Bronx Bees

DOLLMAKING ~ CANCELLED!

2011-08-28T12:34:00.000-07:00

Hello Folks!

THIS CLASS HAS BEEN CANCELLED DUE TO LACK OF PARTICIPATION!!
Hopefully we can do this again in the future!

I'm happy to say that, due to a lovely good piece of luck, I am able to teach a CLOTH DOLL workshop in Iowa at Prairieland Herbs! For those of you who don't know, amongst my many crazy journeys, I am also an Art Doll Maker. These are dolls that aren't necessarily play-things, but are "grownup" works of art in the form of dolls. I specialize in cloth dolls painted in and old Medieval/Folk art sort of way. You can find good examples of ALL my work HERE! My creations have been in Mary Jane's Farm Magazine and Art Dolls Only and Artful Blogging....

Here is the description and registration for the class!

Zan Asha's Vagabond Cloth Doll Workshop!

What is a Vagabond Cloth Doll? It is an art doll made of cloth with jointed arms and/or legs with lots of olde world whimsy! Learn the art of making a cloth doll that you will paint, embellish, and make your own!

*NO SEWING SKILLS REQUIRED*

We will go through the process of:
~working the sewing machine including basic sewing ideas
~proper use of cloth materials for constructing your doll

~creating your OWN FREE-FORM patterns based on your own imagination
~sewing the pieces
~the techniques of either sewn joints or button joints
~proper paints, different shading and base paint techniques
~sanding techniques
~embellishing with buttons and trims, types of proper trim, painting WORDS and letters
~other embellishing points, and finishing your doll!

A WEALTH OF INFORMATION!
This will take you through a step-by-step, thorough, entire process so that ANYONE can create their own art dolls!

3 HOUR CLASS. COST OF CLASS INCLUDES COST OF ALL MATERIALS NEEDED to make YOUR DOLL!

Vagabond Cloth Doll Making

Sept 17th, 5-8pm (3hours)

Prairieland Herbs

Woodward IOWA
$75

Organic Beekeeping 101 (beginner's) at Prairieland Herbs!

2011-08-21T19:54:00.000-07:00

For those of you new to beekeeping, learn it the ORGANIC old fashioned way (the way it was meant to be)! PLEASE read FULL description, below!

BEGINNING ORGANIC BEEKEEPING 101 at
Prairieland Herbs
Woodward Iowa Sat Sept 17th
11:00am-1:30pm
$50 early registration/$60 at the door

$50

DESCRIPTION: Beginning Organic Beekeeping 101: Learn the basic principles of natural beekeeping as based on the principles of Zan Asha's WWII era grandfather, before chemicals were even invented for the home or the fields! Chemical-free beekeeping uses the natural social behaviors of the bees in order to best serve them. You will learn: basic bee social structure, basic equipment and setup of hives, chemical free management of diseases and pests and natural problem solving. Take this class now and be WAY ready for your Springtime beekeeping adventures!

~~~~~~We are being generously hosted AGAIN by the wonderful Maggie Howe and Donna Julseth of Prairieland Herbs, in Woodward Iowa. We will be working with a LIVE HIVE, so please wear light colored, protective clothing including long sleeve shirt, long pants tucked into thick socks and closed shoes and a veil or some type of facial/eye protection. Or just come in your bee suit!

Organic Beekeeping 102 (intermed/advanced) at Prairieland Herbs!

2011-08-21T19:46:00.000-07:00

This class is for those who have already taken Organic Beekeeping 101 or who are interested in advanced Organic Beekeeping techniques. PLEASE read FULL description, below...

ORGANIC BEEKEEPING 102 at Prairieland Herbs
Woodward Iowa Sat,
Sept 17th
2:00pm - 3:30pm
$50 early registration/$60 at the door

$50

***PLEASE NOTE THAT THERE ARE NO REFUNDS for CLASSES. You may, however, transfer your spot if you need, but please let us know if a this occurs.
PLEASE SAVE YOUR PAYPAL RECEIPT to show at time of class.

DESCRIPTION Organic Beekeeping 102: For the more advanced beekeeper, and for those who have taken 101 classes, this is the class for you. Still utilizing all natural, humane beekeeping practices, we will discuss more advanced beekeeping techniques including swarm capture and prevention, hive splitting, honey harvesting, varietal honey making, humane use of bees for commercial gain, and WINTERIZING your bees. If you have any questions or problems you are experiencing with your hives, please feel free to bring them to this class as well, and I will do my best to answer them!

~~~~~~We are being generously hosted AGAIN by the wonderful Maggie Howe and Donna Julseth of Prairieland Herbs, in Woodward Iowa. We will be working with a LIVE HIVE, so please wear light colored, protective clothing including long sleeve shirt, long pants tucked into thick socks and closed shoes and a veil or some type of facial/eye protection. Or just come in your bee suit!

SOLD OUT!!!! Middle Eastern Cooking At Miss Effie's!

2011-08-21T19:40:00.000-07:00

For those interested in Zan Asha's tasty cooking class! Learn the art of Middle Eastern Dishes! Great food and fun. Please read the FULL description, below

Middle Eastern Mayhem Cooking at Miss Effie's Country Flowers and Garden Stuff

Tuesday, Sept. 27th 6pm - 8:30pm

27387 130th Ave.

Donahue IA 52746

$30

THIS CLASS IS SOLD OUT!!!! THANK YOU!

DESCRIPTION Middle Eastern Cooking Class: journey to a far away land...with your tastebuds! Zan Asha and Miss Effie team up to take you down the Arabian Spice roads so that you can taste a bounty of Middle Eastern Food! As a teenager, Zan learned to cook some of these tasty foods, and she's happy to share her cooking secrets with you. Come try hummus, eggplant moussaka, and other savory delights, and learn about Middle Eastern cooking techniques and much more. It'll be a fun night at Miss Effie's, that's for sure! Food, fun, and friendship are on the menu! Join us, won't you?

Organic Beekeeping 101 (beginner's) with Miss Effies/Geneseo IL

2011-08-21T19:35:00.000-07:00

Organic Beginning Beekeeping 101 with Miss Effie at Geneseo,
8 Hidden Hills, Geneseo, IL
Saturday Sept 24th
11 - 1:30pm
$60 at the door

***PLEASE NOTE THAT THERE ARE NO REFUNDS for CLASSES. You may, however, transfer your spot if you need, but please let us know if a this occurs. PLEASE SAVE YOUR PAYPAL RECEIPT to show at time of class.

DESCRIPTION:
ORGANIC BEGINNING BEEKEEPING 101: Learn the basic principles of natural beekeeping as based on the principles of Zan Asha's WWII era grandfather, before chemicals were even invented for the home or the fields! Chemical-free beekeeping uses the natural social behaviors of the bees in order to best serve them. You will learn: basic bee social structure, basic equipment and setup of hives, chemical free management of diseases and pests and natural problem solving. Take this class now and be ready WAY ahead of time for your Spring beekeeping adventures!

~~~This class is made possible, again, by the wonderful Cathy LaFrenz of Miss Effie's Country Flowers and Garden Stuff and Amanda Wilson of My Mommy's Creations. We will be on Amanda's property and using her hives for demonstration. Since we are working with LIVE BEES, please wear light colored, protective clothing including long sleeve shirt, long pants tucked into thick socks and closed shoes and a veil or some type of facial/eye protection. Or just come in your bee suit!

Organic Beekeeping 102 (intermediate/advanced) with Miss Effie/Geneseo

2011-08-21T19:31:00.000-07:00

This is for those of you wishing to register online for the Organic Beekeeping 102 in IOWA at the Geneseo farm.
Organic Beekeeping 102 is for those who have taken Organic Beekeeping 101 or who are looking for more advanced beekeeping techniques.

See detailed description, below!

Organic Beekeeping 102 with Miss Effie at Geneseo,
8 Hidden Hills, Geneseo, IL
Saturday Sept 24th
2 - 3:30pm
$60 at the door

***PLEASE NOTE THAT THERE ARE NO REFUNDS for CLASSES. You may, however, transfer your spot if you need, but please let us know if a this occurs. PLEASE SAVE YOUR PAYPAL RECEIPT to show at time of class.

DESCRIPTION:
Organic Beekeeping 102: For the more advanced beekeeper, and for those who have taken 101 classes, this is the class for you. Still utilizing all natural, humane beekeeping practices, we will discuss more advanced beekeeping techniques including swarm capture and prevention, hive splitting, honey harvesting, varietal honey making, humane use of bees for commercial gain, and WINTERIZING your bees. If you have any questions or problems you are experiencing with your hives, please feel free to bring them to this class as well, and I will do my best to answer them!

~~~This class is made possible, again, by the wonderful Cathy LaFrenz of Miss Effie's Country Flowers and Garden Stuff and Amanda Wilson of My Mommy's Creations. We will be on Amanda's property and using her hives for demonstration. Since we are working with LIVE BEES, please wear light colored, protective clothing including long sleeve shirt, long pants tucked into thick socks and closed shoes and a veil or some type of facial/eye protection. Or just come in your bee suit

INSPECTIONS and other such Curious Events...

2011-04-01T00:55:00.000-07:00

Now...a few of you are asking some baseline questions about inspections...I don't want to get too complicated, here, and my motto is "less is more." Try the LEAST to disturb the bees. That actually means, don't go crazy with your inspection schedule (I know there are some keepers who would argue with me on the amount of inspecting, but I find the MORE you inspect, at least with the Langstroth/box hive, the more you can injure bees, possibly lose or hurt the queen, etc, etc. Clearly, use your own judgement and discretion in choosing your inspection methods), and try to be as smooth and easy on the bees when you are inspecting.

Grandpa's way of doing things, and the way we sort of do it around here:

1. CALM DOWN. You already know this one, right? If you are having one of those days where you are going to be agitated/rushed/non-focused, you will only make rushed mistakes, and the bees will sense this. They too will become agitated. Trust me, they are THAT sensitive to smells and the way your body moves.

2. USE your smoker! The smoke itself calms the bees, and will clear them from a place you need to work, which keeps them from being crushed if you happen to be removing/placing heavy objects around them. You can also use the smoker on stings, etc, as it masks the sting pheromone scent, which signals the bees to sting.

3. Work purposefully, and use slow movements. Know what you are looking for in an inspection and maintain a diligent but steady pace to your movements. Do not use jittery or jabbing movements and work with a purpose.

NEXT--make sure you know what to look for in a healthy hive. Some things to note:

1. What is the overall look of the colony?
Do you see workers flying in and out with a purpose? Workers "loafing" outside of the hive entrance, very few of them flying around signals a HUGE problem in that it can sometimes signal a lack of a queen. There is no signal pheromone from the queen that suggests the bees work--so YOU REALLY should inspect if you see unusual behavior in front of the hive.

What does the colony look like inside? Do you see a large worker population with a few drones on each frame? Can you spot the brood chamber? Do you see capped brood? Do you see honey being made?
It is actually important to find capped brood AND day old brood in the chambers (it's harder to spot these as they are smaller than a grain of rice, but try).
IF YOU CANNOT FIND DAY OLD/UNCAPPED BROOD, again, you may have an issue with a missing or infertile queen. Missing or infertile queens must be replaced! Also, a colony with a vastly huge amount of DRONES and not as many workers indicates a missing queen or laying workers (which is a whole nother problem I'll have to get to at some point, as this requires a specialized method of dealing with). FINDING THE QUEEN is not always necessary as long as you can find day old brood. It also does not mean you are out of the woods, especially if you are finding a vast number of drones and very little brood in cells; this may mean she is infertile....

Do you see any signs of disease? Brown splotches on the walls, outside walls and entrance may indicate nosema, which causes a sort of dysentery in bees. Do you notice mites on your bees? Do the wax frames looked jumbled up, mottled or eaten through? This could be the work of the small hive beetle or wax moths. It is best to research these sorts of diseases BEFORE you get your bees, really study pictures of the symptoms of each disease/pest problem, and then be on the lookout for these when you inspect.

Whew! Alright, those are just SOME things to look for when you inspect. In general, your first year bees, if they come from a reputable apiary, should be free of diseases and are generally gentle, without the issues of an infertile queen. Nevertheless, it always helps to be vigilant!

A Mission In the Toughest Part of NYC

2011-04-01T00:22:00.000-07:00

Alright---

Amongst all of this fun bee learning and mad-capped beekeeping journaling, I should probably let you know there is a TRUE mission here. Of course, all of this was not fully revealed to me at first...but here it is.

We have a two fold (or possibly even three fold!) idea. Right now, as I pointed out in THE PREVIOUS POST, bees are in a sorry state. CCD is reportedly killing a whole lotta bees in the world. Why should YOU care? Because bees pollinate up to 1/2 of the edible plant food supply on the planet, that's why. Honeybees, in fact, sort of have the magical status of being the most efficient pollinators--creators, really--of more food. They are the living, walking catalysts of plants pollinating each other (yes, they really are the "matchmakers" in the crazy world of plant sex).

Killing the bees is like killing ourselves. I know many people are afraid of them, but they probably just don't know how important they are.

Our mission has always been to teach people about bees. This much I knew when I started with Bronx Bees. It's not just about making great honey (though that's the fun part), it's about solving two other important problems....

My landlady, whose program this is, has already proven herself in the "green" market. Majora Carter is a land-breaking environmentalist and urban activist, as well as a MacArthur Genius grant recipient. She founded Sustainable South Bronx, to address the issues of the plight of poor urban folks in the Bronx. Lack of jobs, good housing, proper health, even job opportunities, exist in our neighborhood. One of Majora's programs was to bring green jobs--helping save the planet, essentially--to people who needed jobs, and training, and so is helping both her community AND the planet. Pretty smart. She continues to make her mark, nationwide at Majora Carter Group, LLC

Bronx Bees is no different. We aim to SAVE bees, make good honey, AND train people to eventually take care of bees. We hope to expand, employ more community folks, train them, save the bees, and save ourselves.
I have no idea how long this will take:
1.We just have to figure out how these bees work around here, how the NYC climate and flowering access works for the bees, and how efficiently they make honey.
2.We have to identify persons possibly willing to work with us to aid in the buying of more bee equipment to house and care for these bees.
3.We need to identify groups willing to put us in touch with those willing and needing to be trained with bees.
4.We need to find markets for our honey.

*Overall, we need to be able to create programs to train folks, get them jobs working with bees, and find viable access to our healthy RAW honey and products*

Me...I'm just looking to make it to swarm season!

Colony Collapse Disorder Vs. Grandpa's Way....

2011-03-30T00:21:00.000-07:00

Bronx Bees, happily making NATURAL honey

So in my last post, I mentioned a few things you might need to know about beekeeping. I forgot to mention an important part of beekeeping (and unfortunately, it's something I WISH wasn't important): Colony Collapse Disorder.

Before the late 80's (by some estimates), CCD didn't even EXIST. Folks like my grandfather (the original beekeeper) didn't have to worry about CCD. Why? Because there were no pesticides, and no chemical medications for bees....

But I'm getting ahead of myself. First, let's talk about CCD. CCD was observed vastly beginning in the late 80s/early 90s throughout beekeeping operations all over the world. It's signs tended to be that a generally healthy hive suddenly "disappeared"--one day the hive looked active and functioning, then literally a keeper would check the hive and find it empty of most/all workers, with only the queen and her brood inside the hive. Mysterious, indeed. There was no explanation, though generally it seemed to affect the worker/field bees drastically.

Even as we speak, there is no real sense of why this is happening, but it appears to be happening at an alarming rate. There are folks estimating that up to 40% (!!) more of bees keep disappearing each year, in comparison to the previous year.

There are new reports out that pin the blame on Genetically Modified foods, on governmental conspiracies, and so much more, but it does appear that the bees seem to be affected by "modern stuff."

Folks, do I need to mention that bees, who have managed to thrive hundreds of years before WE EVEN EXISTED, do not deal well with "technological advances?" It's a classic case of DEUS EX MACHINA; nature NEVER wins once we start toying with it. (By the way, you can read MORE about CCD HERE).

My advice is to work the "Grandfather way" (in my case, this is very literal): you REALLY should STUDY beekeeping before jumping into it. Read excellent articles or books that describe NATURAL bee behavior, social structure, and needs. THEN go out and beekeep. You must make your mind up to adjust TO the bees, not vice-versa. You CAN work without chemicals, by following the bees' lead. They are extremely smart and fastidious creatures---they do NOT want diseases in their hives and fight it with all they hive because they realize their hive is in peril otherwise. You must take an active and responsible role for the bees, but not overwork the bees. You must work within their seasonal schedule, you must be vigilant in regards to mites and other problems of the hive, and IF you need to resort to medications, please PLEASE check into natural homeopathies/organic medications that are now commercially on the market. My grandfather did this. He ended up with 40 honey hives of healthy bees.
You can do it, too....

Beekeeping Basics...

2011-01-27T23:51:00.000-08:00

Here is a post about beekeeping basics, done after we had several questions on additional info regarding all our previous posts...

Alrighty folks--it's occurred to me that I probably should backtrack on some of the things I've been talking about so far. It's easy to forget (for me, anyway) that so much of what I'm talking about needs some background on basic beekeeping. Because I'm running off information my mother has given me, and previous training, I usually slog ahead. But, fairness is a must. So I want to give a bit of Beekeeping Basics to you.

Bees have been around for thousands of years. Which is a good thing, because they are one of our most important, and most adept pollinators. The honeybee, or Apis Mellifera, has been so modified to pollinate that it's said that they can pollinate up to 80% of plant life, and about half of that is plant life that we eat (or that our "meat" eats). Einstein once said "if the honeybee dies, Man has only four years to live." I believe it.

Unfortunately, most people don't know much about this. They see a bee and all of this goes straight out the window; instead the idea of getting stung is foremost in their mind...there have been several occasions where I've seen people call exterminators when they see swarms of bees, and this is a shame. So MUCH can be learned from the honeybee.

Some things you may (or may not) know:

All bees that you see pollinating are FEMALE. In fact, much of bee society IS RUN by females, known as worker bees. Literally from the moment they are born, to the time that they die (usually only 6 weeks to 3 months!), they perform various functions for the hive.

There ARE male bees, known as drones, but their sole job is to mate with the queen bee. They do no specific function other than this.

The cohesive factor for the hive is THE QUEEN; her pheromone, or scent, keeps the bees in their specific hive, reassures them, and keeps them working. A queenless hive is an unhappy one. Worse yet---since the queens main job is to LAY EGGS, which hatch into more worker bees--without the laying queen, the hive is doomed.

Honey is food for the bees. We are technically STEALING it when we "harvest" honey. I know this seems obvious, but I've met people who literally are surprised when I mentioned bees make honey for...themselves! They truly think they make honey for US! (Haha, how very kind and convenient of them!)

Honey is a combination of pollen, nectar, water and enzymes from the bees. These are put in hexagonal cells (which eventually make up honey comb) made of wax, which the bees produce. After a certain amount of time, this mixture will ferment, and the bees will cap it with wax.

Bees will set up a "hive" in hollow trees or any dark, dry generally warm hollow. This could even be the inside of certain wooden homes! Man replicated this by first using the woven skep:

and then using boxed hives, the most popular being the Langstroth hive, which is the most used today:

Alrighty, those are a few things you should know...I'll add more as we go along!

Our First Official Hive Inspection

2011-01-20T17:48:00.000-08:00

Finally, after a month of our crazy bee capers (see PREVIOUS POST), we managed to do a general inspection, here:

So finally, here's the day that they recommend, the first official inspection. We did not get off to a great start with the feeder fiasco, but now it looks like the bees are doing well, the weather is great, and it's time to do a monthly inspection to see what is going on "under the hood." Here are a few words and pictures of the day:

Supah-Dwaine, rockin' the bee suit....

The front of one of our hives. Plenty of activity going on, which is a great sign.....

Opening the hive up....

Close up of the bees at the top of the frames. Lots of bees, very good. notice the burr comb on the side of the frames (bottom of the picture), as they try to fill up an empty space and stabilize it.

Prying open the frames can be a bit of a challenge...

James, our landlord and Bronx Bees supervisor, assists. Notice, the man is NOT wearing shoes. Such a farmboy...

The beehive, after a frame is removed...

One of the frames...notice the bees are already making honey--the white capped area in the top corner is honey...

Checking the frames for signs of healthy bees, brood (babies) and honey. Finding the queen is a bonus!

Overall, it was a good inspection. Both hives appeared to have a laying queen--we found good brood, bees working with a purpose and overall good signs of good hive health! Keep it up, ladies!

And Now, an Itsy Bitsy Setback...

2011-01-18T08:47:00.000-08:00

Also known as a "mistake," as you shall see in the following post, which was posted about a month after we initially installed our two hives.

It's summer. The bees are definitely buzzing. I've been speaking with Majora and James about making this project some sort of official thing, but what. My perpetual problem with just becoming a full time beekeeper is that I can't leave my somewhat secure day job to take up the life of a full-time agrarian, which is what beekeeping essentially is. Though I'm thinking that training beekeeping would be great around here. Another form of self-sufficiency and "Greening the Ghetto," not unlike the program Majora started some time ago.

In the meantime though, there are more pressing matters. Like the fact that I have committed a beekeeping faux-pas. Which is what happens when you are busy doing the day job AND fitting this crazy "extra-curricular" activity in.

So, anyway--here's what happened. For the most part, modern beekeepers use the boxed Langstroth hives to house their bees. These are wooden boxes with roughly 10 frames. The boxes can be stacked on each other. There is also an inner cover, with an "air space hole" that allows for some ventilation. One can also put a feeder atop this space, so that sugar can be accessed by the bees in the safety of their own hive. The feeder is balanced over said hole, then encircled by ANOTHER box, which is placed above, and around the feeder.

Sugar water is sometimes given to bees, as it is pure energy for them. They usually get this in nature through the nectar of flowers (and apparently sometimes fruits themselves, some studies have shown), but because our bees are starting off, we are feeding sugar water right after they are hived, and then allowing them to do their own work.

So, I'd set up the feeders in this extra space at the top and given them a tiny bit of room at the top of the air space hole to crawl up and get to the feeders....and then promptly left them alone. For two weeks. Which was a BAD idea. Why? Well, several got up in there and then decided to do what bees do best--which is utilize the empty space and build FREE FORM COMB in the area. Normally, bees do this in the wild--just build comb in empty spaces---and this suits them well, but it is definitely NOT ORDERLY--obviously not as orderly as building on frames (for those of you who don't know--the idea of building comb on straight frames is OUR idea, not theirs).

Some of the burr come and other unwanted comb after we scraped off the renegade comb built over the top hole...

Closeup of renegade comb built over the inner cover's hole.

Closeup of drone brood comb that was built up and over the top hole. These tend to be bullet shaped.

By the time we inspected the hives again, we found a huge mess of comb that we would have to remove, which was unfortunate because it was quite alot of work by the bees. However, we could not have this unorganized comb remaining as it would make inspections, and harvesting difficult. Since it was early enough in the season, they would still have time to rebuild and resume normal box hive operations!

Quite a lesson learned!

All Hail the Queen!

2011-01-18T00:00:00.000-08:00

This is a post taken 4 days after we hived the two hives:

So here I am about to check on the queen of our package hive. For those of you who don't know, generally, package hives come with about 1000 or so bees (2-3lbs worth) and a queen, who must be separated from her new "family." Why?

Because most bees will not accept a queen that is not part of their family, and most package hives consist of bees that have been combined with a bred queen not of their own hive. The idea is that her attendants will care for her, and she is separated into a "queen cage" for just this purpose. The attendants, as you might have guessed, are familiar with the queen.

Here is our queen cage. The queen bee and her attendant bee await inside. Notice the white circular sugar piece at the top of the cage: this is the "candy cork"

Anyhow, the ingenious part of the queen cage is that it is "corked' with a piece of sugar candy. That way, the attendants can feed the queen from this, but also, the bees outside can slowly eat their way in, and release her. In the time it takes to eat their way through the sugar, the queens pheromones will have wafted through the hive, and the new bees will become used to this, and thus the queen. Or so the theory goes. Sometimes it doesn't work, in which case the bees could kill the queen. However, it apparently seems to work enough that it has become the standard method.

Having said this, I'm happy to note that both hives are doing well. The package queen HAS been released and the hive looks busy and healthy. Let the beekeeping commence!

How It All Began...part III

2011-01-16T23:47:00.000-08:00

So, if you've been keeping up with these posts, you'll have noted that we had already installed ONE hive in the middle of May, and then ordered ANOTHER hive family for our green roof. In general, newbie beekeepers are often recommended two hives to start with, in order to compare the progress of the two. The second hive we ordered was a package hive, and you shall see what we did here:

Last week was a bit hectic but such is life, right?

In the meantime, I've weeded our city plot garden and installed EVEN MORE bees on the roof! Yes, we have a mighty army of stingers working the city pollen sources.

These bees were not like our first hive--they are package bees and do not come with their own frames of honey or brood. And their queen is also new to them and must be kept in her own little travel box, whereas the nuc hive already has an established queen....so it's a different situation altogether.

Here are some pics of the day of installing (click to enlarge pics):

Here I am, getting into the bee suit (a.k.a. "the Zoot Soot")

That day, I was accompanied by my landlady's employees, and Dwain was taking photographs. Here is Amilcar...

And James....who I think was getting into the role just A BIT much...

Here is the OTHER James, my landlady's husband. He was taking video of the experience.

Here are the three beekeepers! Notice our lovely New York City skyline in the back!

And the stars of the show! THE BEES!

James helped me remove the package components. we had to take off a small piece of wood and remove the sugar water in a can, which came with the bees so they could eat. This is the round circle you see in the middle of the box of bees, above.

We then had to remove the queen cage, which is held on the top, to the side. You can't really see her well in the above image--because she is blocked by the attendant bees, which come with her. One of her workers has identified her and is sitting outside of the box to the left.

Once we removed the queen, it was time to pour the bees into the hive....

...Literally you pour and shake the box sharply down, in the air, to dislodge the bees from the box. The box is then left on its side so the remaining bees can find their way to the hive.

We then placed a top feed onto the hive, but we had to gently brush the bees off of the top of the frames so we could place the feeder on it.

Once the feeder was in place, we poured in some sugar water.

And then put the top cover over the whole thing! Yay! New bees are now here. By the way, we have now installed TWO of these hives so it was a big day!

How It All Began....part II

2011-01-16T23:37:00.000-08:00

And now, here's another installment of How It All Began--in this case, I'm recounting the story of the first bees we got for Bronx Bees. This happened in the late Spring of '09. As I mentioned before (in the first post), some of the entries here were from a much smaller personal blog, so please bear with me if some of the wording seems a bit discombobulated.

Here is the entry, I hope you enjoy and feel our excitement at hiving our first bees!

So now comes the story of us FINALLY HIVING our bees. The modern bee landscape is such that there are MANY different APIARIES that specialize in selling groups of bees in beginning packages, and even shipping them from other states to you.
Despite all of that, it was no easy feat getting the BEES, themselves. As you may or may not know, there is a shortage of bees because of Colony Collapse Disorder, and wave of heavy interest in beekeeping. So, many apiaries were dern near sold out of bees by the time we ordered.

I won't go into the ~~painful~~ interesting bits of finally getting our bees, but the jist of it went something like this:

* Called ten different states, listened to eight different accents tell me they "were sold out of bees for the season."

* Called more states to find out that their delivery of bees would be later than our climate could manage, or that they wouldn't take anything but check, or they couldn't deliver them properly.

* Called more people who, in within the span of the hour when I said I would call right back, had managed to sell out of bees...

* FINALLY located someone who could meet our credit-card-paying-need-it-asap criteria.

*Held breath as bees were delivered 3 days, then had to cart them from post office (by the way you could NOT scare people faster than drag a nuc hive box though the postal window of a packed city postal facility).

*Managed to lug them onto our city roof! Yay--were half-way there!

Next up--hiving. My landlady's coworker, Dwaine, was a willing participant. It helps that he lives two doors down from us, and is curious about learning this stuff. We are also filming a documentary about city bees, so Nadia, a documentary film-maker, was there shooting also.

~~I should note that bees are usually sent in two ways: as package bees, where new bees (newbies?) are sent with a young/new queen in a smaller package or as a nuc (nucleus), which is an established family of bees with their own queen and their own frames with started honey and babies on the frames. We got the nuc, shipped with five of their own frames in a nuc box

Here are some pics from the day:

Here are Dwaine and I. He could be looking at my funny because a) he is really nervous as he's never hived bees before or b) he thinks I am a weirdo for acting like "we look rad in our beesuits..rock on!"

Here is lovely Nadia, and her camera. Although she was just shooting, we made sure she wore a bee suit!
Up first--the open nuc hive, which is set close to the permanent hive, at left...

Closeup of the nuc hive--they were packed pretty tight!

Here I am holding the first frame...yes, it's really me!

Closeup of bee frame...

Dwaine eventually got brave and helped me transfer a couple of frames....
Three frames over, two to go. I loosen each frame slowly with the hive tool...

Here is Dwaine helping transfer another hive...

When all of the frames had been transferred, I gave the nuc box one last shake to remove stragglers. We eventually left that box on its side to let the last of the bees find their way to their new home.

Once the bees are completely transferred, I place the outer cover over the hive...

Closeup of the bees at the inner cover

And the outer cover...

AND WE'RE ALL DONE!!

Dwaine poses by by the finished hive. We are using an entrance feeder (the glass jar, upside down at the outside right), for the day and will remove it. In it is sugar water, which we are giving them after their long trip.

And that is our bee story....until Saturday, when the bee story continues--we will be hiving PACKAGE bees.

How It All Began...part I

2011-01-16T23:26:00.000-08:00

You might be thinking this post will outline how Bronx Bees actually began and to some degree, you'd be right...

But we're about to go back...WAAAY back, further than the idea of Bronx Bees, and into my background.

See, I'm a third generation beekeeper. My Hungarian grandfather is the one who started the bee-mania, though by his country's standards, he was doing what came naturally. Hungary is one of the larger producers of honey, and this was clearly the case in Europe around WWII.

My grandfather ended up with 40 hives. He had three brother and they EACH had 40 hives as well. They were quickly known as the "HoneyMen of the Prairie" (by the way, my family hails from the Prairie lands of Hungary, so my mother technically lived in "the little house on the prairie!")....since this was the era before chemical medicines (or pesticides, or detergents) were available, all beekeeping was naturally....well, NATURAL, and these stories were the ones that intrigued me.

These beekeepers are typical of keepers of my grandfather's era. Beekeeping suits had not been created, nor gloves. Barehanded beekeeping wearing light clothing was recommended.

As a child, I gave no thought of beekeeping (I suppose most children don't), though when I visited my grandfather in Hungary, I was intrigued by the remnants of his hives (by now, he had gotten too old to care for the bees). I remember the old hive boxes, sitting ghostly in one corner of his hand built home, and the scent--there was something about the scent that was both timeless and otherworldly. It was heavenly, but I couldn't believe that BUGS created the wax that produced this scent.

Fast forward twenty years later, and I remember my mother telling me stories of her adventures with bees, including her DEATHLY allergies to them. I was fascinated with her dedication to caring for her father's bees, even though it came at a great cost to her.

Mama Elizabeth as a little girl. She would become the farming and beekeeping super-woman that would inspire me.

My grandfather is gone now, and there are oddly no pictures that were ever taken with him and his hives. The art of natural beekeeping instruction falls to ME, and I am using my mother's advice to care for the bees the old way. I am continuing a long held tradition that I feel is best for these bees...

and it makes me rather proud to do so.

Welcome!

2011-01-16T22:43:00.000-08:00

Greetings!

You are at the official home home of Bronx Bees, a tale of some green-loving urbanites and their love affair with the insect Apis Mellifera, or Honey Bee. This is the story of how we brought urban beekeeping to our little corner of the Bronx. This blog is the official culmination of beekeeping, and some of the entries have been gleaned from my own personal site, in order that there be one cumulative place for all of our bee explorations.

The project is on of many environmental initiatives by the Majora Carter Group. Majora is my landlady and friend, and a worthy ally of the South Bronx. She founded Sustainable South Bronx, and now runs her own company.

Her husband, James Chase, is the head brass of the operation and, more importantly, he is excited about beekeeping in conjunction with our Green Roof, which keeps the bees warm in the winter and cool enough on our hot roof so that they might thrive.

My right-hand man is Dwaine Lee, head of the B.E.S.T training program at SSBX, greenroofer extraordinaire, renegade urban hippie, and Deputy Beekeeper of Bronx Bees.

And I'm Zan Asha. I've had a lifetime of crazy and interesting jobs (vet tech, ethnic dancer and dance director, farm manager, artist), and I have to say, as a third-generation beekeeper, this has been one of the cooler and more fascinating jobs of my life.

Together, we are Bronx Bees. Our aim is to introduce bees and help them thrive in the city, to continue beekeeping, and to teach beekeeping to others. We think it's important, especially since bees are said to pollinate up to 80% or our edible food! But more on that, later...

This is a look back (and forward!) to our two seasons of beekeeping, so far! Join us, won't you?