Archive for March 2022
Metábasis eis állo génos (3-13)
Leading up to 2020, Asher was seeking something to own and do beyond keeping chickens, which he shared with Charlotte but was largely her domain. I rejected backyard goat–keeping, but bees were an intriguing option as our town allows you to keep bees provided you have taken a class. So we took a class (online, sadly) from our county beekeeping association over the winter of 2020-2021. We spent about 8 hours in class, and later in the spring several hours at a practical exam and a paper exam. Of all our time in class, the practical exam was the most beneficial. Several of the seasoned beekeepers conveyed to us a vision of what I call “low-anxiety” beekeeping. Excessive anxiety over questions such as whether and when you need to feed your bees, or whether and how you can head them off from swarming, is generally counter–productive and can steal a lot of the joy of beekeeping.
Late in winter we ordered all of our equipment. We spent a little more money on the nice–looking Hoover hives, got our initial frames, nails, foundation wax, and other equipment (feeders, hats, gloves, smoker, hive tool, wire embedder) from the local Bailey Bee Supply, and ultimately found cheaper frames (deep, medium) and foundation (medium) from Western Bee Supplies. By the end of the year we had the materials to equip three hives each with two deep bodies and two medium supers, and had spent about $1700 on the trio including supplies from Home Depot to make an elevated stand. Assembling frames is a time–consuming but satisfying task.
Placement of the hives was tricky! Our property has a lot of shade, but we found some space in the back of our garden that was relatively sunny, open, and also faced towards the south. This worked fairly well, although it is sometimes a little nerve-wracking to work in the garden. Generally the bees have kept to themselves; only twice have we had innocent bystanders standing near the garden get stung.
We started out with two nucleuses from our friendly local Garden Supply Company, at the time each costing $195. We had a much more exciting ride with our two hives than I ever expected for first–year beekeeping. Over the course of six months, we had: (1) one hive send off a swarm high in a tree, which Asher captured in the face of a coming rainstorm to form a third hive; (2) evidently we failed to capture the queen, or she later died, so we recombined this hive with the other hive; (3) which later sent off a swarm that we failed to capture; (4) a friend found a feral swarm in an abandoned hive of his, which we brought back to our house; but (5) in the dearth of fall I believe this hive robbed both of our other two hives, resulting in only one hive entering into winter. We purchased another nucleus this spring ($215) and are starting out our second year once again with two hives.
I remember remarking that it would be good for Asher to experience husbandry, to be responsible for something which was under his influence but not completely under his control. It turned out to be a great lesson for me as well!
Another thing that I didn’t expect as a first–year beekeeper was the degree to which we had to wrestle with varroa mites. Twice in our first year we had to treat our hives for varroa mites ($100 for two formic acid treatments and personal protection equipment) when at least one hive had extremely high mite load.
Some of the most interesting bee behaviors we observed were swarming, washboarding, bearding, and orienting flights.
Metábasis eis állo génos (3-12)
We need to be laughing:
He who sits in the heavens shall laugh;
The Lord shall hold them in derision. (Psalm 2:4, NKJV)
From the archives: my review of Greg Gilbert’s little book on the gospel.
Alex Berenson writes: “The only question left is not how much good but how much damage those miracle shots have done.”
You gotta raise your kids to become your curators of music. This week I’ve really enjoyed Sarah Sparks (thank you, Charlotte!):
and David Francey (thank you, Ivy!):
Metábasis eis állo génos (3-10)
I’ve been reflecting on the proper kind of mask. It occurs to me that vocations are a practiced self-denial, a practiced governance and stewardship of our selves in order to better steward other things. It also occurs to me that the family is the first and chief place of practiced (in both senses) affection.
Some things are impossible for God:
Thus God, determining to show more abundantly to the heirs of promise the immutability of His counsel, confirmed it by an oath, that by two immutable things, in which it is impossible for God to lie, we might have strong consolation, who have fled for refuge to lay hold of the hope set before us. (Hebrews 6:17-18)
I learned Stein’s law this week: “If something cannot go on forever, it will stop.”
You really know that you’re in thrashing mode at work when every meeting ends up veering into a discussion of every thing.
I’m struck by the sevenfold sun of Isaiah 30:26:
Moreover the light of the moon will be as the light of the sun,
And the light of the sun will be sevenfold,
As the light of seven days,
In the day that the LORD binds up the bruise of His people
And heals the stroke of their wound.
I see here the world’s end in The Voyage of the Dawn Treader. But maybe there is some Bism there too; you ain’t seen nothing yet when it comes to global warming. Are we meant to adapt and thrive in the time of the sun’s final days? I do think we are meant to bind the Pleiades and loose the belt of Orion.
And you thought That Hideous Strength was fiction:
On my first visit to Moscow, I met one of Lenin’s embalmers. “When I began, the body was in a poor state”, said Styopa, whose expertise was the use of electricity. Skin grafts and a new partial-vacuum glass sarcophagus had helped to inhibit decay, but Styopa’s shock treatment had reversed it. “Once every two or three months, a high-voltage charge was applied to keep up the tone. But the first time we tried it I overestimated the power needed. Lenin suddenly sat up from the table, his arms shook, and his lips started to quiver. I thought he was going to speak. It was quite a shock. After that, we reduced the voltage.”
I gotta have my orange juice. 