Are You Guys Native?
by Alex Jokela
Our neighbor had been wondering about the poles in the garden and why we were apparently making two small teepees; he asked if we were native.
The long and the short answers to that question are the same: no, we are not native. Both my wife and I heritages that hail from northern and north-central Europe - not native American.
We put a new vegetable garden in this year - eight feet by eight feet. It takes up a small section of the yard that the grass never really grew in and the hounds really were never encouraging to the grass that attempted to grow there. In this new garden, we are mainly growing vine-crops: pole beans, bush beans, and cucumbers; in the non-vine arena, there are red cabbage & parsnips and lavender for a border.
Night Fire - May 21, 2010
by Alex Jokela
Earlier in the week, I trimmed up one of our large pine trees - it had had some branches that were hanging low and getting in the way when mowing the grass. Given that I have had a penchant for fires since I was a mere toddler, the obvious solution to the problem of getting rid of the cut branches was to burn them.
Semi-weekly Hive Check - May 20, 2010
by Alex Jokela
I decided to give videoing myself while I checked the hives a try. I dug around until I found a video-capable camera. Panasonic DMC-FX07. The video shoot (I think that is what it is called in the biz) went well. The audio is kind of bad and when I stood up completely, my head was cropped out of the shot. In the end, it is roughly ten minutes long; I edited out the part where I got stung on the hand and let loose with a string of expletives.
Hives Alive and Gardens Galore!
by Alex Jokela
Around two months ago, I looked at the calendar and decided that I would take vacation from work for the week of May 17, 2010. As it turned out, I picked the best week, so far - this year, to take off. In the evenings, the temperature has been going to down into the 40s, and during the day, the high 70s. Few clouds, cool breeze - fantastic bee-friendly weather.
Snow in the Bee Yard
by Alex Jokela
March came and went, then April arrived. Very little rain in April, but things were greening up nicely. The willows flowered, and then the dandelions started their bloom. April left, and May arrived. There are a litany of various quaint and tired things people say about the weather in Duluth. I am a bit of a curmudgeon today, so I am not going to list these trite -isms. I bring this up, because, today, it snowed. I rather do not mind the snow; it is slightly annoying that I am not able to go out, dig in the dirt and the like.
