Nu Trac
new life tracks – growing organic, conservation, self reliance
remediation
This is not about environmental remediation, just correcting a few deficiencies in my nu trac environment. Bees When I split the hive a few weeks ago by taking bees and frames from hive 1 and creating a new hive 2, I noticed that hive 1 had no brood and apparently no queen. In addition to [...]
Posted in Bees, Growing organic, Interacting with nature | 2 Comments
observation and analysis
I used to think observation was the key talent. On trips through the Kruger game reserve my siblings and I competed to spot the lion, cheetah, leopard or unusual game first. On a river boat trip through north Australia we competed to be the first in the launch to spot the saltwater crocs (“salties”) lazing [...]
Posted in Growing organic, Interacting with nature, Musings | No Comments
wildflower seeding
Last fall I collected a large quantity of wildflower seed and stored it in a cloth shopping bag. Now that I have planted out my tomatoes and with rain in the offing, I decided to sow the seed – cosmos, sunflower, marigold and zinnia. I was gifted two old cultivators – they are 5 feet [...]
Posted in Interacting with nature, Self reliance | No Comments
bees – a swarm trap
Bees swarm to reproduce the colony and a common cause is population density or, according to an Australian beekeeper, dissatisfaction with current living conditions, which can be the same thing. A primary swarm is when the existing queen leaves with up to 60% of the population and a secondary swarm is when a virgin queen [...]
Posted in Bees | No Comments
tomato planting time
I made a false start about a month ago, when the daily temperatures were in the 80′s, and put out a dozen small tomato plants, most of which succumbed to an unexpected frost. So I waited a while and in the past week have begun setting out the plants. I try to rotate to avoid [...]
Posted in Growing organic | No Comments
bees – splitting the hive
I acquired my bees in spring 2010 and am now in my third year with the one hive. I decided it was time for two hives and there are several ways to go about this. Rather than buy a “package” or “nuc” I wanted to propagate my existing bees. After all, they have survived two [...]
Posted in Bees, Interacting with nature | No Comments
rainwater from coop roof
When I built the new coop in October last year I fitted a gutter which directs rainwater to an adjacent 250 gallon storage tank. My thought was to (a) collect all rainwater landing on impervious surfaces, and (b) use the water to irrigate a chicken food growing area. To grow food for the chicken I [...]
Posted in Chicken, Rainwater harvesting, Self reliance | No Comments
bees – “The Lost World of the Kalahari”
I have been spending time with my bees – recently did my first split (split the one hive into two separate hives) and will soon do the first honey harvest of 2012. So, with bees on my mind, I want to include some excerpts from an engrossing book written in 1958 in South Africa by [...]
Posted in Bees, Interacting with nature | No Comments
2nd chicken coop door installed
Last week I designed, constructed and installed my first coop door opener – it has operated flawlessly the past week automatically opening the door at about 8am and then late afternoon I reverse the current and close it when I feed the chickens and settle them for the night. An ongoing issue has been the [...]
Posted in Chicken, Self reliance | No Comments
water conservation – “Heart of Dryness”
I just read Heart of Dryness by James Workman about the plight of the Bushmen in the Kalahari desert when the Botswana government cut off their water supplies and how they adapted and how we can learn from them. I was interested in the book because I am originally from South Africa which abuts Botswana, [...]
Posted in Rainwater harvesting, Self reliance | No Comments