Vern Life

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since Feb 03, 2017
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Recent posts by Vern Life

Michael Cox wrote:Wearing my beekeepers hat, rather than my designers hat...

How is this hive inspected/managed? The shelves/racks look well designed, but I'd be concerned about getting access to the back frames once the colony had been in place for a while and gummed up everything with propolis. Can the glass be cleaned/maintained?

It looks like it is in a window in full sun. How is it insulated/protected from overheating?

I'd love to setup a grand observation hive like that :D



Hi Michael!  Perfect questions! I took this on as a beekeeper & Design Builder. I had my own questions but the hive is being maintained by another BeeKeeper so we have 3 modes of attack on this build, my Beekeeping knowledge and build Feasibility, the Beekeepers wishes and design input and the Business's aesthetic requirements.

Inspection/ Management will be from the front with a single sash top hinged door/window. A major handle and metal reinforced prying points. The BeeKeeper will clean the Acrylic with Rubbing Alcohol, if they really muck it up and it becomes opaque I'll replace the whole window during a maintenance day. The cool part is what I'm working on today which is the bee management outdoor port.

It's actually in my shop at the moment but yes it will go on a west facing wall with windows, I was more concerned with sunlight interfering with the bees than the heat but just in case I added a layer of R 3.5 rigid foam between two seperate 1/2" wood panels for a thermal break (Combined should be roughly R-6, which is Commercial Energy Code for reference) It's in their retail space so it is heated and cooled. I did ask about venting but we can add one after if it becomes an issue.

I hope you'll follow the build! I'll be posting installation, maintenance, successes and failures in the future.
5 years ago

James Landreth wrote:What sort of a retail store is it?



It is an Outdoor Apparel Company, I'll have links on my blog and in the video description as the project progresses
5 years ago
I am wrapping up the final details on an indoor Observation Beehive for a retail store in Seattle and thought I would share it here if anyone is interested.I love the educational aspect of this project!!! There were several specific requirements the unit needed and I hope to document how each detail contributes or detracts to/from the success of the hive. The unit itself is fairly large, I have seen large natural ones but this is the largest I know of so far. The hive portion is roughly 5' by 5', 3 Frames across, 3 frames tall, 2 frames deep with a top row for honey supers. I'll be editing the video for the series on m YouTube channel and will have some detail call outs on my blog.

I hope to use this as a prototype so if anyone knows anyone that is interested in building one, I would be more than happy to share successes, results, and even build another one for anyone in the Pacific Northwest. (It's extremely heavy, if shipping costs are of no concern I'll make one and ship it)



https://jasonmichaelkotarski.blogspot.com/


Cheers!
5 years ago
In looking at my mulch this morning while letting the dog out I realized the PRIMARY reason I started mulching our entire landscape. When we moved in it was a rental that we ended up purchasing and it had been a rental for 30 some years. To many it appeared to be the "greenest" lot around, however that was only because it was completely enveloped in Ivy. Like a kudzu forest in the South the trees were ghosts of themselves, choked out and dying. I fought a mighty campaign I documented in a blog post.

The Ivy War

I hacked at everything with axes, shovels, machetes, line trimmers with various attachments, black tarps and bonfires. The mulch was the final Coup D'Etat in this battle. A layer of 12" of mulch pretty much buried the Ivy and snuffed it out. After everything was a beautiful mulch brown, anything I saw green in the mulch beds was severed at the neck! After a couple of rinse and repeats I have taken over the battle, we have skirmishes but for the most part the cut clear and pull then build a bonfire and plant in the ashes method has succeeded.  

Cheers!
5 years ago

Hank Roberts wrote:http://www.helpabee.org/mulch-madness.html

Mulch is fatal to native bees that require bare dirt to dig their holes."



I mulch around all my native bee houses. The Bumble Bees are ground dwellers and they have not seemed to mind at all, in fact it appears more like the mulched areas are easier for them to carve out a nest in.
5 years ago
Like almost everyone else on here, the mulch has done wonders for our heavily clay, acidic Pacific North West soil. In the Orchard a mix of mulch, mycelium and dolomite lime have created a beautiful dark soil. The bees seem to like to land on the wood mulch before going on to their hive/ hole (not sure why, warming, resting?) The Mulch has also helped us terrace some places that were too sloped causing top soil erosion and dangerous ladders. During the beginning of the Orchard layout there were vast spaces between trees and fruit shrubs that we planted potatoes in. The potatoes went bonkers, the mulch made harvest a breeze and during harvest we basically weeded out the whole Orchard just picking potatoes. We're doing that now in our Blue Berry patch waiting on those to fill out.

The mulch has also been great for burying our biannual compost, the winter compost is typically heavy on wine pressings, leaves, coffee and veggie scraps but the Summer compost often has alot more fish meal that needs to be buried to keep out the critters. I'm a big fan of the 12" mulch pile! Our raised bed recipe is storm debris huglekulture on the bottom covered with maple leaves and leveled 1/4 way up with mulch, add the compost, cover with coffee grounds from the cafe (nitrogen and scent!) and cover with a big ol' heaping mound of 12" mulch. The weight and depth of the mulch helps insulate so all winter the worms come from far and wide to live in our little future veggie bed!

Also, as a side note, the very large pile of mulch is a great deterant for the car campers that seem to be infesting Seattle.
5 years ago
Hard to say what we have that survived as its under the snow at the moment. Might have some to trade come spring near Maple Valley/Renton.

King and Pierce are having their native plant sales around this time. They didnt have anything I was looking for this year but almost everything on your list was there.
6 years ago
I've been adding some olive trees to our orchard for the same reason. The Arbequina variety appears to be evergreen and it survived this winter with two separate weeks of snow in 7b PNW.
6 years ago
Hi Folks!

I just received an email from Google that Youtube is at it again trying to shutout small creators. With all the crap out there (video game videos (if thats not redundant, vlogs, etc...) its tough to try to keep up. I'm calling out for help as I need to get past 1000 subscribers to keep my channel going. If you happen to be here (and I've heard from some Permies already! ) please check out the channel and of you would please subscribe. Also, please be kind and look through your other favourite channels and subscribe to them as well, keep small content creators alive!!!

Youtube https://www.youtube.com/user/jkotar20

Cheers and keep up the fight!
6 years ago
Only when I plan on doing something where I have a chance at agitating them (typically accidentally, like when I fumbled a frame).

It's more for them than for me, most of the time they let me do my work with them with just a bit of smoke and calm careful motions. They're Italians so they are very docile.
6 years ago