It's All Going to Come Together

Yesterday I was sitting at the bus stop on the way to my choir concert, feeling under-rehearsed and over-stressed. A man who appeared to be quite inebriated came over to me, looked me right in the eyes and said, "It will all come together, somehow. Either or . . . somehow. It will all come together." I was calmed. It was uncanny. The concert was fine. It was dignified. I made a few mistakes, but none that sent me to cry in the washroom. The worst thing that happened was being admonished for minor uniform infractions. My brown shoes and deep decollatage were upsetting the costume mistress. I felt like I was going to get a red card or be forced to wear the choral badge of shame. Strewth. At least I didn't show up in my pajamas.

Today was the most beautiful day possible. I gardened. I went out for lunch with my lovely parents. I made supper and gardened some more. My dad is the official violet, viola, and pansy picker. Mom helps me prep the salad greens. We had morels and purple broccoli for dinner. Life is good. I  strolled over to Shaktea to collect my thoughts while sipping their fine green blend on ice. I went to chat with Catherine through her fence. The setting sun lit up her white curly hair like a halo. And then a little bee landed on my wrist just to say hi and have a little rest. I gingerly pulled my camera out of my bag with my left hand and took several pics. This was another affirmation. All your trials, all your worries, all those loose threads running over your grey matter-- they're all going to come together.

1000 bee blessings to you.

Thinking of Nelson Mandela right now and all the gifts he brought to us.

Citizen Scientist Training with EYA in Oak Meadows Park

 It is a Sunday when the black locust trees are pumping their sweet scent into the air, the skies are blue and the lupins are full of bumble bees. A group of eight of us meet in a grassy corner of Oak Meadows Park to learn how to identify and count bees for the Environmental Youth Alliance's citizen scientist project. We settle down on blankets and instead of opening a picnic basket, Erin Udal takes out a pizza box full of dead bees. They are all arranged in order of size and grouped into types of bees and flies: honey bees, bumble bees, pollen belly bees, mining and sweat bees, and bee-mimiccing syrphid flies. Everyone is delighted and fascinated with Erin's bee box.

We introduce ourselves by telling each other what kind of bee best represents ourselves. I choose the leafcutter bee, the insect artist who cuts shapes out of leafs. The Environmental Youth Alliance has planted two bee gardens in this park as part of the Nectar Trail project to improve bee habitat in Vancouver. Studying the bee diversity in the city in past years has shown that this park has some of the most diverse bee populations in the city, most likely because it is located so close to VanDusen Gardens.

 We learn how to do our study: choose a city block (or equivalent space) near our home with good bee forage and plant varieties, choose three plants that are active and count bees for 10 minutes every two weeks. We must choose an optimum time of day when the nectar is flowing: between 10 and 3 pm. Ideally, we should choose a day like today, with low wind and warm sunshine. On the back of our observation sheets will describe the site and make notes about other plants and any other relevant observations. As we head out to evaluate the block adjacent to the park one sharp-eyed observer notices two native bees mating in a trailing blackberry blossom.

The bee-active plants on the block include the blackberry, nepeta, goutweed (much to my chagrin--I am waging war on it in my yard), and lavender. The black locust trees may have bumble bees in them, but they are to high up to monitor without ladders.

Next Erin brings out nets and jars and we go on a safari, netting bees, studying them up close and letting them go. I am happy to study the bees with my camera, but others are keen on buying their own nets and starting their own bee box. The toy stores sell them in summer, but these are special nets ordered from a research supply store. The net part stays stiff so you can capture the insects without damaging them.

One of the questions we asked Erin was about knowing whether or not we've counted the same bee twice. The fifteen year-old student with us suggested noting the bees flying in and out of the plant cluster we're studying. We decided that in a large stand of blossoms you need to choose an area within your eyeline as you remain standing. This bumble bee had lupin pollen on her back, making it easy to tell apart from her sisters visiting the same patch of lupins. Some honeybee researchers say they can actually identify individual bees apart after a time. I think they're drinking fermented honey on the job, but who knows, maybe they can tell them apart.

The group includes beekeepers, a botanist, Landed Learning volunteers, a horticulturalist, and a honeybee research student. We help each other identify plants and we all have a blast nerding out over bees. Watch out birders, the bee nerds have moved into town.

Citizen Scientist Uniforms with The Environmental Youth Alliance

It's June. School's almost over, the sun is shining and the world is full of distractions. That must be why my son forgot his lunch kit. That must be why I was late returning his lunch kit because I had to stop and take photos of the bees mobbing this Bridal Bush on the Ontario bike route. I am imagining a future Vancouver in which are bike routes are also bee routes and pollinator corridors.

There are late bloomers and late rises and here's a mason bee when I thought all the mason bees had finished their cycle for the season. There were also honey bees, bumble bees, and syrphid flies on this bush and the California lilac beside it.

 I met Erin Udal at what is unofficially the Citizen Scientist club house in Strathcona Community Garden. We silk-screened the logos she designed onto t-shirts to wear while we are monitoring native bee populations in our neighbourhood over the summer. So if you see us wearing these uniforms, carrying clipboards, and counting bees feel free to ask us what we're doing because we love to talk about bees.

This is a line drawing of a mason bee.  This is a two colour print with the registration slightly shifted.

Pacific Ninebark Diabolo

The little pollen pants are loving the Pacific Ninebark right now. This example is actually part of a really good school planting in Vancouver. It is a trademarked cultivar of a tough deciduous shrub named Physocarpus capitus and it's in the Rosaceae family.

Opportunities to Learn about Bees!!!!!

Do you want to help save the bees?  

Learn about the bees in your community and what you can do to help them!

11:30AM - BEE SAFARI

Brian Campbell of Blessed Bee Farm will lead a bee safari through the local gardens.  Brian will identify honeybees and local bees, discuss their pollination patterns and habits, and talk about what we can do as gardeners and citizens to help them out!  We'll meet indoors, then head outside to find some pollinators!

Host Brian Campbell is a Master Beekeeper, bee conservationist, and teacher of The Bee School.

Where? Strathcona Community Centre

Join us for our first Community Bee Day!

Saturday, June 8

from 2:30pm to 6:00pm

This day will begin with an Introduction to Beekeeping with Brian Campbell of Blessed Bees.

2:30pm - 4:30pm at Mount Pleasant Neighbourhood House in Room 3, 800 East Broadway Ave in East Vancouver.

Following the workshop, we will be going on a Community Bee Walk to Can You Dig It! Community Gardens where we will be practicing bee photography and identifying the local bees.  

The community bee photography walk will be our first stage in hosting Bee Hunts: Learning how to photograph and document pollinators in our local community.

Everyone attending will also receive a Bee Bouquet Seed Package from Strathcona 1890 http://www.strathcona1890.com/

For more information about Bee Hunts! please visit: http://www.discoverlife.org/bee/how.html

Sponsored by:

Vancouver Foundation Neighbourhood Small Grants http://www.neighbourhoodsmallgrants.ca/

and

Happy Bee Gardens http://happybeegardens.wordpress.com/

Can't make the June 8 Bee Day?  Please email happybeegardens@gmail.com if you are interested in us setting up another day.

Also a one day intensive beekeeping class

June 16, 2013

Beekeeping one-day Intensive

This is a one day intensive introduction to urban beekeeping with Master Beekeeper Brian Campbell.  From bylaws and honeybee biology to essential tools and how to use them, we will also have some hands-on bee time in a hive visiting the bees.  Honeybees form a complex super organism that offer many rewards.  Once you get up close to these fascinating creatures you’ll want to have a hive or two in your backyard to learn more.  Course fees include hand outs and a honeybee disease and pest manual.  Protective gear will be provided.

Course fees support Blessed Bee Farm, a Richmond-based pollinator conservation project.

Start:	June 16, 2013 9:30 am
End:	June 16, 2013 5:30 pm
Venue:	Homesteader's Emporium
Cost:	$125

Under the Laburnums

We really should start a tradition of picnics under the laburnums when they are thrumming with bumble bees.

 The bumble bees and honey bees also love these alliums which look like fireworks.

And for the calming version of the alliums, head over to the white garden.

 I like this white version of the perennial cornflower, especially with a side order of honeybees.

 Masterwort is a good bee plant for dreary late spring days.

 This shows the inspired interplanting, integrating the shades of pale green and the burgundy, with a good use of texture.

 There were bumble bees in the red white and blue comfrey.

 The pollen from this false indigo is lighter in color than the lupin pollen. ˙Her suitcases are overflowing!

 This honeybee fits so nicely in the rosemary flowers. Her abdomen in distended with a nectar load.

 

It's bloomin' squid!

 There weren't any bees in this columbine patch, but there were some mining bees hanging around the green mulch nearby.

 You can really see why this is called milk thistle.

Another good choice for your white bee garden. The milk thistles I've grown have always been purple.

Here are my seedlings waited to be potted up.

Kale Blossom Mango Lassis at Moberly Community Arts Centre

 Yesterday was a cold and wet Vancouver day, so the only bees out were the bravest bumble bees. This bee was drinking from this tiny snow berry blossom with incredible focus and it was shaking--almost as though shivering. I think the shape of this blossom protects the nectar from being watered down.

These nodding onions buds are just starting to open.

You can see why some varieties of this kind of lavender is called "butterfly lavender."

 So let's go into the kitchen! I demonstrated my way of making kale chips. Preheat the oven and pans to 350 degrees F. Masage kale with olive oil and salt. Turn off the oven. Put one layer of kale on the heated pans. Try not to let the leaves overlap. You will hear a slight sizzle. Put the pans in the oven for about 20 minutes or until crispy.

 I passed around the chips and then crumbled the rest to make the gomashio in The Book of Kale by Sharon Hanna. I coudn't find seaweed flakes, so my friend Lori Snyder cut some nori into strips. We served this on top of avocado on brown rice crackers. This is one of my favorite snacks.

 We used the gomashio to season naked pumpkin seed and kale blossom  pesto. The arugula is really spicy at this time of the year, so I mix it with the kale blossoms to mediate the heat.

 I hadn't used a blender to make pesto before, and had to add extra oil to make it work. I reccomend using a food processor so you can use less oil. Sometimes when you do workshops, you have to work with what's available!

 So I forgot the yogurt to make the mango smoothies, but I went with the flow and made vegan smoothies. This one is decorated with edible flowers from the Moberly Community Herb garden: calendula, borage, lavender, and cat nip.

Madame Beespeaker's Kale Blossom Lassis

For 1 big serving or 2 small servings:

1 large ripe mango

1 handful kale blossoms

3 tbs low fat yogurt

1 cup coconut water

1/2 tsp grated fresh turmeric

2 ice cubes

Garnish:

1/4 tsp freshly ground green cardamom seeds

Cut as much flesh from the mango as you can and put aside. Put the coconut water in the blender first, followed by the other ingredients. Pulse and blend until smooth. Add more yogurt or coconut water to your taste. If you want to keep this vegan, you could use coconut milk, coconut yogurt, or add more coconut water. If you want to keep the recipe more local, use dairy milk or your own nut milk instead of coconut water and substitute some of your canned or frozen peaches (if you're lucky have any left at this time of the year). Garnish with the cardamom and edible flowers. Enjoy!

 

 The little Labrador tea plant in the garden is blooming. Lori says it can be used to make a hangover remedy. I'll put that in my files!

 The shade garden at Moberly looks fantastic in the rain.

Oh poor sodden bee, hanging on to wallflowers waiting for the sun to come out. I know how you feel.