Who Knows Where the Time Goes

New Kitten...Simba, sitting pretty in pink. Below, Red Pansy...
Above Green Peas and Sweet Peas...Below, Pear and Apple...
BEARDED IRIS SHOW...Mulberry ...and Below, Nectarine. I love the shadow of the spent flower on the pint sized fruit...
Grape blossom clusters on a Cloudy day...Below, Lilies in Bud...
Red Pear...Below my Friendly Bees...I am literally parking my nose on the landing board to get these shots...Notice how they are hanging down in a great cluster. Mellow, furry and verrrry interesting to observe.


Simba Vies for Equal Blog Time...Little feral dude rescued from the cat farm in town. He is getting well socialized and spoiled. When he isn't slurping up Fancy Feast or scampering about on the prowl, he spends most of his time just snoozing on his hot water bottle! He is a replacement kitten (..slow in coming i know..) for Nala, who was snatched up into the food chain - already 2 years ago! Welcome home Simby.
I have been swamped in catch up chores. My leg is still on the mend so I am at granny speed. The weather was very hot for a while, and the last week or so has been real cool, cloudy, and windy (my least favorite kind of weather.) We collected maybe 1/10 of an inch of moisture this weekend. That was the total for May. Of course the plums all love it and are thinking they now live in the Sacramento River Valley! Every one is putting on beautiful lush growth; unlike last year which was wet, and they were plagued with aphids or some damn wet spring viral thing, that made them weaken, curl up and barely grow. All the fruit trees are looking very good. Well, that is, except for the usual sickies in the bunch...The Pink Pearl Apple and one Satsuma Plum are both doing the shrivel act again. I suspect some root damage, or a strange virus in the case of the apple. All the other apple trees are rocking, and I am looking at a lot of fruit thinning in my future...

Flowers are all going off like crazy and I am way behind photo wise. Just no time. More later.

Mid May

The Inner Beauty of the Iris- Bearded and Not...Baby Nectarine and Pear..
MID MAY FLOWER SHOW : Above - Close Encounter with Columbine...Below, Chives.. Calendula...and Rose...
More Fruit...Queen Anne Cherry above and First Grape Blossoms below...
Chard...It is so weird looking when it flowers, very curvy and thick.... Chard is a.. biannual; ADDENDUM: Make that Bienniel. (Thanks Kris!) It does not flower or bear seed until the second year it has been in the ground. (Not twice a year as a biannual would be!!) Once established (barring extremely cold weather) chard will freely acclimatize to the Humboldt Homestead.
Way above...Broccoli Coming on...These were set out in a raised bed as starts about 7 weeks ago. Above, new starts of greens and flowers that within weeks could look like the lushness below; Salad for days! Thank you Dr. Earth.
1ST Tomato Blossom...and Below, the Grim Reality of Life in Humboldt County...Somewhere around 1000 gallons of Red Dye Diesel was lost to the sweet waters that flow in this place...WHY?...

Winged Beauties...
Of course that includes the BEES! They are so cute right now. I worked them today and took a couple shots while the hives were open. Impressive build up. I gave them both an additional hive body. In the main brood chambers there was evidence of hatched bees, and lots of capped brood, open brood, eggs, pollen, honey and nectar in both hives. One hive, which I had sensed was not as strong, and was actually not intending to add to today - had built up a great abundance of capped honey cells, (burr comb) atop the frames! This was scraped off, as I inspected, and it was returned to the feeding area in the empty super on top where they will reclaim it.... NOT, I must admit, until I first tasted a generous mouthful! I have been rushing on the flavor and experience all afternoon. There is nothing that compares to fresh honey; it bites the back of the throat with pure sun and flower essence. The energy and uplift is immediate. I love my little bees and really hope they continue to do well.
Looking in the entrance...Can you see them hanging down in great numbers? I can't either...bad light. I am feeling pretty good. I had radical 18 guage needle therapy on my knee supplemented by a generous dose of steroids. There is hope. Plus my New Scooter came, so I am already warming up for my next big and (fun!) activity. My Mushing Blog will most likely carry on at length about this new (and probably dangerous) hobby. Dreaming of the road...

May Flowers

Baby Almond..just one of the few that set this year. Above that, Low Growing Thyme with a passing oak leaf superimposed on its lush new growth. Irony. Below, 2nd Kiwi Sprouts...the 1st sprouts were killed by frost.
The Flowers of Tomorrow...present in the Raspberry Buds above. Red Pear Set below.
The hills are in full color with so many wild flowers and already the grass is fading in some spots. Without a generous May or June rain, we may be in for a very dry summer.

I am irrigating ...and that's about all. I am still pretty much in-valid with my knee injury. Find me on my mushingblog for the full ruminations.

Here, the flowers about the yard are starting to burst with great energy, but for the most part the fruit bloom is over. A few apples are bringing up the rear and the persimmon will bloom much later...Hope my knee is well by then.... We have been grounded for a month and it has been a real drag.

I did manage to work the bees yesterday and found them to be in good shape.Each hive has 5-6 frames of foundation fully drawn out, and they are full of eggs, larvae, capped brood, pollen nectar and even some capped honey. I found the queen in one hive, but not in the other. It had abundant eggs and brood - so I will assume for the time being, she is there. They both came marked with a red spot painted on there thorax and one was still easily visible, perhaps the other has rubbed hers off...?

My understanding of the hive, is that at this point about a month out from installation, it is just past its lowest population - as some workers have passed on- and new eggs take about 3 weeks to hatch, after which time they wander around on the hive doing menial chores until they are about 2-3 weeks old when they follow the other foraging bees out of the hive. They will begin by taking training flights first where they "boil" in front of the hive. Each time they fly out further and further out, always turning back to face the hive, return and fly out yet further from home until they have learned their way. I have seen some of this behavior.The bees are working with great enthusiasm the borage, and the fire poker plants. Both are easy to grow and will basically self maintain around here, so they would be a good Bee Food to include in your landscape plans for 2008. Below - A good argument against buying a living Christmas Tree. Real bright plan: Spend $40 for a lush beauty that we then subject to a slow tedious death, by offering heat and lights in December, and neglect (read: small pot/no water) in the spring....sigh. Next year maybe we'll just kill one at the get go.