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Author Topic: Hello from Two Rivers, Alaska  (Read 4180 times)

Offline wff

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Hello from Two Rivers, Alaska
« on: December 29, 2006, 07:52:33 pm »
Hi all.  This forum was highly recommended by a friend down south so I figured I'd sign up and see.  I used to work for a commercial honey producer in Oklahoma back in the '70s then, for various reasons, didn't do anything with them again until a few years ago.  I learned a bit about bees back then, but there's a whole lot more that I didn't learn, so I'm working on catching up.  I had 6 hives this year (bad weather and bears), hoping to overwinter them, but had a pretty bad year and lost the last one a couple weeks ago. 

I don't particularly like the term organic, but working "with nature not against it" and using lower-technology solutions pretty much fits my lifestyle and the management of the rest of my farm (hay, mohair, pigeons, eggs, landscaping trees, firewood, and misc. forest products).  So, though I've been lectured, insulted, laughed at, and duly chastized by many successful beekeepers, I'm pursuing the TBH and natural/small cell route.  Also, even though most here believe it's impossible to overwinter at this latitude (a couple minutes shy of 65 deg. N), I refuse to kill my bees intentionally.  I've heard some arguments for it, but it just doesn't fit with my approach to life.

As you might guess from that introduction, I can be a bit independent and I haven't gotten along terribly well with local bee keepers.  I'm usually inclined to read a lot, think a lot, listen to a lot of people with experience, then devise my own approach to any problem or project.  That seems to bruise the egos of many beekeepers I know.  Most of them are perfectly happy to help you as long as you do everything they tell you to and nothing else, but when you start trying things you heard elsewhere or thought up on your own, they wash their hands of you.  Problem is, they all give different advice, so if you listen to one then you alienate the other and vice versa.  They don't seem to understand that their advice is appreciated and taken into consideration even if it's not followed as strictly as the laws of physics.  I hope folks on this forum are not like that.

Anyway, guess I'll go browse a bit and see what I can learn. -Tim

Online Michael Bush

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Offline pdmattox

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Re: Hello from Two Rivers, Alaska
« Reply #2 on: December 29, 2006, 09:28:45 pm »
Welcome aboard, and sorry to hear of your loss.  I've always heard there is more than one way to skin a cat and the same sure goes with beekeeping.  Things that work for you this year might not work out the same next year.  Check out MB's site it has a lot of info.  Again glad to have you here and look foward to reading your posts. :mrgreen:

Offline wff

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Re: Hello from Two Rivers, Alaska
« Reply #3 on: December 29, 2006, 09:43:12 pm »
Thank you both for the welcome and the links.

I've had Mr. Bush's site bookmarked for some time now, and refer to it often.  I wish all people with that kind of knowledge and experience were as open and enthusiastic about sharing it.  It's people like that who make the internet worth while.  :-D

Offline mick

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Re: Hello from Two Rivers, Alaska
« Reply #4 on: December 30, 2006, 08:43:39 pm »
Welcome aboard. I cant imagine how sad and frustrating it must be to loose hives like that.

Offline wff

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Re: Hello from Two Rivers, Alaska
« Reply #5 on: December 31, 2006, 03:29:12 pm »
Thanks for the welcome, Mick.  Yes, it's frustrating to loose them all, but there's always next year and at least they died trying, not because I gave up and killed them, so I figure they had a better life than most of the bees around here.  :)

Offline Brian D. Bray

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Re: Hello from Two Rivers, Alaska
« Reply #6 on: January 01, 2007, 05:26:31 pm »
Wff,
what kind of pigeons do you have.  I have racing homers--my brothers own strain we are developing.  that is, if the hawks don't eat them all, although those that survive sure can fly.  My friends joke about coming to my place to learn about the birds and the bees.
Life is a school.  What have you learned?   :brian:      The greatest danger to our society is apathy, vote in every election!

Offline wff

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Re: Hello from Two Rivers, Alaska
« Reply #7 on: January 01, 2007, 11:42:22 pm »
Wff,
what kind of pigeons do you have.  I have racing homers--my brothers own strain we are developing.  that is, if the hawks don't eat them all, although those that survive sure can fly.  My friends joke about coming to my place to learn about the birds and the bees.

Hi Brian,
We've got mostly white homers, but also a smattering of lots of different odds and ends - barred homers, some pouters, some Srebniaks (Polish High Fliers), some archangels, some Indian Fantails, a few rollers.  We eat a lot of them, and we rent out the white homers for weddings and such, and provide some for dog trainers.  The hawks and ravens get their fair share too.  Never got into racing them, though there are a number of folks around here who do.

Offline Brian D. Bray

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Re: Hello from Two Rivers, Alaska
« Reply #8 on: January 03, 2007, 06:07:08 am »
If you have some Birmingham rollers (aka Black Country Rollers because they come from the coal mine country of England) I would be interested in getting some from you.  I love to watch their antics.
Life is a school.  What have you learned?   :brian:      The greatest danger to our society is apathy, vote in every election!

Offline wff

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Re: Hello from Two Rivers, Alaska
« Reply #9 on: January 04, 2007, 01:39:36 pm »
If you have some Birmingham rollers (aka Black Country Rollers because they come from the coal mine country of England) I would be interested in getting some from you.  I love to watch their antics.

Hi Brian,
Our rollers are parlor rollers, and we've only got one bleep and two old hens left.  There used to be a guy up here who had a whole lot of birmingham rollers, but he moved to Michigan and took them all with him.  I'll bet you can find some birminghams in your part of the country.  I'll ask my wife if she knows anyone down there who has them.  She goes to the Pualup fair most years just to see the pigeons.

There used to be a Washington state roller pigeon club, but I'm not sure if they're still active.  You can probably find anything you're looking for on ww.pigeons.biz.

Offline Kirk-o

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Re: Hello from Two Rivers, Alaska
« Reply #10 on: January 09, 2007, 09:38:45 am »
Welcome and good luck.I had bees in the seventies also started again in 2002
alot differnt now
kirko
"It's not about Honey it's not about Money It's about SURVIVAL" Charles Martin Simmon

 

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