Fall Bees

In the fall, the job of beekeeper is done. The faint yellowing of leaves was the first harbinger of fall, and now the blackening of basil and tomato leaves no longer allows our denial that another lush and bountiful summer is drawing to a close. We see the nectar hunting bees with less and less choice in their final search for winter stores.

But for those wanting to get into beekeeping, fall is the beginning of the cycle - time to get ready, design and figure out your future beeyard, perhaps even start planting pollination hedges or gardens to offer some easy snack for your furry tribe; get into the network of local beekeepers and line up your hive purchase. In our cold climate, the bees need to arrive around mid to late March, when the season begins with pollen harvest from elm, Russian Olive and Tamarisk.

I don't keep bees, although knowing how beneficial they are to ecosystems in general it’s difficult to imagine a permaculture food forest, backyard or homestead without them. But I am lucky, I have friends that keep bees on each side of our farm, and they trade honey with me for goat's milk and cheese. I like this trade agreement, and keep planting pollinators' hedges and gardens where "their" bees come to harvest nectar. I like the fact that my role is more focused on building an ecosystem for bees and other pollinators, rather then on keeping them. You can see some of my plant lists for bees and beneficial insects & pollinators here: http://www.permaculture.org/nm/index.php/site/At-Home/.

I also organize beekeeping classes and workshops http://www.permaculture.org/nm/index.php/site/Beekeeping/ which attract people nationwide, since our focus is on less known and more ecologically sound Topbar Beekeeping.

No matter where you are, beekeeping is a great way to get in touch with the spirit of place, akin to farming and vineyard keeping, but significantly less labor intensive.

Permaculture Garden - Home Land Security

fRuiTs oF my LaBor ~ HomE laNd seCurITy

peach compote, chipotle salsa, pickled onion
pickled beets, native plum jam, sweet bread-and-butter pickle
not photographed: sauerkraut, refrigerator dill pickle, eggplant caviar, plum sauce, cherry jam, peach chutney, pears in calvados, sundried tomatoes, grape jelly, apple sauce etc.

Annual, Perennial - Gardening the Permaculture Way

In July, these white umbrella-shaped flowers were tall and fragrant. Beautiful and stately enough to celebrate a wedding or birth, carrot flowers are a wonderful addition to any formal or informal garden. A cloud of tiny beneficial wasps was working the blossoms, pollinating them into future carrot seeds. Now, in early September, the flowers have turned dark brown, with thousands of seeds spilling over onto the ground, ready for next year’s sunlight and moisture, repeating the cycle of procreation.

Sustainable Living in August - Urban Harvest

Mid August is the time of the year when the harvest season arrives in its full. Fruit, herbs and veggies are streaming from our garden, and gardens of our friends, urban backyards, farms and suburban orchards.

Peaches have been ripening beginning in early July (depending on a tree type) and they will keep going till mid September. We got about 80 pounds from our three trees, and now are browsing neighbors' late ripening orchard. All peaches are put up as jams, compotes and peach chutney. Little native plums came from a wild grove near the irrigation ditch, and became a beautiful amber-colored jelly. Sour cherries were purchased from the northern part of the state - some were frozen, some were canned. Cherry preserves are really good served with home-made Queso Blanco (i.e. goat cheese). New apples from our own farm are good enough for pies, but not yet for eating - however, goats convert those into milk. Tomatoes are turning red, and the first batch has been dried for winter. Red onion rings are pickled for salad garnish. Beets from the farm down the road from us are full sized, pretty, full of color. Beet relish and pickled beets are cherished even by people typically timid about eating beets. Grapes ripened in our friend's yard in Albuquerque and we could not stop harvesting them and left with 80 pounds of fruit. These became grape jam and raisins. The stream of food through our kitchen is unstoppable (or rather, we are unstoppable in our canning fervor). Today, with my neighbor Claudia, we made over 40 quarts of dill and sweet pickles, all from local farms and gardens. Bill Mollison said - You can only feel secure when you look out of your kitchen window and see your friends working in the garden.

And Who Is Your Mama?

This has happened before on our farm. A nesting female gets a bunch of eggs added to her clutch, by other enterprising females. Leading in this mischief are our guineas, dropping their future progeny under turkeys and chickens (I am sure they would have dropped them under any other bird, if we had them!). Guineas are not opposed to sit on their own eggs, but sharing the task is so much more fun! Our only remaining Bourbon Red Turkey (http://www.albc-usa.org/cpl/bourbon.html) who is listed on the Watch List by the American Livestock Breeds Conservancy (a great organization, BTW) has diligently sat on her nest, only to hatch 11 baby guineas, and not a single turkey! So much for the recovery of the breed. Her unlucky boyfriend, who already has a bad rap due to his aggressive nature, is now really walking a very thin line. Not a single baby turkey combined with bad temper! Someone is headed to the pot....
What is even more interesting, we have a number of lavender guineas (light-colored ones), and a single very elderly black polka-dot guinea. And the chicks are mixed-colored - so the senior has finally passed his genes on!
The mom is very happy, strolling around with her family. While chasing after her with a camera for this photo, I noticed that her one-week old infants are already catching and eating grasshoppers. The hoppers are about half their size, so these kids are fearless and quick!

Goats and Peaches

Goats LOVE peaches. And apples, plums, pears. Mine don't like fruit that is cut into smaller pieces, no thanks! They prefer to put the entire peach in their mouth and then stand with it, mouth full, eyes bulging from impending pleasure, rolling it from side to side. They remind me of people sucking on ice cubes. Kind of uncomfortable, but too good to spit out!

Goats steal peaches, too. Just like dogs steal your sandwich if you hold it in your hand - they come to you and gently remove it. Gulp. Gone!

Grasshoppers - Not in My Garden

Looking out my window at the incredible diversity of pollinators floating in an amorphous cloud around the deep Georgia O’Keefe pink Hollyhock blooms reminds me to be grateful for the gift of good healthy land – a land without grasshopper problems. It is not that I don’t have them around - the hum of life in the garden is composed of many sounds, and one of them is that of a grasshoppers’ chewing. But their damage is minimal, and their presence is hardly noticeable and our place is a little green island of few grasshoppers thanks to thirteen vigilant Guinea Fowl.

Noisy, untamed and funny looking bird, guineas have a preference for high protein foods – grasshoppers, caterpillars and larvae. The chicks hatch midsummer, and are available in feed stores. Guineas work great in the country side, where they patrol large territories without much regard to property boundaries. If there is a grasshopper to be consumed over a fence, the guineas will cross over and have a meal! Turkeys do much the same, except they are more prone to predation by dogs and coyotes, while guineas escape time after time with just some feathers ruffled. For urban dwellers - invite songbirds to your yard! These charming vegetarians feed their chicks exclusively protein-based diet, which means grasshopper-free gardening accompanied by a song of a bird.