Victims

Please excuse this temporary diversion from my urban farm blog.

My heart is heavy this week with the news that Bishop Bruce Burnside struck and killed a jogger in a drunk driving hit-and-run accident. It happened Sunday afternoon when he was traveling to a meeting at my mother's church in Sun Prairie. I am so sad for the family of the jogger, a woman my own age, who leaves behind a husband and three children. I can't imagine their grief and I won't allow myself to think that the victim could have been me or someone I know. Hit-and-run drunk driving is unforgivable!

Bruce Burnside is bishop of the South Central Synod of Wisconsin, a geographical division of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. That makes him my bishop. I met him once in July 2000 when he presided over the funeral of my mother-in-law at St. Stephen's in Monona, long before he was bishop.

How can this horrible event have happened? Did the bishop have a history of drunk driving incidents? Has he been terribly depressed? Is he alcoholic? Do we expect too much of our church leaders--brilliant theologian, inspiring preacher, compassionate pastor, capable administrator, occasional politician? Have we as a synod appropriately supported Bruce before, during and after the prolonged illness and subsequent death of his late wife? Were there people who knew he was struggling and couldn't help? Why, oh why did this happen? 

All I know is that in one moment on Sunday afternoon we lost an innocent soul in an ungodly accident. At the same exact instant, the soul of a bishop hit rock bottom. There is no judicial consequence that can exceed what has already occurred in Bruce's heart, no book bigger than the one he knows too well.  And so like ancient King Solomon, I pray for wisdom and discernment. Hit-and-run drunk driving is unforgivable, and yet we are called to forgive. Not seven times. Not seventy times, but seventy times seven. It may take Lutherans in our area a while to recover, but ultimately we must forgive. Meanwhile, we pray for the souls of both victims, dead and alive. 

Early Spring Planting

March was a long and frustrating month. Spring simply refused to come to Wisconsin. Average temperatures were at least ten degrees below normal while snow accumulation was above average. Although the moisture level has been good for the soil, gardening activities have been strictly limited to indoor seed starting.

This weekend, we finally caught a whiff of spring. On Saturday, the afternoon temperatures reached nearly 50 degrees under partly sunny skies. (Yes, this really is an improvement!) We took a couple hours to remove the tattered plastic hoop covers over two of our raised beds. It took an ice chipper to remove some ice and snow from the outside perimeter of the beds, but we were able to remove enough snow to accomplish the task.

Beneath the hoop covers, we found the soil in the raised beds to be warm and friable. Last fall's spinach was growing happily. I turned over the soil easily with my favorite hand cultivator and started transplanting seedlings immediately. I filled one 12' x 3' bed with carrots, beets and scallions (plus the volunteer spinach).

After carefully watering the new seedlings, we covered the bed with a fresh layer of plastic and tucked it in again. We can expect to harvest these cool weather crops through the end of May, when I'll replace these crops with summer vegetables.

I complained in my February 8 blog that the hoop covers were too much trouble to maintain throughout the winter. Nevertheless, the soil beneath the covers is so loose and warm that it might be worth the trouble after all.

Honeybee late winter update

On Saturday, March 2, we conducted a partial inspection of two (out of three) top bar bee hives. At noon the weather was 40 degrees and sunny, so we worked very quickly. We had to shovel snow out of the bee yard to access the hives. Our main purpose was to insure the bees would have enough food to survive the late winter.

Last week, I made fondant bee candy following the recipe in Christy Hemenway's new book The Thinking Beekeeper. Fondant is a good way to feed bees in the winter because it won't freeze like sugar syrup. It's important to get the fondant as close as possible to the bee cluster.

We opened the red hive first because we're certain there are still living bees in that hive. Sure enough, those girls assured us that they didn't appreciate our intrusion. Since we found plenty of honey dripping from the combs, we quickly closed the hive.

Next we opened the blue hive where we also found plenty of honey. Rather than annoy any remaining bees, we closed up the hive and covered it with the insulation blankets. There hasn't been any activity from this hive in the last few weeks, and I'm unsure if there are any survivors.

Our green hive hasn't shown any activity since December. We presume it is dead and didn't bother to open it in winter conditions. There was plenty of honey in that hive last fall, which we'll retrieve in the spring.

Reports from other beekeepers have been discouraging. The survival rate this winter is very low mostly due to mites. If we can keep just one hive alive, we will consider it a huge success. Bees reproduce quickly in the spring and we can use the increase to make splits for the empty hives. Late winter is the most challenging!  

Egg Production Increase

At long last, all our hens are back in production! Crocus the Easter Egger laid a beautiful green egg this morning, her first egg since October 26. Her molt took a looong time and she's very well rested. Daisy the Delaware lays a shiny medium brown egg nearly every day, and Squill the Speckled Sussex lays a perfect tan egg several times a week. The Buckeye-Delaware hybrids lay dark brown eggs just like clockwork. Since beginning artificial lighting in mid-January, our egg production has increased from zero eggs per week to two dozen eggs per week. The hens are more active, look healthy and talk happily when we step outside. Remember, folks, it's not the snow that effects egg production, it's all about light.

Honeybee Cleansing Flight

On Monday, February 18, daytime temperatures at Red Bucket Farm approached 45 degrees with full sunshine. The honeybees in two of my topbar hives took the opportunity to come outside for quick cleansing flights (they poop outside of the hive). You can see them in this brief video. Unfortunately, my third hive appears to be dead. We hope to have enough surviving bees to make splits in the spring. Stay tuned for further developments!

Snow Maintenance

Snow removal and maintenance has become a daily ritual at Red Bucket Farm. The hens are snug in their coop in spite of the awesome snow curl extending off the roof. They have access to the outdoors and will occasionally venture out to their little day coop (left in photo above). Rain doesn't bother them, but they don't like the snow. We shovel snow out of part of the chicken yard so they have a little space to wander. We need to be careful that the mounded snow piles don't create an easy-access ramp for the foxes and coons.

I clear off the beehives following each snow fall. Snow is a good insulator and it's not necessary to remove it from the sturdy wooden boxes, but I like to think that the sunshine on the tar paper and insulation blankets will help keep them a few degrees warmer.

These low hoop houses grew greens successfully until Thanksgiving. I should have taken them down at that time, because sweeping snow off the fragile plastic covering is high maintenance. There is still a little spinach growing inside there, but it would survive beneath the snow. Next year I'll use the portable hoops until Thanksgiving and then disassemble them until March.

I love the simple peace of a snowfall and the restfulness that winter brings to the earth. Too bad I didn't remember to rescue St. Francis!

Return of the Eggs

The hens at Red Bucket Farm are laying eggs once again! After a long winter rest, the girls are back to work. Supplemental lighting has been very helpful and we will make this a regular part of our flock maintenance.

Daisy the Delaware began laying last weekend and is producing daily. She was quickly joined by Squill the Speckled Sussex. Now the Buckeye-Delaware hybrid pullets are getting into the action, too. Our Easter Egger is still finishing her molt, so her green eggs will be delayed until she is ready.

The flock is noisier and more active than they have been in months. It's still snowing outside, but spring is on the way and the chickens love the increase in day light, both supplemental and natural.

To celebrate the resurgence in egg production, tonight's menu includes tortilla espanola, a Mediterranean potato and egg omelette. Hooray for backyard hens!