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creeky
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# Posted: 2 Jul 2014 05:40pm
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I'm in a bit of a mood.
My black locust bloomed heavily this year, after the deep wet spring, but hardly a bee to be seen. Five years ago, in the heavy bloom, you couldn't talk to someone next to you the bee hum was so loud. and even if "honey bees" a European import were suffering, local bees seemed to be picking up.
Now the clover is blooming. Not a time I like as I walk with bare feet and get stung at least twice a day. This year I haven't been bit more than twice. And there are just no bees. None. Zip. Nada. And I live in a pristine area.
Today I'm at the barber, my friend Guiseppi. Well, we both garden, so he shows me his garden and, as always, I'm blown away. the guy is well over 70. Still works as a barber. And he's tilled his whole garden, so 80x200'? by hand. Hilled his potatoes. Strung his beans. He's also mowed his ditch ... and it's 10 feet deep and 50 feet wide and hundreds of feet long. with a regular gas lawn mower.
but that's not why I'm in a mood. he tells me he's surprised. all season he's not seeing the usual birds. he's seen hardly any bees. This is a guy who has been gardening in this area since he moved from italy. So close enough to 60 years.
I've got a huge crop of milkweed for the Monarch butterflies this year. Unbelievable nice flowers. Wanna know how many monarchs I've seen. Hint. It's a very low number best described as being the same shape as the letter o.
yesterday was Canada Day and I visited with my dad. a biologist. and we talked about Rachel Carson's Silent Spring.
And this is why I'm in a mood. Man. I thought we were going in the right direction. But now. With GMO crops where there is just no good science. And people throwing pesticides and herbicides out with no idea what they're doing beyond this years crop. and "articles" in the media clearly written by PR departments and sell out hacks.
I'm starting to get a little freaked out. Hope someone out there can post that they are seeing unbelievable amounts of bees.
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naturelover66
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# Posted: 2 Jul 2014 06:50pm
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Yeah , thank Monsanto... And the like. all their toxic crap is finally rearing its ugly head. I dont know how or why people thought it was ok to spray chemicals on our food or put it in animal feed or on all the hybrid veggies. Its a serious situation...
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hattie
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# Posted: 3 Jul 2014 12:00am
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I have heard a lot about bees disappearing because of pesticides. There are other ways to get rid of pests without using chemicals. We are lucky here in the southern interior of British Columbia. Our clematis was alive with bees in the spring. It was quite a sight to see and the loud buzzing was amazing!!!
I like to experiment with non-chemical ways to be rid of pests. This year I have covered all our apples (well the ones I could reach) with sockettes. Yup you read right...Those little nylon socks that we women sometimes wear. I bought 4 boxes of them (144 per box) and started covering our little apples. I read they are perfect for preventing coddling moth. You just remove them 2 weeks before maturation of the fruit. I can't wait to see if it works.
I have found boiling water works on weeds. When we do our canning and have a big pot of boiling water left over, we pour it on any weeds we want to kill. Works every time. When I clean the floors with a solution of hot water and vinegar, I pour the leftover solution on the weeds in our gravel driveway and it works too!!
The non-chemical ways are more work, but for us (who have lots of time on our hands) it is something to do and makes us feel good knowing we aren't killing the bees or polluting the planet.
As I'm typing this we have 3 blackbird babies that have just left the nest under our rose bush outside our bedroom window. The adults are fiercely protective of them and it is just so amazing to watch. For us, that's what it's all about!!
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Don_P
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# Posted: 3 Jul 2014 06:33am
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For the neonicitiniods, I think we can thank Bayer. Until we have a handle on them do pay attention to what you buy for insecticides and also what you plant... this systemic insecticide is in plants you might be bringing home from a store. A bee visits the plant later and dies.
We don't seem to be as bee depressed this year as some recently but the numbers do seem to be down from what they used to be. A co-worker has caught several swarms and our farmer's market had 3 honey vendors last week.
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rmak
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# Posted: 3 Jul 2014 09:05am
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Let me ratchet up the conversation a little. I think it's interesting that no one ever says that cancer is a natural process that we should respect (btw, I had a small cancer tumor that was removed and radiated away). We use poison and dangerous rays to treat it.
How many of us go and buy a 2 X 4 to build something on our cabin and forget the process that created it?
My point is that human beings are consumers in the biology sense. We need to use other living things to survive. Because of our nature and intelligence the concept of our survival becomes complicated. Does anyone fault the farmer who poisons weeds so his children are fed and sheltered?
I heard that everyone in the USA could buy and drive an electric car. That would cause increased coal burning or nuclear waste to make the electricity. Even if that happened, China is polluting in an unregulated way to the extent that universal use of electric cars would have no real positive effect. So will you buy an electric car or not?
Can you go without using a car? Can you go without heating your home?
I don't know any of the answers besides my own little time and space. I know many of us own parts of the big companies we hate through our retirement plans, yet we will all retire and live off the money with a clean conscience.
Ultimately I agree with George Carlin who suggested that nature, the world and the universe will just slough off mankind and all of our effects when we've had our run, and not give us a second thought.
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Just
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# Posted: 3 Jul 2014 10:23pm - Edited by: Just
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 I agree 100% ,problem is 1\3 of the worlds food would be lost without chemicals and technology andddddddddd I can't decide if I want to miss breakfast, lunch ,or supper .. just
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Smawgunner
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# Posted: 4 Jul 2014 06:41pm
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Not sure about the bees but where we are Monarchs have dropped significantly. They were in abundance but last year I didn't see one and this year I've ONLY seen one. I'm usually not pessimistic but I don't see any turn around for our environment. I think the environment our next generation sees will be drastically different.
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creeky
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# Posted: 4 Jul 2014 09:02pm
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Naturelover66. The m Corp is canadian (sigh). But also a*********s. The science is not just poor, but there is good evidence that the 20,000 years of farming knowledge, now called organic for some reason (pr spin), is the best way to farm. Well. Not news I know
Hattie. Thx for the bee news. I look forward to seeing how your socks work. My friend tried plastic zip lock bags and it failed. Kept the bugs out but he had a lot of fruit drop. This is a tough call as this area had a pretty severe drought mid summer ... so. Apple trees drop fruit in dry years... I think your more breathable netting sounds pretty good.
DonP. Yes. My mood was triggered by the results.actions of those who don't care to take care.
Rmak. Cancer has been around forever. Part of the evolutionary force. But when I grew up it was very rare. Sadly though, the incidence of cancer has risen to 1 in 2 will have cancer in their lifetimes. It is very hard to pick out the contributing factors in this rise. Atomic testing, nuclear problems, environmental degradation... really crappy diets ... cigarettes (too bad, nicotine has some neat brain enhancing effects).
But it's not all or nothing. Are you willing to let the farmer feed his kids by using poison if it kills your kids? Because that is what is happening. And I do not put myself above the fray here. I grew up on a farm. My grandpa and uncle have piled more pesticides into the ground ... my mom talks about the open barrels where gramps mixed the sprays. I ran, as a kid, behind the fogger spraying DDT to keep the mosquitos down. It was fun. We would laugh and run through the mist.
And thank goodness that this technological/societal evolution has created a generation way cleverer than the ones proceeding. Electric cars are brilliant. I run my whole life off of power I collect from the sun. And i do my job with nothing but electrons. Internet. Publishing software. Really. What do you think my grandparents would have given for that in the depression of the dirty 30s.
Just. An economic perspective on deciding meal portions. 1. In North america we consume too many calories. I mean go to the mall and tell me the n.a. diet is a good one. It's an expensive one in terms of effects on the planet. 2. Eating plants more often will make you healthier and save you money. 3. This is the economic story.. A man can eat steak every night. If the economy contracts he makes a virtue of flank steak. If the economy booms, he touts porterhouse.
Smawgunner. I guess we're all seeing change. The environment has certainly changed since i was a kid. Two decades ago I lived in a house by a stream, and that fall the wind blew for two weeks out of the north east... for 2 weeks I could go to the window and see at least one monarch butterfly using the tree line line by the stream to head south. Every day. And my office faced the creek. I saw thousands of monarchs.
I guess I wonder if not us. Who? DDT was banned because of a public outcry. Perhaps more than freedom relies on eternal vigilance.
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rmak
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# Posted: 4 Jul 2014 10:12pm - Edited by: rmak
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I hear you, Creeky. I honestly don't know. Things that are supposed to help us hurt us. The cure is often worse than the disease.
Autism is another disability I never heard of when I was young. Now it's an epidemic. There are a lot of theories about environmental causes. It makes sense that something is making it happen, but what? And can we get rid of whatever it is causing autism even if we find out?
I know around here we are seeing a resurgence of wild turkey. There are flocks of them all over. From what I heard it's the result of farmers using liquid pesticides rather than pellets, which the turkeys would eat.
Bees are getting rarer and rarer. We have a lot of clover and they used to be all over the place. Now, not so much. That's scary.
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creeky
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# Posted: 5 Jul 2014 06:40pm
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I know. This year has been awesome for the birds. Just tonnes of species and good numbers. Some I've never seen on this property before (a flock of baltimore orioles, flicker nesting). I suspect it has something to do with me protecting the grass fields until the birds are done fledging their babies. I have also, er, removed some introduced predators.
I guess that's all we can do. Our own little bit. Tolerant to those who came before us. For me that's the skunk, the groundhog.
I could easily plink 'em. but ...
Can I tell a groundhog story. The groundhog came by the tent the other night. He/she woke me by bumping, quite noisily against the frame of the deck I have my tent on.
So I'm awake and listening. "what the heck is that" right.
The gh breathes really fast. huhhuhhuhhuh. and never stops eating. going snippasnippasnaippa. put the two sounds together and you have a tiny little steam train engine rattling down the track. really funny.
And can "cabin" folk use toxins? Aren't we the guardians?
We just need labeling laws for neonicitiniods and gmos. thx DonP
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ChuckDynasty
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# Posted: 23 Aug 2014 05:58pm
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Quoting: creeky I suspect it has something to do with me protecting the grass fields until the birds are done fledging their babies. I have also, er, removed some introduced predators.
I went up to my place earlier this year when the grass was 2 1/2 feet tall. I was amazed with all the life in the tall grasses. Birds, bees, flying insects everywhere...I was truly amazed. 7 ac of pasture that is hayed twice a year. Now I'm concerned about haying it, how do you maintain your fields? I have only made it up there three times this year and no skeeters and no ticks.
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ChuckDynasty
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# Posted: 23 Aug 2014 06:15pm
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Regarding food...into our second year of totally organic food. My wife even makes her own humming bird "nectar" for the feeders after reading the ingredients on the store bought stuff. Organic wild bird food as well.
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creeky
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# Posted: 23 Aug 2014 07:05pm - Edited by: creeky
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Hey Chuck. If you don't have a tractor and mower/bush hog whoever is haying is doing you a favour. keeps the trees and bushes out of the fields.
The haying is best as long as the farmer is putting something back. But hay takes everything. If you look at a hay field after swathing there's nothing left but a few inches of stalk. That's hard on the land.
So I stopped haying three years ago now and I mow. The tilth of my fields has really improved. And I get a lot more nesting birds.
Because the property is organic, I also do some wild harvest. Wildcrafting I think my niece calls it. Plantain is a regular in my smoothie blender. Did some wild dandelion. And morel mushrooms.
I even made a pesto from spring harvest stinging nettle. Really good once your mouth stops burning (kidding).
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Scott G
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# Posted: 23 Aug 2014 08:40pm - Edited by: Scott G
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Just read the first post. I"ll catchup later.
South Eastern NB. Have 5 acres of open field covered in 'Mustard?' - that tall, stocky yellow flowered stuff.
Full. Of. Bees.
Then I bush cut about 75% of the field. I left 1/4 for the bees. I was on the tractor and seeing them fly everywhere and thought:"This can't be right, to mow this full of bees".
I checked again today. They're there in the 25% but not the same numbers.
I'm such a rookie, you have no idea.
Edit: They were small, gentle bees. Not big bumbles and not honey either. Just doing their thing. I could almost touch them. Size of a nickel?
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creeky
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# Posted: 23 Aug 2014 08:49pm
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Hey Scott. Glad to hear you gotz the bees. My numbers have improved since the birds fledged ... but I'm still not seeing the numbers.
I think there are thousands of kinds of wild bees/tens of thousands. Bees that look like bees. Bees that look like flies. Flies that look like bees. My favorite is what I call the golden bee. A bee with a body that looks like it's made out of gold. No idea what the real name is.
Is the yellow stuff goldenrod?
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leonk
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# Posted: 23 Aug 2014 09:49pm - Edited by: leonk
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I come from east of Eastern Europe  There wasn't enough fertilizer or pesticides, I guess... Apples were plentiful, but usually every other year on the same tree. No one would think to cover them in anything.
What drives me mad in Canada is the talk of the 'green', but it's just the talk. For example, my city mows down fields nearby 2-3 times per summer with all the nesting birds in there... They cut down 100 yo maples and oaks, mulch them and plant couple saplings. They built 'green' office for the city hall, spent gazillion taxpayers dollars, the building is all glass (Canada, remember?). These 'green' technologies suck the blood of Earth by making stuff in China and moving everything around the word by using oil pumped in the Mid-East where certain politicians feel obliged to have at least 2-3 wars going all the time.
Now for the bees. I see quite a lot of bumble bees when dandelion bloom, but very few honey bees. Plenty of wasps.
My cucumbers usually don't do to well, cause there are no pollinators around.
I watches a documentary some years ago, scientists were searching deep in Tajikistat for non-GMO seeds (forgot what is was), even in that hole they couldn't find any.
We're killing this planet.
Yes, there's lots of food and its cheap, but I say too much food and too cheap. If I turn on the TV (very rarely) I am amazed how much food ads are on.
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ChuckDynasty
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# Posted: 24 Aug 2014 05:15am - Edited by: ChuckDynasty
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Quoting: leonk We're killing this planet.
Yes we are and in an incredibly short period of time.
Creeky, thanks. I didn't realize the birds nested in the tall grass.
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creeky
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# Posted: 24 Aug 2014 08:14am
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leonk I hear you. You see "leeds certified" buildings made of glass concrete and steel. the glass from china of course. concrete and steel. Not exactly energy neutral.
Unusually I'm not seeing many of the yellow jackets this year. Usually I have hundreds/thousands. I still see the local wasps tho. In fact I disturbed a nest the other day moving my trailer. Mud daubers are so cute. They're big but they eat decaying wood I think. Very docile. And never in big numbers. I have a nest on the solar shed that is five years old and has maybe 20 members now?
Chuck. If you decide to stop haying and just mow it may take a few years for the birds to trust that you won't mow just as the babies fledge. From my experience. They are very sneaky too. You might have to wait a bit to see where they are. I have a cartoon about that on creektreat dot canada.
After the fledge I find it very rewarding to go through the fields and see all the tunnels in the thick grasses where birds have made there homes. Talk about minimalism. A swirl of straw is all it takes.
Why just this morning I was standing on the deck of the solar shed and looking out over the fields. It is an amazing day. The sun is rising and there's no wind. One of those days you know it's going to get hot, but the morning is so blessed that you find yourself just standing in the grass and breathing the cool humid air with sun on your back. And the grass by a pile of old hay starts to shake. Then chirp chirp chirp. Okay. Maybe all the birds haven't fledged yet.
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razmichael
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# Posted: 24 Aug 2014 09:08am
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"Why just this morning I was standing on the deck of the solar shed and looking out over the fields. It is an amazing day. ". ..... Probably about the same time I was sitting on the dock with the dog watching the mist slowly burn off the lake with a noisy family of blue jays flying around and a river otter playing on the rocks. Made even better by the hot mug of coffee from the French press - and the fact that every one else was still sound asleep. I love my mornings at the cabin.!
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hattie
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# Posted: 24 Aug 2014 11:58am
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I wanted to give a follow-up to the idea of using sockettes on apples to prevent coddling moth. It worked brilliantly!! We have never had so many perfect apples on our tree. I'm attaching a photo of our transparent apple tree. We removed the sockettes a week and a half ago and the apples are almost ready to pick. Some of the apples are huge - bigger than we have ever had in past years.
Our challenge now is to keep the deer and bears away. We are putting a small amount of ammonia in a bottle hung on the tree in hopes the smell will keep the wildlife away. So far so good.
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naturelover66
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# Posted: 24 Aug 2014 04:02pm
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Nice apples Hattie.... Thanks for the update!
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creeky
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# Posted: 24 Aug 2014 07:44pm
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ditto on the apples. those sockettes worked the trick. my apples are 1/4 that size and hard as rocks.
for those like chuck and steve who'd like to use their fields to protect ze birds from harm ... this guy is doing some great research.
http://earthtramper.ca/publications/Grassland%20Stewardship%20Manual%20-%20ET%20Inc.p df
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ChuckDynasty
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# Posted: 25 Aug 2014 06:44am
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Thanks for the link Creeky.
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