Ahh, I love Game of Thrones (GoT).  Ya, I know this is a blog about homesteading, beekeeping, blacksmithing, house restoration, and other “real” working activities but let’s be honest.  We all love a good old relaxing time watching TV, playing video games, or just chilling out.  Me?  Well, I love GoT but they are on hiatus until June, so I am playing the latest expansion of World of Warcraft, getting in a little riding on my Harley, and buttoning up the farm for winter.

A couple weeks ago, I treated my hive for mites.  I know!  Who knew that bees got mites!  Well, they do and it’s kind of like treating a dog for fleas except you are treating the hive instead of the individual bees.  I decided to go with a natural solution of a Thyme extract called Thymol.  The specific product I used is called Apiguard. Apiguard comes in a pack of, I think, ten flat tins which each hold a specific amount of gel.  It kind of looks like a tin of Vapo-Rub and smells just as off putting (but stronger).  You are supposed to treat them for four weeks, which is the life cycle period for the varroa mite.  You just pull open the foil lid of the flat tin, set it on top of the brood box, cover it with a super and lid, rinse and repeat in two weeks.  Apparently, some beekeepers don’t treat for mites which basically means that, if the hive is infested, the load of mites will grow each year until the bees can no longer take it and leave or die.  Another group of beekeepers test their hives before they treat to see what the mite load is, then decide whether treatment is warranted.  As the mites can develop a tolerance to the method used, over time, I have come up with a method that I hope will prevent them from adapting to any particular treatment. I decided that I am not going to test their mite load as doing so (from what I can tell) requires that you gather roughly 300 bees and soak them in alcohol to kill them (and the mites) then count the number of mites you find to get a rough percentage (over 3% and you treat).  I prefer to just treat, since it doesn’t hurt the bees at all, and I will rotate the method I use to treat periodically to prevent adaptation of the mites to the treatment.  There are several possible treatments available: using a “sugar roll”, using a Thymol product, using Oxalic Acid fog, and I think there is one more.  Being my first year, I don’t think there will be any harm in blanket treating the hive.  The biggest difference between the methods is whether you can treat with the honey supers on or not.  Thymol is the only one where you can not leave them on, because the Thymol will seep into the honey and make it taste bad. At any rate, the treatment is now in the second application and the bees seem to be going about their business as usual.  When I went out to put the second application in the hive, I noticed that there was a pile of dead bees right outside the hive.  This wasn’t due to the miticide, but rather what the bees do when preparing for winter.They will kick the males (drones) out of the hive…ya, that’s right, the females rule in the bee world.  It just makes sense, though.  The males are there to mate with the queen and with the queen slowing down her brood production in preparation for winter, the males are just a resource consumer who does nothing to contribute to hive health.  Anyway, it was just a little proof that the hive does know that…Winter is Coming! Sorry, last GoT joke.

The blacksmithing continues to be a pain in my butt, but I am determined to learn the techniques I need to know to be successful.  There is a place in Portland that does a workshop every Thursday through the winter and I plan to make that a regularly scheduled thing so I can pick the brains of the blacksmiths in attendance.  That’s pretty much the only update in the blacksmithing arena.

The garden has come to its end for the year as well.  We only have tomatoes which continue to produce mass quantities of fruit.  We are trying to figure out what we will be doing to prepare it for next spring.  One of the tasks that I will be performing is putting up a fence to keep the deer out of it.  She decimated the crops that were there and I can’t have that happening again.  I will also be doing some work on the irrigation system and figuring out how to mulch the soil over the winter.  For now, we are pretty happy with the vegetables that we were able to produce and eat (before the deer got to them).

As Michelle and I move into our first winter on the farm, it’s hard not to reflect on the whirlwind spring and summer that we had and the place we live.  There have been a lot of firsts starting with this being the first farm either one of us have owned.  As with all new things, the “newness” eventually wears off and you move into the monotonous stage of ownership (yes, I realize this also is an analogy for a relationship) where you have to invent ways of keeping it fresh and motivating yourself to do the things that you don’t like doing.  For me, though, it doesn’t seem to be that difficult right now.  I love sitting on my porch and looking over the south end of the property.  I love fantasizing about what project I will take on next and what it will be like to have it finished.  The man who owned this house before us owned it from 1947 when it was built until the day he died.  He raised his family here, loved his wife here, played with his children here, sold Christmas trees which contributed to the holiday joy experienced by all who purchased a tree from him.  This was his American Dream and he must have passed knowing that he lived a good life.  I have spoken to my two neighbors that have lived there at least a few years and they both spoke highly of him.  I hope that the memories that I create on this land are as meaningful, long lasting, and generous as his were.  I hope to continue the tradition he started by living here for the rest of my life in happiness and peace.