I must admit, we have been quite busy over the last month since we came home from Indonesia.  Our Honey Share Project has taken off and there has been some wonderful support so far in the community. Our vision of bring bees back into the city seems to be working.  So far we have 6 sites and a list which is growing.  Most of our time has been spent building boxes, working on our website, visiting our new babies and replying to inquiries.  This week we have had a mention in The Australian, The Age Epicure as well as Melbourne Broadsheet which is amazing!.  We hope to keep the momentum going!

Back to the patch and it is harvest time, thankfully my patience has paid off and we have had a wonderful haul of Garlic.  Approx 40 bulbs have been dug up and are hanging to dry out as we speak.  I did a lovely version of plats you see at the market, I just hope that mine doesn't fall apart :)

Well it is interesting times here at our place, we were almost ready for the arrival of our new friends.... feeling a little nervous... excited too at the same time but the reality of 'actually' having bees was upon us.  We finished off our introductory course only a week ago and then attended the beekeepers meeting to put our name down for a 'swarm' thinking we have time well a month we were told that we would have to wait at least.  So on the weekend we decided we would go to see one of the members Bob Owen who runs Bob's Beekeeping Supplies in Eltham to buy our supplies and pack so we can make up our boxes 'supers' for brood and honey.  Saturday morning I also got a phone call from a member to say we had a swarm waiting! Yikes.

So supers, we brought 2 x 8 frame sets to make up. Nicely the frames with foundation comb were assembled so Mat put together the supers, base board and lid.  We quickly painted them Sat, Sun in two coats of outdoor acrylic paint (something light in colour we've been told) then get them ready to drop off to the member on Wednesday so he could house them, for a day/night and then let us have them on the Friday morning.

Mat also put some sleepers together for the back corner of the block.  It is about 6m from the Veg patch and 3m to the Greenhouse.  We will have to finish this off with some screening on the fence and some pebbles.

So here we are... we wait a few more days before we can open the hive, meanwhile I am out there each day checking on the activity.  Lots of comings and goings with legs full of pollen and hopefully nectar. I hope too the queen is busy laying to replace those tired ladies who only live for 4-6 weeks.  We eagerly await to see what activity is going on.  I can't wait, I will def try and take some photos when we open the hive!  Oh and no stings .. yet... they are very civilised so far.

A few of many bee facts 

• A beehive contains 10,000 to 60,000 bees
• There is only one reproductive, the queen, in each hive and she lives up to 3-4 years
• The queen can lay from 1500 to 3000 eggs per day
• Man's first alcoholic beverage, Mead is a wine made with honey
• All the bees in the hive are female except the drones
• And the drones, the male bee make up about 1/4 of 1% of the hive population
• They forage as far as 6kms from the hive
• Most importanly bee pollination is vital to us and our planet.... they maintain the variety of fruits and crops we all enjoy!

 And on a less exciting note the potatoes are kicking along in the greenhouse, I can't fill those bags anymore so let them grow and flower!

Melbourne’s dams have banked 24 billion litres in the past week... Most of the rivers in the state are under flood warning.  Major flooding all over the north east of the state and even us city dwellers have been hit with 30mm on average in just a couple of days.

The patch is booming...fully hydrated, plumped up!  Coincidently we have just finished putting in our water tank.  A 3000L slimline next to our garage. We have been away for a week in sunny QLD helping a friend do some renovations so I really noticed the change the recent down pour has made and some 'making room' needed to be made, a little mini harvest!

I've recently brought a book on seed saving, I think we should make the effort to be as self sufficient as possible, besides the saving on buying seeds - I am going to eagerly try and get reading so I can work out what I need to do for my flowering spring onions.    

I am so thrilled to see the bees today buzzing around all of my broad beans.  We are almost ready to get our hive, I am soo excited as this Sunday we finish the second half of our beekeeping course.  Equipment we must buy now and register ourselves for a 'swarm'.. It is the start of the season and I just can't wait.  I know that Mat will be super excited to get out there in his suit.. anything for a dress up!

I have been pondering about a visit from a cousin of mine.  A welcomed visit for sure as last time we crossed paths his life as well as mine was very different.  It was so lovely to see him back on track and on 'his' journey.

It got me thinking though every life form comes to an end at some stage, during ones life there are also cycles and stages of growth and change.  Like seedlings, we all start out as babies ....we all grow, given a decent environment and although sometimes we take different paths than what was intended for us.. cycles start and continue until we recognise them and are willing to learn from them.  Sometimes like a neglected plant, ticking along, struggling to survive... but it tries.  Its intended purpose is to grow, change and fruit.. like us... No matter what we try to do to our lives, no matter what path we find ourselves on, we all have a purpose.. the universe has intent for each and every one of us.  It is just up to us to embrace it!

In the greenhouse the potatoes are sprouting, after eagerly watching them for the last few weeks.  I have been covering them up with compost as I see them come through.  Some have come up earlier than others which means I have odd shaped mounds in my bags which is slightly annoying because they are not evenly filled though I am sure I will be happy with the end results.

In the patch there has been a little of 'out with the old and in with some temporaries'. Our capsicum finally came out after making it through most of winter. It braved the frost and cold and on its last legs was still fruiting!


I transplanted most of the broccoli in the greenhouse in the patch as they really filled up the pots quickly and were already starting to flower even though they were only 30-40cms tall. So I have given them some more room to spread their legs.  The broad beans are still flowering which is lovely to bring some colour to the patch in winter and as a bonus the butterflies have been staying away! Love the fact that they think there are 'others' there and leave us alone... they think the flowers are other butterflies! 

Yay for some sunshine today - thankfully! I don't know about you but this weather is getting to me, I suppose we are just not used to the winter weather I know I remembered braving as a child happily.. the past few years though winter hasn't been quite as cold, perhaps I have just become used to a couple more degrees but this winter... brrrr icy.

Despite the cold we had quite the productive weekend. We got to join in on a family tradition of Italian Salami making with some friends.  I was super excited to see the generations of one family get together to process 85kgs of pork.  What I can tell you is that you combine 30g of salt per 1kg of pork, the pork used is from the shoulder and the leg... mixed with some wine, herbs including fennel and pepper and chili. They used a combination of sheep intestine and when that ran out some synthetic skins were used.  The intestines were soaked and cleaned the day prior in water with lemons and oranges. A machine which minces the chopped meat was used to make the sausages, though I was happy to see an old school hand mincer as well.  Now we have 5kg of salami hanging in our shed - 2 weeks and they should be ready - cross fingers.  Thanks to Gino and all the family of Nicola and Leo for having us!.

We met a lovely man Bob, from Bob's Beekeeping in Eltham who kindly showed us his bee hive and gave us a run through on what you need to do to keep them- really fascinating, well the bees certainly are and I loved seeing Bob get excited about his bees .  It was nice to hear that all that I had read was pretty much true, which gave me some confidence in dealing with looking after them.  To my surprise they were more active than what I thought for winter but I suppose active will be when you have 30,000 workers coming and going over spring and summer.. Off to join a club and register to get a swarm will be our next step.  I can't wait to get one of those suits too...!
 
The patch and greenhouse are kicking along.  Broccoli a plenty in the greenhouse and the patch has been fruitful too, with loads less pests due to the lucky combination I have managed to plant this time.



My girlfriend Sandy and I potted out our  potatoes in bags today.  I got these from the Diggers club, I didn't want to put these in the ground as they are heavy leachers of nutrients from the soil.  3 years will have to pass before it is good for anything to grow in.  So I brought some potato bags (12) and a gourmet mix of potatoes - King Edward, Lustre, Nicola, Kipfler, Pink Eye and Cranberry Red.  We put some pea straw in the bottom and then compost to approx 10cm from the bottom and placed 4 potatoes in each bag. We'll see how I go with these.