84,87,58,0,B
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Life off the grid in the SW Texas desert. An experiment in sustainable living. NUMBERS AT THE END OF EACH BLOG POST: temp at 8PM,high temp,low temp,rainfall,wind conditions(CalmBreezyWindyGusty). YouTube Channel https://www.youtube.com/c/TheFieldLab Daily live streams at https://www.youtube.com/thefieldlab/live
Visit Counter
Subscribe to my YouTube channel
Good/Cheap hotel In Alpine
Blog Archive
-
▼
2017
(365)
-
▼
March
(31)
- a friday night film
- Field Lab Love
- ISS
- ?
- a monday matinee...
- Prince Rupert's Drop
- this might just work...
- a friday night film
- came up short...
- mail order
- About that bright star...
- a monday matinee...
- reckon this...
- night sky
- a friday night film
- bigger is better...
- the cleansing...
- an old project...
- a monday matinee...
- evil surmisings...
- junk day
- a friday night film
- Coming Attractions
- camera soup
- sunset season
- a monday matinee...
- be nice to beasts...
- into the wild...
- a friday night film
- look what the cat dragged in...
- Where no man dares to go...
-
▼
March
(31)
About Me
- John Wells
- The Southwest Texas Alternative Energy and Sustainable Living Field Laboratory
Longhorn Benita's Fan Box
Longhorn Benita on Facebook
21 comments:
Good of you to put in a life raft. I have had wasp or bee hives under my gazebo for several years. They never bothered us.
Nice! Is that sugar water John?
Just plain ol' rainwater.
Do the bees stay so busy all day long with the water?
They go back and forth to the hive...just drinking when they are thirsty. I have no idea how my bees there are in total. Too hard to tell them apart.
Maybe you can trade water for honey?
That is the plan...I just have to find the hive.
Find the "old" speaker.
Ha...nice call! The old speaker is still out there but in the opposite direction the bees are flying from the water.
A clue might be where the nearest standing water is in relation to your place. Bees will typically fly within a 2-5 mile radius in search of nectar. They will fly farther if there is no local nectar flow. Same goes for water. If you have standing water within a mile or two of your place, I suspect the hive may be fairly close. The colony is pretty well adapted to finding a local source and then relaying that source to the rest of the hive. Finding a hive in the desert would likely be sheer luck. They can utilize a space with only a small opening. It could be in the side of a cliff, a cluster of rocks, or a junk pile. Good luck.
BEE careful that they are not Africanized Bees very aggressive
Would there be any feasibility in having your own bees and selling the honey? You have plenty of space out there. The plight of honey bees is so dire. We need the honey. China has taken some drastic measures to preserve theirs just like Japan has stockpiled wood from Alaska in the ocean.
(You could even get some female chickens and sell the fresh eggs). I had chickens once in U.P. MI. We were living Penney to Penney, my children and I. Then I found out my friend (who was also fluent in Russian) was taking the eggs and passing them out to his friends. I actually found an egg now and then. What a shame. (Recently I found out I am very slightly allergic to eggs. They make me a little sleepy, but I still have some once in awhile. My friends joke and say they know what I will order at Club 12 AA Clubhouse. Bacon, eggs over easy and wheat toast). Here is a Russian joke. The father told his son that in Russia they have everything they need. The son said, "but Papa, what if we do not have meat one day?" The father said, "then we do not need it."
Last night there was so much noise and my part Shepherd dog came running to get me with bright eyes. I was on my way and there across the street looking at us in this quiet zoned residential area was such a beautiful big Guernsey baby bull crying for his mother. 4-H. Legally the Community Supervisors must bow to 4-H so the Rancher told me. We can only have dogs and cats and birds, fish, etc. But since the Mexicans came, we can have chickens. And now the German has brought in cattle. I thought a milk goat would be nice but I do not have a child in 4-H.
Selling eggs and honey is not a viable commercial enterprise out here. And FYI - despite what you might have seen on the internet, although there are a very few bee species that are considered endangered - honey bees in general are not.
Hi, I once did something like you in Mercedes, texas. I only lasted 2 years but learned how to be a true survivor in Christ as well as in life. I had a few true mexican friends who welcomed my wife and I, even tho we were the only white folk for miles. So 10 years later, My wife w/ early onset alz.and my mental illness is much tougher here in the so called real world. I am investigating 20 acres in Hudspeth co.
To be as direct as I can, do you feel safe there now that President Trump is being so no nonsense in his approach to immigration? I know the texas snow birds are still ok with it or are they? Please forgive my question, but I did experience some haters, would you buy land and do what you did all over if it was today? May God Bless you indeed and enlarge your territory... Kenny g
1. I am all stopping illegals from coming across the border - even if it meant building a wall right across my property. 2. They will not be building a wall through the Big Bend - it is what is know as a "natural barrier". 3. This area is safer than most cities.
Serious entomologists would disagree with your assertion, John. Do some research on neonicotinoids to begin with. Generally, keepers are seeing 40% of their hives collapse each year from a combination of pesticides, varroa mites, tracheal mites, hive beetles and wax moths. I can attest to that fact. I've had a 50% rate of colony collapse the past 4 years. Perhaps bees don't fall within the "endangered" status yet, but if the trend continues, it's not far off. After 30 years of keeping bees, my family has seen first hand an acceleration in the decline of colonies.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2016/10/10/believe-it-or-not-the-bees-are-doing-just-fine/?utm_term=.67c06cc0b0cb
I guess Mr. Ingraham's BA in comparative religion makes him highly qualified to speculate on scientific and environmental matters, no? I typically go with first hand experience and direct observation over what I read on the internet written by somebody working to meet a publishing deadline. But people will believe what they want to believe, I guess. You might want to inform the EU about your findings, given their ban on commercial use of neonicotinoids due to it's effect on bee population. Like I said earlier, just because the species isn't listed as "endangered" yet, doesn't mean it's prudent to sit around and wait to see what happens. Just ask the cod fishermen in the eastern US and Canada. They might be willing to provide some enlightenment.
Sorry, forgot to mention Kim Kaplan who was quoted in the article – the "USDA researcher" who assures us that bee populations aren't at risk. Kim's degree in journalism really is nothing short of laughable in the entomology and scientific communities when it comes to research and data.
Post a Comment