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Bees and Bananas

February 17, 2016

Bishop bananas, Beekeeping, Gardening, Healthy Lifestyle, honey, pollination , , , 9 Comments

Witnessed some local bees burrowing their way deep into the recently uncovered hand of bananas and blossoms. The sweet nectar is deep in amongst the blossom petals.

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Looking around for a path to the nectar.

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Ready to dig in for a tasty treat.

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It doesn’t take long and the bee is out of sight.

I am looking forward to some great bananas this year and maybe…..just maybe the visitors are from my hive less than a mile from my yard.

All photos are copyright protected. Please contact me for permission to use.

TTFN

Bishop

Way too Early for Bananas

February 2, 2016

Bishop bananas, Beekeeping, Gardening, Optimism, pollination , , 8 Comments

I stepped out into the garden this afternoon and discovered the surprise. My banana plant has opened up the female flowering portion of the plant, the inflorescence. This variety produced a very nice bunch of at least 40 big bananas last SUMMER! This is February FIRST! I am praying that we don’t have one of those February hard freezes that will wipe out the bananas.

On a side note, my bees have been hauling in pollen big way for over a month! The bees have found the banana nectar. Hope they are my bees.

DSC_9884 L

DSC_9882 L

TTFN

Bishop

The Orange Blossom Special

January 26, 2016

Bishop Beekeeping, citrus blossoms, Gardening, Spring , , 1 Comment

Not the Johnny Cash version but my backyard version. It is also not a true orange but rather it is a cross between a lemon and a mandarin or common orange, native to China, a Meyer Lemon. Today is January 26th and my tree is blooming.

If you are not familiar with Meyer Lemons, buy a few and enjoy the difference. I saw a phrase recently that said, ” If life gives you Meyer Lemons, life is sweet.” Very true. The scent from the blossoms are truly intoxicating.

Case in point, last week I met with a couple that will be hosting a couple of my beehives. While waiting for the husband to arrive I was offered a glass of iced tea with a slice of lemon. As soon as my nose moved over the glass I knew it was a Meyer Lemon. The scent is sweet and unique!

Once the husband arrived we wandered his garden area to select a good hive site. He has several citrus trees, including a very nice sized Meyer Lemon. His tree was showing buds and we both agreed that it is a bit early. I shared with him my memories of late night motorcycle rides down Sunset Blvd. from UCLA to the beach. The early spring night air was filled filled with a heavenly citrus blossom scent! He keeps a chair in the garden for those early spring evenings to sit and take in the incredible citrus scents! We seem to be kindred spirits!


Even a single blossom sends out and amazing scent! Photo with my iPhone 6S.

TTFN

Bishop

Backyard Blackberry Honey Pepper Sauce

December 24, 2015

Bishop Beekeeping, berrries, Gardening, Healthy Lifestyle , , , 10 Comments

This is a sauce that has four ingredients and  75% can be sourced from your backyard. 1. Blackberries, yes I do have blackberry vines in my backyard. 2. L Honey, well I had a hive in my backyard but a neighbor complained and I moved it to a yard nearby. 3. Peppers, I used a poblano pepper from my yard. 4. The tablespoon of sugar – well, it is store bought.

Simple, 16 ounces of blackberries but raspberries would work too. If frozen thaw before cooking.

1/4 to 1/3 cup of local raw honey. I used a 1/4 cup.

Pepper. I used a medium poblano that was from my garden. You can used black pepper, 1 tbsp, or any other peppers depending on your taste and desire for heat.

1 tbsp of sugar

Medium heat and stir often. To speed up the fruit breakdown I use a potato masher.

Run through a strainer once the consistency you want is reached. I am using mine for a pork loin glaze so I will let it thicken. Should also  be good on Blue Bell Vanilla ice cream!

Recipe lifted from;

Blackberry-Honey Pepper Sauce

Simmering on the stove

Simmering on the stove

Added a bit of the pulp and seed back into the sauce for texture. I put it back onto the stove to simmer until it thickened to my liking. The taste and aroma are amazing. I think the pork loin will be a real treat.

TTFN

Bishop

From my Yard to Yours

December 9, 2015

Bishop Beekeeping, Healthy Lifestyle, honey , , 3 Comments

Unpacked the 16 box shipment today  that arrived at the front door on Monday…..while I was traveling. In hindsight, I should have given my bride a heads up but…… Lumps look good on my head! UPS was very helpful.

16 boxes of what you are probably wondering! Even if you aren’t, I am going to tell you!!!!! Once opened they represent four,  8-frame garden hives. I will be adding two supers to each once the nectar flow starts.

I am building a couple more top bar hives and several more Langstroth hives over the winter. I will see how I handle that level of activity before stepping out and adding any more for the 2017 season.


Assembled and ready to finish. I am considering a natural finish but also like the idea of some soft pastel colors that blend with the backyard. I have one and possibly two more spoken for and looking for a home for the fourth. Wish my neighbor was not such a Grinch!


One of my top bar hives I set up to receive bees from a downed tree. The rescue was successful! The cone shaped wire screen outlet was pointed toward the hive opening off the open end of the log. Last inspection showed capped brood and eggs being layed. This one and my other top bar were built with “junk” wood lying about my yard. Will build two more full size top bar hives and two half hives for swarm capture or rescue operations.


A 16 inch wide slab of honeycomb from my top bar hive. So yummy!

TTFN

Bishop

Green Beans Anyone? 

November 29, 2015

Bishop Beans, Beekeeping, Healthy Lifestyle, Strawberries , , Leave a comment

A few days ago I wrote about enjoying late November strawberries. Today, November 29th, I cruised through the the garden and snacked on the only ripe strawberry as I picked a handful of green beans, a pole bean variety that I planted in early fall. They keep blossoming and they keep producing! 

  
In another two days, barring a freeze – not likely- I will have enough to share with my wife… Although, She would rather have Del Monte canned green beans but I will continue to expose her to fresh green beans. Don’t tell her, but I sneak a handful every now and then into the canned green beans….. I do have to overcook  them to disguise them! 

I will have to plant more beets. It seems like every time the seedlings have emerged, still fragile, we get a heavy rain and they get pounded flat! 

  
Poor little guy! They should look more like this! 

  
Replanting tomorrow. Not a bad approach, staggered planting a will spread the harvest out a little more through the spring and early summer. 

PS- the sugar snap peas are about a month away from producing. 

Honey. 

  
This was the remaining comb honey still taking up space in the freezer. We sold about half of the harvest leaving me 9 squares to squeeze. Too bad I waited so long. Between the low honey temperature and the fact that our house is mid 60’s in temperature….. The honey flows very slowly. 

  Dump a square in the pan and mash up with a potato masher. Hands work well but I decided to take a less messy approach……my bride tells me that my less messy approach is still messy! I am guessing almost 4 pounds of honey will be captured. 
  
Sitting in the sieve and waiting and waiting and waiting. It will be at least an overnight weight and if push comes to shove I could crank up the central heat to 70 or more! 

TTFN 

Bishop

All photos from my iPhone

Beekeeping Lesson 11

November 16, 2015

Bishop Beekeeping, Humor, Philosophical , , Leave a comment

I rescued a bee colony from a tree that broke off during a storm. The tree snapped at a large knot hole, splitting the colony into two sections. When I arrived the bees were calm and well behaved in the section that was on the ground. To get a better look into the cavity holding the bees, I pulled some of the vines from the trunk section. Here is part A of the lesson; try to identify the vine species prior to handling it, especially if you are highly susceptible to poison ivy or poison oak!!!!!! I am highly susceptible and I am now paying the price.

Lesson 11 – it has several elements. Part A above.

Helpful tips;

B. Thoroughly wash with hot soapy water, any skin surface that may have come into contact with the vines. Touching body parts with hands coated with the plants oils leads to a spreading of the rash. Trust me – sensitive skin parts should never be touched! Nuff said.

C. Contaminated clothes, like my bee suit, should be washed in hot water. Sometimes it may require several washings. I am putting my bee suit back int to wash for a second go…… Yes, I am dealing with a second round of rash breakout.

D. Aveeno works well on the rash. I have also found, at least for me, a very hot shower, as hot as you can physically stand, blunts the itching for 4-5 hours.

Unfortunately, I seem to discover lessons the hard way! I will keep you posted on my future adventures that become lessons for others.

Suited up - the end of the section is open to the colony. Bees were buzzing before I secured the end. Suit is in the wash.....again

Suited up – the end of the section is open to the colony. Bees were buzzing before I secured the end. Suit is in the wash…..again

 

TTFN

Bishop

Cool Weather and Bananas 

November 12, 2015

Bishop bananas, Beekeeping, Gardening, Healthy Lifestyle , Leave a comment

The weather has finally cooled enough that I had to cut the stalk. When I inspected the bananas this morning I noticed that the ripening process has sped up. Our friends and neighbors will receive some treats.  

  

 The bunch includes a cluster that never matured. I hope next year I will manage to get both varieties to produce. 

I hope to finish up the bee rescue today. I have developed a more simple option that could have been completed on the original rescue day. Rookie mistake and hindsight is always 20/20! 

Breaking news- part two of the bee rescue has been postponed until tomorrow. Details following the fishing report. 

TTFN

Bishop

 

My First Hive Rescue

November 10, 2015

Bishop Beekeeping, Healthy Lifestyle, honey, Optimism Leave a comment

Out of the blue…. Sorta – Troy, an acquaintance who is hosting one of my empty top bar hives called last night with a lead on some bees. This morning I made connection with Don at a large machine shop off of Highway 59 about 25 minutes from the house. Seems that over the weekend a large trunk sized branch broke off and fell to the ground. The piece in the ground was packed full of bees. The tree snapped at a knot that appears to have been the access hole to the hollow tree, an obvious weak spot. 

The piece on the ground housed the upper portion of the hive colony. The bees were calm and thickly packed into the cavity and comb in that half. The photo below is after three days on the ground and may have been cleaned up some during that time. 

  
While waiting for the chain saw Don fired up the man lift and we were able to get a better view of the top stub of the cavity…. not a real good look but not bad. On Thursday I will go back and we will hang a hive body with some drawn comb near the opening. We will have better access on Thursday so I can look into the cavity directly. Based on my limited knowledge it looks like the tree snapped off below the main portion of the cavity. My fingers are crossed that we have the queen and some brood. 

I made an uneducated guess and cut the trunk about 30 inches above the break….. looks like I guessed good. There was a small opening but the cut was above the cavity. I loaded the cut segment on my carry rack, wrapped it in plastic and headed off to Kingwood. The chainsaw cut end came unwrapped in the drive. At every stop I could see a few more bees escape. Oh well. 

I arrived at Troy’s house to unload and the bees were humming – a good sound, the sound of a buzzing hive…. makes me more confident that I have the queen and attendants. 

  
I stopped by my house to rewrap the log before heading off. 

  We created a necked down outlet pointing directly to an opening in my top bar hive. We sprinkled a dash of lemon grass oil at the entrance to entice the little buggers over. My top bar has three bars of drawn comb to help the transition. Fingers crossed! I will install a feeder as additional enticement. 
My wife commented that it looks like Christmas came early……. I was like the little kid that couldn’t wait……. Yes, I was excited! 

An interesting note, Don at the machine shop was anxious to find someone to rescue the bees, not kill them.  He is aware of the plight of bees and has noticed fewer and fewer on his 2 acres of land. One of the workers at the shop, Rick, has 7 acres up near Clevland, 25 minutes north of my home and had the same concerns. I was concerned when I pulled into the machine shop as a Pest Control truck pulled up when I did. My heart sank. Turns out he wasn’t  there for the bees but wanted my contact info for future opportunities to rescue bees. My faith in mankind is elevated. These good old boys deeply care about the environment. I love it. 
TTFN

Bishop

Culinary Experiment – Making a Vinegar

November 10, 2015

Bishop bananas, Beekeeping, Gardening Leave a comment

Phase 1 of my learnings is a vinegar from one of my beers.  My ultimate goal is to use my backyard local honey to make a Honey Wine Vinegar after making a mead using my honey. If you are familiar with my blog here you may have seen references to my Beer Log at;

http://bishopsbeerblog.com/

This is a crossover blog, phase 1 uses my Oak and Bourbon aged Imperial Stout. After much searching I found that home brewers also have experimented converting beer to vinegar. I drink my Imperial Stout’s slowly so I figured I could afford to experiment. 

The start, a bottle of Bragg Organic Raw Unfiltered Apple Cider Vinegar – the key ingredient – this vinegar contains the “Mother”. The Mother is the source of the bacteria that converts the alcohol to vinegar. 

  
I am using a half gallon jar for phase 1. 16 ounces of vinegar and several bottles of my stout. Dang it, I had just a little too much beer so I had to sit back and enjoy it while waiting for Monday Night Football. 

  
The half gallon jar in the background and my sample in the foreground. This may produce a tasty and inky dark vinegar…. Fingers crossed. 

Next steps – shake it to aerate the mix, cover with cheesecloth, as it needs oxygen to complete the process, hide in a dark and 70-80 degree location for a couple of months and then sample.

Side note; the Slide Ridge Honey Wine vinegar I bought is wonderful. I have some toasted bourbon soaked chunks sitting in the bottle to see if it becomes more than wonderful. I will give it a few months. 

From the garden today? A handful of green beans that went into today’s chicken vegetable soup. Houston has almost cooled off enough for soup. I have another 15+ bananas hanging, the sugar snap peas are climbing and some confused strawberries are blossoming and producing. 

  
These are in one of my strawberry towers. They look like they will be yummy. 

TTFN

Bishop

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