The Joys of Beekeeping

By Pat McGinty 
“Go with the flow.”  It is kind of like being one with the force – but with honeybees, “no flow means no go.” 

The flow I am speaking about here is the “nectar flow” and the “go” is the production of honey to feed the hive and have surplus to share with me, the beekeeper.

Checking the super frames in the apiary (aka Bee Yard)

As I am writing this I can look out my east window and see dark storm clouds that are taking needed rain out of the Elk area and off somewhere northeast. Why is this a problem? Because without rain native plants dry up and no longer provide nectar for the bees to gather. Additionally, some of my neighbor’s wells have lower (or non-existent) water levels and they quit watering their gardens, thereby eliminating more nectar sources. But I am getting ahead of myself (and doing some whining as well.)

If you are around beekeepers much you will hear them speak longingly of the nectar flow.  But just what does it mean and why is it so important?

According to a compilation of several sources, the best definition of the nectar flow is the time when a large majority of plant material is blooming and, weather permitting, those busy forager bees are gathering this excess sugar water produced by the plants to carry back to the hive. It is kind of like hitting the Dollar Store just as the latest goods are being delivered; the shelves are full and you can really stock up. Since nectar and pollen are the main sources of food for the bees a good supply is necessary to their survival. In this area of the world, the nectar flow usually starts when the dandelions and the serviceberry bushes bloom (could be as early as April or as late as the end of May these days) and is pretty much done when the tansy and knapweed finish blooming (as early as the end of August or as late as early October.)  It also important to know the nectar flow has a formula: temperature + water + plants - wind.  

Around here the first thing that has to happen is the temperature needs to move considerably above freezing (say a nice 55 to 60 degrees.)  We need to have a good snow pack and copious spring rain (this not only helps spring nectar flow but gives a huge boost to summer/early fall nectar flow.)  Then we need a lot of plants that produce blooms: dandelion, serviceberry, Oregon grape, snowberry, clover, mint, tansy, wild rose, and hawthorne to name a few natives. Then there are borage, lemon balm, asters, lavender, poppies, sunflowers, veronica, willow, herbs, and fruit trees to name a few in the garden.  

Once again the weather has to cooperate so we don’t get an unexpected killing frost or off-the-chart heat (think 100+ degrees.) And then there is the wind. What kind of effect could wind have? Let us think back a mere year ago and all that firewood we now have because of wind. Additionally, it dries the nectar out of the plants so it is not there for the bees. We need wind to cool down those overly hot days but, as with many things, we need it in moderation. 

So assuming all these components come together how does nectar flow influence honey production?

The spring nectar flow is to give the bees that survived winter an opportunity to rebuild their numbers after a long period of keeping the queen warm and fed. Their numbers are small and, depending on how much food storage they had at the beginning of winter, they may be weak. They have exhausted the pantry and are now waiting for the resupply at the Dollar Store. Sometimes beekeepers have to feed the colony with sugar syrup and pollen patties to keep the bees going until the dandelion and serviceberry bush blossoms open up. This is not the most nutritious food for the bees but sometimes you have to eat beans when you would rather have steak (if you get my drift). So from the time the dandelions bloom until about the end of June (or sometimes July) the bees are restoring their food supply and raising thousands of new bees that will continue to harvest surplus nectar (if it is available.)  Once they have filled a second brood deep of frames with nectar converted to honey for themselves, then the beekeeper starts adding “supers”.  (According to Michael Bush of Bush Farms Beekeeping, the Latin meaning for the word “super” is “above.”  So anything “above” the brood boxes is called “supers.”)

We are now into the summer nectar flow; the one the beekeepers looking for their own supply of honey have been dreaming about (the bees, however, think they are still collecting for the colony.) Although we are seeing knapweed and tansy in the fields and alongside the road, many of the other plants (elderberry, serviceberry, Oregon grape for instance) are in the fruiting stages. Once a plant reaches the fruiting stage it no longer produces nectar. Also we are having very little rain. Water is what pushes the nectar the plant does not need for itself out to the flowers (and in some cases the leaves) and makes it available for the bees to gather. So no matter how many flowers you might see it doesn’t mean the nectar is available for the bees to collect. (A year like this makes me wish I was keeping bees in a garden friendly residential area.)  A lot of this situation is due to the extra-early spring many were so pleased to see. 

So will there be an early fall nectar flow? It is hard to say. The weather patterns have become unpredictable and we could just as easily get a foot of snow or more 100-degree days. My two hives each have two supers. When I checked the bees last week the northern hive was well stocked for winter in the two brood deeps and had a super about half full.  The southern hive was not as well stocked for winter in the brood deeps and wasn’t even considering the supers. I would love to see a strong rainfall and a late bloom that could change the picture but I am not in charge. I keep bees the way I garden; I leave it up to God.

I just recently took a drop-spindle spinning class and at the end the instructor said the class was more about gaining an appreciation for the way wool for knitting and crocheting is made than learning how to spin wool. Hopefully learning what it takes to produce the honey for your biscuits (and how tenuous a process it is) will give you greater appreciation for all honey. 

The Backyard Beekeepers Association continues to grow. We are now meeting at the Deer Park Library (208 E. Forest Ave.) on the third Thursday of the month. The next meeting is Aug. 20 at 6:30 p.m. We will be learning about the best alternative ways to feed the bees if nectar isn’t available. We are also planning a field trip to commercial and hobby apiaries in September. And if this column hasn’t completely discouraged you from keeping bees, we are having beginning beekeeping classes in October. The cost will be $30 and class size is limited so if you are interested give me a call at 509-292-0326. 

That’s it for this month.  Pray for just the right amount of rain (we don’t want to end up like Los Angeles.)

Weeding Between the LInes

By Jim McGinty

Our temperatures are moderating for August (or at least not the 100-degree-plus days of mid-July, anyway!), and local gardens are exploding with future food. Now it is just a matter of keeping everything appropriately wet and weeded – in fact, at this time of the gardening season, most plants would really appreciate a “booster,” in the form of dippers full of manure or compost tea – just apply the juice to the plant bases, and stand back!

With the ripening strawberries and raspberries, gardener/wife Pat and I were forced to compete with bullying yellow jackets and other assorted/stinging insects who devoured everything WE wanted. In response, we draped a Ree-May frost blanket over the black poly hoops in the bed, and now WE get to harvest the ripe fruit for our ice cream smoothies.

The garlic harvest is complete, and I gave the final product a B-: our early single-digit frosts last November really set back the brave little garlic sprouts who found themselves exposed to intense cold without benefit of an insulating snow cover.  Add the +54 degree weeks during February, followed by more cold temperatures, and one can easily see why the garlic bulbs could be confused as to their expected size and shape.  Fewer bulbs, and smaller bulbs resulted, though the flavors and aromas were amazingly concentrated. Fresh garlic, locally-grown, is the best, no matter what.

Out in the garden here at Rancho McGinty, the tomato and pepper plants are dense with dark green leaves, and covered with lots of flowers and fruit. In the potato bed the early crop (especially the “Red-Gold” variety) is being harvested as I write, ready to be fried with fresh garlic and onions.  The cabbage tunnel (Ree-May over hoops again, to keep out the cabbage looper “butterflys”) is filled with four new varieties, as we experiment to find a small, two-person/one meal head of cabbage – kielbasa and cabbage, yum – I’ll report back on which variety grows best in our garden.

Out in your garden, remember to keep applying water to your fermenting compost containers/bins, as the critters who live there-in  survive and thrive best in damp conditions, and in turn, they will continue to make your “brown gold” soil amendment. As you harvest in the garden, remember to pick ALL the ripe produce, even if you have no immediate use for it, as the plants will stop producing food if you leave food on the plants/vines. No immediate use for all that produce means you have delicious food to benefit your neighbors, friends and local food bank, or maybe you can learn how to preserve the harvest by canning, freezing, or drying: somewhere in your neighborhood is a grandmother or grandfather with time, experience, talent, and the equipment to show you how to make jam from all those raspberries, or how to dehydrate tomato slices – just ask around!

If you are growing melons on the ground, be sure to separate the fruit from soil contact with a board or brick, to prevent rot, and if you are growing squash for your chickens (happily, chickens are famous for their under-developed taste buds), you might try using a trellis to elevate the evil veggies to gain garden real estate, and make harvesting (the word “culling” is actually more appropriate for squash…) easier.

GARDEN CALENDAR:

On the 2^nd of August, the Master Gardeners of Pend Oreille County will offer their annual Garden Tour with self-directed visits to local gardens featuring raised beds, water features, koi ponds, and wild life refuges – there will also be guided tours of the landscaping at River Mountain Village Assisted Living, and the CREATE Art Center. You can call for more information on the tour at 509-447-6453, or just show up at the WSU/Pend Oreille County Extension Office (227 S. Garden Avenue in Newport) between 12:30 and 1:30 p.m. on the 2nd for a ticket, map, and descriptive brochure – cost, including refreshments at one of the stops, is $12 per person.

On the 11th, our local gardening club will tour one final garden for the season:  we will leave Camden Grange at 7 p.m. for a nearby home garden, complete with raised beds built from recycled picnic tables, assorted crops of zucchini (…what?), cucumbers, carrots, broccoli, radishes, cabbage, and lots of peas – the gardener has been having trouble with a visiting/marauding mother moose and her twins in the cherry orchard, so we may see some wildlife as well (normally our garden club members are fairly sedate when out in the public – oh wait, you mean the MOOSE is wild – got it).

Next month will be an indoor meeting/class for the club, as the evening hours are too dark for meaningful garden tours. 

On the 12th, I’ll be teaching a class on planning, building, and using home garden raised beds (maybe I’ll snag one of those picnic table raised beds on the 11th - hmmm). Class will run from 1-3 p.m. at the Newport College Center (1302 W. Fifth Ave., Newport), and you can call 509-447-3835 for more information or to register.

That’s it for August – be safe in the summer heat – drink fluids, wear appropriate clothing, and don’t put your hands anywhere until you check for permanently-angry yellow jackets and wasps. 

See you out in the garden.

After-action-report on our club's July 2015 garden tour

On the 14th of July, we all convoyed to the home and garden of neighbors Sue and Greg Davis in nearby Chattaroy. Sue guided us through stone and concrete raised beds, apple trees, and manicured lawns.  Sue's garden crops were amazingly green, vibrant, and HUGE - some of those squash plants looked at us hungrily ("feed me, Seymour!") as we walked and talked. Greg said he hand mows all the open lawns, and the pathways between the rock raised beds, while Sue said she feeds the grass clippings right back to the plants. 

The Davis' provided us with a tasty raspberry dessert, and once again, club member Barbara Midtbo handed out free potted plants from the back of her car, to everyone within her grabbing distance - you would think one of the Drug Enforcement Agency's drones would have picked up her (legal) activities by now...

Next month (August) we will tour one final garden for the season (historically, September tours were just too dark, due to early sunsets), so be sure to check back here for details.

jim

In my garden

It's the beginning of that most wonderful time: Tomato Season. The Prudens Purple has produced a couple of lovely big ripe pink ones, and we've picked lots of smallish Balkonnoye Chudos.

The miniature white cucumbers are coming on strong, and we're planning a pickling session tonight. I tried to buy some whole pickling spice in town today, and at the third supermarket finally found a small jar. Doesn't anybody make pickles any more? Any members out there know where I can buy some in bulk? I guess I should look online.

The peas are coming back after our unseasonably hot June. The beans and spuds look great.

We didn't find old straw for mulch this year, so there's been some weeding. Have to do better next year.

It's a kind of lull out there, between the frantic clearing of ground and planting and planting, and before the harvest madness hits. It's a good time to wander the rows and munch absently on tomatoes.

Su