings (don't touch the roots, unless they're onions!). A room full of people ready for change has a real buzz about it, and this is real, personal, sweaty, complicated change that you can't pawn off on a politician or a do-gooder. This is revolution...one clump of dirt at a time.

I'm inspired, and terrified. I really don't want to sit down with a calculator and figure out calories per square foot, or compost by (air-dried) weight, or the number of seedlings in a flat. But that's what we did today and what I have the tools to do in the future. Will William and I, realistically, ever grow every single thing we eat and forgo coffee and chocolate forever? Probably not...unless we have to. If we do, I have the (VERY) basic blueprints for a diet that will feed both us and the soil. Unlike the rest of the workshop participants, however, I can't go home and dig up the back yard to put all of this into practice. We won't have land of our own until early January at best, and maybe not even until next spring. I can plan endlessly but until I see the land there's not much I can be certain of. But...it's like a exile longing for home. I can already feel the soil on my fingers and smell the freshness of it, and all of my dreams are green around the edges.

October 18th, raised beds

I'll actually try to keep up with the photos this season. Really! The first bed has peas, leeks, and broccoli and collard seedlings. The second will have radishes, carrots, parsnips, and mangels as soon as they come up.

Photos, as promised

A couple of pictures of the Biointensive bed right before I ripped everything out, plus the many many potatoes.

Moving ahead

Never underestimate potatoes - I dug up about 12 pounds (maybe more) of Yukon Golds today, after I thought there was nothing else in there! I had to use the shovel and dig down about a foot so all of that end of the bed is mixed up now. I'm going to let things rest and start putting in the clover during the week, a little at a time. The Biointensive bed is now completely torn out - it took about two hours this weekend plus another hour for the potatoes. There is one tiny little peapod on the pea plants and it's very very cute. I did get the broccoli and collards in the ground on Thursdays, and the radishes are coming up but nothing else yet.
Photos coming soon...

Winter garden

I finally moved ahead with the winter garden today. I started broccoli and collards about 2 weeks ago (I think, maybe 3) and they are coming along nicely in their little pots on the windowsill. Today I finally ripped out the tomato plants from the raised bed and put a fence around it in a futile attempt to keep the squirrels out. I planted mangels, parsnips, carrots, and radishes (all seeds) in that bed and there are some volunteer sweet basil plants already sprouting. I picked the last 2 zucchini two days ago and ripped out the last plant today. There are still 4 leeks left hanging on from the spring and the peas are coming along nicely in that bed. The broccoli and collards will go in hopefully by the end of the week. The chard is still there and I want to put in some spinach and maybe another type of green (lacinato kale?). That's the raised beds. The Biointensive bed is pretty much done for, although I got two squash this week. Next weekend I will really try to get everything ripped out (including the weeds) and if I really get with it I'll get the crimson clover cover crop in too.
Unfortunately I was too late to get into the Ecology Action 3-day workshop in November, so I've taken the dubious step of signing up for NEXT November's workshop since the March workshop is right in the middle of Certificate of Merit and right before Friday Harbor...yeah, not gonna happen. I really wanted to go but I think I've learned more from just getting out there and getting things done. I'll probably need the workshop for the 'next phase': i.e., when I've got more land and can triple or quadruple what I did this year...oh boy!

Harvest 2008

Just some examples of things I've harvested in the past month or so. The potatoes were from a while back, the tomatoes and basil were probably early August, the melon was last week and the corn/squash/tomatoes are from tonight. Potatoes:Yukon Gold, squash: Yellow Straightneck, tomatoes: Green Zebra, Roma, Brandywine, Rutgers, and Better Boy (I think), basil: Genovese, corn: Golden Bantam, and the melon, 'Arizona', is an heirloom variety of canteloupe that doesn't seem to be too well known. It is SO sweet and flavorful...everything was great! This is my first year of serious gardening and I am definitely hooked...