Permaculture Adding a Hop Trellis

Had a chance to put in our hop poles for the trellis. It's been a wet year so far so I didn't want to transplant them and have them rot in the ground. It looks like they are happy and getting ready to take off like a hop rocket!! Check out the video and subscribe for more updates. The permaculture project is coming along. We're entering Year 3 so there should be some harvest of the fruit trees, asparagus and more!!!








 

Permaculture- Installling my first beehive

I've been planning to so this for over five years. I would go to beekeeping speaking events, check out books from the library, search and research articles and forums on the net but never did it. I have always had animals, dogs, cats, etc.... but never any livestock or an apiary. I finally decided to just go ahead with some leftover pieces of plywood someone had given me. They're  plywood but at least they are 3/4 inch, 7 ply, A/B cabinet grade plywood! It did occur to me as I lay on the couch drifting into sleep that I forgot to add and entrance. OOPS! No worries, I'll get the jigsaw and do a quick little cut, I should have time still before any swarming occurs. It's still hovering around 40 F so I'll get to it.

I learned through my research that black or dark colored clothing was the worst option for beekeepers. Well, the plywood used to be a school theatre set and it was already painted black. Turns out it's not that bad actually for the hive and more than one long time beekeeper noted they do better than their other colored ones. Well, it is what it is and if they can make a hive in a old tire I think they'll be fine. Besides, I think they'll get morning sun to warm up and afternoon shade to stay cool along with a breeze off of the lake. Well, I guess we'll see!!!

Now, remember that blueberry mead I made? Oh yea, it'll bee back soon!

Washington Wine and Cidre for a stormy day

It's the weekend, it's the Ides of March and although the month arrived like a sophisticated polite lamb, the weather is a bone chilling driving rain that we almost forgot about this Winter. The early spring and beautiful weather allowed us a jump start on the garden and the orchard! In addition to the blueberries we added two Apple trees (Honeycrisp and Gala) two Pear trees (Bosc and Anjou) and two Cherry (Rainer and Bing).

In anticipation of the next harvest it's time too bottle up last years harvest. I don't really like bottling but with this weather it seemed like a good idea. So we have one Beach Plum cidre in a farmhouse style, slightly sour and a bit funky with a low ABV. The next is a Green Plum cidre, traditional with a little more kick to it. The last is Barbera that I had the opportunity to harvest last year in Yakima.