ian giesbrecht

I'm also very interested in harvesting pollen. I like you're line of thinking Andrea, but I too have never harvested it.

I think you're spot on seeking multiple yields form the hive. The wild protein and enzymes and flower goodness are no doubt a great thing to consume. I'm looking into that this season as well.

I'm just putting in my 2 cents and am still quite new to this.

1)  I think that you harvesting pollen would more affect their brood rearing as its only the young and queen that require protein. I've heard it wise to only keep a pollen trap on for short bursts so as not to starve brood of much needed protein.

2) I know I used to buy it from health food stores and farmers markets and loved eating it. Seems that if you were already marketing other hive products, it wouldn't be difficult to sell. I would say much of your question has to do with how you manage your bees, input and labor costs, marketing avenues etc.. There are certainly plenty of folks willing to spend money for such a valuable resource. Shelf life is certainly a concern too. It might be worth investigating options, perhaps mixing with honey as a pseudo bee bread?

3) I don't know. We have plenty bright red atulsi pollen that I've sampled before. We have oodles of Amorpha fruiticosa but the pollen tastes odd. I think it would be neat to do an assessment of what the bees are foraging for based on the harvested pollen.

4) my only guess would be not keeping the device or screen on one hive too long.

I'm interested in hearing how this goes for you. I too am looking for diversifying harvests from the hive. Just but a pollen trap in a 19 frame Layens so I can tincture some.

Leo,

I was happy to see you've stopped by permies! I hope you enjoy your time to share more about bees and that others are as inspired as I have been to dive into the great world of natural beekeeping. Thanks for showing up here and sharing your passion!

I am honored to have learned a lot from Leo in person and have had great success so far using the natural beekeeping he has taught me. The strongest swarm I've caught yet showed up on our property last week of April. I loved how easy it was to transfer a 7 frame Layens swarm box into the permanent 19 frame hive. Thanks for teaching me Leo!

I’m wondering if anyone has experienced or input for propagating elders in an intensive nursery bed. I have a few dozen hardwood cuttings of select cultivars I’d like to multiply. I may use a high tunnel to root cuttings before moving out to go field. We harvested our first bob Gordon berries last year and are excited to expand production.

Any specific ideas on spacing, Timing of transplant,  needs of young plants, shade needs/tolerance etc...? I have 50% shade on a small high tunnel I grow pawpaws in and wondered if they’d be ok sharing space as I often find them together in the wild.

I’ve grown out several cuttings with good success planted directly in the field, but I’m looking for a better way to ensure constant moisture. Summer gets hot and dry and have lost many elderberry hardwood Cutting due to lack of water.

RedHawk

Thanks for the input. I certainly will make better use of urine and compost tea ingredients in the future.

I’ve been playing around with brewing compost tea with some experimental additions. Using worm castings, molasses and kelp (no fish products or other additives) and brewed some nice smelling brews. I cant say for sure how much improvement I noticed it after foliar applications, but I know much of the microbial benefits may not be immediately apparent.

I started peeing in the bucket while it was bubbling away cause why not? I use dilute urine (10 parts water to 1 part urine) as fertigation on plants, so I figured why not?. After peeing in brew I noticed a definite off smell after 12 hrs or so. I opted for a soil drench with this batch as I trust my nose.

Does anyone else have experience with adding urine to a compost tea batch. If so how much? Do you notice any shifts? Would it be better served in a bacterial or fungally dominant brew I wonder.  

My partner and I have been working on establishing roughly 2.5 acres of edibles. Much of it is inspired by the forest garden model and have learned a lot the past 3 years. We have a mix of old field, scrubby trees and forest. The land was cleared 10 years ago and left alone, so they was plenty of coppicing oak, hickory, flowering dogwood, persimmon. Decades ago it may have been pasture based on fencing and rock pile. Our soils are extremely gravelly silty loam and very shallow.


We poured over " Edible Forest Gardens" and would HIGHLY recommend shelling out the the $ for the volumes. Our approach is to clear patch by patch and implement a mix of charing the brush, grinding into chips, layout brush piles and logs on contour and some hugel culture. This stage of succession had a lot of woody, biomass and fairly low diversity (understory mostly buckbrush, aromatic sumac and germander). We have seen great results from repeated cutting coppices and have stumps rotting back into soil. Just now we are seeing the results of our heavy imports of wood debris (chips, sawdust and shavings) and are seeing a much more alive soils food web. A lot of cardboard, dozen of loads in the pickup and a passion that some may call crazy. It as been a tremendous amount of hand labor (chainsaw, grub hoe, mattock, sheer grit) simply clearing the land. But in going slow we have "discovered" paw paws, blue berries and many unique and useful plants that may have been destroyed with machines. Also we are keeping in tact the soil life.

The biodiversity is always increasing as we establish a variety of nitrogen fixers, insectaries and continually expand our gene bank. We are seeing more complexity and new pollinators all the time. We are slowing propogating our plants and will continue to expand our fertility and pollination allies (yarrow, comfrey, false wild indigo, skirret etc..)

We lost some trees and are now seeing some renewed growth on trees that were hit by the drought summer last year. Our focus has been planting analogs for the present species. For example, grafting cultivated persimmons and paw paw ont wild rootstock, expanding paw paw patches, planting European currant where currants exist, thornless black berries where they grew wild etc.. We have established hundred of "conservation grade" trees from the state nursery to use as rootstock for future grafting. We even got a USDA grant to plant edible trees and shrubs. This has means low investment and inputs

Overall the process has been shaping me sooo much. It is a constant learning process. I'm so grateful for the opportunity and would hope all human would get to experience the co evolution between forest garden and steward. There is a near constant feedback loop and am looking forward to when the trees start shifting shade patterns and adding further complexity.

I'm loving the thread as I feel this way this week! I want out! (but not really...)

Thanks for sharing the video Scott Foster. The big shift from seeing it as a business to living it as a lifestyle is so crucial though $ is important. But the emotional investment is indeed HUGE. I can struggle to see the bigger picture when overwhelmed with workload as my partner and I are shooting for meeting many of our long terms needs upfront without a large bank account. My installed PV solar and therefore don't need to worry about monthly bills.

"The BIGGEST problem of all are books, magazines and magazine articles, videos and online brands written and made by people who came into farming with a substantial bank account or a substantial land inheritance from their parents. They will almost NEVER disclose this but will make it look all easy and neat. Well yeah, if I spend 15 years in New York trading stocks for a living and retired with 7 figures in the bank, I too can play farmer. ALWAYS ask first - what did the author bring to the table to start with. If they are not willing to start their book, article, website or video with that disclosure, you should be suspect of the contents. So for example, you may revere someone like Joel Salatin (many small farmers do). However, the first question you should ask is how he got into his land. Did he buy it at a fair price? Did he get it as a gift? I am sure he has published this somewhere, I am not picking on him, just using a household name for an example. Around his area of Virginia land now goes for $10K+ an acre. Just to get started on a small homestead would be $50K right out the door and that means no water, no internet, no infrastructure and ... nowhere to live (no house). "

Well said. isn't PC all about local and appropriate solutions. Following a philosphy or techniques can be dangerous. The idea of failing more to succeed seems a vald approach, one that i'm employing regularly ;)

This is a great convo as there's no RIGHT way to farm, homestead or produce good on the land for a profitable biz.

Meeting your own needs can SUCK sometimes. Rewarding when its flowing, but the drudgery can creep up... We did without power or running water for 2 years (not that big of a shift from previous nomadism) and had to sleep outdoors one winter when the yurt got moldy. I've been focusing on what WOKRS lately and all the successes to celebrate. Drip irrigation from a solar well pump is worth celebrating!

In the vid Stefan brought up 2 great points "if you farm and live there, don't walk around on the farm to try and make it feel better. Waling around, you'll see more things that aren't working." Can't escape this ughhh. So much to do...  

"appreciate the best and expect the worst"

Would love to hear anyone else's feedback on way to stay balanced and healthy during the early years of establishment. Losing 80% of the elders we planted this spring and hustling to give buckets to trees in droughty times can wear we out! How to you seek a balance of tenacious effort and letting go?

Behen,

Thanks for sharing, it helps generate some ideas. Is the manifold a custom designed item, or is it repurposed? I too like the idea of outdoor feeding for stove and am planning on insulating well. Luckily there is plenty of cedar around here. I think I'm leaning towards a similar rock on bell design, perhaps with some mass on horizontal exhaust.

So, I've been reading up on threads on RMH, and focusing on anything sauna related. A few question have come up for me as a I progress in the design process. I'm designing a 2 room sauna. (Roughly two 7'x7' rooms). Wood storage and feed on one side of a cob dividing wall and riser, barrel and mass on stove room. One post mentioned low mass 8" system with extra space between top of fire brick riser and top of barrel. Not sure what's the optimum (and simple without reinventing anything) design for this application. Something that kicks out a lot of heat quickly to get sauna to temp nice and fast.

Any input on these questions is welcome

1. 6" or 8" ( I wil keep consistent diameter throughout system)?
2. Ideal spacing above riser and barrel for optimum quick heat through barrel?
3. Does the idea of low mass make sense to kick more heat into room in a hurry?
4. Given sufficient chimney rise, does the length of interior pipe run effect burn and immediate heat dispersal.
5. Any thing else I may be missing.

I'm not looking to tweak or tinker, just succeed at getting a stove room up to 200F as effieciently as possible. Advice greatfully accepted. If all goes well, I'll document the build and share it for the benefit of all.

The plan so far is a slip chip and round wood post building with extra stout wood joists under heater over tile floor. Sawdust and lime cieling insulation and am considering Eco foil bubble Wrap for VB in stove room. Does this sound like a good idea or not? Still working out engineering and other details, but the stove is the most essential element IMO.

Thanks for all those who keep learning and sharing!