Living Homegrown

HexHive - Who Wants To BEE Square in Beekeeping?

When I attend a show such as the San Francisco Flower & Garden Show, it always takes me a few days to digest all of the wonders I saw there. And this year, there were a few items that are still haunting me with their cleverness. Take, for example, the HexHive:

 

The idea here is that man has always made square hives for production of honey...but why? In nature, the circle and hexagon are the shapes bees create. Now, there are some people using these beautiful beehives and they are finding that the bees are thriving better than standard hives.

A woman in Petaluma, CA has the patent on these hives and is building/selling them. They are expensive compared to the standard square hive, but each HexHive is custom built and they are absolutely beautiful. (That is one of her hives pictured above)  You see her website HERE.

 

I have wanted to keep bees since filming The Bee Episode of Growing A Greener World and spending a few days with beekeeper extraordinaire Corky Luster of the Ballard Bee Co. Now...I want to do it in a HexHive.

There is an interesting study being done showcasing the advantages of such a hive. You can read about that HERE. In the meantime...a girl can dream...

UPDATE: This post prompted a discussion on Twitter about the hives. My twitter friend Backyard Wisdom found more info on the hives HERE and HERE and also told me there is a great downloadable book from Alabama Cooperative Extension on Bee Keeping. Yeah! 

Playing Catch Up

Life has become a whirlwind since joining forces with Joe Lamp'l to create Growing A Greener World.

In our first year we:

Wrote and filmed 26 episodes

Traveled to 36 cities and 18 states

Got very little sleep

Drank a lot of coffee

(I'm talking gallons!)

But we told some incredible stories about gardeners doing great things for the planet and we all had a blast along the way. You can watch all the season one episodes HERE in high def.

Including the episode about my garden and chickens here in Los Angeles.

Although it was a huge adventure, we are always running at 200 miles an hour and many things get left in the wake - one of them being this blog. After writing posts for the GGW Canning & Preserving Blog, the Burpee Blog, the scripts for the episodes and coordinating all the filming, I had very little time to write here as well.

Sorry guys.

But you know, we learned a lot that first season. We are better, faster and we have streamlined our methods. I now have two assistants working for me (I know, right?) and am SO ready to dive back into our conversations HERE!

I have a new vision for this blog and I am very excited about it. The focus is still gardening, growing food, preserving, etc and yes, there will some behind-the-scenes of a garden show info here too...AND there will be more video. I have something up my sleeve! Can't wait to share.

 
Thanks for being patient with me.

In the meantime, if you want to see a quick summary of what our first year was about, check out this video we made.

 

Here is what it looked like from my side of the camera. (I'm holding the computer with the script to be sure Joe gets his lines right.)

NEW Canning & Preserving Blog Over At Growing A Greener World

You know how I am the Canning Expert (and Associate Producer) for the Growing A Greener World public television series? Well, we just launched a new Canning and Preserving Blog over on our website! Each week, I will posting on how to preserve the harvest and capture local flavors in a jar.

Come on over and see!

I already have post on:

Water Bath Canning 101

Why Do We Can?

How to Can Crushed Tomatoes

My Garden Will Be On TV This Weekend!

Lights! Camera! Cue the songbirds! Cue the Squash! Aaaaand ACTION!

Yes, it is true. Two months ago, we filmed for FIVE straight days in my backyard for our Public Television series Growing A Greener World. As the Associate Producer of the show, it was my job to coordinate the 5 day shoot, including finding the guests, pre-interview them, acquiring permits, permissions and lining up all the locations.

But what made this particular shoot a bit more stressful was the fact that my garden was being featured (on 3 of the episodes we were filming). So I had to do my AP job while also getting myself AND the garden ready for filming. 

Whew! I still get tired thinking about it.

The filming itself went well. The crew was supposed to arrive Monday afternoon and stop by to get an overview of my garden. Imagine my surprise when I opened the door at 11 AM only to find our Director and Lighting Director on my front porch with all of their equipment! 

Apparently Joe Lamp'l (our Ex. Producer) had emailed them in mid-flight and told them to start shooting when they arrived! Funny thing about that...HE FORGOT TO TELL ME! It was a miracle I was even home! 

So, I was a bit thrown off as I was running out the door to get food and wine (a very important element in a 5 day shoot). But I let the guys in to start filming 24 hours early. Oh MY!

Lucky for me, I have some very talented and reliable friends who not only picked up my kids from school, but also got the crew some much needed coffee while I escaped to run errands.

Meanwhile, I started texting Joe on the airplane (his flight was not set to land until 2:30 PM) and most of those texts and emails began with the words "I am going to kill you...and it will be a slow, painful death". When Joe landed, he texted me that he was afraid to get off the plane. (As well he should be!)

But in the end, it was wonderful to have the guys here a day early as that gave them almost an entire day to film B-roll of my garden that we can use in many of our episodes.

The episode about me and my garden is called "Living Homegrown Fresh" (sound familiar?) and will be airing THIS weekend on Public Television. It is all about growing your own food, eating locally, and how I do urban homesteading in the middle of the city.

I was listening to the play back of what we just shot.

The team doing the "close" in front of my garden writer shed.

(Yes, this is where I write for the show)

Our host/producer Joe Lamp'l filming in my front yard.

We filmed at a farmer's market to discuss eating LOCAL!

You need to check your local listings to see when it is airing in your neck of the woods. OR WATCH IT ON THE SHOW'S WEBSITE! We will be airing the episode (in its entirety and in high definition) on the Growing A Greener World website starting this Sunday morning, August 22.

Behind The Scenes of a Bee Episode

 A few months back, we filmed a bee episode for Growing a Greener World. I got to spend the day with an incredible bee keeper, Corky Luster of the Ballard Bee Company. I learned a lot from him during the filming. It made me even more determined to have my own bees one day.

Corky rents out his hives! He will place a hive in your backyard, maintain it for you and you get all the pollination from the bees and a jar of honey at the end of the season (made from your own backyard plants). How cool is that??

As part of the episode story, we followed Corky as he visited some of his hives. The first stop? My very good friend Robin Haglund's garden. She is a popular garden coach and owner of Garden Mentors. She helps gardeners create and maintain their dream landscapes. She is so talented.

Here she is with Joe Lamp'l (The host and producer of GGW) She wanted a little extra help in the pollination department for her own backyard, so she had Corky install a few hives.

Wow. Those bees really were working hard.

And check out Robin's cool greenhouse!

Here we are in Robin's backyard filming Corky and Joe tasting the honey. YUM!

 

And during the shoot I got to see the rooftop garden at Bastille Restaurant in Seattle.

It's made of raised beds with shade-cloth lids and the restaurant can grow vegetables there winter or summer! 

It is a great operation and will be featured on the bee episode because Corky placed bee hives up there to help with pollination. The restaurant is then going to cook with the honey from their own hives.

The raised-bed garden was designed by Colin McCrate of Seattle Urban Farm Company.

(Photo: Left to right - Director Carl Pennington, Joe Lamp'l and Colin McCrate.)

McCrate, who has tons of farming experience, noticed that people wanted to have a garden in urban areas but didn't necessarily want to tend it themselves.  So he stepped into the breach and became a garden designer who will come to your house, design a garden, and then maintain it throughout the year so you can have delicious food without hassle.  He can even start you up with a chicken house!  Costs can very depending on the size of the garden and the amount of upkeep, but at the end of it you're eating from your own garden and your children are seeing where their food comes from, so it's definitely worth it.

The bee episode already aired on Public Television, so we now have it up on our show website. Go HERE to watch the show in high definition.

After watching I bet you will want bees of your own too...

We Be Jammin'

I have been thinking about why so many of us enjoy canning/preserving the food we grow. There are many reasons, but for me, canning is what we as gardeners can do to continue the story of our garden. It is a way for us to capture the flavors and essence of the food we grow in a little "time capsule" called a canning jar. Later, we can open that time capsule and again experience the deliciousness of our garden and share it with family and friends.

Since we seem to be on the subject of canning all the wonderfulness of the garden lately, I thought you might be interested in this. The media is catching on and is starting to talk about the hot, hot, hotness of canning and preserving. Here they are a few articles for your perusal.

The Globe had an article about how younger generations are jumping on the can train. They are especially interested in pickles, chutneys and unusual recipes. Oh yeah, baby!

Even the Wall Street Journal is getting in on the story talking about how the worst recession in decades has caused trends toward eating healthier, growing our own food and CANNING.

The New York Times did an article last year on the popularity of canning. Writer Julia Moskin says, "Like baking bread or making a slow-cooked tomato sauce, preserving offers primal satisfactions and practical results." Don't you love that?

And good old NPR has several canning stories including Canning Makes A Comeback and Freezer Jam-The Baby Step to Canning.

There are many more great articles out there, but that should keep you busy for awhile...

Can Jam & Canning Across America

I have mentioned Canning Across America before HERE. It is a group of cooks, gardeners and food lovers committed to the revival of the lost art of "putting up" food. They have a great website with great information.

Last month, on Canning Across America, Tigress in a Jam guest-posted about organizing a Can Jam Challenge for the 12 months of 2010. Each month, participants receive a designated food to "put up". They then blog about it on their websites, participate in discussions, share recipes, etc.

The purpose of the Can Jam is to raise awareness about the joys of canning and to share recipes, inspiration and preservation information. Well...being that I am a certified Master Food Preserver, I just HAD to sign up!

January 1st was the kick off day and all 137 participants were assigned citrus as our designated food to can this month. Watch for my post with recipe in the near future. 

Tigress makes a great point about the virtues of canning which ties in nicely with the same philosophies of this blog.

Tigress sums it up here by saying canning is:

Local – I think many of us became interested in canning as an outgrowth of the Locavore movement. Preserving fresh produce grown in your area is the logical progression. And when you grow your own, and a glut is on, it can become a necessity!

Organic – In an effort to control what we eat, be it produce, sweeteners, flavors, etc., when we make it ourselves we know what went into it, and we know how we like it. It’s having a real choice about what we consume.

In Season - Canning produce in season keeps it in season all year (in a certain way). Ergo a much tastier interpretation of eating seasonally than abstaining from certain foods except for once a year!

Humane – I heard tell that veggies get a kick out of being pickled, and fruit, well, who among us canners has not witnessed that barely audible exclamation of fruit about to be jammed, "Sweet!"

So true! The deadline has passed for signing up, but you can still participate by posting in the comments of my recipe posts or on any of the participant websites. You can see a full list of Can Jam participants HERE. But one participant I already know is Willi at Diggin Food. She is a fellow garden writer who has an excellent garden/food blog full of great information. Be sure to check in on her and tell her I said "Hi!"

And remember, we will be including canning and preserving information on Growing A Greener World as well. After you grow it all, you want to know what to do with it.

Photo by: Tigress

Micro Pigs - The New Pet?

I just saw this clip from a British telecast on Micro Pigs: little teeny-tiny pigs that never get beyond 14 inches tall!

They are a hot new craze in Britain and I can see why.

What Urban Farmer wouldn't want a tiny pig that can fit in the palm of your hand? Although it is completely ridiculous, I find myself wanting one too. Oh dear...

Check this out:

Growing Your Own Shiitake Mushrooms

 Some of you may recall this conversation I had with my husband recently...

Husband: "What is this moldy baggie in the refrigerator? Can I throw it away?"

Me: "NO!!!! That is my bag of Shiitake mushroom plug spawn."

Husband: "Huh?"

Me: "It is a bag of wood sticks that are inoculated with Shiitake mushroom spores."

Husband: "Umm...what?"

Me: "I am going to pound them into a log, let them colonize the wood and sprout my own Shiitake mushrooms. I am keeping them in the refrigerator until I have the log ready. Plus, letting them sit a bit helps the spores multiply before I embed them into the log."

[Pause] 

Me: "Why are you looking at me that way?"

Husband: "I'm just waiting for the alien life form to sprout from your body...Who are you and what have you done with my wife?"

----

Well, I wanted to update you on the mushroom growing project. I managed to plant those plugs!

I bought the plugs from Fungi Perfecti in the state of Washington. You can order plugs for Shiitake, Tree oyster and others. They also have counter top mushroom kits, books and other cool information.

To grow the Shiitake mushrooms in a log, you first need a hardwood log (with some exceptions). Oak, eucalyptus, and elm are good candidates. I used mostly oak. The logs need to be from live trees and must be cut 2 weeks to 6 months before using.

First, you drill two-inch deep holes (with a 5/16th inch drill bit) that are no more than four-inches apart.

Then, you hammer in the wooden plugs with a rubber mallet.

After plugging, the logs should be placed so that they are off the ground. They need steady moisture and low light. Then...you wait.

It takes 6-12 months for the mushrooms to colonize the wood. I'm waiting now and will keep you posted...See? No alien life forms involved!

Top photo credit.

Yard Sharing - in Portland and Everywhere

Yard Sharing.

Have you heard of this? It has become increasingly popular over the last few years. Gardeners who want more space to garden team up with people who have the yard space (but lack the time or skills to garden). The gardener provides the labor, the homeowner provides the land (and usually ends up helping too). They agree to split the crops.

The result? Both sides end up with baskets and baskets of edibles! It is a great idea. Everyone eats more local, wasted space is used efficiently and total strangers become garden buddies.

Yard sharing is especially popular in the Pacific Northwest. There are several groups in Seattle and Portland that help organize this concept and more groups are appearing all across the US.

Portland Yardsharing.org is one such group. Their mission is "to provide resources to our community that enable the creation of gardens with the sole purpose of generating fresh local food while cultivating healthy growing relationships in our neighborhoods."

But you don't have to join a group to make yard sharing happen for yourself. I have enjoyed reading about the yard share experiences of the Shibaguyz. When they were looking for more land to grow food on, they just posted an ad on a community blog. Within a few hours, they had over 30 offers! They picked four garden plots that fit their needs and their urban yard sharing adventure began.

It really is a simple idea that reaps such huge benefits. Many yard sharers are even growing rows to feed the hungry. Something to think about next spring...