Catching Up

As I write, the arborists are here pruning our Valley Oak (Quercus lobata) and California Pepper (Schinus molle) trees. Both were desperately overgrown, and I'm looking forward to the increased light in the flower beds they cover. I am saving some of the larger branches for mushroom inoculation. I'm going to try again - I've tried twice with no luck. I'm hoping the fresh oak logs will be just the ticket, and I've ordered oyster mushroom plug spawn.

Geum coccineum 'Totally Tangerine' - planted last year, finally blooming

We've had a lot going on here and I want to catch you up.

I was absolutely sure the bees were going to swarm this past weekend. Every single day, I had witnessed a hovering mass of bees near the entrance; these are just-born bees orienting themselves to home, before they go back inside to start their lives of work. So I knew that there were LOTS of bees in there, and more every day. They had also started bearding at the hive entrance. Usually bees beard only if it's very hot, and they need to cool off the hive by removing extra bodies. Of course it hasn't been hot, in fact it's still chilly at night, so I knew that the bees were running out of room. And possibly preparing to swarm.

Just a goatee, really.

We opened the hive Sunday afternoon and it was simply full to the brim with bees. Usually when we open, always from the back of the top bar hive (a horizontal, not vertical, hive), there are only a few bees, and after we get deeper in, we find the crowds. Not so this time. There was brood on all but the very back two bars, which is incredible. We've never had that much brood. Tom and I were planning to take out a couple of bars of honey, but since all the bars had brood on them, we didn't take anything. We just added the last three bars we could squeeze in, to buy them some time. They'll likely swarm in the next week or so, and then we'll get in there and take out some of the older bars near the front, making sure we don't get any queen cells in the process.

Luna.

Another thing we had to deal with was a sick chicken. We have six chickens, two of whom haven't laid in at least a year, one of them Luna (above). In the last week or so, Luna has started to act funny - not eating the fresh greens I'd give her - and walking with a strange, rocking gait. She developed a very wide-legged stance, and her abdomen appeared very swollen. When I'd pick her up (strange in itself, she would usually run from me), I'd notice that she felt dense and heavy, which is extremely unusual. 

When I researched what all this meant, I came up with five different problems, all of them fatal. The final thing that decided us was that Luna would just sit, with her tail and bum raised high, and would sort of heave with every breath. She was clearly in pain. So, we made the difficult decision to cull her. This is never a pleasant thing, but sometimes it is the best thing all around. 

The wheat took a real beating in the hail we had, twice in the last couple of weeks. Some of the stalks are still upright, but many have keeled over. I'm still hoping for a harvest.

I once heard a homesteader say that the best thing about homesteading was that there was always something to give away. We have found that to be true. It's such a pleasure to be able to give eggs, honey, canned goods, seedlings, flower bouquets. Kate needed a basket for her theater company auction; it was easy to come up with a 'Good Eats' basket full of treats from our little urban farm. I was proud of this basket and glad to share our bounty to raise money for the group.

Homemade apple cider vinegar, vanilla extract, honey, jam, cured olives, sweet pickle relish, dried lemons and zest, dried herbs, and fresh eggs. Oh, and a sunflower seedling.

I'm enjoying hunting the yard for tiny insects to photograph with my new macro lens. I especially like this one - a little guy I found on a leaf - he was smaller than a grain of rice.

I've no idea what kind of beetle this is.

I also found an egg sac on some mulch.

I'm excited to see what hatches. Remember three years ago, when we found that egg sac, and it hatched, and we couldn't figure out what they were? I showed my insect instructor a photograph, and he said those were orb weavers!

All of the tomatoes I planted germinated, which is fabulous; I'll be potting them up later this week, and then they'll go into the greenhouse with the peppers. I'm not planning to get the summer veg into the garden until May 1. This has been such a crazy season weather-wise, I'm not hedging my bets, I'm going to make sure everything is warm before I plant out.

Today

"If ever there were a spring day so perfect, so uplifted by a warm intermittent breeze ...

... that it made you want to throw open all the windows in the house...

... and unlatch the door to the canary's cage, indeed, rip the little door from its jamb, ...

... a day when the cool brick paths and the garden bursting with peonies ...

... seemed so etched in sunlight that you felt like taking ....

... a hammer to the glass paperweight on the living room end table, ...

... releasing the inhabitants from their snow-covered cottage ...

... so they could walk out, holding hands and squinting ...

... into this larger dome of blue and white, well, today is just that kind of day."

- Billy Collins, 'Today'

New Macro Lens

I'm taking a class this term called 'Insect Identification and Management' and we have to make an insect collection. Yes, that means what you think it does; we're supposed to kill and pin insects to keep as a scientific record. Several of us students are opposed to this practice and have convinced the professor (a reasonable man) to allow us to make photographic collections instead. Many of the students taking photographs have excellent cameras with huge intimidating lenses. I adore taking pictures but want something I can carry in my pocket, as I'm sort of an on-the-fly photographer. So my iPhone does the job well enough. However it has become clear that in order to get good pictures of tiny, flying, wriggling,  ALIVE insects, I needed to step it up. And so I went searching for something I could carry in my pocket that could attach easily to my phone. And I think I've found a serviceable item.

this millipede was super small - like the size of a grain of rice.

It's made by a company called Xenvo, and it's a lens attached to a clip. Actually there are two lenses; one for wide shots, and one for macro shots (the tiny stuff). The clip just attaches on to your phone, and the lens covers the lens on your phone. Easy.

This is just one of the lenses.

It was packaged very nicely, coming with a clip-on light, and a cord, and a special carrying case, and lens caps. It was all cushioned beautifully. And it only cost about $30.

I took it out in the yard today to play with it a bit and see what kinds of shots I could capture. One thing I noticed right away was the ability of the lens to focus on something small. So often, when I try to take pictures of a very tiny thing, the iPhone lens focuses on the background, and it takes a long time for it to focus on the item you're trying to take a picture of - and sometimes it never focuses at all. With this lens attachment, the focus is right there, no waiting.

a close-up of lichen 

I'm hoping this lens will help me take better pictures of insects and bugs. 

I'm also looking forward to trying out the wide lens when I'm hiking, and trying to take pictures of the views. These lenses are both small enough to keep in my pocket when I'm walking.

I love the idea of having a big fancy camera (there's also something attractive about the ability to hide behind it), but the logistics are just difficult for me. Am I going to take a heavy thing around my neck when I hike? Doubtful. And what if I'm gardening and I see something I really want to phtotograph (this happens ten times a day at least)? Am I going to want to run into the house to find my fancy camera? No! Whatever I wanted to take the picture of might not be there when I come back! So this is much easier. A little more power in my pocket.

What about you? Do you like to take nature photos? Do you have a big rig, or do you just use your phone?