Lottie Stuff

Things are really super busy here now and so I am tardy getting back on here at the moment. I shall give a short update as to what's been going on in the lottie.

Remember those beet roots that I thinned out and transplanted?


Look at them now:


The beet roots are swollen enough to harvest now...they are "gourmet grade", my bride insists...however, we are holding off at least until after the weekend.

The toms in the greenhouse got their first "haircut" today.


For a better view:




Sometimes I leave a "King Sucker", which can occur at ground level or somewhat higher up.


Not every plant that I have has these, but when they do, I use them to get a higher yield. This plant is an Indeterminate habitus (cordon) sort, I do not pay attention to the King sucker formation in determinate (bush) varieties, because they already have "extra" stems, as it were.

It was finally time to set the sprouts out.


The Swiss Chard behind the net was harvested and processed. I LURVE that stuff.

I went into the bees again today for their 10-day check-up. I have had a little colony way over to the left of the others in a little 6-framer. They have been having their ups and downs since the spring. The moer (queen) was not well...she had no wings and a peculiar abdomen. I do not know what her housemates did to her, but I do not think that all was well with her. Finally she stopped laying and so the workers decided that she had to go. What to do here then?

Well, I went into another hive and cut out some comb with some eggs in it and removed some queen cells from still another hive that keeps trying to swarm. I placed these into the wax comb of the little colony by just cutting out a block and inserting them.

I listened after ten days to see if I could hear the queen piping. I did not, and finally just looked in hive. This is what I saw:


Now this queen must make a bridal flight and return to the hive and begin laying. I shall not open the hive again until after ~21 days to see if she is laying. Fingers crossed.
This is a F1 moer from good stock, so my expectations are high.

Finally, an incident in the kitchen... my bride was whipping cream for the nightly strawbs, shortcake and whipped cream, when disaster struck.


The container in which she was mixing got loose from her and the twirlling of the mixer knocked the bowl over and slung half-whipped cream all over the place. These pics she took after I had already cleaned up half the mess.


Nothing like a little kitchen magic at 10 o'clock at night.

 

"Nothing like a little kitchen magic at 10 o'clock at night." uh huh! not so much so in my book, but I hope you still got some strawberries and cream anyway...
​

 

I think this has happened a lot of people, me included. They just don't like to admit it.

 

Thanks CAROLYN-- I did get some cream and strawbs after the clean up.

Thanks EILEEN--I appreciate your compliments. I hope so too...I can barely keep myself from looking into those bees, but I shall have to be patient. I look frequently to see if I can see the queen come out to make her bridal flight. Ja it amazing how far slung cream can travel...I don't want to entertain the idea of slung choccy. Ye-gads! When it happened, I got a soapy rag and just stood there and looked, and said, " I don't even know where to begin". hahaha. I did begin though...I just started by the sink and went from there.

You may be right, 2 OF-- but I have no problem with admitting it. ...Stuff happens. Point. I must say though, that it is comforting to hear that others have experienced this too. Since my bride and I were in the kitchen at the same time, I guess that you could call this "incident", an "Whirlwind romance". Cackle... It gives the term a whole new meaning.

 

Your lottie looks great!
Glad to see that it is coming along so well.
Interesting about your bees. I hope all goes well when you check back in 3 weeks.
Oddly, an empty stack of supers in my landlord's backyard now seems to be home to very busy bees. I'm not sure where they came from, perhaps the limb that fell on our roof since it is so close to the hive, but they've been living there and working hard for about a month now.
Sorry to hear about the cream catastrophe in your kitchen. I'm glad you were still able to enjoy some strawberry shortcakes.

 

Thanks so much for your compliments, BEEKER.
What about those bees in your neighbour's back yard! He is lucky.I wonder if they did live in that limb that fell onto your house. I did indeed press on and have some cake and strawbs after the disaster.
So good to see you on here.