April was busy (unless you were Archie), but fun. Lots of spring flowers, new bees, new raised beds (that I'm having to replant after the really hard freeze over the weekend :-/) all the spinning, a little painting, beautiful moons, interesting fog, good sheep, good friends...
Showing posts with label B Garden. Show all posts
Showing posts with label B Garden. Show all posts
Thursday, May 7, 2026
Saturday, April 18, 2026
I Gave Up
I'd hoped for the last two years that I'd be able to pick up a neighborhood swarm and feel pretty sure that I had at least some descendants from Stella's bees. That didn't work out and I finally decided to just start over. Of course, now that I've gone to all this trouble and expense, I'll probably find a swarm next week.
I've never installed a package of bees before. I've had lots of experience handling bees in general and am comfortable working with nucs (a small box of established bees with a queen), but dealing with a queen in a cage in a package of bees she doesn't know was a little daunting.
I wanted a particular strain (Buckfast) bees though and a package was my only option. That's okay. Stella and I loved learning new things about beekeeping. She'd have enjoyed the whole day, from going to pick them up to getting them settled. She'd especially have liked the new inside feeder I'm using.
While a friend and I were waiting for the stragglers to move from the package into the hive box, we were able to watch some of the bees start to fan and talk to each other and then saw some take orientation flights circling over the hive box. A few even started exploring whatever these flowers are.
By nightfall, all but a few were tucked into the box and I was able to pick up the last 10 or so and deposit them at the entrance. Hopefully they'll be happy here. They've had a long couple of days I'd guess being packaged up and moved. I promised them that tomorrow will be a better day.
Friday, October 31, 2025
Happy Halloween
I couldn't come up with a good sheep costume this year, but that sure doesn't mean everyone has to skip the pumpkin party!
"Sure looks like we're going to have to skip the party!"
Just give me a minute, guys.
Stellaluna helped me pick out a few pumpkins this afternoon.
And Baaxter and Thelma got first dibs before the crowd got too unruly.
Pumpkins have become a favorite treat. Maybe not as universally loved as Vanilla Wafers, but the fans are big fans.
Big Moose is a big fan.
And wasn't afraid to let everyone know!
Pinto had to think about it for a minute, but he quickly remembered.
Remember the little swallowtail caterpillar? He/she is still here, munching away on the carrot tops, showing no signs of turning into a chrysalis (!). I decided to carve a butterfly pumpkin as a little encouragement. And now, looking at the picture, the makeshift greenhouse almost looks like a ghost costume :-D.
Monday, October 27, 2025
Real Quick
Hug A Sheep Day was chilly, but very fun and I have pictures and stories to share from that, but they are on my phone, so an extra step to share, but not to worry...I will get that done, hopefully tomorrow. In the meantime, here is a quick post to update everyone on the swallowtail caterpillar in the garden.
Last week I found a swallowtail caterpillar still eating away on some leftover carrot tops out in my messy garden. I'm glad the garden was messy because, by accident, there was still some food for a late to the party caterpillar.
We had two medium freezes and a hard freeze last week and I worried about what was going to happen, so I built a makeshift greenhouse using some picket fence pieces and clear plastic and on the coldest nights I draped a cotton sheet over the top, tucking it in the edges to hold as much heat in as I could.
It worked!
Each morning I walk out and check on it and this morning he/she was in a good spot for a photo so I grabbed my big camera. Cell phone cameras are nice, but no comparison to a good DSLR. I not only prefer those pictures, but they are also easier to get inspired to post a quick blog.
Monarch caterpillars can not make it through the winter, but swallowtail caterpillars can overwinter if they make it into a chrysalis. I'm not sure if I would need to try to move it into the garage or something, but if we make it that far, I'll do a little more research.
In the meantime, we'll all do our best and be grateful there to have made it this far. Those carrots have got to be confused for sure!
Speaking of messy gardens, it's best to leave them messy all winter! The birds will eat all sorts of leftover seeds and any insects they find there and there are insect of all sorts living in the mess and eggs that would hatch next spring if they are given a chance. Embrace the mess and leave your leaves, too!
Friday, October 3, 2025
August
I know this is really late, but as the month progressed, I knew what was coming and I just couldn't bring myself to go through pictures and videos. I decided to put it off until the end of September and just get all the heartbreak done on one day.
Even though life was still pretty good in August...
Wednesday, September 17, 2025
Transplants
As I was picking some tomatoes for dinner last night I noticed several monarch caterpillars trying to make a living on some pretty marginal milkweed in the raised bed area. Even with trying to keep everything watered, this summer has been hot and dry and the milkweed has paid a price.
I was headed off to our weekly Wool House Crafters zoom meeting so I couldn't do anything about them right then, but this morning I headed out to see if I could find and move them to a couple of greener plants in the nearby B Garden.
I stewed about whether or not it was okay to do that, but a couple of them were pretty small and sickly looking. Moving them might be their only chance of making it to maturity. I carefully snipped their current leaves from the dried plants and placed them on a greener neighbor. Each caterpillar immediately started eating the fresh(er) leaves.
I hope everyone has had a good monarch summer. I've seen more butterflies this summer than I've seen the last ten years combined. Same with caterpillars. The one thing I'm not seeing...or finding...are their chrysalises. Hopefully they are out there and I should just stick to finding four leaf clovers.
I'd love to find at least one to watch open though.
What are you seeing your way?
Thursday, August 21, 2025
Blooms, Butterflies, Bugs And Bats
The best news I have is how many butterflies I've seen this summer. I have had years where I could count on one hand the number of monarchs and swallowtails I've seen. A few years now where I could probably count them on two hands. This year I've lost count!
I've seen monarchs (sometimes as many as four) almost every day for a month or so and I'm finding multiple caterpillars out on the milkweed plants. I haven't seen a chrysalis yet, but maybe if I put that in writing I'll see one on my way to the house this evening ;-).
Not only are the monarch visits up, I've had more swallowtails than I've ever had here. Stella used to get pretty ones on the butterfly bushes at her house, but I'd never seen a zebra down here and I've seen two this summer.
We've also had many, many smaller butterflies of all shapes and sizes, several hummingbird moths and more hummingbirds than normal as well. I put in some salvias this year and they love those big blue blooms.
The bats have been happy this summer too. We've been overrun by mosquitos, so the bats have been busy.
Today has had just a hint of fall in the air so maybe the end of this horrible summer is in sight. In the meantime, here's a new fun and easy puzzle for you.
Speaking of puzzles, I'd LOVE to know who works all the puzzles at 300 pieces :-D. If you don't want to use your name online, shoot me an email if you'd like to raise your hand.
Friday, August 1, 2025
Garden Visitor
While I'm partial to butterflies of all sorts and sizes, I have a special fondness for hummingbird moths. I heard the distinctive buzzing as I walked around the back of the Wool House dye garden and was able to locate this snowberry clearwing moth working on some zinnias.
Bees, butterflies and actual hummingbirds love zinnias. I do too :-).
Wednesday, July 16, 2025
Tuesday, July 8, 2025
A Morning Tour
Monday, June 30, 2025
Milkweed, Not Just For Butterflies
If you ever get the chance to stand in a patch of blooming milkweed, do it! When it's really blooming, I can smell it from all the way across the yard as I walk up the driveway.
Here's a new puzzle for you if you are looking for a cool "inside job".
Friday, June 27, 2025
I Mean, What Else Would You Do When It's Nine Million Degrees?
I don't remember why I started flipping through my natural dye books looking for a green, but I did and came across comfrey. I'd been given a start of comfrey this spring to add to the B Garden and was pleasantly surprised to see it is also a dye plant.
I messaged my flower giving friend (who's also into natural dyes) and she said she had a big patch ready to be cut back so we decided to put a dye pot together. Another natural dye friend was coming into town so it was perfect timing...and then the August heat dome arrived. We had fun and learned a lot, but it would have been more fun if it had been a more reasonable temperature.
Did you know that the screen drying rack flips up to access a perfect work table underneath? I love this set up.
The freshly started comfrey in the B Garden. See the bee? Mine was still blooming because it was a bit behind Rebecca's due to the transplant.
It's a beautiful addition to the garden!
And a little bit longer.
The gray on the left and the white on the right were where we started. The gray became pretty army green and the white, with just an alum mordent, became the light yellow green. I wasn't super excited, but was instructed to reserve judgment until we had added in the iron modifier.
And that's when we got the two greens on the left :-D. So those two skeins were mordented with alum, simmered in the comfrey dye pot and then dipped in an iron modifier bath afterwards. Much better!
Another plant that could give us a dark green was ivy and I thought I had a source for that, but when we prepped it, we didn't get any color so I must not have the right variety. We'd already mordented a couple more skeins so we looked through the book for other plants we could find and set up quickly and chose goldenrod.
It's too early for blooms, but the leaves work well too, so I headed down to the creek in the blazing sun and picked a pot full. The leaves started green and cooked to a greenish yellow color and when I dipped out a cup of dye to see where we were, it was barely colored. I thought it was another fail, but was cautioned once again to give it a try.
See the bright yellow strand on the end? That was our test strand. The book cautioned that cooking too long might dull the color...and that's what happened with the skein. The dark yellow had been in the dye pot for about 5-8 minutes. The skein, closer to 15 minutes. Yep, it faded it right out. A good lesson.
The other good lesson learned was to mark your skeins better. I no longer remember if the middle skein was with the copper modifier added in or the iron. At one point we lined the skeins up in alphabetical order (alum, copper, iron), but I don't remember if we did that before or after I took this picture. It was hot.
Overall it was a fun experience. I got a green that I think will work well with my walnut dyed yarn from last fall. And now, looking back for the link to that post I see it was the fall of 2023. At least the blog remembers to put the "tags" on.
If I want to wear that sweater this fall I better get knitting!
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