![\"hivebody500\"](\"http:\/\/www.ancientrails.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/07\/hivebody500-225x300.jpg\" "\\"hivebody500\\"")
<\/p>\nSummer\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Waning Summer Moon<\/p>\n
Vega the wonder dog continues to amaze us.\u00a0 While I worked on the air conditioning earlier today, she picked up the small box I had to reserve the screws removed from the cowling.\u00a0 I heard the screws clinking as she walked away.\u00a0 When I got to the box, she had set it down and not a single screw had gone missing.\u00a0 She continued to help me during the whole process.<\/p>\n
Also earlier Kona, a whippet who opens doors, opened the back door and let everybody inside.\u00a0 When Kate came out of her shower, Vega had sprawled out on our bed.<\/p>\n
After I put the whippets to bed, Vega and Rigel come out in to the living room for a bit of human time.\u00a0 Vega promptly hops up on the couch, rolls over on her back and relaxes her legs over the edge.\u00a0 Then she goes to sleep.<\/p>\n
The hive stands pretty tall now with its two honey supers and the queen excluder.\u00a0 <\/p>\n
I’ve been very lucky to have Mark Nordeen as a mentor in the bee-keeping.\u00a0 He’s gotten me through the rough spots for beginners:\u00a0 equipment which he let me use, hiving the package of bees, how to examine frames and what to look for, when to put on the honey supers and when to use a queen excluder.\u00a0\u00a0 All of this stuff would be easy to stumble over in even the first few years and Mark has walked me through it.<\/p>\n
The bees have added another element to the permaculture work Kate and I have begun.\u00a0 The bees live and work in our garden just as we do.\u00a0 They have a stake in a healthy garden just as we do.\u00a0 Working with bees feels very collaborative; we are two species working and living together, sharing our needs and our specialized skills.<\/p>\n
We have two apples coming along in our orchard as well as blueberries and currants.\u00a0 I also found a huckleberry today, a plant I have never grown before.\u00a0 The garden has begun its arc toward full productivity.<\/p>\n
Now we have an orchard filled with fruit trees and plant guilds to support the trees, bushes that bear berries, even a hazelnut.\u00a0 The orchard complements our expanded vegetable garden.\u00a0 The playhouse Jon put together for us will go with the finished firepit (someday) as a family outdoor recreation area.\u00a0 This is all part of the permaculture idea, having various zones of the landscape for specific purposes and each zone located optimally for its needs.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Summer\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Waning Summer Moon Vega the wonder dog continues to amaze us.\u00a0 While I worked on the air conditioning earlier today, she picked up the small box I had to reserve the screws removed from the cowling.\u00a0 I heard the screws clinking as she walked away.\u00a0 When I got to the box, she had set … Continue reading Vega. Again. Bees and Permaculture.<\/span>