Monday Garden Update
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Things have been relatively quiet in the garden. The persimmons continue to amaze. The other day, our elderly neighbor came by and gave us a massive bag of mandarin oranges from the tree in his front yard. We reciprocated with an equally large bag of persimmons. We've been baking them into galettes, recipe -- hopefully -- to follow.
Otherwise, there's not much happening in the garden. I did a lot of tidying up, in advance of the Pie Party. The chickens are still not laying. I don't imagine that we'll see eggs from them until spring. Snails or slugs or something ate my baby kale all the way to the ground. So irritating! The baby snao peas are limping along.
My friend George helped me out with my orchids, telling me which ones needed to go inside for the winter, and which outdoor plants wanted to be wetter or dryer. In years past, I've done a bit of research and hoped for the best.
One of our beehives, the Mera colony, finally died out. We've been trying to keep these bees alive, with transfusions of eggs and brood, but they could not gain enough strength. Bees from other hives cleared out the honey stores, and on Sunday, I harvested the wax comb. There wasn't a drop of honey to be had. That's fine with me. The bees need it more than I do.
I'll bring home some cheesecloth, and we'll melt the wax in the oven over a filter. I'm not expecting to get much out of this harvest, but I'd prefer to clear away the old wax. It attracts wax moths and earwigs, neither of which I want in my hives. I prefer to have my bees build new comb ever year. I like to harvest honey in the comb, and the old stuff is not suitable for eating.
The Pie Party was very nice. We ate ourselves into a collective Pie Coma by the end of the event. It was all very dignified.
Things have been relatively quiet in the garden. The persimmons continue to amaze. The other day, our elderly neighbor came by and gave us a massive bag of mandarin oranges from the tree in his front yard. We reciprocated with an equally large bag of persimmons. We've been baking them into galettes, recipe -- hopefully -- to follow.
Otherwise, there's not much happening in the garden. I did a lot of tidying up, in advance of the Pie Party. The chickens are still not laying. I don't imagine that we'll see eggs from them until spring. Snails or slugs or something ate my baby kale all the way to the ground. So irritating! The baby snao peas are limping along.
My friend George helped me out with my orchids, telling me which ones needed to go inside for the winter, and which outdoor plants wanted to be wetter or dryer. In years past, I've done a bit of research and hoped for the best.
One of our beehives, the Mera colony, finally died out. We've been trying to keep these bees alive, with transfusions of eggs and brood, but they could not gain enough strength. Bees from other hives cleared out the honey stores, and on Sunday, I harvested the wax comb. There wasn't a drop of honey to be had. That's fine with me. The bees need it more than I do.
I'll bring home some cheesecloth, and we'll melt the wax in the oven over a filter. I'm not expecting to get much out of this harvest, but I'd prefer to clear away the old wax. It attracts wax moths and earwigs, neither of which I want in my hives. I prefer to have my bees build new comb ever year. I like to harvest honey in the comb, and the old stuff is not suitable for eating.
The Pie Party was very nice. We ate ourselves into a collective Pie Coma by the end of the event. It was all very dignified.
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