Sweaters for Bees

It's 12 degrees Celsius under a mackeral sky. Almost warm enough to check on our bees and see how many have survived. There's a fair amount of bee skat on the upper entrance of the hive, which may indicate they've got the flu. It's that time of year my friend Brian Campbell says he knits tiny sweaters for his bees. I love that image!

What's in bloom? The winter jasmine has been blooming for weeks and the witch hazel's been out for awhile too. Yesterday I noticed pale green hazel catkins, snow drops, and the pale palette of heather blossoms. What's blooming in your neighborhood?

We are busy poring over seed catalogs, getting our lists made and sketching out our garden beds on paper and in our imagination. This year I'll be focusing on tea herbs for the bees. Let me know if you have any favorites. If you have room for a little patch of clover I'm going to get some seed and I can give you some. I just found out how much dried clover buds cost and zowee, it's worth growing your own.

Oh and if anyone has a fail-proof trap for catching mice, let me know. A family moved into our house and yet again they are über mice and avoid every kind of trap we have. And yes, they found my hive frames but I managed to move them before they did much damage. Here's hoping you all have good news when you open your hives this year: "A hive for every one and honey too."

Floral Clock

This past week we had our first heavy frost and a dump of snow. Some of our plants weren't ready for this abrupt drop in temperature, so we will lose some of the more tender vegetation.

Now that it's started to snow I am dreaming about ordering seeds and growing flowers. Today I learned that Carl Linnaeus conceived of a floral clock that marked the passing of time based on the behavior of the flowers at certain times on the day.

I am researching a project that my partner and I plan to work on that is about ecological time, so I was thrilled to see that a local Vancouver group of artists is working on a version of a flower clock that would work in Vancouver's zone. Proximity Arts has created a Wikipedia page on their project. I love it! I'd like to create a version of this clock using bee garden flowers.

Are you starting a wish list for your garden next year?

In my local library, we had a chat about this very topic and one person said she is going to grow ground cherries. Another said he will grow tomatilloes. I know I am going to try for some pumpkins and gourds next year and I am curious to try for the chayote squash that my neighbors are so good at growing. First I've got to taste one, though! What will you grow next year?

Come Tell the Bees: A Shrine for Our Ancestors

Marriage, birth or burying,
News across the seas,
All your sad or merrying,
You must tell the bees.

For several weeks our creativity circle has been working on a shrine for All Souls at Mountainview cemetery. We made a lantern in the shape of a bee skep made of handmade paper. We installed the lantern Saturday afternoon and spent the evening at the shrine inviting people to make messages that would be carried by the bees. We had some very meaningful conversations and what I liked was that people left messages about births as well as messages for their loved ones who have passed on.

Winter Squash

On Saturday I went to the final UBC Farm market for the year. The winter squash was lovely and I wished I had a half ton truck to cart some home. I bought some honey crisp apples from an organic farm in Summerland and some tomatilloes from the Mayan gardeners. I am still cooking up recipes using a pumpkin I bought at Home Grow-In. This morning we had pumpkin pancakes with maple syrup and pecans. I really wanted some whipped cream. Whipped cream and pumpkins are BFF.

Thanksgiving Feast for the Bees

Yes, even the bees get a special treat for Thanksgiving. At this time of the year they need fattening up for the winter and there is not a lot of fall forage out there. There are cosmos, Jerusalem artichokes, some sunflowers and asters, but let's face it, the sources of pollen and nectar are dwindling. So we mix up two parts sugar (4 c) to one part water (2 c) and blend in a pollen patty. As you can see, the bees are hungry and they immediately slurp up the smoothie with their tongues.


We are worried about our bees because when we checked them two weeks ago they had lost yet another queen. They had made three good queen cells so our fingers are crossed that one strong queen will hatch and help them make it through the winter. We've had really bad luck with our queens this year. I hope next year will be better.


I am drying the fennel and hops from the front of our house, but most of the hops grew way up beyond our reach. I need a trained squirrel to harvest them.


My amaranth fell over after the rain, so I've been stringing them up. I brought one head inside to see if the seeds will ripen.


I harvested some fennel twigs for school art projects.

After a lovely warm day working in the garden it was time for the human's Thanksgiving feast: squash, brussel sprouts, turkey with stuffing, cranberry jelly and my pumpkin pie made from scratch. I think the bees would have liked the German dessert wine we had with the pie. Happy Thanksgiving!