Bee Friendly Farming

We've been keeping honey bees at reroot organic farm for 3 seasons now.  It seemed like a complimentary hobby for someone with a small diversified farm- encourage more pollinators in the garden and get to enjoy the honey as a by-product!  Sounds simple enough...

We quickly learned why there are fewer and fewer beekeepers keeping bees each year.  What used to be a relatively easy and enjoyable pursuit is now a challenging and often heart-breaking endeavor with countless diseases, pests and the mysterious 'colony collapse disorder' plaguing the health of the honeybee.  It is now virtually impossible to keep hives without engaging in some form of treatment to keep the ever present mites at bay...and without the routine use of anti-biotics, one runs the risk of contracting a disease called foul brood which not only kills your bees, but contaminates your equipment with disease spores rendering it useless for future hives.  We were unfortunate enough to learn all about this latter affliction during our first year beekeeping when the nucs (baby bees) we bought came to us already infected with the dreaded foulbrood.  A big bonfire (to burn the contaminated equipment) and hundreds of dollars later, we were back at square one.  If one does manage to keep their bees healthy and happy during the season, the winter months can wreak havoc on the colonies and often beekeepers arrive at their hives in the spring to discover them empty.  We unfortunately lost 3 of our hives over this past winter.

All of this paints a bleak picture of beekeeping, but the thing is, it's so addictive that once you venture into the world of the honeybee....there's no turning back.  They're fascinating creatures to observe with one hive being made up of about 50,000 worker bees (all female) one queen (who lays between 1000-2000 eggs each day!) and a handful of drones (the male bees who basically laze around the hive in the off-chance that they might need to breed a new queen....which only happens once every 2 or more years....that's okay though, in the fall the worker bees toss the free-loaders out of the hive so they don't have to feed them over the winter).  The worker bees work tirelessly at their designated jobs- raising the baby bees (called brood), collecting pollen and nectar, and guarding the hive against intruders.  When you observe closely, you can see the many colours of pollen the bees bring home, stuffed in little sacs on their back legs, ready to feed to the young.  They forage up to 5 miles from the hive but if suitable food is closer, they're happier to stick close to home.  On average each year we're able to harvest about 100lbs of honey from each hive we keep while still leaving enough for the bees to feed themselves over the winter.  There's nothing more rewarding them tasting that first sweet taste of honey during the extracting process...it's tasty and it's also amazingly good for you with anti-bacterial, anti-fungal and anti-viral properties.  It also never spoils....perfectly good honey has been found in ancient Egyptian tombs!

So yes, here at reroot organic farm, we're addicted to beekeeping despite the many challenges.  We're learning more each season about this complex species and are dedicated to making them an integral part of our farming operation.  For this reason, we became the first farm in Wellington County and one of the first farms in all of Canada to become a Certified Bee-Friendly Farm.  In addition to keeping bees ourselves, we also plant crops that provide food for honeybees and wild bees alike; allow hedgerows and naturalized areas to grow providing habitat; and don't use any chemicals on our farm that might be harmful to bees. 

We think beekeeping is one of the most important things we do at reroot organic farm, and encourage everyone to try their hand at beekeeping or at planting a bee friendly garden.  More information on the Bee Friendly Farming Initiative can be found at http://pfspbees.org/bff.htm

PIGS- by Robert Munsch

Well my good intentions of regular blog entries seemed to fall by the wayside when last season got busy.  This is a new year, with new intentions and there is definitely no shortage of entertaining, educational, often humiliating farm stories to share, so here we go again...
I just found my old copy of PIGS by Robert Munsch on my bookshelf and am blown away by just how accurate a reflection that story is.  I had no idea as a small child, but now, as I finish up my first year of raising pigs I can attest to both their smarts and their destructive powers.
March 2010 marked our entry into the world of pig farming and we jumped in whole-hog, bringing 7 little weaners (that's what they call little pigs that have been weaned from their mama pigs) home from a Milverton farm.  These weren't just any old pigs, they were Berkshires- desired by chefs around the world for their flavourful meat and I was purchasing them from a farmer who raised them both on organic grain and pasture, exactly the way I planned to.  Bonus!  Our plan was to raise 5 of them for meat and keep the most promising 2 gilts (that's what they call unbred ladies) to have our own piglets the following year.  What followed was an enjoyable few months watching these babies play and run and roll in the mud, eat copious quantities of discarded vegetables (along with whatever else they could get their snouts on), and grow, grow, GROW!  Despite the fact that we didn't properly train them to their electric fence, they stayed contained in their pasture for the most part.  Any piglets that did stray, didn't go far and always returned to barn for their next meal.  We were lucky to have a good abattoir just around the corner from us, and although I could probably write separate blog entries about each time we loaded and delivered pigs, suffice it to say that 5 of them made it successfully into the freezer to be enjoyed by many.  By the fall, we were left with our 2 lovely ladies that we planned to breed.  We named them Penny and Fran and figured the winter would be a breeze with them until they farrowed in the spring.  Not so.  I am not sure what changed for these 2 black beauties but somehow the 1 acre pen and pasture that was of ample size for the 7 of them, no longer suited these 2 and they took to breaking through the fence on a pretty much daily basis.  Some highlights include:
- a friend of mine planting trees in the ditch along the road and feeling a presence behind her.  Assuming it was the dogs, she turned around to find a 350lb pig watching her work.
- arriving at the barn one morning to find only one pig in the pen.  Frantically searching the barn/pasture/whole farm, calling her name and imagining the horror of having to knock on my neighbours doors to tell them I lost my pig.  Or worse yet, hearing on the news about a stray pig wreaking havoc around town or parading down the highway.  After working myself into a frenzy,  I returned to the barn for a THIRD search only to hear a familiar grunt as Penny emerged yawning from beneath an entire bale of hay in the sheep pen where she'd spent a cozy night.
- patching a hole in the fence and then watching a few minutes later while a powerful snout tears a new one right beside it.
- watching helplessly while both of them make their way through our raspberry patch, into the asparagus, and past the bee yard.  
- getting a phone call from a helpful neighbour while out doing errands, informing me that there are 2 black pigs standing on the road in front of my house...might they be mine?
-begging, pleading, bribing, doing anything to try to convince these 2 (now almost 400lbs) to return to their pen when they've walked through the electric fence.  They're always scared to cross the threshold back once they've had a shock on their way through.  I have no idea why they can't just remember the shock while they're on the RIGHT side of the fence.
Luckily, neither can resist meal time and are both always back where they're supposed to be in time for the next feed.  A $600 fencer, many hours spent repairing fences, and lots of time to practice my patience, we have (for the most part) succeeded in containing them.    They've become friendly, lazy pigs who will roll right over to have their bellies rubbed, or sidle up beside me for an ear scratch.  I'm well aware that these humongous creatures could crush me in an instant if they so choose, so I've opted to develop a friendly rapport with them rather then one based on fear and intimidation.  I know they're smart but also incredibly stubborn.  I also know that the way to their hearts is through their bellies so often resort to tasty treats as bribes.
Next week we go to pick up their new beau (who I've affectionately decided to call Boar-at).  We're borrowing him for a month or so from a nearby farm to breed our ladies.  I am hoping for a peaceful, uneventful time but based on my last year of pig experience, I can almost guarantee there'll be a new pig related blog entry in the near future. 
Stay tuned....