What did you do in the garden today?

[1cock2hens]

I have some squash seeds drying out from food we ate on Thanksgiving. I have never made roasted seeds, but I am going to try and make some with those squash seeds. I guess you can add other spices as well, not just salt.

Wife puts cinnamon, sugar, a little vanilla, and a pinch of salt on roasted seeds

 

[1cock2hens]

I bet all the discarded produce at the big box stores goes into a landfill somewhere, not even a composting landfill.

It depends on the store. 15 years ago I worked at walmart and that specific walmart sent produce, meat, and dairy to a pig farm.

I think each store figures out its own system according to the local laws/ economy/ ect.

 

[Nym]

Since I have gotten into gardening, I feel somewhat closer to my food that I grow. If something has a small blemish, or bruise, I just cut it and use the rest of it. And, the parts I cut out from our food that we don't eat, get put into the chicken bucket and the girls love it! I know some of those food items would just be tossed at the big box stores. Seems like we waste so much good food.

I bet all the discarded produce at the big box stores goes into a landfill somewhere, not even a composting landfill.

But speaking of tossing out blemished food, Dear Wife took out a half pack of meatballs from the freezer last night and they had some freezer burn on them. That was unacceptable. So, everything went into the chicken bucket last night and the girls got a meatball breakfast this morning. They loved it!

Australia is selling Imperfect Perfect veg & fruit in a campaign to stop so much wasted food. Not that it ever truly wasted as farmers would get it cheap for their livestock and a lot of it going into commercial juices. People were conned into perfection eating, something my grandparents always seeing was children shying away from a bruised apple.

Those chickens will be waiting for meatballs morrow lol

 

[fuzzi]

Since I have gotten into gardening, I feel somewhat closer to my food that I grow. If something has a small blemish, or bruise, I just cut it and use the rest of it. And, the parts I cut out from our food that we don't eat, get put into the chicken bucket and the girls love it! I know some of those food items would just be tossed at the big box stores. Seems like we waste so much good food.

I bet all the discarded produce at the big box stores goes into a landfill somewhere, not even a composting landfill.

But speaking of tossing out blemished food, Dear Wife took out a half pack of meatballs from the freezer last night and they had some freezer burn on them. That was unacceptable. So, everything went into the chicken bucket last night and the girls got a meatball breakfast this morning. They loved it!

When I got home from work I realized I'd run out of grapes for the flock. I had some pear cores from yesterday, so I chopped those up and sprinkled a little shredded mozzarella cheese on top. Feeding frenzy! For dessert I picked a few lettuce leaves, which were quickly stripped to their ribs.

 

[CedarLane]

Since I have gotten into gardening, I feel somewhat closer to my food that I grow. If something has a small blemish, or bruise, I just cut it and use the rest of it. And, the parts I cut out from our food that we don't eat, get put into the chicken bucket and the girls love it! I know some of those food items would just be tossed at the big box stores. Seems like we waste so much good food.

I bet all the discarded produce at the big box stores goes into a landfill somewhere, not even a composting landfill.

But speaking of tossing out blemished food, Dear Wife took out a half pack of meatballs from the freezer last night and they had some freezer burn on them. That was unacceptable. So, everything went into the chicken bucket last night and the girls got a meatball breakfast this morning. They loved it!

Suppose we're too cheap... We go ahead and eat food despite some freezer burn (major freezer burn we'll toss or cut away). Food is too expensive to throw away.

 

[CedarLane]

From that PDF:

"Other particularly savvy honey-making imposters go as far as to feed bees sugar and syrup to produce honey, rather than natural foraging — severely impacting theproduct’s nutritional benefits ..."

Beekeepers sometimes DO feed their bees... to keep them alive. In the late winter/early spring, if the weather warms up, bees may go out to look for food. There probably won't be any plants in bloom. They may also have eaten their store of honey, which is their food for the winter. So in February, it is VERY common for northern beekeepers to feed their bees a mixture of sugar and pollen. If the spring bloom is late, in other words, there is a dearth of nectar/pollen, beekeepers feed their bees sugar syrup. Else the bees would starve.

Late in the season, when there is another dearth, bees are often feed plain ol' beet sugar. This feeds them so that they don't have to break into the honey they've stored, and helps that last through the winter.

The goal is to keep the bees from starving. If they have not made enough honey -- for whatever reason -- they need something to eat during the winter to make it through.

They also need to eat to make wax, not just honey.

A colony of bees is about $140-165. Not cheap. You do what you can to help them keep them alive and get through the winter.

Anyone adding anything to honey but claiming it's pure honey, on the other hand, is ripping people off.

I was hoping someone would say this. I was wondering about this, but didn't feel informed enough to speak up myself!

 

[WthrLady]

From that PDF:

"Other particularly savvy honey-making imposters go as far as to feed bees sugar and syrup to produce honey, rather than natural foraging — severely impacting theproduct’s nutritional benefits ..."

Beekeepers sometimes DO feed their bees... to keep them alive. In the late winter/early spring, if the weather warms up, bees may go out to look for food. There probably won't be any plants in bloom. They may also have eaten their store of honey, which is their food for the winter. So in February, it is VERY common for northern beekeepers to feed their bees a mixture of sugar and pollen. If the spring bloom is late, in other words, there is a dearth of nectar/pollen, beekeepers feed their bees sugar syrup. Else the bees would starve.

Late in the season, when there is another dearth, bees are often feed plain ol' beet sugar. This feeds them so that they don't have to break into the honey they've stored, and helps that last through the winter.

The goal is to keep the bees from starving. If they have not made enough honey -- for whatever reason -- they need something to eat during the winter to make it through.

They also need to eat to make wax, not just honey.

A colony of bees is about $140-165. Not cheap. You do what you can to help them keep them alive and get through the winter.

Anyone adding anything to honey but claiming it's pure honey, on the other hand, is ripping people off.

My last colonies were 190$

 

[Sally PB]

My last colonies were 190$

Wow! Here in Michigan, I could get a colony for $140 (package), or pay $165 (nuc) for essentially the same thing, but a little easier on me to "install" into my hive. Being total newbs, we went the easy way.

Once you have the "woodware," ie, the hive and all its accoutrements, your biggest expense is bees. You don't plan to take any honey the first year, unless they did very well. You leave it for the bees. The hive can be reused, but if your colony dies, you have to replace it somehow. Here in Michigan, with our winters, there are some years 90% of hives survive, and some when 10% of them do.

A package of bees is just that: A wooden box with screened sides containing about 3000 bees, and a mated queen in a tiny separate box. She is kept in her box because she isn't known to the workers, and they might kill her. Her box has a small opening, sealed with a piece of sugar candy. Peel the label off the candy, and by the time the bees have eaten it away, they (should) have accepted the queen.

Me, dumping a package of bees into a friend's hive. Hubby, my friend, his granddaughter, her boyfriend, and I each did a package. Bees all over the place.

Hubby and I installing a nuc (short for "nucleus hive"). Lift out the frames, put them in your hive. The queen is already in with the bees, and known to them. You take the frames out of the nuc box and put them in your hive. Easy! For an extra $25, yeah, we'll do it that way.

This is our queen, Charlotte. Hubby named her. He said all her workers are the charlatans. She's the one in the middle, with her butt pointed into a cell. See the little white dot in that cell? She just laid an egg.

 

[WthrLady]

Wow! Here in Michigan, I could get a colony for $140 (package), or pay $165 (nuc) for essentially the same thing, but a little easier on me to "install" into my hive. Being total newbs, we went the easy way.

Once you have the "woodware," ie, the hive and all its accoutrements, your biggest expense is bees. You don't plan to take any honey the first year, unless they did very well. You leave it for the bees. The hive can be reused, but if your colony dies, you have to replace it somehow. Here in Michigan, with our winters, there are some years 90% of hives survive, and some when 10% of them do.

A package of bees is just that: A wooden box with screened sides containing about 3000 bees, and a mated queen in a tiny separate box. She is kept in her box because she isn't known to the workers, and they might kill her. Her box has a small opening, sealed with a piece of sugar candy. Peel the label off the candy, and by the time the bees have eaten it away, they (should) have accepted the queen.

Me, dumping a package of bees into a friend's hive. Hubby, my friend, his granddaughter, her boyfriend, and I each did a package. Bees all over the place.
View attachment 3699593

Hubby and I installing a nuc (short for "nucleus hive"). Lift out the frames, put them in your hive. The queen is already in with the bees, and known to them. You take the frames out of the nuc box and put them in your hive. Easy! For an extra $25, yeah, we'll do it that way.
View attachment 3699596

This is our queen, Charlotte. Hubby named her. He said all her workers are the charlatans. She's the one in the middle, with her butt pointed into a cell. See the little white dot in that cell? She just laid an egg.
View attachment 3699597

I miss my bees.

 

[Sally PB]

I miss my bees.

How many hives did you have? What kind of bees?

We just have the one, and I'm thinking we might get another one next spring. So far, I'm really liking the Italian bees that we bought.

My bee guy said people ask him, "How can you tell the Italian bees from other bees?"

He said, "The Italians say, 'Buzzah buzzah buzzah.'"