Planting Clover

We took advantage of the nice weather this weekend to get our clover planted in the summer pen.  Last year's experiment in growing clover in the forest went pretty well, that is until Sadie the donkey figured out how to get past the electric fence we put around it and ate it all.


Step one on re-planting is to have Seth disc the soil with a disc attachment on the back of the quad.  It works pretty well for a low-cost, amateur attempt at farming.

From 2015-10-09

It's actually pretty fun because all you do is ride randomly around the field as fast as you dare.  Here's a video of the disc in action.

From 2015-10-09

The aftermath.  It looks pretty good I think.  Most of the soil has been broken up and is ready for planting.  After we walk it with the seed spreader, we'll take the top off a cedar and drag it around to cover everything up.  If all goes well we should see a green fuzz in a week or so.  Check back then for updates.

From 2015-10-09

Since Sadie is in the winter pen now, I decided to get into the summer pen and start clearing and thinning out some of the scraggly saplings, cedars, and dead trees.  It was going well until I got in between two trees that were too close together and caused the track to come off.

From 2015-10-09

Luckily I have a great mobile mechanic who came by and got it fixed right up. I have to say, I was pretty stressed when it first happened.  I had visions of paying thousands to get it fixed.

From 2015-10-09

While we were burning the aftermath of some previous bulldozer work, I found this interesting shaped rock.

From 2015-10-09

I'm pretty sure it's an arrow head or some kind of Indian tool.  I can't really see this being a naturally worn rock.

From 2015-10-09

Here's the burn pile from the previously mentioned bulldozer work.  It's amazing how quick you can knock trees down and how long it takes to clean them up.  My lovely assistant Sawyer has just lit it up.

From 2015-10-09

It was a lot of dragging and cutting to get it all burned but it was nice to get out of the way.  That pile has been sitting there for almost a year, waiting for the right moment to burn.

From 2015-10-09

It seems like it's always too muddy, too wet, too windy, too hot.  There's always some reason to not do it.

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The fire crew striking a pose after a morning of hard work.

From 2015-10-09

Mushrooms

We recently added a few more logs to mushroom log stack.  This time we put in some Ash instead of Oak.  It will be interesting to see which does better.

From 2015-09-21

We put foil tags on the end so we can remember that they are innoculated with Warm Blue Oyster spawn in  September 2015.  Looking forward to tasty mushrooms in a few months.

From 2015-09-21

Wildflowers of Southern Middle Tennessee

I didn't use to pay too much attention to flowers. I liked them and didn't have anything against them but, other than noticing they were pretty, I didn't give them much additional thought.

However, once I started keeping bees, I started paying a lot more attention to what was blooming during honey season. As I became better at identifying flowers during the honey flow, it naturally led to more interest and curiosity in blooms year round.

In order to not lose my previous work, I've decided to keep a running list on the blog so I can go back and reference what I've discovered so far.

(disclaimer.  These are just my thoughts and observations.  There is a huge margin for error)

The flower below is called "Mouse Ears" or the Asiatic Dayflower.  Despite being kind of pretty, it's considered noxious and an invasive species.  The bloom period Mouse Ears is early September and I haven't seen many of them since.

After checking the wildflower identification site, I found that the bloom for these only lasts for one day, thus the name.  From what I've read, the bees like the color and they can be a food source but, due to their short duration, are probably not very dependable other than for a quick bite.

From 2015-09-17

The flower below is a "Late Purple Aster".  I was happy to see a large number of these start blooming this fall.  There were a lot of them that came on at the end of September and start of October.  They are a small, pretty flower and are very important for late season bee feeding.   The picture below is a little washed out because of direct sun but, to the naked eye, they are nice shade of purple, which you can see in the background blooms.

From 2015-10-04

I think the flower below is a "Bellflower".  They grow on a long stem and seem to be a favorite of the bees.  This bloom showed up around the first part of July.  Apparently it's kind of noxious and not highly desired by anyone but beekeepers.

From 2015-10-04

The flower below is the ubiquitous "Brown Eyed Susan" (or possibly the black eyed).  I'm not entirely sure how to tell the difference.  Brown/Black Eyed Susan are a pretty easy flower to identify and can be found all over in fields and on the side of the road.  Also, bees seem to love them.  The blooms show up around late June early July and seem to last for quite a while, up to a month.

From 2015-10-04

More Brown or Black Eyed Susan.  I'm not sure why the petals are different on the top flower.   Maybe it's a little dried up or something.

I'm not a 100% sure what this is.  It looks a little like Phlox but doesn't match up exactly.  The closest thing I could find was the "Carolina Wild Petunia".  The bloom showed up in late June and with it's blue/purple color and big, open landing pad, looks like it's pretty bee friendly.    I'll have to pay closer attention next year so I make sure what it actually is.

From 2015-10-04

The following two pictures show the Bergamot or "Beebalm" flower.  With a name like that, how could a bee not like it?   They're very pretty but don't seem to last too long.  These blooms showed up in mid-June and seemed to last about a week or two.


Closeup of Beesbalm

The "Woodland Pinkroot" is striking to see in the forest, with it's bright red standing out against all the green.  These aren't really bee friendly since they have a long cylindrical shape that keeps bees out.  Also, bees seem to like yellow and blue and ignore red so they probably don't pay much attention to these.  

The Woodland Pinkroot also have a short bloom period.  These showed up in mid-June and didn't stick around too long.  An additional item of interest is they are supposed to have medicinal properties but can be dangerous if not prepared properly.

From 2015-10-04

There is a lot of "St. Johns Wort" in the forest.   These started showing up in early June.and seemed to have a season of about 3 weeks to a month.    It's more of a bush than a flower and easy to identify by it's bullet shaped buds when not in season.  It's also supposed to have medicinal properties.  Being yellow and with an open flower with lots of landing spots, it's a bee favorite.

From 2015-10-04

The flower below is most likely the "Oxeye Daisy".  It's pretty but not a native species and is considered noxious and invasive.  These bloomed in early June and seemed to have a pretty long life, lasting several weeks.  Although they are white, the yellow center probably attracts bees.  It also has the nice landing platform.  I'd guess the bees probably like these.

From 2015-10-04