We Are Scientists

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Sorry I have been absent! I am frantically trying to pack up! We don’t have a whole lot of stuff, but still… Shesh!
We’ve found a little apartment/house to rent for a few months while we look for land in Asheville. It is downtown, so Toby can bike to work and K and I can walk around and not have to drive so much. The guy we are renting from is even ok with us keeping our bees at the apartment! I hope the neighbors don’t mind.

I just found out that one of my childhood friends, C, has a brother in a band (We Are Scientists), and the band looks like they might be going big time. They were just signed by virgin records. This is their site. I like the music and their site is hysterical. Read some of their ‘movie reviews’. They just happening to be coming to town in 2 days for a show. So, off I go for one last hurrah in Chapel Hill before moving.

Now… I’m off to take a nap!

A decision has been made… we think…

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Well, after much pondering, we think we have finally made the decision to move back to Asheville. We weighed the pros and cons of Chapel Hill vs. Asheville and Asheville won out. In the end, having family close by is really important for us. So, now we start the process of moving. We are all heading to the mountains this weekend to look for some land, and maybe look for a place to rent while we look for land. We hope to have some land within 6 months, so we can break ground on our off-the-grid home as soon as the ground thaws. So, we have a lot of research and self-educating to do before we start building. Toby is heading to Arkansas in September to help some family tear down part of their house. What is salvagable, he will bring home to use for building materials on our house, which will be a wonderful money saver.

Anyway, I better go pack…

Yummy summer fruit

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These past few days have been filled with yumminess! When my mom was here, we went blueberry picking… $1/pound for organic blueberries!! I only got ~4 pounds and they went into the freezer. But, I will go back! Then, I noticed that some of my wineberries were ready to pick. This is my first year having berries at this house. I planted ~15 raspberries last fall, but they probably won’t produce anything this year. I also put in 4 wineberries. They taste like a mix of a raspberry and a blackberry. Here’s my first mini-harvest:

Then, this weekend, I went to a friend’s house to can some tomatoes. They have just started a garden this year and are taking their produce to the local farmers markets. But, there were so many extra tomatoes that we ended up canning 26 quarts of tomato sauce!! Here are some picks from the canning party.


Then, I went out to a different blueberry farm this morning to do some more picking. Another place with organic blueberries for only $1/pound!! I only ended up getting ~1# before my friend, B, got stung by a yellow jacket and we realized that there was a nest ~10 feet from where we had put our blanket for the kids. B was a bit shaken by the whole thing (she hates insects, especially stinging ones), so we decided to just head home. When we were turning into her neighborhood, we saw a little baby holding onto a nurf ball, walking in the middle of the street with just a diaper on. He couldn’t have been much over a year old. I slowed down and waited for his parent to grab him out of the street, but no one came. He looked really scared. So, B jumped out of the car and picked him up and we started knocking on doors trying to find his parents. Soon, I saw a man coming out a house down the street and I said “are you looking for a baby??” He didn’t respond, but just started running towards me. Then he started making the sign for baby and I realized that he was deaf and never heard his little boy open the front door and leave the house. He was so shaken! I felt like crying when I thought of what might have happened if some one had come plowing around the corner and not seen the baby! And imagine if you could never hear your child’s cries, or laughter? I’m feeling very blessed for all of my senses right now, and that the little baby is safe at home now!

Three Generations of Feet

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As I was wrote this title, I remembered a friend of mine in college who couldn’t stand feet. She had the opportunity to usher (and attend for free) a Grateful Dead concert and almost turned it down because she had heard about “all those hippies that don’t wear shoes”. But she was determined to see what all the hype was about the Dead and got herself a postcard with a picture of a foot on it, placed it by her bed, and forced herself to look at it every day to get over her foot ‘issue’. Well, I hope it worked, cause Kathy, where ever you are, this post is for you!

My mom came down for a visit this past week and we all got our nails done!

Clarifying

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For some time now, I have been trying to figure out what avenue I want to travel down with this herbalist thing. With my website and the stores that offer my products, it seems like I am heading towards being a business woman herbalist. But, I know that’s not how I want it. I have been hemming and hawing over whether or not to put my stuff in Earthfare. And at first, I thought it was the money commitment (buying liability insurance and UPC codes would cost $2000 just for this year). But, I think, the more I clarify my desires, the more I realize that I don’t want to be that type of herbalist. I don’t want to be spending more time in my office and on my computer than I do in my garden. I don’t want this business to grow so big that I have to hire other people to play with the plants while I do administrative stuff. I have felt out of touch with the plants and I think that’s why… not enough plant time and too much computer. Right now, a lot of my income (which is really not an income, more like pocket change) comes from the internet sales. But, even that gives me reservations. Though I love to think about my products touching people in California and even France, when I think about the pollution it took to truck/fly my box of goodies out to that person, I feel bad. If every community had and supported their local herbalists, we would all be healthy and well taken care of and no one would need to mass produce and ship their stuff. So, I think I am getting a little clearer about my vision. I like the feeling I get when I think about being a community herbalist. Someone that people can come to when they are ill, or healthy and want to stay that way. I want to talk to people about slowing down their fast paced lives, eating healthy foods and treating each other and the earth with kindness. I want to have a garden full of herbs that I hand harvest and make into medicines myself. I want my relationship with the plants to go deeper than it is now. Be more spiritual. That makes me feel good! I can maybe even see a small herbal apothecary carrying the products of the local herbalists, along with some local herbs. I don’t know…

So, for now, I will hold off on growing this business. If my products are in any stores, they will be local and definitely not chains. I will hold off on printing the T-Shirts. I fill focus on opening up to my neighbors and friends, and listening to the plants.

Demo

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Today I set up a table at the local food co-op to show off the products of mine that they are now carrying. When I got there to set up at 9:30 no one knew I was coming. Apparently the manager wrote it on the big calender behind the desk but forgot to tell everyone else. It didn’t end up being a big deal at all, but initially we were all like “Oh NO! Now what??” Along with my products, I also brought handouts about who I am and how Full Circle Herbs was started along with a list of the other products that I carry. I also brought copies of an article on salve making that I wrote a few years ago. I made a batch of my Rooibos Daily Tea Blend, too. I love that tea! The only containers that they had to hold the tea in were old coffee urns. So, we sent them through the wash and I was good to go.

Initially, I felt pretty intimidating… sitting at the front entrance, staring at people when they walked it. I tried to look elsewhere, but then it seemed obvious that I was trying to avoid looking at people. Then there came the questions of “Do I sit?”, “Do I stand?”, “Do I keep busy?”, “Do I look like I am waiting to talk?” Then, after about 2 hours of sitting there, I got the idea to pour the tea into little cups to entice people to come up and take some. Nobody can resist a freebie staring you in the face! And it worked. Everyong wanted to come up and try the free tea.

I talked with lots of people. Met a woman who makes goat milk soap who wants to get together. Met another woman who I had talked with on the phone before but never met in person. I had made her a remedy for hemorrhoids that she had never paid for. Turns out she’d lost my information and didn’t know how to find me. She introduced herself by saying “HEY! It’s YOU! I owe you some money!!” That’s always nice to hear.

When it was time to close down, I only had one little cup of tea left, so I gulped it down only to be shocked by the taste! The tea that had steeped in the urn the longest tasted like coffee flavored herb tea!! It wasn’t bad tasting, but it certainly wasn’t the flavor of my tea blend! I was pretty disappointed, but being that there wasn’t a thing I could do about it, I just chalked it up to another lesson learned: always bring your own tea urn!

All in all, it went well. Now, I can concentrate on getting my labels to the printer, deciding on whether or not to make the t-shirt, deciding about getting liability insurance and UPC codes so that I can put my stuff in Earthfare, and making more stock. Beezy, Beezy, Beeezy!

Argh!!

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I’m not sure what that title is about… I think I am tired of thinking and that is what came out.

So, how come, the more I just want a simple, relaxed life the busier it gets. I feel like there are so many things happening right now. So many details to keep track of in my head and crap, that I can’t turn my brain off for a second to relax! I can’t remember the last time I sat down and read a book for pure enjoyment and not for the sake of learning something new. (That will all change on the 16th when the next Harry Potter book comes out!!!)

Anyway, enough bitching…

Here’s what K and I did this morning:

First we made a sling for her little bear that she has been carrying all around lately. She loves the sling. She only took it off to sleep!

We also made playdough this morning. Here are K and her bear (still in the sling) learning how to “mash da paydow”:

Here’s the recipe for the playdough. It was really simple. We made blue and pink. (It takes lots of food coloring to make a vibrant color)
1 cup water
1 Tbsp oil
1/2 c salt
1 Tbsp cream of tartar
food coloring
mix all of this in a sauce pan and heat until warm (and most of the salt is dissolved). Take off the heat and add 1 cup of flour. Stir, then knead until smooth. Keep in an airtight container.

Full Circle Herbs T-Shirts

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So, I am working on getting some t-shirts printed up and I think they are going to be really cool. The front pocket will have my logo:

And the back will have the “History of Medicine” on it:

I am working with TS Designs, an environmentally friendly printer. They use a process called Rehance, that uses water based chemistry to dye the shirts instead of plastisols and phthalates. They will also print the shirts on organic cotton (natural color probably). The left sleeve will also have this logo on it to show that there was no sweatshop labor, plastics, pesticides or resins used in making the shirt, and that they are made with organic cotton. Cool, eh??

So, who wants one?? I’m not sure on the final price, ’cause I haven’t gotten final pricing from them yet. But, they will definitely be no more that $20. So, if you are interested, let me know what size you want so I can make sure to get enough printed. I will probably just start with the basic short sleeved t-shirt style, but I am going to have to get a few for kids and infants too!!

Oh, and the design isn’t set in stone. So, if you have any suggestions, let me know.

Class and Bees

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Well, I gave my 20 minute herb talk for 26 eight to ten year olds today and it went fantastic! (I painted a big flower on my face and put glitter on the flower and on my eyes and cheeks.) These kids were so much more interested than the little kids. I think it made a big difference that they are of reading age! I also changed the format so we talked about Harry Potter and Mandrake (although the plant we actually looked at was the American Mandrake, which is a totally different species, but talking about Harry Potter got their attention), we also talked about plantain for beestings, horsetail, chamomile, using plants to make paper and soaps (with lots of examples to touch and smell). Before I knew it, our time was up. Kids these days are so into buying things that they all brought money so that they could buy stuff from the “farm gift shop” 🙂 !!! Do you know of any working farms with gift shops?? Well, maybe next time I will cut up some soap for them to take home.

As far as the bees, I have been doing mite counts every week to make sure that my hive is carrying along ok. Their last treatment of Sucrocide was in April and since then, the only other thing I have been doing is adding “Honey B Healthy” and Bergamot Essential oil to their sugar syrup (and their last feeding was 2 weeks ago). The mite count has remained stable at ~20-25 mites falling off the bees in a 24 hour period. This is still fairly high. But this morning, the mite count was 7!! YAY!! Looks like the little ladies are doing well!

Bumper Stickers

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As Toby and I were headed to lunch at the local health food store we saw the following bumper stickers on the truck in front of us:

  • “Dead yankees tell no lies” (with three rebel flags underneath)
  • “Keep honking! I’m reloading!”

    • and lastly:

  • “When all the trees are gone, you can wipe your ass with the spotted owl”

    • I have a feeling we weren’t going to the same place for lunch!

    Oh! And when all the trees are gone ’cause of this ignorant idiot, those feathers up his ass aren’t going to protect him from the ass whooping I’m gonna give him!!! Or maybe I will tie him up, cover him with owl food and let the spotted owls have their way with him!

    Kids herb class

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    So, I am going to be helping my farm friend with another kids class on herbs. This one will be for 8 to 10 year olds. As many of them have probably read Harry Potter, I am going to mention Mandrake/American Mayapple (and Professor Sprout and stuff) to try to get them excited about herbs. I will also talk about Chamomile and how Peter Rabbit drinks some Chamomile tea to calm down after being chased around the garden. Any other thoughts on ways to relate herbs to pre-teens??

    Growing up!

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    Yesterday, the light of my life turned 2!!! We threw a wild bash in her honor and invited everyone we knew! K and her friends played in her kiddie pool, ran around the yard, swung in her chair, ate lots of food (brownies, cookies, carob balls, ice cream cake and chocolate-zuchinni cake, udon noodles with almond sauce, avocado salad…). She ordered people around, made sure everyone had a fake tattoo (she put 8 on her little body). She showed people around our garden and stayed up until the last person went home at ~10:30pm!! Then, she crashed hard! We all slept until 8:30 this morning and all took a 3 hour nap this afternoon! I wanted to be able to post some pictures of the party fun, but I can’t. See, K was nudie for the whole party!!!! She put on her “big girl panties” (she’s potty training) for about 5 minutes and that was it! But, Toby and I agree that wearing your birthday suit on your birthday is the only way to go and think we might start a new tradition. 🙂

    Right now, we are listening to the present daddy gave her, the Muppets 25th Anniversary Music CD, a must-have for everyones music collection!

    Where is Sesame Street going??

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    Have you heard?? The House Appropriations Committee just approved a spending bill that would slash spending for public television and radio nearly in half!! And the first to be hit by this spending cut??? The ..ady to Learn..rograms for producing children.?shows, like ..same Street..”Reading Rainbow”, ..tween the Lions..and ..agon Tales…strong> We can’t let this happen!! In this crappy TV world full of sex, violence, ‘reality’ tv and just more crap, PBS is the only thing my daughter can safely watch! And it is the only TV where you aren’t bombarded by advertising telling kids what they ‘need’ and ‘must have’ because they won’t be cool with out it! Here is an article about the spending cut. And here is where you can speak up about it! Please, please write to your congresspeople!

    Farm School

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    Well, I helped my friend Trudy with her first day of farm school this morning. The kids (19 4 to 7 year olds) were supposed to be there by 9:15. But, their driver decided to take a tour around UNC and didn’t get the kids there until almost 10! The kids all listened to “farmer Trudy” while she talked about cows and their anatomy. And then she used a surgical glove and some whipped cream to explain udders. (I wasn’t there for this part so I’m not sure what she did, but I heard it was the hit of her talk:-) Then the kids split up into two groups, the cows and the horses. Half of them came with me to hear about plants and herbs, and the other half went with Trudy to learn about the miniature horse. So, needless to say, I had a lot of competition. Who wants to hear about plants when there is a horse around? Most of the girls were very attentive and loved answering my questions (what is a plant? who can name a weed?), but the boys… “When are we going to get to see the horses?” “I’m hungry!” “Is there cow poop around here??” We talked about how you can make a wish on dandelions and how you can chew up plantain to put on bee stings. They really liked to look at my press book of flowers and smell my herb soaps. All in all, everyone seemed to have fun. Next week will be 8 to 10 year olds. They will probably be a little more interested in the plants. I’ll have to look up more fun facts though, ’cause I think that will make it more interesting for them

    Catch up!

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    We had a wonderful past 4 days in Charleston, SC visiting with Toby’s dad and some friends. K had a blast playing in the sand and waves. We ate great meals from the garden, lots of squash, salad and stuff. (But, I countered that with about 5 hundred cookies!! No, seriously!!) Toby and I got to see Batman Begins on IMAX big screen!! It was pretty cool! Definitely the best of the Batman series so far. The ride to/from Charleston was pretty long, so we sang lots of songs for K. As a result, she has learned most of her ABC’s. Except she skips “K” and thinks LMNO are “ella” and “menna”, two entirely new letters 🙂 We ran out of songs by hour 4 in the car and started singing things like “clap on…. clap off…. clap on, clap off…. the clapper!” She loved it!

    Now, I am playing catch up. I am going to be doing a small talk for k-2 graders (then 3-5 grade next week) on herbs. A friend of mine owns a farm and has started doing farm school for kids. There are ducks, chickens, small horses, cows, flowers, veggies. It will be fun. I think I will talk about what an herb is (‘weed’/food/medicine) and take them on an herb walk. It’s only going to be 20 minutes so I can’t get too indepth. Plus, I imagine they are going to be a little excited about the horses and cows. 🙂 Wish me luck.

    What kind of pagan are you?

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    a href=’http://quizfarm.com/test.php?q_id=11726’>What kind of Pagan are you?
    created with QuizFarm.com

    You scored as Shamanic Pagan. A shamanic pagan’s roots are generally found in Native American faith. A true love and respect for the earth and all that it yields is central to their faith. Wisdom is most often found in spirit guides or totems, who can be animals, ancestors, or spirits. Pagans who follow this path tend to be far more aware of the delicate web that interweaves the lives of every person and thus move within that web accordingly. They’re usually deeply insightful, friendly, loving people and excellent friends and parents. Mysterious and strong, as well, they are often the protectors of their friends and family as well as the moral compass for their friends and loved ones.

    Ecclectic Pagan
    		55%

    Shamanic Pagan
    		55%

    Roman Pantheonic Pagan
    		40%

    Eastern Pagan
    		35%

    Zoroastrian Pagan
    		30%

    Kabbalistic Pagan
    		30%

    Celtic Pantheonic Pagan
    		25%

    Egyptian Pantheonic Pagan
    		25%

    Greek Pantheonic Pagan
    		25%

    Catholic (Pagan?)
    		20%

    Sumerian, Babylonian, and Mesopotamian Pagans
    		0%

    Norse Pantheonic Pagan (Asatru)
    		0%

    K’s Birthday Dress

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    I got this for K for her 2nd bday. Isn’t it adorable. It’s great cause the shoulder straps are looped through to make a bow in the back that is adjustable. So, she can wear it for many years to come!! My friend Tina made it for her. She has a business making fantastic things for little ones!

    I’ve been tagged!

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    Thanks Rue! I was going to go take a nap, but now I can’t sleep! I have a task to go count my books!! 🙂

    Number of Books I Own: ~150 (that’s just mine. K’s and Toby’s probably brings the total to ~400. We use to have a lot more, but we are trying to get rid of half of what we own in an attempt to simplify our lives)

    Last Book I Bought: Entertaining and Educating Your Preschool Child – an Usborne Parents Guide, 365 Days of creative Play for Children 2 Years and Up – Sheila Ellison, et al, Homeschooling for Dummies – Jennifer Kaufeld. I ordered all three at the same time. Obviously, I am trying to get a little bit of a clue as to what I am doing homeschooling K.

    Last Book I Read: Well, I can’t remember the last one I finished. I am currently trying to finish three: The Village Herbalist – Nancy and Michael Phillips (really great book! I wish I had more time to devote to reading it!), If You Like My Apples: A Simple Guide to Biodynamic Gardening – Clue Tyler Dennis and Luke Miller (Way too basic so far! I hope it gets better!) , and Home Learning Year by Year : How to Design a Homeschool Curriculum from Preschool Through High School – Rebecca Rupp (haven’t read much yet, but it seems good so far).

    Books That Mean A Lot To Me: 1- I have an old copy of The Prophet – Kahlil Gibran that I really like. I remember seeing this book on my dads bookshelf when I was a kid. Then, when I was a junior in high school one of the lunch ladies gave me a copy and told me I should read it well. I did and was very thankful for her. It’s a great book with a beautiful message and I have to open it every now and then to remind myself about being a good person. 2- Some of you may agree with me and some of you may think I’m a looney, but I really love my Harry Potter Series J.K. Rowling. They are such fun books to read, but they also remind me not to forget about the magic out there. I wrote a letter to JK to thank her for sharing her gift with the world and she wrote me back!! So, I keep her letter in one of the books.

    OK Time for the Tag!: Have any of you done this yet??
    Stella
    Toby
    Kathy
    Jamie
    There are many more I would like to tag, but I will stop at four. If any of you non-taggies would like to join in, please do! 🙂

    Lavender Festival

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    Today we headed out to the local lavender farm, Sunshine Lavender Farm, for it’s annual lavender festival!! (Every town should have one!!) There were foods made with lavender, lavender wand making, pick-your-own lavender, even artists there drawing the scenery. And, it smelled so good!! Here are a few shots of the day:



    Check out this white one!!

    I think I heard her say they had ~3000 lavender plants!! That is my idea of heaven 🙂

    Beekeeping, garden making and land searching

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    OK, there are going to be lots of pictures in this one!

    First, the bees. They are doing well. Though one hive still has a moderately high mite count, both hives are growing rapidly!! The queens are laying really well and the population is just exploding, which is great! They are bringing in lots of nectar and pollen, too. So, you would think that they would stop drinking the sugar syrup and just fill up on the food they are bringing in. But, they are scarfing it down, which makes me think they need it (or maybe what’s in the syrup). To help decrease the mite population we are adding HoneyBHealthy to their sugar syrup, as well as 15 drops of Bergamot Essential Oil/quart of syrup (some friends of ours totally got rid of their mites using bergamot!) We are still doing weekly mite counts to make sure the level doesn’t go up. So, here are a bunch of great pictures (well, some aren’t so great, but I had to post them!)

    This one show a great capped brood pattern in the middle with lots of white capped honey on the edge.

    Here’s a great one of pollen and capped brood.

    Here is a queen. It’s fuzzy, but she is the long bee in the middle.

    This is a pic. of brood (baby bees) being capped over.

    And this one I was so upset that it didn’t turn out!! We were witness to a bee birth 🙂 This baby bee is just about to come out of the comb. Here is his little fuzzy head!

    And one of our girls hard at work.

    Now, on to K’s garden! We put in our new/used sink this weekend and put the old one in the garden for K. This morning, K and I filled it with pineapple sage, chocolate peppermint, purple basil, hyssop, chamomile, zinnea, lambs ear, calendula, and a tomato. I tried to put things in there that she could smell, taste, and feel. But, it’s a little crowded. So, I may move the hyssop to my herb garden 🙂 She really likes it! And everything is very well watered!

    Here’s one of the garden.

    And my little helper.

    And my little helper practicing her best sad face.

    So, as far as land search… well, we have been a bit disheartened. To be able to have the sustainable homestead that we would like, we are really hoping for more land than we will be able to afford in our current area. Land prices around here (and back in Asheville) are so inflated that we can barely afford an acre! We did, however, just find out about the possibility of buying some land from a family member. This would be great! My biggest worry though, is that we would be surrounded by many people who have very different beliefs than us. Plus, one of my herby friends and I have just started to talk about opening up an herb school here. If we moved, I couldn’t do that. (Well, it’s not that I couldn’t, but I don’t think there would be the desire for an herb school where the family land is.) I wish there were some overwhelming factor to push us somewhere. It would make this decision so much easier… do we spend more and have a higher mortgage, or by less, have a smaller mortgage and less land to work, do we spend more and buy less land to be near a town we love, or spend less and buy more land, but be near a town that doesn’t have such a supportive community for alternative living? I don’t know! Anyone out there got an answer??

    Busy bees

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    We have been staying really busy here! After delivering my order to Weaver Street, I got 3 more orders through my website and wiped out my stock. So, I have spent the last 3 days making soap, ordering supplies, labeling, etc. Toby went out of town for work, and I would have been sunk trying to do all this stuff without a hand with watching K. But, my mom-in-law came to town for a visit and a little relaxation, and she was my savior! She and K played all day and they both slept like logs at night 🙂

    I also got a sink (cast iron, enameled in great condition!) off of Freecycle. So, we are going to take the old one and plop it in my garden, fill it with soil, plant some flowers, fast growing seeds and such and let K run free with it! She will get her own watering can and shovel and if she ‘destoys’ everything, that will be fine with me! I have some squash and tomato seedlings without a home. I will get some flower seedlings for her to pick and lots of seed for her to plant. It will be packed with stuff, or not. It will be her own space. Hopefully she will be as excited about it as I am 🙂

    Advice from Gardening Mamas

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    K is an amazing child! She is fun, clever, very happy, usually in a really good mood, she’s extremely verbal, so we can already have detailed conversations. I have a hard time remembering that she is not even 2 yet. But, these last few weeks K has not been listening so well. I say “K, leave the bread on the counter, we are going to make sandwiches” and in an instant the bread is gone. “K, will you put your sippy on the table please” and it goes flying across the room. But, the place that I lose my temper the most and seem to be having the hardest time with is my garden. When I use to ask K to be gentle to the plants, she would pat them nicely. Today, I asked her to let the flowers grow so they can make food for us… she ripped up some eggplant, picked 2 flowers and almost ripped up another. I know that she isn’t 2 yet, but since she use to listen when I asked her not to do something, it is very hard not to raise my voice when she is continually disobeying now. I’m sure it is confusing for her since she knows that what is in the garden is edible. How do you guys handle it with little ones in the garden, or anywhere for that matter? I guess this is the ‘testing the limits’ of the terrible/terrific twos. But, since talking it out and giving her ‘quiet time’ isn’t working, I am looking for other suggestions.

    That being said, the amazing brainiac told me that yesterday Suki (our dog) begins with S

    Bees and Garden

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    We did our 3rd and mite treatment for my hive yesterday. The girls are looking great! Lots of pollen and nectar stored, some capped honey and lots of worker brood. We also spotted the queen, which is always a plus since we are looking in a hive of about 50 thousand bees! My 24 hour mite count is down to 55, which is 1/3 of what it was when we started (it was 161 just after the first treatment!)!
    We went into Toby’s hive today to check and everything looks good in there too.

    Here is a picture of the beautiful pattern they have drwan out of this 4.9 foundation:

    But, here’s another frame that they got a little lazy on 🙂 I’ve also heard that they draw the comb out larger when there is a honey flow on… which there is right now.

    On this frame you can see lots of capped over brood (baby bees) and some nectar drying out and getting ready to be capped over (see the shiny stuff in the open cells?).

    How does my garden grow? Very well thank you! I am having some flea beetle problems with my eggplant, but not too bad. I go out there once a day and just squish them by hand. I also made a spray of 4 cups water, 6 cloves garlic, 2 slices onion, handful of basil, and ~10 drops peppermint essential oil blended up really well!! It seems to get rid of the flea beetles. But, I have to put in on after each rain. My beans are looking pretty pale too, so I added some dried blood for nitrogen. Hopefully that will help. Otherwise, some tomatoes, squash, zuchini, beans, and even a pumpkin and cantaulope are starting to develop flowers! These warmer nights have really helped things take off.