Catching a Swarm

I used up the last of my beeswax this week, making more dipped candles for the Cheshire Union, but I'm planning to harvest my honey and wax within the next few weeks, so that should replenish my stocks (I know I'm contrary to what most beekeepers do, but that's when I have the most time, so that's when I harvest). I also generally supplement my wax with wax from other local beekeepers in the area as well. However, there a certain gratification that comes from making candles out of one's own beeswax, especially when it comes from a swarm you caught and raised yourself.

I caught a swarm of bees in 2006. It was an unusually cold day in May and my family and I were next door at my grandmother's doing the spring yard work. My mother was sawing a dead branch off one of the trees and when it came down, it was crawling with countless honeybees, (needless to say, my mother hightailed it away from the tree as fast as she could.)

I'd been planning to order a swarm of bees for quite some time, but hadn't had the time to build a beebox, and since it had gotten so late in the year, I knew I'd have to wait until the following year. Or so I thought. Knowing I'd been interested in starting beekeeping, my mother told me about the bee encrusted branch. I was ecstatic.

It was close to nightfall, so I rushed home and spent the rest of the daylight building a beebox out of some pieces of scrap lumber. It wasn't pretty, but I didn't have time to do it as properly as I would have liked. There weren't any honey frames in it, and my queen excluder was just a piece of thin wood with some haphazard holes drilled through it, but I figured they make their nests in hollow trees when they're in the wild, so my box would just be like square, hollow tree. While I was doing that, Mom had sawed off the pieces of the fallen branch, so all that remained was a chunk of wood covered by a swarm of bees.

When darkness had completely fallen, I put on some heavy clothes and tucked my hair up under some handkerchiefs tied tightly around my head, as I didn't have a bee suit at that point either. Mom and I loaded the beebox into the back of the pickup truck and we drove back to the fallen limb. I carefully lifted the beecovered chunk of wood into the box, hoping I had the queen. It was probably one of most nerve-wracking moments of my life as I stood there holding a wooden box that I could feel the bees buzzing inside. I think my heart was racing faster than their wings were beating.

We drove the truck (slowly so as not to agitate the bees) up to the spot where I'd chosen to put the hive, far away from the house and the cows. Then we pulled the box off the truck and set it on the ground. It was even more of an adrenaline rush because the bees were louder from having bounced across the field in the back of the truck. One of them started flying out of the box and we quickly decided it was time to leave, as the lights of the truck were starting to wake them up.

There were still a couple hundred bees lying in the lawn when we drove back down. They'd fallen off the wood when I put it in the box. I wasn't sure if they'd find their way to the hive or not, so I left Mom's big popcorn kettle next to them with a lure, hoping they'd crawl inside. Unfortunately by the next morning, they weren't crawling inside, they were starting to build beeswax on the outside of the kettle. So I waited until nightfall, then Mom and I went back up the kettle.

We took a shovel, dug up the patch of grass the bees were sitting on, and plopped it into the kettle, slammed on the lid and took it up to the woods. I didn’t dare try to open the top of the kettle for fear of getting stung to death, so I tossed (literally) the kettle next to the hive and ran like crazy. The next day the bees had left the kettle and joined the rest of their colony in the hive.

Since my beebox was basically like a hollow tree, the colony built all their own honeycombs. That meant my bees took a few years to move into the upper level of the hive, so I didn’t have anything to harvest the first two years. The upside is that they had enough honey for themselves so I never have to feed them in the winter. 

So, if you ever find a wild swarm, that’s one way to catch it.

Alova Skin Pouch

This pouch goes well with western or medieval costumes or can be used as an accessory to more modern dress.
Items needed:
Alova fabric
7 inch piece of fake leather string
Stainless steel slotted concho

Alova is at its best when brown shades are used as it truly brings the leather/suede look to life for a fraction of the cost. Other shades can also be used for this project if desired. Cut a 34×11 rectangle from the alova. With the velvety side facing up, fold the bottom toward the top so that the velvety sides are facing each other. Leave 8 inches at the top; this will become the top flap later on.

Sew the sides together, but be sure to leave the 8 inches at the top. Turn the bag right side out. Fold the 8-inch flap over the front and use a pair of scissors to cut fringes 3 inches long and 3/4 inch wide. Sew the concho to the center of the flap using the slot to secure the thread.

Take the piece of leather string and run it through the slot of the concho. Tie it off in a knot and let the ends trail down.

Cut another rectangle of alova 48 inches long and 3.5 inches wide. Fold in half lengthwise with the fuzzy sides together. Turn it right side out and lay it flat so that the seam is in the center. Setting a sewing machine to zig-zag, sew a row of stitches all the way across the center of the rectangle over the seam. This will help flatten the handle and the zig-zag gives it a decorative pattern. Sew each end of the long strip to the top flap of the bag, right at the top of the fold.

Due to the long strap, this pouch works well being worn over the shoulder, across the chest. It lends itself well to Tolkein or World of Warcraft style elf costumes.

The Hush of Winter

The first real snow arrived here a few days ago, and with it comes the wonderous hush of winter. The distant cars on the roads are suddenly silenced, the woods are still and calm, and the only sound to be heard is one's own footsteps softly brushing across the covered ground. Many people complain about the cold and snow of the winter season, but as I walked through the six inch deep covering of fluffy, white powder this morning, I have yet to understand why. Sure it takes a little bit longer to get dressed, and we have to carry jugs of water to the barn because the hose is frozen, but I wouldn't trade it for anything.

When the snows of winter come, it's as if all the outside world has fallen asleep, and I can feel nature's hush relaxing me as well. When I walk down the woodland path behind my house, I feel a great sense of peace enhanced by the gentle meolody of my neighbor's windchimes swaying in a gentle breeze on the other side of the trees. They have the most beautiful sounding windchimes. They sound like buddhust temple chimes instead of ordinary clanging windchimes, and listening to their music while walking in the snowcovered woods is quite litterally magical.

I love the feel of soft snow beneath the sled as I pull this week's bails of hay from the hayshed to the cow barn. I love the way it eases the difficulty of walking on frozen ground for the animals. Even Sassie the horse, who currently has an abscess on her foot that we're treating, seems to benefit from the cushion of snow. And lastly, nothing is cozier than coming in from chores with snowcovered boots and standing by the wood stove to warm up.

I think the reason some people dislike the winter is because they don't appreciate it for what it is. It is a time of slowing down, and a time to relax, and unless it's treated as such, it can't be enjoyed. It becomes a pain rather than a joy. Maybe we just need to quiet ourselves this time of the year as well, and follow the example of the hush of winter. My grandfather always said, you have to be outside in a snowstorm to enjoy it, and I couldn't agree more.

Be Bee Friendly

Without bees there is no pollination, and without pollination, there is no food. Be Bee Friendly.
Colony Collapse Disorder is a problem currently talked about a lot among beekeepers. No one knows the cause of it, and therefore, no one knows how to fix the problem. But a problem is exactly what it is. For reasons unknown, the bees will suddenly lose their sense of how to return to the hive. Without the hive, the bees die, and without the bees returning, the hives die. Hence the colony of bees collapses.

Outside of the bee community, it not widely talked about, and many people believe that colony collapse disorder doesn’t affect them. Nothing could be further from the truth, however, as bees feed us all. They are the primary source of pollination for many of the world’s main food crops. Without bees there is no pollination, and without pollination, there is no food.

While there is not yet a known cause for colony collapse disorder, there are things we can do to help bees. First and foremost, don’t kill honeybees. Killing members of an endangered species (exactly where honeybees are heading toward if something doesn’t change) only weakens the group further. A single honeybee can carry up to 100,000 grains of pollen in a trip. Killing even one bee makes the hive sacrifice that 100,000 grains of pollen and thus the honey that would have been made from it.

During the spring, when the hives separate and swarm off, many unhappy people find themselves host to a swarm of hundreds of bees trying to make a nest in their house. Once again, do not spray these insects. Instead, call around the community looking for people who collect bees. You can even post ads on sites like craigslist offering free bees to anyone who wants to come and get them. In most community there are bee groups with people who go out every weekend collecting renegade swarms. They are more than happy to remove them from your property for you.

Another way to help bees is to plant flowers that are attractive to bees, giving them an ample food supply. Asters, sunflowers, hollyhocks, crocuses, roses, blackberries, pumpkins, lavender, butterfly bush, and honeysuckle to name a few are all bee-friendly plants. Having an available water source is always a boost for them as well. The main staple food in most bees’ diets, however, is clover. As such, a person wanting to help bees should never spray their lawn. Not only are the toxins themselves a danger to bees, but spraying kills all the clover that the bees so greatly need.

If you want to take it a step further, consider actually raising bees. Not only does it produce a sweet treat for you, it helps increase bee populations. If the thought of raising bees and collecting honey is less than thrilling to you, consider raising bees for the sake of the bees. This is probably one of the healthiest ways to raise bees. In this method there is no profit of honey sought, a person simply gets the bees, gives them a home, and leaves them alone, letting them live as though they were completely wild.

Last but not least, even if raising bees yourself is out of the question, you can always support those who do raise bees by purchasing local honey. Not only does this keep people raising bees, it is also a healthy alternative to store bought honey. Due to the local pollen that the bees put into local honey, it helps reduce the symptoms for people who suffer from seasonal allergies. Buy local, be bee friendly.

Christmas Card Lampshade

Here's a good way to recycle old Christmas cards and broken lampshades while ending up with a free decoration for next year.

You will need:
An old lamp shade
Old Christmas cards
Silver or gold paper
Red or green bias tape.
Glue

We don't throw much out at my house, and Christmas cards are no exception. We usually end up with stacks of all the prettiest ones from previous years. The question is, what to do with all the left-over beauties? The answer came this year in the form of a cracked lampshade. I realized there was no better way to give new life to both the lampshade and the cards than by putting the two together.

First find an old lampshade. It doesn't matter how stained or cracked it is because the cards will cover the surface. If there is fabric on the outside of the lampshade, cut it off. Cut the backs off the Christmas cards; you'll be using only the fronts for this project.

Glue several cards to the outside of the lampshade, laying them so that the top edges just overlap. There will be 1-2 inch spaces between the card bottoms. To fill those, cut triangular strips of gold or silver paper and glue them to the lampshade covering any open spaces between the cards. Next glue a piece of red or green bias tape to the top and bottom edges of the lampshade.

Next year use the shade to give your lights a holiday feel. You can either change the lampshades for the holiday season, or if your Christmas card lampshade is large enough, just set it right over the other lampshade.

There is something indescribably satisfying about organizing. Organizing excites me. It's as if removing clutter from my physical environment also clears my mind, giving me new energy and new project ideas. I finally tackled a job that's been staring me in the face for quite sometime: My Bedroom. Aside from having all my soap, candle, and card making materials in there, I also have a card table set up with my sewing machine, surrounded by bag of material and half finished projects.

While I do have a closet in the bedroom, it was never shelved, so has been severely underused. But not anymore. Today I finally took it upon myself to build some shelves, and at last, I am beginning organize my craft and sewing things. Everything is going to have it's own place, and anything in a box has a handy little tag telling me what's in it. It give me more room in my room, and it doesn't look so cluttered. Best of all, I inherited some old wooden furnature that really warms up the room and the dresser is the perfect place to set my antique Singer sewing machine. (My cousin found it out in his barn a few years ago and gave it to me because he knew I sewed. One of these days I'll have the motor repaired in it).

The only thing missing is a carpet, which I intend to make from some old upholstery material Gramma gave me a few weeks ago. It's yellowish, so it'll be shag rug reminiscent, giving my room a sort of hippie-Civil War feel. (I know, strange combination, but the old furniture looks 1800's and most everything else looks 1960's. Well, anyway, they're two of my favorite fashion eras).

And on a really bright note, today I was thrilled to learn that I sold quite a few crafts at one of the shops I have my items in. Currently I have rye weavings, greeting cards, and crafted gourds in the Simply Unique Gift Shop in Bloomfield, and I have hand-dipped beeswax tapers in the Cheshire Union Gift Shop in Cheshire.

And finally, I'm getting my site revised. Here's my new logo. I took out the textured background and just made it plain green, plus I added the deep red boarder and changed the wording to match.

Little Hearts Wreath

Lately I've been getting a lot of help in finding shops that will take my craft items. One of my fellow market vendors was very kind in mentioning my name to several people who ended up putting some of my things in their shops. I wanted to do a something for her to thank her for her help, so I made her a little wreath. It turned out kinda cute, so I thought I'd share it.

This wreath is made from nothing more than wallpaper sample fabrics and scrap pieces of quilt batting.

You will need:
2 small pieces of patterned fabric
1 piece of white fabric
Cotton batting
Navy blue ribbon (1/4 inch wide)

My aunt used to work in design, so she ended up giving us several old wallpaper books. Aside from a slew of lovely papers to use as valentines, there were also a bunch of fabric samples in the wallpaper books. I decided to use them to make a wreath.

Choose two corresponding pieces of patterned fabric (they don't have to be from wallpaper sample books, any scrap fabric will do). Cut a basic heart shape from a piece of paper or card stock, it should be about 2 and half inches at the widest end. Use it as a template to cut five hearts from each piece of cloth. Also use it to cut ten hearts from plain white cloth to use as the backing.

To make each section, put a patterned heart and a white heart wrong sides together and sew the entire edge together, leaving a small half inch section open. Through the open half inch, turn the heart right side out and stuff it with some sort of fluffy cotton. (I always save the tiny scraps left over from quilting, so this is a great way to use them up). Sew the half inch closed. Repeat for all ten hearts.

Sew the hearts together side by side forming a ring. Fashion five little bows from the navy blue ribbon and run two stitches through the center of each to secure them to the wreath. Because there's nothing fragile on this wreath, it can be put almost anywhere without fear of damage from falling.

Here's the finished product:


Wreath Front




Wreath  Back