Cold Frame Workshop

Saturday December 4, 2010 was a cold and snowy day on the mountian but we were warm and comfortable in Betty’s studio.


8 of us came out to learn about building cold frames. Jim Curtis led the workshop. He brought his experience and very helpful tips to our class. Jim first reminded us that lots of items can become a cold frame. Milk jugs, water jugs, the large ones used in water coolers. Real simple. Jim shared his success stories and a failure or 2.
Your first cold frame can be a square of cinder blocks, which will hold the heat and a cast off storm door window. You can then progress on to cypress boards and hardware cloth. Before you know it you could be eating greens much later into the growing season.


Thank you Jim for a fun class and a great handout.

BeeKeeping Workshop – Beth Beasley

It’s palpable how much Michele Skeele loves bees. After noticing a nest of wild honeybees in a neighbor’s oak tree several years ago, she would stop on her daily walks to watch them buzz in and around the hive. “I wanted bees for neighbors,” says Michele. She realized how vital wild bee populations are to the overall survival of these important pollinators, in light of the recent devastating effects of Colony Collapse Disorder.

After a storm brought down the oak, Michele panicked about what would happen to the hive. Unfortunately, the tree removal crew exterminated the wild bees. In her grief, Michele resolved to keep honeybees in her own yard, and enrolled two years ago at the 6-week “Bee School” at the local NC Cooperative Extension office.

Recently, Michele shared her knowledge of bees and backyard beekeeping at a Transition Hendersonville workshop. “Bees are fascinating,” she says. “They have the most unique culture set up—the hive is like one organism.” Her community of “girls,” as she affectionately calls the bees, keeps busy during the warm months gathering pollen and nectar in her and husband Skip’s neighborhood west of downtown.

Michele’s shared her advanced knowledge to enlighten workshop participants of everything Apine—from gender roles and reproduction to honey collection and basic beekeeping equipment recommendations.

Michele is especially keen to pass on her knowledge of beekeeping after suffering an allergic reaction to a bee sting this summer. For now, her “girls” still dance around in the backyard hive, trying to keep warm, waiting for spring to open the first blossoms on the neighborhood’s tulip poplars.

Milkweed and monarch butterflies.

And you thought it was just a weed -

The life cycle of a monarch includes a change of form called complete metamorphosis. The monarch goes through four radically different stages:

1.The eggs are laid by the females during spring and summer breeding months.

2.The eggs hatch (after 4 days), revealing worm-like larvae, the caterpillars. The caterpillars consume their egg cases, then feed on milkweed, and sequester substances called cardenolides, a type of cardiac glycoside. During the caterpillar stage, monarchs store energy in the form of fat and nutrients to carry them through the non-feeding pupa stage. The caterpillar stage lasts around 2 weeks.

3.In the pupa or chrysalis stage, the caterpillar spins a silk pad on a twig, leaf, etc., and hangs from this pad by its last pair of prolegs. It hangs upside down in the shape of a 'J', and then molts, leaving itself encased in an articulated green exoskeleton. At this point, hormonal changes occur, leading to the development of a butterfly (metamorphosis). The chrysalis darkens (the exoskeleton becomes transparent) a day before it emerges, and its orange and black wings can be seen.

4.The mature butterfly emerges after about two pupal weeks and hangs from the split chrysalis for several hours until its wings are dry (often in the morning). Meanwhile fluids are pumped into the crinkled wings until they become full and stiff. Some of this orangey fluid (called meconium) drips from the wings. Finally (usually in the afternoon) the monarch spreads its wings, quivers them to be sure they are stiff, and then flies away, to feed on a variety of flowers, including milkweed flowers, red clover, and goldenrod.

 

Monarchs can live a life of two to eight weeks in a garden having their host milkweed plants and sufficient flowers for nectar. This is especially true if the flower garden happens to be surrounded by native forest that seems to be lacking in flowers.

10-10-10 - A Global Work Party Day.

Yesterday was 10-10-10,  

A global work party day.

Check out 350.org to read the whole story. What did you do on 10-10-10?  Leave a comment.  Share your story.  I was lucky enough to be able to help out at a local school.  Over the last few months volunteers have been working to reclaim the gardens and trails.  It is a wonderful project and I hope to be involved for a long time. I want to be able to watch the gardens grow along with the community of school children and families. I couldn't think of a better why to spent a fantastic Sunday afternoon.

Sheet Mulch - recipe

Sheet Mulch

by Roger Bass

• The night before water the area
• Open up the soil slightly by broadforking.
• Put down a 1" to 2" layer of high-nitrogen material: manure, blood or cottonseed meal, cast off produces green etc.
• Lay down cardboard or newspapers to create a continuous light-blocking layer that will smother existing plants.
• Wet down the layer of cardboard or newspapers.  If possible, mark and cut planting locations.
• Put down another nitrogen layer.
• Add 8 to 10" of bulk mulch, straw, hay leaves.
• Wet it all down again.
• Put down 1 to 2" of compost.
• Add the final layer, 2" of either straw, bark, wood shavings, etc.

The newly mulched area should be ready for planting the next day.

What is soil ??

Saturday some members of Transition Hendersonville were lucky enough to attend a soil building class lead by Roger Bass.  It was a great class and I know I walked away with more knowledge on caring for my soil.

What is soil?  The ideal garden soil is loam, a mixture with relatively equal parts of sand, silt, and clay and 5 to 10% organic matter.
Soil is an ecosystem teeming with microbes constantly breaking organic matter apart.
The soil food web:
Bacteria are the most numerous living components of soil.
Fungi are the primary decay agents in the soil.
In a healthy soil food web, fungi and bacteria do much the same work and share many of the same functions.
Protoza eat mostly bacteria.
Worms eat protozoa.
Termites and ants mix surface and subsurface soil.
A fully active soil food web will have better nutrient retention in its soil and will result in improved soil structure.
Fertilizer is a salt and dries out and kills bacteria and soil life.  If the plant does not immediately use the fertilizer it leeches through the soil to the water table.  Bacteria and microbes eat natural nutrients and release them when they die.  Microbes can remain dormant until conditions are right and then they come alive.  Organic fertilizers feed the soil life.
Clean water comes from healthy soil. Water coming from conventional agricultural fields is laden with excess inorganic nitrogen, phosphorus, and sulfur.  Water running off a forest is clean.

Now that you know about the soil - you will never call it dirt again !

Thank you Roger

The roof is on !!!

The roof is on !! The dormer has been added.  The chicken house includes a wonderful space for enjoying a great view of the backyard, daydreaming, painting a picture, enjoying a great book or just taking a nap.