May 19, 2010
ORGANIC GROWING NEWS Newsletter 270 – April 2010
Levin Branch, NZ Soil & Health Association
www.organicnz.org/branch/Levin
Patron Fay Te Kira 364 5168
Treasurer Liz Baucke 368 0009 Minute Secretary Val Nicol 367 8320 Secretary Annmarie Coote 367 3753
Committee Ian Sheen 364 3299 singa@xtra.co.nz Emily Williams 362 6684 Barbara van der Valk 364 3244 Jill Scott 363 7567 Michael Hunt 364 8053
Ambassador at Large: Winifred Bourn, 23a Fairfield Road, Levin Fax 368 6271, ph 368 6701
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Visit to Judith Balchin’s award winning garden.
Sunday 25th April 1.30pm
183 Botanical Road
Like everyone, Judith has had an ‘interesting’ growing year and so would like to use this visit as a problem-solving exercise, where we can all learn from each other. Those of us who have been lucky to try Judith’s ‘grape leather’ which she has brought to previous field days will like to see a small garden that is full of food production.
Directions: from Pioneer Highway travelling north – turn left into Botanical Drive, to park, turn right into Chelwood St and walk to Judith’s.
Members are asked not to bring dogs to this visit and to look at the possibility of carpooling. We need to support this visit out of the Horowhenua
Upcoming events: Small Lifestyle Farmer’s information day in Otaki 22 May. We have a stall booked and are asking members to volunteer some time to help.
** Members are also asked to think about what causes/groups they want our branch to donate to and contact a committee member with any suggestions.
The next committee meeting will be on Monday 10th May with Winifred Bourn at 23a Fairfield Rd, Levin.
Future group meetings:
In May we will visit De Molen, the windmill in Foxton to see the stone ground flour making process (if you want to go upstairs, there is an entry/tour fee of $5). Following the tour we will visit the home of Jill Scott, for afternoon tea and will look at growing a garden in the sand.
In June or July, we are looking into a talk and/or visit on water quality and water ways.
Dependent on which month we have the above, the other month will see a visit to Common Property where we will look at seed sprouting, garlic sowing, using a scythe and tool sharpening/ maintenance.
22 August at Thompson House “The importance of seed saving”.
26 September “A planting party” with easy ways to grow vegetables in pots, with a proposed visit to Michael Hunt’s amazing garden in Otaki.
24 October – planting out seeds, more information to come.
AGM and bees!
Meeting held on Sunday 28th March.
Following the AGM Amor Walter began his presentation with the DVD - Mysterious Bees. This is a fascinating and informative look at the establishment and routines of a bee colony.
Bees are social insects, living in colonies of tens of thousands - the survival of which is dependent on the queen. If the bee population grows to such an extent that the hive is no longer able to function optimally, then it is the parent who leaves this established colony, with half of the bees, to set up a new one. When the queen has found a new hive, she makes use of her very strong scent gland and as she moves her wings the scent draws the other bees into the new colony. If a beekeeper can catch this mobile colony, s/he can start a new hive. In the meantime the daughter stays with the original hive.
The queen’s main function is to lay eggs. Certain pheremones from the queens mouth are licked off and passed to all of the other bees in the hive. One of the chemicals in this pheremone halts the development of ovaries in all of the other female bees, so no other bee can become a mother, or the queen. Without the ovary-inhibitting chemical, fertilised eggs (from the old queen) remain in dome-like cells. Nurse bees feed them royal jelly, which is secrteed by them, like saliva. When the larvae is fully grown the cells are sealed. Seven days later a new queen will rule this colony. However if all 12 of the females emerge, the first one will have to kill the remainder, as there can only be one queen. Some of these prospective queens are even stung while still in the cell.
The queen fertilises her eggs herself. These then become the female worker bees. The drone bee comes from an unfertilised egg. Drone bees are the only males in the colony due to a process called parthogenesis (or also referred to as parthenogenesis). Their only duty is to mate with the queen and when this is completed they die.
The worker bees are well named. Their first job – which they begin within 60 seconds – is to clean out the old cells so the queen can lay more eggs. By four days old, something in her head has grown and she then becomes a nurse bee. After 10 days as a nurse bee she moves on to her next job of collecting nectar from the incoming field bees. Messages, in terms of location, direction and distance of plentiful sources of nectar are also passed on at this time in what is commonly known as the dance of the bees. The worker bee then deposits the nectar into one of thousands of cells. Mature honey is capped over with bees wax until it is required by the colony. An average hive will require 100 kg of honey to get them through a year and this is before we get even a teaspoon!
Air conditioning the beehive is the next duty. Stale, humid air is drawn out of the hive, while others draw fresh air in. This process is accomplished by the beating of the bees wings. A constant temperature of 34 degrees is required, summer and winter. This helps evaporate the moisture from the cells of nectar, so it can change to honey. The final job in the hive is as a guard bee, against predators and robbers.
When the worker bee is three weeks old she is halfway through her lifespan and has finished all of her duties. She now becomes a field bee bringing the nectar back to the hive. Pollen is only ever gathered from the same plant family for each trip. When her wings have shredded too much for her to effectively carry her required load, she walks away from the hive to die. By then, however, a new generation of bees is on the way and ready to preform these duties all over again.
Gary Williams then spoke on alternative hives, which are more natural in origin and smaller in size. Gary brought along a macrocarpa hive he had made. He puts thymol in the top of his hive and has a base with vairoa mite mesh in the bottom. The mites drop down and bugs etc eat them. The bees are unable to enter this part of the hive so are safe from the mite.
Gary noted when dealing with bees, the beekeeper’s attitude is all important. The colleague he works with when tending the bees often asks him if he is ‘happy enough’ to do it today.
Gary’s hive is based on the work of Warré, who experimented with some 350 hives of various designs with the aim of producing a hive that was simple, economical, bee-friendly and assured a surplus for the beekeeper. His hive consisted of tiers of identical boxes fitted with top-bars, but no frames. Its basic design can be summarised as follows:
hive-body box with projecting handles
wax starter strips under each top bar
flat floor, notched with a 120mm wide entrance, alighting board
coarse weave cloth covering the top-bars of the top box
100 mm high 'quilt' boxed with wood and filled with straw, sawdust, wood shavings etc., retained with a cloth
gabled roof containing a ventilated 'loft' and separated from the quilt by a mouse-proof board
the bees build natural comb in the first (top) box and extend downwards into further boxes,
new boxes are added at the bottom
The Warre hive is friendly to the bees since they are allowed to draw out their own comb, thereby ensuring a hive environment that is healthier and better suited to their own needs. A very important feature of Warré's method is that the hive is opened in the strict sense only once a year, namely at harvest. The hive scent and heat is thus retained which is vital for bee health and productivity. Gary’s hive has a perspex inspection site on the back so the bees can still be monitored.
Some bee facts:
Swarming bees are usually very placid, so if you should come across this – don’t panic! Don’t try to kill them, but contact a beekeeper.
A few puffs from a smoker into the hive, sends the bees into open combs looking for honey. They drink this up, which makes then very docile. Once a bee is full, they are unable to get their tail end down into position for a sting.
- The toxicity of a bee sting is similar to that of the cobra, however their minute size stops this from being so dangerous.
Further information on the Warre hive can be found on the following websites: www.warre.biobees.com and www.thebeespace.net
A snippet from your Ambassador at Large:
A postcard from Penang. . .
“We are on Penang Island, which is off the west coast of Peninsular Malaysia, near Thailand.
We are staying in a Homestay. The family we are staying with is Indian-Malay. The father is a lawyer who is working with an NGO to stop Monsanto further penetrating South East Asia. Joe and him got talking about the Terminator Gene. I didn’t know anything about this so looked up the NZ Soil and Health website. And I was happy to find that there are people doing a good job fighting Monsanto and this Gene in New Zealand too. I signed up for more information. I was disappointed to find the NZ government officially supports a proposed international law that would give multi-national chemical companies even greater powers to push traditional farming methods into the history books.
Next time I’m back we’d love to discuss this more with you”
