september happenings and design course

Just a little preview of what has been moving on the farm and in west Marin over the last few weeks. we had a 64 student Permaculture Design Course come through for a two week intensive. got to travel to the heirloom seed expo in Santa Rosa. it was also the start of the 9 month RDNA program that is kicked off with the two week intensive so it was great having all my favorite second year cultural mentors around. they were a big help with the on site needs through the intensive! thank you! enjoy the photos, more detail to come on specific events. also is a home made wild crafted bench that i put together. good stuff

many hands make light work in our water lab to see how water moves on the land

Zac and Brock Dolman hanging with some nasturtium flowers

fires to be tended

the barn workers circa 1976??

wild crafted/recycled love seat, along a brush berm for the villa area

hanging in petaluma at Tara Firma farms

paella party

whale bones and hyde

passion show night

heirloom seed expo wool processing demo

heirloom seed expo 2012

heirloom seed expo 2012

heirloom seed expo 2012

heirloom seed expo 2012

heirloom seed expo 2012

heirloom seed expo 2012

heirloom seed expo 2012

heirloom seed expo 2012

heirloom seed expo 2012

heirloom seed expo 2012

Harvest of the Herb

Roman Chamomile

Herbs. they are pretty great plants. and they are at their peak right now in the mid-late summer. A really beatufiul, button like German Chamomile, was ready for harvest. see above.  we love it here for teas, and Commonweal Gardens (where RDI resides) always has its own stash of dried Chamomile. thought it would be good to replenish. Its great before bed, in teas, and the plant responds best for the body steeped in natural spring water brought to just under a boil. we are a little spoiled with our spring water here.

Calendula

 Calendula is one of my favorite flowers, and it was one of the first flowers i ordered from a catalog. it was called Flashback Calendula, and it was a sun burst of yellow pedals that faded at the tips and to the center of the head in a hue mix of pink, yellow, and a red center. here at Commonweal we have stunning varieties of both domesticated and wild Calendula, the later being almost twice as small in flower, and a slender creeping weed; we let it be most of the time to be a filler. yellows, oranges, and a few in between populate almost every nook, edge, and disturbed soil spot that we have. This little flower is edible and great in salads, although it is a strong medicinal. tinctures, teas, fresh and dried, this flower is a great healer, and especially vital in salves for topical application.

drying racks ready

Liam and White Coyote Mint, from Ebbet's Pass

 Liam has been adventuring around with a Medicinal Guru named Tellur Fenner http://www.bluewindbmc.com/bios.php and went up to the Sierra ranges and grabbed some fun plants. Tellur will be teaching a 12 month 200 hour medicinal california native botany class here at RDI starting in October-  http://www.regenerativedesign.org/edible-medicinal-plants-ca

Nicociana (wild tobacco) and Mint

 Yarrow (below) is another one of my favorite plants, revered in medieval times and used in beer and to make bitters before hops. an old world plant, its name Achillea Millefolium is referenced from greek culture because Achillies would carry it for his army as a treatment for wounds. much of it has established its self in most of the northern hemisphere. unsure of how we will use it, but drying it is a main priority.

Wonderful Yarrow

bee swarm # 5?!

swarming bees

cutting branches out. im watching with curiosity about stings... 

the orchard looking west along the west ridge

final cut to the branch that held the swarm

box-o-bees (queen included) Liam and I moving the bees on up!

well another planned day at RDI was 

interrupted by our 7th(?) swarm of the season.

all three of us (Liam, Meghan and i) were in the kitchen garden getting ready to plant some veggies and herbs, when the hum of a swarm filled the air. 

Brock's voice about following the party ringed in our ears and we watched as the air filled with bees, eventually landing in a pear tree near the food forest just behind Penny and James house. 

(you can almost see the house roof in the picture at right.)

we proceeded to have the next top bar hive ready (these hives are one long hive with honey comb bars at the full length) and suited up for our adventure of cutting out all the bees amassed around the queen on the branches of the pear tree. 

its the pirate hives....

Liam dumping bees... in shorts... crazy man

the hive- that's a lot of bees

adding boards... in shorts...

after cutting out some branches we made the final cut (at left) and dropped all the bees and their hive mates into a box.

we moved amongst the swarming bees and their newly claimed branch in-a-box, very calmly mind you, up hill to the hives at the top of the food forest with no stings or anger from the bees at all.

Finally arrived up at their new home amongst our other hives- we are now up to 8 for the season, only starting with 3 out of 5 from last year... its been 4 weeks of constant new swarms. this means our current hives are busy at work expanding, or we are not doing enough to control the amount of queens that are being born. many bee keepers open and manage their hives choosing not to allow the the birth or creation of queen cells- the queen cells look a little bit like peanut shells worked into the side walls of the normal hive cells that birth drones and workers.





















if we find one without melting it down for bees wax i will post it... its been too exciting to save the cells and document.

Meghan took all the photos of Liam and i in our funny suits, and it was a job well done... and it was our first bee capture on our own for all of us- it being the first bee interaction for Meghan ever.

almost finished- some excited bees about their new home.

swarming a pear tree

we did have one closing thought- after checking on a previous swarm that happened a week ago, we noticed one of our newly swarmed boxes abandoned... the hive had comb and chambers, along with some unhatched bees, propolis, and filled honey comb... 

why was it empty? what happened to the unhatched bees? 

a few were still moving.

 we were curious and left with many more questions about exactly what we had seen today....

did this hive come from one of our previous swarms who didnt like their new home?

or was it a hive that out grew its space??

questions upon questions.

the universe is not personal.

Cheese?!

Last night, for the first time we made cheese. 3 gallons of goats milk.... and we still had maybe 3 gallons to use for yogurt and to have in the morning... without any enzyme starter, i just used Rennet, to separate the fats and whey. on the left is the cheese hanging to drain and cure, and the right is the whey and cheese- the cheese having formed into a semi solid. below is the cheese in the cloth ready to be wrapped up and hung. to follow will be salting, pressing to cure, and adding dried herbs to make a herb goat cheese cheve... thank you GOATS.

also started today was some kimche, and Komboocha, (or booch as we like to call it)  by the wonderful and recently arrived new farm pirate (that's our new slang for intern) Meghan. also will attempt some whey soda with all our strawberries, and dehydrate them as well. lots going on. lots to do. lots to post... 

patients... 
and a quote that has been floating around here

"the universe is not personal"

chickens

happy old hens! speculation is they are around 8 years old.

the "bunkers" as the converted worm bins are named.

 This is the chicken coop. the whole fenced in area is very luxurious, complete with several (in my opinion) of the best apples at RDI. they have a good run, an old truck top, and even two giant worm bins that are built out of old cast iron tubs... although they cant get into the said tubs... the worm bins are cumbersome but are a great design none the less. we have the old grey water sludge that had millions of worms sitting in the worm bins as we speak- but penny and i both agree that they are almost too heavy to lift the tops and use, and we may retire them... im thinking of converting them to raised beds for carrots and beets... hmmm

our hens are down in numbers though, a bunch have been culled, mostly due to their old age, and they are laying at around 5 eggs a week if we are lucky. there is 6 hens left. hopefully we shall be getting some young guns soon!

Honey Harvest and FOXIE CUBS!

Honey! its good...

This week durring the PDC we captured a swarm as well as harvested some honey! in the late day when we culled the hive, we were processing the honey and we were silly drunk from all the honey we were eating, and covered in.. almost 3 pounds, and one of our first serious harvests from one of our 7 hives!

 this particular hive was not even a month old, and the Honey was several colours.  it also had some uncovered combs, meaning that the bees had not finished filling them and capped them off. this "uncapped" honey wont last as long, but is raw and fresh!!! the darker and lighter honey that we had was most likely the eucalyptus and the smorgasbord of flowers and plants on the farm respectively.  

PDC student Claire ready for the bees.

 The Hive that swarmed brought out some great fashion statements, as well as it being the second swarm of the year from our "kitchen hive." the kitchen hive has volunteered in a hole on the outside wall coverings of the kitchen. they are one of the strongest hives we have, and are constantly coming home with their little saddle bags filled with pollen.

Brock clad in bee protection

 and last but not least the adorable grey fox cubs for 2012.  these two buggers were causing a ruckus knocking over a bucket, and just being a bunch of misfits. they have been spotted under James' and Penny's houses. the mom has been seen more often then these two... we hope they are alright! 

grey fox cubs

2012

Well here we are folks!

the year has come.... and not a moment too soon! got a computer back to add much much much to the interweb of ever expanding knowledge.

been quite a few months since the past post in september, and the RDNA program at Regenerative Design Institute has been quite a journey. from primitive fire making skills, to natural pigment paint and dye making, we have covered so much in the Permaculture, and cultural mentoring world.

lots of photos (click here) of the Regenerative Design Nature Awareness program, covering tons, although not as many photos as i should be taking there. too busy paying attention and doing! have decided to do my final design project a permaculture design for land Back at Leslie's in Southampton, NY. since i know the land well, and its not fictional, it was the best option to apply a real design with a real client. it will be good for a design portfolio and most of all just practice.



this photo on this post is of the crescent moon over Bolinas lagoon. it sums up the beauty that surrounds us in this world, but especially out here on the Pt Reyes Sea shore.