Homesteading Challenges

My corner has become an educational center for sustainability and connection to nature and our food sources.  I was just about to hop on my bike the other day and head off to work when a man stopped me and asked about my chickens.  He wanted to know how much money I had saved and whether raising chickens was a smart move financially.  I told him that it was not saving me any money and that it was costing me money.  I told him that saving money was not the point, that my desire was from a different motivation.  The agribusinesses have got the formula down and they can produce for you anything you want for cheap!  Raising the chickens for me is about understanding where my food comes from, how nature works and what work is involved in its production.  It's about control, controlling what my chickens eat and drink, how they spend their days, where they sleep and what is done with their waste.  Today I was sitting in my house and I could hear outside a girl with her dad, maybe 10, maybe on bikes.  She had a great voice and with wonderful projection said "Dad, we have GOT to get some chickens!" and that is another reason I love to raise my chik-a-dees.

I've been feeding and cleaning and loving an assortment of chickens for 5 months.  I think I've harvested about 30-40 eggs and have had the opportunity to gift just a handful.  In a sad chain of events, I found myself with an assortment of roosters.  The last dude to strut his stuff had a week of masculinty with my silkie, Lady Moonbeam.  It was scary to see the big red ameraucana mounting the little white silkie, and I was happy to get rid of the rooster.  About 3 or 4 days after the rooster left, the silkie became broody.  This means that hormonally she had transitioned from an egg layer to an egg tender.  She had begun to sit in the hen house not just to lay an egg, but all day long.  For the first few days I would find her sitting on the last egg she had layed, and if the new copper maran, Madame Chocolate, had layed an egg she would gather the other chicken's egg as well and be sitting flattened out over the eggs, keeping them warm.  For the first few days I would shoo her away and take the eggs.  Then after a few days of this she stopped laying her own eggs and just sat, on the copper maran egg if she could.  I decided that she was not going to be convinced out of this, I had three of her eggs saved up in my kitchen, not refrigerated, and I offered them to her.  She took them gratefully and began to sit on her three precious eggs, keeping them warm, turning them with her feet from time to time, leaving each day only for a few minutes to eat and drink and go to the bathroom.  I wasn't sure if the eggs were fertile, I mostly just wanted to make her happy by giving her what she wanted, although she would have been happier with a dozen eggs instead of just three.

The days passed in to weeks and she continued to sit all day and night on her precious eggs.  I worried that she would starve to death but began to notice that she would come down and out of the hen house once each day for just a few minutes to eat and drink and relieve herself.  In this comedy of errors one of my many mistakes or unaware missteps was to not write down the date when I gave her the eggs.  On Monday it was starting to feel like a long time to me, and I worried that she would sit forever on eggs that were duds.  I had awoken that morning from a dream where I cracked open the egg and removed the chick, she wasn't conscious and I began to massage her body with my fingers and I resuscitated her...in the dream that is.  So on Monday, mid morning, I noticed her come out of the coop to eat and stretch out.  I peaked in the hen house and removed one egg, the smallest of the three.  I walked to the other side of the garden and gave the egg a little tap on a brick.  The end flattened a little and I peeled up a little piece of shell.  Inside I saw the membrane thickened, a bit drawn away from the shell and vascular like a thick leaf.  After a few seconds I noticed the pulse of the membrane, the pulse of a heart beat and I flipped the shell back down and returned the egg to her mother...cursing my stupidity!  Later that day I checked on the eggs and the one that I had cracked had puffed its shell back into its original shape, I could see the crack lines, but it was a nice egg shape.

The next morning when the Silkie was out doing her think I checked on the eggs, there were only two!  I began to sift through all of the pine needles, looking for an egg, a shell, something!   I looked around the coop, and could find nothing.  But with my head in the box looking around I could hear little baby chirps.  I thought the chick had fallen out of the box, but when I took my head out to look below, no chirps.  When I put my head back into the box I could hear the chirping.  I lowered my head and realized the chirping was coming from the eggs!  I thought I was going crazy!  I decided that the other chickens probably ate the first chick when it hatched, so I called in the reinforcements.  My husband came home and we set up the bottom of our chicken coop/armoire as a nursery.  He drilled a hole and installed a light.  I lined the floor with cardboard and fresh pine shavings.  I placed Lady Moonbeam into her new home along with her two remaining eggs, the one I had cracked open and the other untouched egg.

to be continued...

A Study of Napoleon Hill

I have a nasty habit of negative thinking.  I'll fall into a place of doubt and dissatisfaction that is frankly unproductive.  I had fallen into one of these laments a few weeks ago, and my husband began to repeat a request he had made of me before, to study the teachings of Napoleon Hill  For some reason this time I listened, perhaps it was due to my husband's own personal successes.  In the past I had not been open to listen to this man from another era.  But, in a moment of anxious desire, a moment that often occurs at a very early hour of the dawn when I might rather be sleeping, I found myself downloading the teachings of Napoleon Hill from the iTunes store.  I was able to get for free a copy of his book and for 99 cents an audio recording of the same name.  I have been reading and listening along to his lessons, and perhaps you might too, then we can have a discussion on his principles.  He seems like a historical figure in the current movement of The Secret and the law of positive attraction.  Basically, the belief in the power of your thoughts and the use of your thoughts to direct your future.  Napoleon Hill's axiom is "What the Mind can Conceive and Believe, it can Achieve."  Check it out, I will begin a discussion of his ideas here at Yogini Robin in the following days and weeks and hope you might join me so we can learn together!

Journey to Paraguay

I've created a new blog, Journey to Paraguay.  It is photographs of the pages from my journals during a six month study abroad program when I was 15.  It will be honest, naive, painful and inspiring.  I hope you enjoy a flip through the pages of my past.

Where's the Yoga?

I named this blog about five years ago when traveling to New Mexico for the first time to immerse myself in the kundalini yoga community of Yogi Bhajan and Snatam Kaur.  Over the last decade I have deeply explored a number of yoga traditions, spending hours in meditation, chanting many different prayers I memorized over time, playing the harmonium, meeting far out people.  But in the last year my interests have shifted.  I have become disillusioned or disinterested by so many teachers and teachings that held great importance for me in the past.  My discipline has become the home and my Guru, myself!   I have embraced the life of the householder.  I use to attend Gurdwara, or Sikh Sunday services in Poway.  But I began to realize that Gurdwara was a family experience, and my family was back in La Jolla wanting to go surfing.  It would be a greater devotion to God to leave the temple where I was worshipping alone, and return to my home to worship in my own special way with my husband, most likely with a visit to the farmer's market and a surf.  Yogini means a female practitioner of Yoga, and after a decade of practice, I believe yoga permeates all that I do.  I might be writing about bees or cooking, but really I'm writing about consciousness and integration of the self with the world.  Do you see that?  Do you read that?  It's hard to write about yoga specifically just as it is hard for me to write about massage specifically.  They are the backdrop to all my days, the foundation that supports all my other endeavors.  I am teaching seven yoga classes this week.  My focus is upon moving the body through all of its possible motions, developing a deep and regular breath and practicing the art of relaxation.  I probably won't attend any classes myself this week, choosing the garden, the dogs, the bees, the ocean and my man as my practice at this point in my life.  Handstands and enlightenment just don't hold the pull they use to on me.  Sustainability and service are my yoga in 2013...om!

A morning walk with Tommy and Sage

Neighborhood Hive Rescue

I was just lamenting the the lack of photos of my bee tending, this hive rescue included a photographer, thanks Penny!

Prepping the equipment before opening the hive, I'll use rubber bands to hold the comb in place.

I got a phone call yesterday from a neighbor just up the hill from me, she has a blog too, so here's her story chapter 1, chapter two and chapter three.  There was a hive of bees located in the water meter box in the sidewalk just in front of her home.  Technically it was the city's problem, and she had called and let them know.  She didn't really want them to deal with the issue though as she figured they would use poison and annihilation and not salvage and relocation.  I wasn't sure if I could help, but I went ahead and purchased supplies for a new bee hive, visiting a Del Mar supplier for the first time, Knorr Candle Shop.  

Wow, look what I found!  And there is two more big combs attached to the underside of the water meter.

Love this photo, I got so dirty, honey dripping everywhere.  I could barely finish the job my gloves were covered in honey!

In the late afternoon I headed up to her house with the new hive and all my tools.  We talked for awhile and then I suited up, lit up the smoker, and pulled up the cover on the water meter box.  There was a big hive inside, lots of bees and lots of space for them to create deep comb.  The biggest combs were probably 20 inches long and 15 inches deep.  There was about 6 big combs packed with honey, brood and pollen.  I had much more success than when I cut out and placed into frames my first hive.  I figured out to flip things upside down and use gravity to help me settle comb with a good edge along the top of each frame.  It made me feel bad to cut apart the comb, causing so much destruction.  There was honey dripping everywhere and little baby bees who would never get their chance to fly.  A little destruction for the preservation of the colony, I'm sure the bees were willing to make that sacrifice.  When I finished, there were still a lot of bees inside the water meter and lots of aggravated bees in the air all around me.  I wasn't sure if they would all choose to fly into their new home or decide to do something else entirely!

The big comb fit well into the frames, but I would have to discard sections which is sad.

Look at the honey all over the curb dripping out of the comb.

The bees beginning to congregate with their comb in their new home.

The job almost done, you can see the discarded comb in the left corner.

The lid to the water meter with all of the comb removed.

I went back after sunset and it was a success!  Most of the bees had entered the hive and there was just two small clumps of bees still hanging out in the water meter box.  I decided to give them the night to collect themselves and will return tomorrow night to collect the hive and move it to a new location, maybe an expansion to my own apiary, maybe somewhere else.  

After sunset I returned and was happy to find the water meter mostly empty and the bees congregating at the entrance to the new hive.

Removing the hive and refitting it into the box was an experience that went soooo well!  I had never done a complete hive rescue before, although I did get some experience cutting out comb and placing it into frames with my first hive.  When I went to my neighbor's house I was imagining what I would find and how I would deal with it, and what I encountered was exactly what I imagined.  I thought my mind power was super awesome and I was pretty much thinking I was an expert bee keeper already!

Now, rescuing the hive, cutting it from its location and placing it into a hive box, this is work to be done in the day.  Most work with a bee hive is done during the day, when the foraging bees are off collecting nectar and the population of the hive is not all present.  When you work with the bees during the day you use smoke, blowing the smoke into the hive.  The bees react to this smoke with an emergency preparation technique, they begin to eat lots of honey.  They are preparing themselves for a possible evacuation and want to take as much honey along with them as possible in their bellies.  Eating the honey makes them sedated, kind of drunk, and you can open the hive and interfere with them and they won't begin an aggressive attack.

When moving a hive you work at night when all of the forager bees have returned to the hive and the complete population of the colony is present, calmly "sleeping" inside of the box.  My husband and I have moved two hives in the last two months, and both times we would arrive just after sunset, not wearing any protective gear, block off the entrance to the hive, quietly carry it to the car, drive it quietly but quickly home, place it in its new location, open the entrance and go to bed!

After moving this feral hive into its new home on a Friday afternoon, we decided to let it rest a day as the bees were still all over the place, gradually congregating in their new home.  On Saturday night we went to check it out, and there was a grouping of bees on the outside of the box at and above the entrance.  Maybe 200 bees, a small percentage of the hive, but too many to deal with.  We were able to bungie cord the box to secure its separate pieces.  Then I attempted to sweep them away and close up the entrance, but there were just too many bees flying in the air.  One stung my husband who then woke up a few hours later with allergy hives on his body.  He saw the doctor, and is doing fine, but now I've still got this hive to figure out and I've lost my second pair of arms!

I added empty frames of foundation to the hive to give the enormous population something to work with.

You can see the empty frames of wax foundation to my right, I am sliding the comb over to make space for the frames.

The next night I go back alone, I've talked to someone from the bee club and they teach me about spraying bees with sugar.  He recommends I make a solution of half sugar and half water.  You spray this solution on the bees and they clump together and become very sedate, licking the sugar off of each others bodies.  He called it a bee valium...sounds more like ecstasy!  He said it was important to collect this clump of bees as the queen might be there, waiting at the entrance, deciding whether to swarm and leave this new home she's been forced into.  So I sprayed the bees and swept them into a small box.  But I hadn't properly sealed the entrance and more bees were beginning to pour out, bees who had not received a dosage of sugar water.  After a few seconds of that madness I left the scene.  I went back again the next night and had a big plastic bag to draw around the entire hive, I had also better placed the stick over the entrance that day, sealing it with tape and only a one inch entrance.  I sedated the bees with the sugar, moved them out of the way of the opening and sealed the last inch with duct tape.  I chose not to sweep the bees, only sedate them and leave them clinging to the box.  I then wrapped the bag around the box and closed it with a rubber band.  There was a hole in the top of the bag, ripped by the bungie cords while pulling the bag on, and bees were getting a little angry, but I had my gear on and was trying to move fast.  I picked up the box and started walking to my open car, I made it about 8 of the ten feet and the bagged box just began to slip from my gloved hands (did I mention I had been stung on the hands a few times through my gloves?!?).  I fell to my knees, slowing the drop to the ground.  But it hit, and the three sections shifted and the bees began to buzz.  Holy shit, I thought, what have I done?!?  Couldn't walk away from that.  I said a word or two to myself then picked up the hive and got her back to the sidewalk.  I began ripping at the bag to free the angry bees.  And then I dropped to my knees again, working at the box to get its separate three pieces, bottom, frame box and cover realigned.  t was difficult with the tension from the bungee cords.  Once it was set, I walked fifteen feet away and waited till most of the angry bees had finished dive bombing my head before I jumped in my car and drove home.  I sat in my garden with my veil and gloves on in the cool evening.  Everything quiet around me, being sure that no more angry warriors were waiting in the folds of my shirt.  I sent out a message on-line to the bee club, offering up the hive to a helper.  It is too big of a job for this lonely bee keeper...I may still be able to get that hive home and keep her, but I'll need to find someone strong to help me get it into my car, and more difficult, up onto my roof.

I came home feeling like a failure, a liability to the neighborhood.  But my husband boosted me up, remarked on how well I learned important lessons with each attempt, adapting my technique and tools to my lessons.  I just like to be successful, and its difficult sometimes to ask for help.  So, dear reader, have a little honey in your tea today and offer up a prayer or a positive thought towards me and this hive rescue.

This story is to be continued...

suggestions

Great info

Honey Blog

Tonight is the night, I will be successful moving this rescued feral hive.  She will be placed effortlessly upon my roof and will be hive #3, a special hive because she is populated with local bees.  A friend is coming over, the blond version of myself.  She is a broad shouldered surfing massage therapist with a taste for adventure.  After reading the above links I have come up with a plan to smoke the bees, which I have not yet experienced during a hive move.  I also learned a great technique to properly close the entrance with the aid of a folded strip of metal screen.  I'll cover the metal ends of the bungee cord to prevent tears to the plastic bag I will use to seal up the hive for transport.

Stay tuned...

Hurray!  I've found some help and a new home for these bees.  I wanted to keep them just because the hive looked so big and healthy, but really the two hives I already have is plenty for me.  So I am happy to report that I have found an aspiring bee keeper with lots of property in Jamul who is elated to receive this hive.  I am grateful to find a good home for these bees, I am grateful this experience is almost over, and I am grateful for the challenge and all it has taught me.

The hive packed up in the truck for the ride to Jamul.

I was rewarded by my work today with this lovely text "Robin thanks again for the hive.  He is so excited.  He has been out most of the morning watching his bees.  He is going to the society meeting Monday so you have helped to create a new beekeeper."

Hive Number Two

Lighting the smoker to calm the bees.

Beekeeping seems to require two hands, and often you're wearing gloves.  The smoker makes things a bit grimy, and of course what's stickier than honey and propolis?  So I haven't been very good with bee photographs.  But here's a bunch of text about my beehives and a couple photos you might have seen before...

Bee Hive Number One: Carlota soon to be overthrown by Maximiliana

Bee Hive Number Two: Adelaide

Do to the generosity of others I began my beekeeping adventure earlier than expected.  Felipe, a friend of a friend, gave me a hive about 7 weeks ago.  I don't think it's doing well, it seems to be without a queen.  I see bees collecting honey and pollen, but I don't see brood, honeycomb cells filled with baby bees.  I went out of town and checked just before leaving and the hive looked great and I though I saw the Queen.  Two weeks later something had happened and now the hive is in limbo, it is not growing in size but it is also not disappearing.  There is also the possibility that I am wrong and I am hoping I can get someone more experienced to come look at my hives with me.  Good news is that I have ordered a new queen in a group order from the local bee club I have joined.  She arrives on Thursday.

A bee feasting on the nectar of a newly blossomed wild cactus flower.

In the meantime I have begun to look for bees to inhabit my topbar hive.  I have been looking for opportunities in the bee club on-line forum and I have been looking a little bit on craiglist in the same way that I looked for the now seven chickens I have purchased since January!  I came across a post last week for free bees in topbar hive traps, just what I needed!  I drove out with my husband at dusk on Memorial Day, stopping on the way for some Indian Food that had been recommended to me by a student.  The home was on a low ridge top and dense with a secret garden much like my mom's, but bigger.  Roses, lilies, flowers everywhere!  And birdhouses, handmade, painted, unique, different sizes, hundreds of them!  It was amazing.  Hidden in plain sight among the birdouses were swarm traps.  The home lay between different agricultural areas, orchards, and with the 2 acre garden the bees just love to show up to his property.  He had three top bar hives he showed us, beautifully made by hand, located in a clearing under some bigger trees.

The trap he chose for me was located on a low lying roof of an outer building.  He climber up a ladder and closed the door and handed the hive down to Tim who carried it to the car.  We placed it in the trunk, covered it lightly in a sheet, secured it so it wouldn't roll over, and took the fast lane home.  At home we locked up the dogs and carried the trap up to its location on the roof.  When we opened the door there was a loud buzz and a bunch of bees came out and we scampered down into the house and shut the door behind us!

Topbar hives allow bees to build there waxcomb in a more natural way than standard box hives.

The next day at noon when the sun had come out I smoked the trap and transferred the 8 topbars from the trap into my topbar hive.  I left three empty bars at the front of the hive to promote the creation of brood comb at the front of the hive, I then put the eight bars in order from front to back with three more empty bars behind and then the false wall.  There was only room behind the false wall for about 5 bars and I could see that the other guys topbar hives were several inches longer, maybe 6 more bars.

Well if you've made it through this far, thank you so much and let me know if you have any questions or if you are a neighbor and would like to participate in a hive inspection.

A favorite flower of the bee and its namesake, the hummingbird sage.

For Sale!

I have been so busy in my kitchen since my return from Esalen.  I just can't stop making cheese, I've made three batches of goat cheese so far and one of feta.  Soon I'll try camembert!  Bread making has also been an almost daily occurrence, though I'm not having very much luck with my sourdough rising and have been more successful with a little sourdough starter for taste but a packet of dry active yeast to make sure my bread isn't a brick.  So if you live in San Diego, and especially if you live in La Jolla, I've got some goodness to share at a price that will help me purchase more gallons of organic milk and 5 pound bags of organic flour.  If you are interested in trying some of my delicacies send me a message at robinoleata@mac.com, I'm sure you won't be disappointed!  Some of these items are available immediately, but most will be made to order so expect 2-6 days wait.

Goat Cheese, plain $12, herb $14 and honey $18.  This is for a crottin shaped round of cheese weighing about 6 ounces.

Feta Cheese cubed and submerged in olive oil and herbs.  Small jar, about 5 ounces for $10.

Kombucha, ginger lemon, cactus fruit, and other flavor available by request.  $5 for a 10 ounce bottle or 5 bottles for $20.

Fresh Pasta $10 for two servings or $18 for four servings.

Goat cheese ravioli, $20 for two servings and $35 for four servings.

Bread $6 loaf for plain and $8 loaf for flavored. Lots of success with a wheat and white blend with kalamata olives and my feta cheese in the bread!

Other options, I can cook for you in my home or yours...help with a party...give you a lesson...