Veggienauts and Cattlegenerians

Tonight for date night Big Daddy & I rushed over to Wadhams to go visit Juniper Hill Farm. Amy Ivy from Cornell Coooperative Extension asked Adam and Melody to host an IPM class and field tour of what was growing in their garden. It is a beautiful farm that has been in Adam's family for generations and he has done his ancestors' proud. There were about 15 of us gathered there to "spy" on what the young organic farmers were up. Several local farms were represented, such Fledging Crow, Harvest Hill, Huestis Farm, and quite a few others. So everyone was in good company. Since we primarily raise meat proteins and we are a "tiny" bit older than the "sprouts" who are fast and furiously running their CSA farms we came up with the nicknames in the title. I think they are amazing farmers with they have accomplished in such a few short years with their hard work and determination.
Funny thing is during the warm months we rarely see another farmer unless its an emergency. And on this past Saturday we saw most of these folks up at Lake Clear for Adirondack Council's Conservationist of the Year award luncheon and ceremony. Adirondack Harvest received the Loon Award as conservationist of the year, so all of us farmers went to cheer Laurie Davis & Tom Both on. Of course, we probably would not of been there if the weather had been prime for haying!
And that brings us to Sunday evening's fun (ring, ring, ring 911). Shaun comes back in from watering cattle & swine and announces that #37 was calving. So we should go over and check on her in about 20 minutes. When we get there , it was uh oh, oh no time. The calf was coming out back legs first. Backwards and not progressing. So we need to catch her up to help her out. Now moving a cow with her calf's legs sticking out of her in hot, humid weather, uneven terrain, & with Big Daddy's mental telepathy on the fritz (I WAS NOT RECEIVING his instructions by brain wave, can you believe it?) does not equal fun. Alas a cranky #37 did not get that memo either and did not appreciate the help. I even tried using Jasmin & Lily as decoy cows. Mama to be #37 was onto to us and the fight was on.
Our Village Chieftain came over to save the day & assist with pulling chains (and possibly from Shaun & I killing each other with nasty glares). And of course, the cow at this point walked quietly to the barnyard and into the squeeze chute like that was where she was headed the whole time. After all the drama, I felt for sure that calf would be stillborn. But the gods were smiling upon us and the bull calf was born, but not looking to good. Lee picked that baby up shook him upside down and his poor lungs that had been filled with fluid came rushing out. The bull blinked and looked around for his mama -I'm sure he was hoping it wasn't Lee after that rough treatment that saved his life. Mom #37 mooed & got right to work, cleaning up and drying off her baby boy.

Swarm of Bees is July , Isn't worth a Fly

Well it was happy morning for a young beekeeper in the Adirondacks. . .
After spending the week at Cornell University with over five hundred 4-H teens learning all kinds of new and exciting career opportunities. Yours Truly took the focus for Teens track of "Youth Grow" where we thought great thoughts about our Food System with Garden-based Learning. . . but that is another story. Lazarus, your boots are on their way to NYC as soon as our Postmistress returns from lunch.
Stay focused-back to the honeybees. My "mentee" (is that a word?) Caleb from Perennial Pursuits Farm called to report a problem with his bees. He said he was headed out to knock down a chunk of hay when he noticed a tornado like cloud of bees. Now he has been following my advice (the first person to do so) and his new hives are humming along as expected. But he insisted that this dark cloud of bees were hovering over his #1 hive. But the bees in his hive only seemed mildly agitated. Hmm.
By the time I got over Willsboro Mountain the bees had collected up about 10 ft off the ground in a maple sapling. The weather is gorgeous and everyone is excited to help even the Black Lab pup, Mavis. If we had written a text book chapter the capture of his new bees, this would of been it! Here is how we did it.
We laid out the white sheet (so we could find the Queen easily). I pulled the sapling over and Caleb knocked the bees onto the sheet. We put a super with frames over the bees. Then onto Queen Search, once the beautiful young queen was found she and her sisters marched happily in their new hive. Then the box was placed in its new location, a hive top feeder was filled and placed on top to welcome them and done. And Caleb's mom, Master Gardener Liz, captured it all on film. So I think the old adage may not be correct - if you are new at beekeeping it is a great experience.
Caleb & Liz laughed when I asked if they had reviewed the chapter on Swarms in Beekeeping for Dummies. I have several copies and each are tattered from use. And of all the beekeeping books I have, I use and loan them the most because it goes for the essence of a situation and you can get right down to business.