Welcome, Guest

Author Topic: My rock pile, grateful bees  (Read 7575 times)

Offline Cindi

  • Galactic Bee
  • ******
  • Posts: 9825
  • Gender: Female
My rock pile, grateful bees
« on: November 15, 2006, 12:20:18 am »
So, we are expecting a storm coming in tonight late, 50 - 100 km winds and rain.  I went out to my beeyard to secure the lids on the colonies, I used great big rocks from my rock pile.  I could not imagine the wind pulling off the inner covers, they are so stuck on, but it would be a bummer if the lids went a'flyin' away.   I had quite a choice of rocks to choose from.  This rock pile is my pride and joy and it has grown even bigger since the picture was taken last summer.  It depicts a couple of months of digging up an enormous area in January/February/March on the west side of the beeyard, if the picture would allow, the dug up area would be to the right of the rock pile.  I could not imagine that there could be so many rocks in certain parts of the earth at my place, most other places have been pretty nicely cultivated and do not have the rock content that was apparently thriving so well without being disturbed probably since the beginning of time itself.  I wanted to plant an enormous area of bee foraging material, to assist the girls in not having to travel too far to get lots of nourishment.  I know that they still travel, but my efforts must have surely helped them out quite a bit.   I accomplished this planting frenzy this spring, and in this area I focussed on planting several plants that I researched and are incredibly attractive to bees, bumblebees and many other beneficials.  What I did plant en masse was:  Phacelia tanacetifolia, borage officinalis, good old cosmos, of several species, bachelor's buttons, (such a pretty blue), California poppy, Mediterranian Sage, of course many varieties of sunflowers, anise hyssop, catnip (2 cultivars), spearmint, peppermint, wallflowers, sea holly and many annuals, of which I can't name because there are indeed so many.  My bees have good food, I also grow (not in great amounts, but plenty enough), blueberries, raspberries, blackberries, asparagus (man do they love the asparagus flowers), all manner of curcubits, brassicas and pretty well all garden vegies.  Life is fun and who cannot help but love to be a gardener and beekeeper.  Cindi.  How do you like to rock pile?  We rockers are a strange breed of human being.


There are strange things done in the midnight sun by the men who moil for gold.  The Arctic trails have their secret tales that would make your blood run cold.  The Northern Lights have seen queer sights, but the queerest they ever did see, what the night on the marge of Lake Lebarge, I cremated Sam McGee.  Robert Service

Offline Brian D. Bray

  • Heavenly Beekeeper
  • Heavenly Beekeeper
  • Galactic Bee
  • ********
  • Posts: 7369
  • Gender: Male
  • I really look like this, just ask Cindi.
    • http://spaces.msn.com/thecoonsden
Re: My rock pile, grateful bees
« Reply #1 on: November 15, 2006, 02:58:12 am »
Cindi your commentary remined me of a question I've never gotten a good answer to: "Why is it that regardless of how many times a farmer plows his fields he still find rocks in them decades later?"
Life is a school.  What have you learned?   :brian:      The greatest danger to our society is apathy, vote in every election!

Offline Michael Bush

  • Universal Bee
  • *******
  • Posts: 19832
  • Gender: Male
    • bushfarms.com
Re: My rock pile, grateful bees
« Reply #2 on: November 15, 2006, 07:02:31 am »
The rocks are reproducing.  It's hopeless.  But you do get a nice rock pile.  :)
My website:  bushfarms.com/bees.htm en espanol: bushfarms.com/es_bees.htm  auf deutsche: bushfarms.com/de_bees.htm  em portugues:  bushfarms.com/pt_bees.htm
My book:  ThePracticalBeekeeper.com
-------------------
"Everything works if you let it."--James "Big Boy" Medlin

Offline Mici

  • Super Bee
  • *****
  • Posts: 1502
  • Gender: Male
  • tougher than rock
    • http://www.carantha.net/carantha_table_of_contents.htm
Re: My rock pile, grateful bees
« Reply #3 on: November 15, 2006, 10:31:56 am »
Cindi your commentary remined me of a question I've never gotten a good answer to: "Why is it that regardless of how many times a farmer plows his fields he still find rocks in them decades later?"

hehe, if he doesn't take them out each year, it's normal that they are there the next year :evil:

Offline empilolo

  • House Bee
  • **
  • Posts: 51
Re: My rock pile, grateful bees
« Reply #4 on: November 15, 2006, 10:52:45 am »
Brian. Frost heave - I think.

Offline 2-Wheeler

  • House Bee
  • **
  • Posts: 202
    • http://www.beesandblooms.org
Re: My rock pile, grateful bees
« Reply #5 on: November 15, 2006, 11:04:34 pm »
Wonderful rock pile. I'm jealous.

I live in Boulder County Colorado. It was given this name for a very good reason. You can come dig rocks from my yard anytime. My rock pile seems to get overtaken by the tumbleweeds that even grow from between the cracks. After a few years, I can't even find it anymore.

It sounds like you have a great garden too!
-David Broberg   CWOP#: CW5670 / CoCoRaHS #CO-BO-218
Blog: http://beesandblooms.blogspot.com/
My Weather: http://www.leyner.org/
My Flickr Album: http://www.flickr.com/photos/dbroberg/

Offline Brian D. Bray

  • Heavenly Beekeeper
  • Heavenly Beekeeper
  • Galactic Bee
  • ********
  • Posts: 7369
  • Gender: Male
  • I really look like this, just ask Cindi.
    • http://spaces.msn.com/thecoonsden
Re: My rock pile, grateful bees
« Reply #6 on: November 16, 2006, 01:48:53 am »
I've been digging fence post holes for a new goat pen.  I swear some of those rocks resemble chucks of concrete.  Does that make them City Rocks?
Life is a school.  What have you learned?   :brian:      The greatest danger to our society is apathy, vote in every election!

Offline BeeHopper

  • Queen Bee
  • ****
  • Posts: 1122
  • Gender: Male
Re: My rock pile, grateful bees
« Reply #7 on: November 17, 2006, 05:29:01 pm »
I've been digging fence post holes for a new goat pen.  I swear some of those rocks resemble chucks of concrete.  Does that make them City Rocks?

What kind of goats, I'm curious.??

Offline pdmattox

  • Queen Bee
  • ****
  • Posts: 1143
  • Gender: Male
    • October bend Rv Park
Re: My rock pile, grateful bees
« Reply #8 on: November 17, 2006, 05:53:44 pm »
Hey Brian, Just wondering if you ever tried the metal t post that you can drive into the ground?

Offline Jerrymac

  • Galactic Bee
  • ******
  • Posts: 6047
  • Gender: Male
Re: My rock pile, grateful bees
« Reply #9 on: November 17, 2006, 06:50:43 pm »
I have to bring in rocks from other places. No rocks reproducing underground here.
:rainbowflower:  Light travels faster than sound. This is why some people appear bright until you hear them speak.   :rainbowflower:

 :jerry:

My pictures.Type in password;  youview
     http://photobucket.com/albums/v225/Jerry-mac/

Offline Michael Bush

  • Universal Bee
  • *******
  • Posts: 19832
  • Gender: Male
    • bushfarms.com
Re: My rock pile, grateful bees
« Reply #10 on: November 18, 2006, 01:36:58 pm »
>No rocks reproducing underground here.

It's probably difference soil conditions.

My website:  bushfarms.com/bees.htm en espanol: bushfarms.com/es_bees.htm  auf deutsche: bushfarms.com/de_bees.htm  em portugues:  bushfarms.com/pt_bees.htm
My book:  ThePracticalBeekeeper.com
-------------------
"Everything works if you let it."--James "Big Boy" Medlin

Offline Brian D. Bray

  • Heavenly Beekeeper
  • Heavenly Beekeeper
  • Galactic Bee
  • ********
  • Posts: 7369
  • Gender: Male
  • I really look like this, just ask Cindi.
    • http://spaces.msn.com/thecoonsden
Re: My rock pile, grateful bees
« Reply #11 on: November 18, 2006, 06:16:04 pm »
I use steel posts too, wooden ones for gates and corners.  MB I agree, I think the high clacium rate must have something to do with the high rock count each spring.
As to what Kind of goats I have; I have one of each kind--1 male & 1 female.
Life is a school.  What have you learned?   :brian:      The greatest danger to our society is apathy, vote in every election!

Offline Trot

  • House Bee
  • **
  • Posts: 196
Re: My rock pile, grateful bees
« Reply #12 on: November 21, 2006, 09:09:34 pm »
I'm a bit late Brian - but had a hearty laugh though, heee he...
Is a good one...

Regards,
Trot

Offline Alice's Garden

  • New Bee
  • *
  • Posts: 7
Re: My rock pile, grateful bees
« Reply #13 on: November 27, 2006, 08:29:18 pm »
I love the rock pile, and also the list of plants for bees.  I know they tell you not to bother planting for the bees, but we garden like maniacs here, and I love to watch the bees at my flowers.  By the way, I also have goats.  Do goats, bees, gardens and rock piles go together in some cosmic way?
Alice

Offline Cindi

  • Galactic Bee
  • ******
  • Posts: 9825
  • Gender: Female
Re: My rock pile, grateful bees
« Reply #14 on: November 27, 2006, 11:32:14 pm »
Alice, they are all connected, especially the flowers and rocks!! LOL.  I know that it is fun to plant flora that attracts bees (and whatever come what may).  I plan this spring to plant about 2 acres totalled of my very specific and special forage materials for the bees, I just don't think that I will have enough room for all the seed that I have spent many, many, many ,many (whew that got to be a lot of spaces and hyphens) hours of gathering, drying, winnowing and storing.  I have a small fortune in seed, if I were to be the type to try and sell it, I could probably retire with my bees. In a future post I will post a couple of pictures of some pretty, pretty flowers that I will be growing en masse.  Just don't have time right now, we have had a snow and wind storm and it has put the power out for a day, we almost froze.  We are not used to really cold conditions, mostly rain here, but we had mountains of snow, probably about a foot.  Now that to some may not seem alot, but to the southwestern coast of B.C. it is not a commonplace weather.  And, the skies have cleared, so the snow is still on the trees, and it is damnably cold.  Going down to minus 12 celsius tonight, and I can feel it coming on, stepping outside, the air is very cold.  We had power out, we stayed under blankets, and roughed it out.  Thank goodness the power left us around suppertime and did return by 7:00 AM, so we were not so bad I guess.  Great day.  Cindi
There are strange things done in the midnight sun by the men who moil for gold.  The Arctic trails have their secret tales that would make your blood run cold.  The Northern Lights have seen queer sights, but the queerest they ever did see, what the night on the marge of Lake Lebarge, I cremated Sam McGee.  Robert Service

Offline Cindi

  • Galactic Bee
  • ******
  • Posts: 9825
  • Gender: Female
Re: My rock pile, grateful bees
« Reply #15 on: November 28, 2006, 01:12:14 am »
Wonderful rock pile. I'm jealous.


I live in Boulder County Colorado. It was given this name for a very good reason. You can come dig rocks from my yard anytime. My rock pile seems to get overtaken by the tumbleweeds that even grow from between the cracks. After a few years, I can't even find it anymore.

It sounds like you have a great garden too!

So, come one, tell us about your rock pile.  They are fascinating, rock piles and I know that people do fabulous things with rocks!!!!!  My father had a fascination with rocks, and being a much younger woman, I thought he was strange, but now and then I think that I am following in his footsteps.  Well, actually, now that I think about it, maybe I really am, he kept bees too when I was a teenager, but I didn't get the craze until I was much older (like many, many years later), I thought that he was rather strange, getting stung and taking the bees up the mountain powerline to try and get some honey for us.  Hmm...rocks, bees, like Alice said, is must be some cosmic connection.  Oh oh, the plot thickens.  On greater thought, my father worked hard many years of his life with fibreglass making sundecks and many other things, a prime substance in the creation of fibreglass products is "resin", I will explain further what I mean.  I have been collecting propolis from the bees since I began keeping bees, and every gathering of this incredible product has had an entirely different scent, no doubt due to the different secretions of pitch from different seasons.  The last propolis that I have scraped and collected, after being put into a glass jar, has a scent that is so entirely identical to that "resin" that my father used to cure the fibreglass that he worked with.  This is rather strange, because I have not encountered that peculiar smell since many days gone by.  And believe me, when you smell the resin used when working with fibreglass, you will NEVER FORGET IT.  The first propolis that I gathered from hives I still keep in a small jar on my kitchen counter.  Any time that I feel that I need a lift, I open this tiny little jar and take a deep breath.  Tt takes me to our forest, a warm summer day, the scent of the resins from the trees, the aroma wafting from the front entrance of the hive.  Oh, the summer days are coming, moving slowly out of the depths of the winter hibernation.  Great day. Cindi
« Last Edit: November 28, 2006, 10:16:46 am by Cindi »
There are strange things done in the midnight sun by the men who moil for gold.  The Arctic trails have their secret tales that would make your blood run cold.  The Northern Lights have seen queer sights, but the queerest they ever did see, what the night on the marge of Lake Lebarge, I cremated Sam McGee.  Robert Service

Offline 2-Wheeler

  • House Bee
  • **
  • Posts: 202
    • http://www.beesandblooms.org
Re: My rock pile, grateful bees
« Reply #16 on: December 05, 2006, 09:45:34 pm »
So, come one, tell us about your rock pile.  They are fascinating, rock piles and I know that people do fabulous things with rocks!!!!! 

The rock pile is currently under the tumbleweeds. After they detach and blow away this winter I'll try to remember to snap a photo. In the mean time, here's a photo of the tumbleweed after a good windstorm last winter...

-David Broberg   CWOP#: CW5670 / CoCoRaHS #CO-BO-218
Blog: http://beesandblooms.blogspot.com/
My Weather: http://www.leyner.org/
My Flickr Album: http://www.flickr.com/photos/dbroberg/

Offline Cindi

  • Galactic Bee
  • ******
  • Posts: 9825
  • Gender: Female
Re: My rock pile, grateful bees
« Reply #17 on: December 06, 2006, 10:09:12 am »
I cannot believe how that tumbleweed must tumble, named appropriately.  We don't have that in my vicinity.  Is tumbleweed got any use, does it get any kind of flower?  I also liked the colour of your railing on your porch, must have been quite a windstorm, I see your down pipe must have blown off.  Wind can do bad things.  I hear of so many forum members that have been struck by windstorms.  I also like your cat.  Great day. Cindi Can't wait to see the rock pile (LOL).
There are strange things done in the midnight sun by the men who moil for gold.  The Arctic trails have their secret tales that would make your blood run cold.  The Northern Lights have seen queer sights, but the queerest they ever did see, what the night on the marge of Lake Lebarge, I cremated Sam McGee.  Robert Service

Offline Michael Bush

  • Universal Bee
  • *******
  • Posts: 19832
  • Gender: Male
    • bushfarms.com
Re: My rock pile, grateful bees
« Reply #18 on: December 06, 2006, 07:57:54 pm »
>Is tumbleweed got any use, does it get any kind of flower?

Many plants have the right shape, eventually dry up and break off and blow and are called tumbleweed.  Around here a common one is poison hemlock which has white flowers that the bees seem to work.  I don't know what it's good for.  It's very poisonous.
My website:  bushfarms.com/bees.htm en espanol: bushfarms.com/es_bees.htm  auf deutsche: bushfarms.com/de_bees.htm  em portugues:  bushfarms.com/pt_bees.htm
My book:  ThePracticalBeekeeper.com
-------------------
"Everything works if you let it."--James "Big Boy" Medlin

Offline Jerrymac

  • Galactic Bee
  • ******
  • Posts: 6047
  • Gender: Male
Re: My rock pile, grateful bees
« Reply #19 on: December 06, 2006, 08:17:32 pm »
Tumbleweed

http://www.desertusa.com/mag01/may/papr/tweed.html

A good use;

"Scientists at Utah State University have found that it even improves the soil. Tumbleweed trickles chemicals into the soil. These chemicals then make the nutrients in the soil more available to other plants. Once tumbleweed has grown in the soil, other plants grow better the next season."

http://www.abc.net.au/science/k2/trek/4wd/Over69.htm
:rainbowflower:  Light travels faster than sound. This is why some people appear bright until you hear them speak.   :rainbowflower:

 :jerry:

My pictures.Type in password;  youview
     http://photobucket.com/albums/v225/Jerry-mac/

 

anything