The Cultured Home

Joel found the first goose egg on February 22nd.

Joel ran to find me yesterday morning because the first goose egg of the year had appeared.  This year’s first egg came from a pair of American Lavender Ice geese.

He is responsible for taking care of the chickens, and will often go “on patrol” after his morning chores are done.  Apparently this includes checking all the pens for any new eggs.

We had separated out our 8 pairs of geese into breeding/nesting pens on February 8th, because it’s time for them to begin laying. read more »

This afternoon’s project was spreading Boron on our pastures.

This plastic spreader worked great until it fell apart after one hour's use

Boron is a trace element that helps with calcium and nitrogen availability.  There is a good article about it on the Albrecht’s Animals page.  It is also soluble, which means in rainy Western Washington, it’s quickly washed out of the soil.  That’s what the soil test showed too.  We were to add about 3 lbs of boron supplement (13%) per acre.  Instead of mixing a foliar spray to apply dissolved borax, I bought a 50 lb. bag of “Granubor”, and walked around with a hand-held spreader.  The mineral grains were just the right size to make a 20 ft swath, so I was able to cover the ground I needed in less than an hour. read more »

This top bar is upside down so you can see the bee-covered comb

Here is my post about why I’ve decided to use foundationless and top bar hives for my treatment-free style of beehive management.

http://www.pleasedbees.com/wp/2011/02/04/why-top-bar-hives/