The Bees Knees - A Warre Hive

Keeping Bees in Nova Scotia, Canada.

Well, the bees are ordered and should be ready for us to pick up in May from a local supplier here in Nova Scotia. The province does not allow any importation of bees except for queens from Hawaii, NZ and Australia so all new hives here are started from locally raised nucs. Even bees and equipment from other areas of Canada are not allowed so as to help stop the spread of diseases and pests. A nuc (nucleus) is basically 4 frames of comb with brood (bee larvae) that are growing plus some honey stores, pollen and several hundred worker bees to look after it all. If a queen is not included in the nuc she'll be in a little cage attached to one side where the bees can smell her and are getting used to her. This is a good start for any hive. Bees will release the queen from her cage by eating her out (the cage has a candy plug) or if it's a plastic cage then the beekeeper lets her out. She quickly begins laying new eggs and the population of bees can take off like crazy. A young queen can lay upto 2000 eggs per day, that's an amazing number and usually happens during the spring build-up where a hive can increase in number from your nuc of several hundred to over 60,000 in the space of just 6 or 8 weeks. It does depend on the quality of your queen, availability of food and the available space within the hive, but you'll know as soon as the brood are hatching because your hive will suddenly get much busier. If the bees are hungry they'll raise less brood. If they're short of space then they'll likely think about swarming. So it's a delicate balance. This (top right) is a Warre hive with the 2 winter boxes and 2 summer boxes all stacked together to form a beautiful and practical hive.

Don't panic if this all seems like a foreign language to you. All this basic beekeeping wisdom can be learned from reading and there are some good books out there. And joining your local club can be terrific too. Once you've got your book knowledge, bought or made your equipment, registered as a beekeeper with your province, state or county, and ordered your first bees...there's nothing else to do but learn from hands on experience and from observing your bees. We've found that you can learn a lot about what's going on inside the hive just by watching the bees as they come and go from the entrance. But we're by no means experts...and I myself am particularly nosy, so when we built our hive last time we included an observation window. Then I can peek to my hearts content without really disturbing the bees or taking the hive apart.

If you've followed our blog for a while you know that In BC we used both Langstroth and top bar hives. But now we're in Nova Scotia where the weather is different, hotter in summer and much colder in winter. So we're re-evaluating the benefits of both styles. Personally I like the natural approach to beekeeping that's favoured by the top bar hive but a horizontal hive won't make it easy for the bees to cluster or get their honey stores when the weather is very cold. So we've decided on a compromise...the Warre hive. The Warre hive is pictured at the top of this post. At the left we can see a Langstroth hive super (box) containing the frames upon which the bees draw out the comb and store honey and raise brood. 10 Frames fit snugly in a super with enough room for the bees to climb around between and do their work. But if left alone to build naturally, bees will make their own combs without any help from humans and they'll make this same space called the 'bee space' between their combs whether built in a hive, a tree or a skep.

The Warre hive is a very low maintenance hive consisting of boxes that use top bars in place of frames. The basic principal is that since bees build new comb downwards, you place your new boxes on the bottom of the existing hive in the spring and then in the summer after the main honey flow you remove the top box or two that's full of honey. The advantages are that you are removing older comb from the top of the hive and so removing any build up of pesticides contained in the wax, the bees raise larvae on the newer comb near the bottom so the top boxes should not have any larvae in them at all, you don't have to move and jostle the brood combs so you disturb the bees far less, the hive maintains it's own smell and is in a more natural environment (simulating the inside of a hollow tree). I like this idea because it's easy to build but also, unlike a Kenyan (horizontal) top bar hive, the bees should be able to form a tight cluster and overwinter better due to easier access to their food and an insulated 'blanket' layer on the hive and the fact that heat rises and the bees can cluster in a smaller space at the top of the hive. I know that some beekeepers do wrap their hives in insulating blankets but that can cause problems with moisture building up in the hive so it's never fool proof. Ventilation is really important. In an ideal world Steve and I would move all our hives to a central location for the winter such as an unheated garage that would still allow the bees to be cool enough to hibernate but out of the wind and wet and away from marauding bears.

There are lots of free plans for making your own Warre hive including these ones. And while you're there at the Bee Space website, check out the original book written by Abbe Warre about his experimentation and study of different beekeeping hives and methods. There is a lot of good info about using Warre hives both as a hobbyist and commercially so be sure to follow our progress this coming year. We think that this allows for the bees to build their combs naturally and yet at the same time offers ease of management and a natural environment for them. After all ... mother nature never intended for bees to be making rectangular combs or eating white sugar syrup during the winter. Oh yes that's one good thing to point out...if you do have to feed a new or starving colony syrup, use only white granulated sugar. Don't use brown sugar.

Here's some basic info on how a top bar hive works, hope it's helpful. Please feel free to leave a message or comment with any questions you have about bees or keeping bees in Nova Scotia and I'll be happy to point you in the right direction. A lot of management styles are personal preference of course so whatever works for you is what you should stick with. Keeping bees is really interesting and can be very rewarding too, but we enjoy watching them pollinate our flowers and the neighbourhood trees and gardens so we know they are helping out our food security too. It's a win win situation. And if we're lucky, maybe this summer we can catch a swarm of bees and add to our apiary naturally. If you are in the Annapolis Valley and happen to see a big ball of bees hanging off a tree branch we'll be more than happy to come get the girls and give them a new home! Swarms may sound scary but they're docile and just looking for a new place to live. They won't hurt you if you just leave them alone.

Working Together

We all know, or have heard, that we can accomplish more by working together. And I think it's almost always true. That we are more than the sum of our parts. So how does that apply to people who are trying to live a self-sufficient sort of lifestyle? Well, by creating a community we become stronger. When one person struggles we can all pitch in to help and when someone has a great success we can all share in that too. It's like the analogy of the strings. One string can be cut or pulled apart fairly easily. Two strings also can be, it's harder but not impossible. But 20 strings together are strong and resistant, and so on. Having a community of growers, buyers, eaters, and workers that works together to keep the cycle going is important to any market, including Farmers Markets and produce stands. Even U-Picks rely on the same model. So how come there isn't more of this "community building" going on?

I believe that some people get scared off by the idea of the 60's style Hippie commune. Others value and want to keep their independence and privacy. Still others are so busy working that they simply don't have the time to join in. More and more intentional communities are springing up the world over. From farming in Russia to co-housing in Canada, the options are there.

Here's an example of working together:


Five People Play One Guitar - Watch MoreFunny Videos

Living a Contented Life in Nova Scotia

We get asked all the time why we moved from Vancouver Island to Nova Scotia. Afterall, we're the first to admit that BC is BEAUTIFUL!! One of the most beautiful places on Earth. And we miss the snow capped mountains and the pink cheeked faces of our grandchildren as they run around the yard holding fuzzy yellow chicks. Life was pretty good, but we just didn't seem to be getting anywhere. We didn't own the farm or the home we lived in and that made it hard because we planted crops only to be later told that we were being given 60 days to move. We were tired of being at the mercy of others in so many fundamental ways. And we still have 4 children to finish raising.

So we prayed about it and felt inspired to move to Nova Scotia, specifically the Annapolis Valley.

Things have really worked out well for us since we've been here. Financially we're getting stable and as of this month we'll be able to get ahead a little if we're lucky. Dreams of owning and paying off our own farm are more easily realized here. Whereas in BC we would have payed over $500,000 for a small acreage and home, here we can find one for under $100,000. That's partly because we're able to renovate ourselves and because we live rurally. Homes in the city are like anywhere else in Canada, more expensive.

We like living in the country. For now we're temporarily living in a small subdivision in the village of Greenwood but even here it's not too busy. We enjoy nature and being outside in the garden so the country life suits us. And I think it's a more contented life. We take pleasure in the simple things like a warm and cozy bed, a beautiful day, ripe strawberries or fresh corn from the garden, watching the daily drama of chickens as they go about their day and seeing the hard working bees pollinating my flowers while making honey too. It's all marvelous if you stop to appreciate it. Even in the winter there's so much beauty and so many things to look forward to.

Due to the cost of housing here we actually can afford to buy our own place, one that we can then change and develop as we see fit. To make the additions and build structures that suit our lives as small farmers. In essence, to benefit from the labour of our own hands. It's not some New Age concept, it's a basic fundamental right, or it should be, to benefit from your work either through pay or through ownership and the use of something. So many times before I felt like we were just slaving away for the benefit of other people...landlords, ex-wives etc and now I finally feel like we're in it for ourselves.

None of the lessons have been lost along the way, we've learned a lot about what's important in life and we've encouraged other people along the way to live a happy and fulfilled life too. After all, money is important but relationships are more important. The love you have for your husband or wife, the way you love and raise your children, the opportunities you have to serve your community, these are ways that we truly influence the world for good and make society better. And this is where we find true and lasting happiness, within the walls of our own homes and within ourselves.

Living a contented life doesn't mean we stop trying to improve and set goals. We most certainly do, it's just that the end results and the focus are different. It's not about money so much as having things that make our lives more pleasant. Having time for friends and the space to have extra children pop over because they just like our home are two of the things that bless our lives and allow us to bless others too. How many times have we walked into the kitchen to find a crowd of small children telling us how great our cookies are while they demolish the whole lot? Or walked into the basement to find teenagers all hanging out together having a good time? How often has someone said we should get together for a last minute party at their place and we could go because we weren't wrapped up in other things? These are some of the things that I love about my life...that I get to share it with other people I care about. Even strangers. If I can make someone's day brighter then why wouldn't I? What does it cost me to be friendly and to smile? To bandage a knee or find a lost dog? It costs me nothing and yet gives so much back to me in terms of happiness.

As I'm sitting here reading seed catalogues and making plans for the coming year I want you to all know that for me, there was never really any decision to make...I love living in the country. The city isn't for me with it's hustle and bustle. Give me the quiet life! Live it for a year and you'll realize it's not so quiet after all. Here's a photo of Kate last year at the Qualicum Beach Farmers Market learning about preserving natural habitats and making a flower press. She had a great time. We loved going on a Saturday morning to the market, it's a time for farmers to meet their customers, socialize, and share ideas.

In many European countries, Canada, the US and in Japan too, there are scores of younger people looking for a different way to live. They want something different from the daily commute and the hectic schedule of trying to balance work and a home life that they see their parents and their friends living. Here's a good article from the BBC focused on why some young Japanese people are moving back to the countryside. Here in Canada young people are experimenting with SPIN (Small Plot INtensive) gardening if they don't own land, or CSA's or other forms of small level market gardening if they have a little land that's arable. Steve and I are not alone, even within our family, in realizing that food security begins in your own backyard. Our eldest son and his wife are beginning their own market garden this year and their info can be found at www.fairesfarms.com If you're looking for vegetable boxes delivered fresh and delicious in the Oceanside/Nanaimo area, give them a call!

Here at Humblebee Farm in Nova Scotia we elder Faires are busy making plans, borrowing land, ordering bees and doing the other things necessary for the coming growing season. Firewood is getting re-stacked as the indoor pile dwindles, we're researching local livestock breeds that are suitable for what we want...and of course we're still looking to find a farm for sale in Annapolis County. But one thing at a time. First we've got to get the garden planted and have a down payment. Maybe one can help with the other.

Part of our growing program will be to propagate bushes and other plants for planting on a larger scale at our new home. For example we want raspberry bushes. Lots of them. If I go to Vasseys and get 3 plants it will cost me about $25. Ok, it's cheaper at somewhere like WalMart or Home Depot but they're not as good quality or the varieties I want. So I spend $25. In the fall I should be able to take at least 6 cuttings off each plant again for rooting. That means that I'll have the original 3 bushes ready to fruit the following year plus 18 new plants if they all root. At the end of the following year (next year) I'll have 21 fruiting bushes and possible another 120 new plants. So within 3 years I've got fruit producing bushes, bushes beginning to bear and more that are established and ready for the following year. Instead of waiting a year until we get a place and then buying 140 bushes for some huge amount of money and waiting for them to establish, we've saved perhaps a thousand dollars and had a little fruit one year earlier. And the same goes for many other types of things too. Buy the best seed you can and from then on save your own seeds. It works for almost any open pollinated plant but you have to remember that some plants are bi-annuals like carrots...they set the root the first year and then flower and produce seeds the following year.

We will have vegetables for sale this summer as well as preserves, salsa and pickles. Hopefully we'll have eggs too, but we'll see about that later. The first priority is to get our side yard ready for bees and the greenhouse up and going with some hot beds in March. Our main plantings won't be in until the middle of May or June for things like heat loving corn, and peppers but I can still get flowers and tomatoes started inside early to get a jump on the season and maybe get some lettuce and salad greens going along with peas and radishes. I'd love to be the envy of all my neighbours by eating fresh produce in May when they're just getting started gardening. Does that sound conceited? lol. It won't be long before I'm whining on here about how much work it is and how much I miss having WWOOF'ers around. Maybe we will anyways...just for fun.

These are just my musings and plans for the coming year. I realize that everyone has different goals and different things that make them happy, the real trick is to find out what leaves you feeling content and then to build your life in such a way that you can experience it all the time. It's a lifelong goal for most of us...one I'm still working on...but I'm glad that I've got such a supportive family and a husband who loves me and who I adore. I'm thankful for ordinary miracles. For love, and laughter, faith and friends.

Protein and Blueberries, why buying 'real' food is better for you.

It's a beautiful day here in Maritime Canada. Snow is gently falling, the roads are clear and the sun is shining. What more could we ask for? I'm going to the butcher shop, Frenchy's secondhand store, the bank and the Post office so I think I'll take Sarah the dog for a ride with me.

The local butcher shop in Wilmot (Sabeans) is nice and clean and they use a lot of locally raised meat so I like that. They also offer freezer packs and sides of pork so for those on a budget it's a good way to stock up when you have money for times when you don't. Unless of course you'll be tempted to just eat all the good stuff at once. The prices and quality are also better than the store so that's good too. Here are 2 differences between meats from a butcher and in the store. Pork looks bi-coloured at a butcher. You can clearly see the difference between the light and dark meats and the pork overall looks a much duskier pink colour than the light and uniformly coloured meat at the supermarket. Beef at the butchers does seem fattier than the ultra lean steaks at the grocery store. So you might be thinking that lean is the way to go, right? WRONG!! If you are trying to cut down on fatty red meat then eat less of the good stuff, not more of the lean stuff. When buying red meat you want to look and see that fat and gristle have been properly trimmed from the outside of the cut but all those little veins of fat you see...that's called marble. Marbling in meat means that it cooks up nice and juicy and it's the fat that contains the flavour. Now I'm not saying that you shouldn't eat leaner meats. Chicken, turkey, pork and even lamb can be good choices if you're getting grass raised meat from a local farmer. Make enquiries about what the animals are fed and see if they have access to pasture so that they can forage for themselves. Livestock raised naturally on pasture do take longer to grow than their commercially fed and raised counterparts. But the heritage breeds that are often raised by small farmers are chosen for their flavour and it's definitely worth it, in my opinion, to pay a little more for better meat that you know something about. Our family, through raising livestock, does eat meat at almost every dinner, but compared to most other people we eat a lot less. A steak is cut to make stew for 7, not eaten just eaten by 1 person. A chicken supplements roasted veggies, salads or maybe a breast is made into butter chicken curry or a pot pie. In North America in particular we are not starved for sources of protein. Most people eat way more than the recommended 1 gram of protein for every kg of weight. So if for example you're a moderately active male weighing 160 lbs you should eat :

160 divided by 2.2 to get kilos = 72.72 kg. Say 73 kg. Times 1 gram per kg = 73 grams of protein per day from all sources.

For people who are active, work hard physically, lift weights etc the number can almost double so that a 120 lb woman who runs, lifts weights and runs a small family farm can eat 109 grams of protein and remain totally healthy.

Here are some sources of protein:

1 large egg = 6 grams
1 cup milk = 8 grams
cheddar cheese 8 grams per oz.
6 oz can of tuna = 40 grams
Most beef or pork cuts are 7 grams of protein per ounce so if you're eating a 16 oz steak you're getting a whopping 112 grams of protein.
Chicken is about 8 grams of protein for every ounce of weight.
Tofu 1/2 cup = 20 grams
Most beans are 8-10 grams of protein per half cup.
2 Tbsp peanut butter = 8 grams of protein.

It's just a short list, but protein, like fat and calories, is something that we should be aware of when doing both meal planning and shopping. Read the labels folks, that's what they're there for.

On the subject of labeling...don't even get me started on truth and lies in advertising! Especially where supposed 'healthy' foods made commercially are concerned. Take blueberries for example. We all now know that blueberries offer health benefits, right? So eating blueberries is part of a healthy diet. And they're delicious. fresh picked or from the farmers market in the summer, locally grown berries of all kinds are nature's candy! Fresh berries truly are one of summers most delightful experiences.

But what about those cereals in the store with blueberries in them or those bagels at your favourite store? They're blueberry.....so they must have blueberries in them, right? Well...maybe not. Check out this article. http://www.naturalnews.tv/v.asp?v=7EC06D27B1A945BE85E7DA8483025962&fb_source=message

I have to get going and scrub the kitchen and bathrooms now, sure hope you're having lots of fun, I know I won't.

Fresh Organic Veggie Delivery in Oceanside

Are you living in Nanaimo, Qualicum or Parksville and wondering where to buy fresh local produce? We've obviously moved too far away to deliver but don't worry, I have the perfect solution. Check out the farm our son and daughter-in-law have got planned for next year. They're working hard to get everything organized and soon I imagine they'll have seedlings galore on the grow. If you're interested in getting delicious veggies delivered then check out their website! Faires Farm or wait to meet them at the Qualicum Beach Farmers Market on Saturday mornings...just get there early for best selection.

Here's an older pic of them while they were converting a bus to a beautiful coach. I'll post a better pic soon.

Don't Drink Soda!

How's this for another reason to stop drinking soda. Pepsi is denying the claim of a man who says he found a dead mouse inside a can of soda by saying that their product would have dissolved the mouse into a jelly like substance. Oh yum! Liquid mouse! All I have to say is...Goodbye Mountain Dew!

Here's the article, biased source aside, it's a gross thought! And now reported in major newspapers and on tv around the globe. Not a good day to be a marketing exec. at Pepsi.

I've missed you!

Life is now back to normal. Sort of. I have lots of catching up to do now that the kids are back in school and Steve back to work. So for your reading pleasure and thought inducing brain stimulation, here's an article about WalMart and food that can lead to some serious evaluation of where you buy your own groceries. http://www.grist.org/food/2011-12-30-eaters-beware-walmart-is-taking-over-our-food-system#.TwQu1KZa-1Y.facebook

It's that time of year when the garden is quiet and sleeping under a light blanket of snow. But we gardeners are busy making mental plans, browsing seed catalogues or ordering in expectation of getting our seedlings off to an early start. I likely won't start a lot of stuff until March (if I can wait that long) because I'll plant under plastic in April and May. And it's better to not have your seedlings hanging around getting all long and leggy while waiting for good weather. Better to plan ahead for the right amount of time and use cover or protection as needed.

Some things like peas and lettuce I'll get in early in hopes of beating the bugs for a few weeks and because they like cooler weather. But tomatoes and eggplants, corn and melons will wait until the weather is thoroughly warmed around the May long weekend or even a couple of weeks later. Planning your garden is important both to maximize space by using successive plantings and to rotate your crops to avoid pest and disease losses. Crop rotation is a topic for another day but it's important for anyone who gardens to keep notes of what you planted, where, and how your yield was. Reviewing your notes during the winter helps in spring planning and planting.

So what are your plans for next year? Our daughter is doing a CSA in the Parksville, BC area if anyone is interested. Just let me know and I'll pass along your info.

Meanwhile it's snowing and cold here in Nova Scotia, so we're just staying by the fire dreaming about hoop greenhouses and remembering the smell of flats of tomato seedlings.