How Sweet It Is: Bees!

We were lucky to be part of DIY Del Ray's first Urban Farm Tour last Saturday morning. 

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Though we know we probably won't get much to grow in our ever-shady yard, we were inspired by our neighbors' mini- & maxi-farms.  Additionally, we have begun to check into beekeeping, after seeing two separate homes with hives on the tour.  

Beekeeping starts in the spring, so we're using our time until then to do some research before we commit $500+ for the start-up costs.  Also, you don't get any honey the first year (the bees need it for themselves).  So if we start keeping bees in April 2015, we won't see any 'free' honey until August or September of 2016.  A long-term investment, and not exactly cheap, so we've been doing some reading & thinking about it.  Some of the resources we've been checking out are listed below. 

A couple of books from the public library:
Keeping Honey Bees, Sanford & Bonney, 2010
Keeping Bees, Vivian, 1986

We're taking a class in January (beginning bee-keeping) in Remington, at Virginia Beekeeping Supply. That's an in-person class, but there are online classes, and classes a little closer to home listed here.

There's also a local chapter of the Beekeeper's Association for NoVa.  

Finally, the best part is looking at all the lovely hive choices!  A quick search will retrieve many, but here are a few that have enticed us so far.  

Bee Thinking, in Portland, OR - I'm especially partial to their copper-roofed Warre hives!
Valley Bee Supply, a little closer to home in Fishersville, VA
Dadant claims to be the oldest & largest supplier in the US

Of course it's not as easy and buying a cool-looking hive & finding a good spot in your yard.  If you'd like to get a sense of what else you'll need (like a nuc), check out Richmond Honey Bee, which has an unbelievable amount of information and you can easily spend hours reading through all his posts & learning.    

The Fairmont, in downtown DC, has 3 hives for honey and a new "hotel" for non-honey-making (but expert pollinating) bees.  Read all about it in this Post article. 

We still haven't committed to this enterprise, but if we do, we'll keep you posted!  

Take Cover! Cover Crops Improve & Protect Soil

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I often say that we should start a ceramics industry, as the soil in our yard is essentially clay.  All production materials would be at hand.  

Which means that if we want to get anything other than English Ivy to grow, we have to amend & improve the soil regularly.  

Regular deliveries of mulch, from the Alexandria City Government's program, have helped, but not all the greenery we planted this spring has thrived.  So what to do?  We've had good luck with cover crops.  They grow easily, they are pretty, and when you're ready to plant something else, you just chop up your cover crop with a shovel, work it into the dirt, and it's ready to go.

Cornell has a Cover Crop guide, which includes a Cover Crop Decision Tool, if you'd like further info, or help figuring out what to plant where & when.  

For us, we'll be planting Oats, Peas & Buckwheat from Botanical Interests this weekend.  These seeds come in extra large packets, so cover plenty of ground.  

Mother Earth News has an article on summer cover crops, and notes that cover crops are useful year-round...bare soil is never a good thing!  Mulch it or cover it!  (I have to admit we don't have that taken care of yet.)