Plants to attract butterflies and bees

Butterflies are the perfect blend of form and function. Helpful pollinators, their presence in the garden also adds a beautiful touch of wonder.

A bee pollinates raspberries.

Bees, of course, are pollinating work horses -- our fruit patches and vegetable gardens could not flourish without them. Over the years I have observed that my vegetable plants do best when my yard is filled with flowers that attract the bees. The plants pictured here are all from my yard, which means they exist practically on their own, with very little help from the gardener (because I chose them for that!). They are all drought-resistant perennials.



For butterflies:

Soapwort. This plant releases a profusion of tiny pink flowers in spring. Cut back spent flowers for a second bloom in late summer. The plant spreads or cascades, depending on where you plant it -- it can be a ground cover, or will spill over planter edges or stones in a rock garden. It reseeds freely.

Swallowtail

Coneflower (echinacea). These flowers provide a platform where butterflies can land. Cut back in the fall.

Monarch

Painted lady

Lavender. Like soapwort, lavender has multiple flowers, and hence multiple treasure chests, in a close space. Butterflies and bees like this. 

Other great plants for butterflies:

Butterfly bush (buddleia) or butterfly weed, aster, black-eyed Susan (rudbeckia), phlox, zinnia.

Consider host plants for eggs and caterpillars: fennel, dill, parsley and milkweed.


For bees:

Sage. This plant's gray, green leaves are a great culinary herb. The plant blooms in spring and can bloom again if spent blossoms are cut.

Other plants for bees: herbs in blossom, alyssum (smells like honey, yum!), sunflower, salvia, bee balm. Russian sage produces huge plants (4-feet tall) with spiky wands of blue flowers. It is a bee magnet, I tell you. I used to have some of those near my sidewalk but transplanted them after a neighbor told me her daughter was fearful to walk past my house. All in a day's work!

What plants do you like best for butterflies and bees?

Robobees

Many of you know that I am a little obsessed with robots, cyborgs, and the idea that we will one day be taken over or assimilated by sentient machines. I do not consider most robots as friendlies as I have seen the Matrix and Terminator. However, even with my prejudice, I can see how robots might help the world. Here is an interesting example.

Photo Credit

I have written on this blog several times about Colony Collapse Disorder. Bee colonies are mysteriously dying off. Bees pollinate our plants and without them we are in trouble. The Harvard Microrobotics might have something to help alleviate the loss of bees.

According to their website, the collaborators "envision that the Nature-inspired research could lead to a greater understanding of how to artificially mimic the collective behavior and intelligence of a bee colony; foster novel methods for designing and building an electronic surrogate nervous system able to deftly sense and adapt to changing environments; and advance work on the construction of small-scale flying mechanical devices." They think that they will be able to make small robots that can autonomously pollinate a field of crops.

I hope that it never comes to this and that our bees are pollinating when my great grandchildren plant their gardens. It is interesting to think that we might be able to make machines that pollinate and I wish the Harvard Microrobotics luck. It will be hard to replicate something as beautiful as a bee colony.

One suggestion, don't give them stingers. I don't want to be stung by a Robobee.

~Michael~

Save the Bees

It's a very cold winter and as I sit in my warm home my thoughts turn to my bees.  I hope they survive the winter. Over the last few years we have ordered bees through the mail and Marisa caught a wild swarm.The odds that bee colonies survive winter have decreased dramatically. According to the USDA, annual losses from the winter of 2006-2011 averaged about 33 percent each year, with a third of these losses attributed to CCD by beekeepers. The winter of 2011-2012 was an exception, when total losses dropped to 22 percent.

The dramatic drop in bee colonies is known as Colony Collapse Disorder. There are theories as to why bees are disappearing but no one knows for sure. Why should we all be concerned about this?

The USDA site states that "Bee pollination is responsible for more than $15 billion in increased crop value each year. About one mouthful in three in our diet directly or indirectly benefits from honey bee pollination. Commercial production of many specialty crops like almonds and other tree nuts, berries, fruits and vegetables are dependent on pollinated by honey bees. These are the foods that give our diet diversity, flavor, and nutrition."

What can you do to help combat Colony Collapse Disorder? More than you might think.

• Plant a garden. The easier it is for bees to find nectar and pollen, the less stress they will have. Some of the best plants include red clover, foxglove, bee balm, joe-pye weed, and other native plants.
• Start a hive. It isn't as hard as you might think. In our prior home we had neighbors that lived on .12 acres that had a hive in there yard.
• Support beekeepers by buying local honey from them.
• Sponsor a beehive. There are many organizations that allow you to sponsor a hive. My cousin and his wife recently sponsored a hive in an underdeveloped country for my Aunt's birthday. Not only does that help the bees, it also helps the family that manages the hive.

What will you do to help the bees?

~Michael~

IKEA Hackers: Bee Suit

 Have you ever checked out the blog IKEA Hackers? It is pretty funny, inspiring, beautiful, but this post was just funny! It is a wasp suit, but for our purposes, we are going to call it a bee suit.

Materials: FYLLEN Laundry Basket, Duct Tape and Courage

Description: Pretty self explanatory! suit up and you will ready to tackle Bees, Wasps and anything that has the capacity to sting and fly. This was not my idea and was found somewhere in the matrix.

A New Home for the swarm

There is an old saying that goes: 

A swarm in May is worth a load of hay;

A swarm in June is worth a silver spoon; 

But a swarm in July is not worth a fly’

for it is then too late

to store up honey before the flowers begin to fade.

But we are giving it a try anyways.

I Just Caught a Swarm of BEES!!!

I can't believe it. Last week there was a swarm of bees on our trampoline. Today I looked out my window to check on my fruit trees and there was a swarm of bees on my little baby apple tree. 

I learned my lesson from last time. I knew that I needed to work quickly and that I couldn't wait for Michael to get home or the swarm could be gone. I grabbed the bee veil, a long sleeved white shirt, and got the smoker going.  I found a tupperware box and drilled some little holes in it for air and put a couple marshmallows in the box. I then remembered that a Backyard Farming reader, Michelle, had emailed me her phone number in case I ever had any questions about bees. So sweet of her! So, I took her up on that and gave her a call. She was awesome and walked me through the process. 

The bees had broken off a branch and it was laying on the ground covered in bees. I started with putting that in the box. I then held the box right under the clump of bees and shook the tree as hard as I dared (I didn't want to break my tree). I probably only got about half the bees in the box. Michelle explained to me that I probably got the queen in the box because the bees that didn't make it in the box were trying to get into the box where the queen was. 

The next step was a labor of love. Using a bee brush I would tip the lid and brush the bees into the box. I then would have to wait for the bees to calm down and regroup on the box, then repeat brushing them into the box. 

I have them in the shade for now, and I'm going to try to round up another bee box. 

Wahoo! I'm on a little adrenaline rush right now!

~marisa

The Big Day

Saturday was the big day. Bee pickup. The day that we officially became bee keepers. It was 20% thrilling, 80% terrifying. 

In January we ordered a 4 lb. package of bees from Knight Family Honey with some Christmas money we received. How do you weigh a package of flying bees? Your guess is as good as mine!

We show up at the warehouse and walk into a swarm of people and bees. Apparently one of the packages busted open and pounds of bees were on the loose.  As the bees were buzzing in my ear and on my 2 year old daughter, it was a struggle to stay calm. The man working there told me not to worry, they were just like flies. Right! Flies that sting!  At that moment it was also hard to remember why we were doing all this.

When we got to the car, LUCKILY we realized that the OUTSIDE of the package we were about to drive away with had bees on it. Can you imagine getting in the car driving away and having 30 bees loose in the car with your daughter strapped in a car seat? I think it would have put me over the edge.

We were all set, the boxes were ready to go, we just needed to dump the bees in the box. 

Michael had to take a few Lamaze breaths before he started.

 

He took the lid off and took out the queen.  Nice to meet you, Your Highness.

Michael then rubber banded the captured queen to one of the frames so that all the knights in shinning yellow and black armor could rescue her.

Next order of business,  dump the bees in the bee box.

A close up for you,  in case you aren't grasping what is going on here.

Are we out of our mind?

Yup, completely crazy.

He then carefully put the remaining frames in the box trying not to squish any of the bees.

We have a syrup mixture in the top box, which they will drink from for the first month.

Once it was all over and done with, we were pretty pleased with ourselves. Nobody got stung, and all the bees made it safely into the hive. Well, all but a few casualties.

Michael will check them weekly for a while, then he will start checking on them monthly.

~marisa

Bee Box Bonanza

After you have your "code signs" memorized, you will want to get your bee boxes ready.

Bee boxes should be white or a light pastel color. Darker colors attract too much heat. We wanted a nice clean white. Brother B suggested using Bher exterior paint because it is durable.  We recommend painting your bee boxes before the day you pick up your bees. (I would NEVER procrastinate like that) Okay, maybe I did, but I've been really super busy.

 Choose the location for your bees. Really think about where you want it, because is is not recommended to move the hive once the bees are in. We wanted the entrance to face the east because we get the least amount of wind from that direction. 

We were constantly referring to the book, 'Bee Keeping For Dummies' as we were setting this up. We raised our hive up on cinder blocks to help keep moisture out.

Next, scream as loud as you can when you find a snake right next to your bee box.

After that watch as your husband has to pretend that he is Steve Irwin

Then as it slithers under the fence to the neighbors yard, yell, "AND STAY OUT!"

Then calmly explain to the children that they are much more afraid of us that we are of them while deep down you know that you are WAY more afraid of them than they are of me.

~marisa

First Order of Business When You Get Bees

In preparation for getting our bees, Michael and I decided that we needed to come up with a form of non-verbal communication in case one of us gets stung and can't speak. If you have bees, or are thinking about getting bees, you may want to  think about adopting some of our "sign language."

Aghhh! I just got stung!
 No action is necessary after this sign. A sympathetic face and restraint from laughing is all that is advised.

 Run for your life!
Action advised: RUN!

I'm going into Anaphylactic shock!
When you see this sign, call 911 immediately. 

You are too late!

Feel free to print off these images and study them before you get your bees. Make sure everyone is clear on the signs. We will be quizzing our children on them.

We will have more articles on bees this week!

~marisa

Bee prepared

As many of you are aware, we are planning on creating the 'land of milk and honey' on our new property. It will take time, years in fact, but there is no time like the present to get started. We ordered our bees earlier this year and they are scheduled to come the end of April. Just like rambunctious children, bees need a home. For help we turned to one of our wise beekeeping neighbors pictured here. Appropriately many of the beekeepers around here call him Brother B.

He has been the president of the Utah County Beekeepers Association in the past and he also has many hives around the valley. He sat us down like Yoda sat down young and naive Luke Skywalker and taught us the mysterious ways of beekeeping. Then he provided us with much of the equipment we will need if we ever expect to have a golden harvest. We chose to have him build our hives (since we wanted it done right) but we will paint them which made them a little cheaper.

If you live in Utah and want to buy equipment or beehives from him, you can. Email him at s_briles@hotmail.com. He doesn't have a web address but he sent me a nice price list and was able to give us great advice on what we needed. I really liked that he didn't try to up-sell us. He just told us the pros and cons of the equipment he sells and let us make a decision on what we wanted.

The only thing we didn't buy from him were the main boxes (blue and yellow boxes) in the picture. We received the main boxes from a kind neighbor. Marisa and the kids are going to paint everything a nice, calming, clean white color.

We are excited but nervous to get started on our bees. Let us know if you all have any advice for a beginning beekeeping family.

~Michael

Bees

We just placed an order for bees, this will be our first year. I'm getting excited, but a little nervous as well. 

Images like this terrify me.

And this last one is just wrong on so many levels! Is he naked under there?!?!?

Are you going to join along side our bee keeping adventure? Do you already have bees? Or maybe you are going to wait and see how it pans out for us. Leave a comment and let us know! 

~marisa

Christmas Haul Part 1

One of the nice things about having a backyard farming blog is that people know what Marisa and I are passionate about. Since many of our friends and family know what we enjoy, they are nice enough to give us Christmas gifts that we can use as we try to become more self sufficient. We made a haul this year and wanted to show you some of the nice gifts we received.

Marisa's brother Cameron gave us this beautiful bag of wildflower seeds from Applewood Seed Company. You might ask yourself, "What is so special about wildflower seeds." Well these seeds are special for two reasons. First, they are specially formulated to attract native bees and honey bees and give them the pollen and the nectar that they need to make honey. In addition, they will grow well at our elevation and temperate zone.

We are really excited about these seeds as we have been told that in our area, there isn't a lot of natural flowers for our bees to forage from. We hope that by planting some of these seeds, and starting some fruit trees and a garden, we will be able to provide better for our bees.

Did you get anything for your homestead this Christmas? Tell us what you gave or received in the comment section.

I'm a dummy, are you?

We apologize for the paucity of articles here at backyard farming lately. As you have seen on some previous posts we finally purchased our homestead. We have been busy ripping out old flooring, putting in new flooring, texturing walls, painting walls, moving our belongings (too many) and making sure our children live through the whole process.The problem is, we don't have the Internet yet (we are working on it) so we can't post on our blog. I am breaking the law and posting this article at work.

Now that we have a home, Marisa and I have the hard choice of prioritizing where we want to get started. We have huge dreams but know that time and money are a constraint so we can't do everything we want at once. As far as animals go, we want to get chickens and bees next year at a minimum, and hopefully we can build a fence and get a milk goat or two.

I was talking to a neighbor about his bees. He happens to be the president of the Beekepers association in our county. He gave me the following advice. He told me to read "Beekeeping for Dummies." He said it is important to start building or order a beehive before by January or February next year. He also told me that I need to order my bees by that time as well since many bee sellers get all of there orders early in the year and stop selling them once a certain quota is met. I am glad I talked to him. Do any of you bee experts out there have any suggestions for us as we start the process of getting bees? We love to learn from all of you. Leave a comment.

In the meantime, be patient with us as we get our home caught up and we will start posting more.

Michael

You Are Invited To a Pollen Party

by Mike

Dear Mr. and Mrs. Bee,

You are invited to a pollen party that we will be having all summer in our garden. We are throwing this party to show appreciation for your hard work and busyness. At the party we are throwing we hope you will find many of the following attractions.

-We heard you like flowers of all colors but you are partial to blue, white, yellow and purple flowers the most. There are plenty o flowers for your varied color preferences.

- We have a nice section of herbs that our bee neighbors told us that you would especially bee (no pun intended) attracted to. You will find basil, cilantro, mint, thyme, sage and rosemary in our herb garden.

-I think you will also like what you find in our vegetable garden. You might really be interested in the beautiful flowers on our pumpkins, squash, cucumbers, peppers.

-You might also want to spin by the sunflowers, and apple trees on the back of the property. You will find plenty of nectar and pollen on these plants, and it also happens to be the place where all of the celebrity bees hang out.

There is no need to rsvp or bring anything but your fuzzy little legs and fast moving wings. You know where we live. Feel free to invite your friends. Yes, I know you can't talk but I've heard you can do a cool dance to tell your friends how to get here. I know your queen doesn't get out much but invite her as well. If she can't come, you're welcome to go back to your hive with some extra nectar and regurgitate it for her. Oh, by the way, don't invite your wrestler friends the Killer Bees. They don't seem to get along with anyone.

Dress is casual. Recommend your striped outfit as it is always very slimming on you (not that you need it.)

We look forward to seeing you, as do our plants. Until then, stay safe and happy flying.

Mike and Marisa Johnson

It's National Honey Month

Interesting Facts About Honeybees
1. Honeybees are one of science's great mysteries because they have remained unchanged for 20 million years, even though the world changed around them.
2. Bees have been producing honey for at least 150 million years.
3. The true honeybee was not known in the Americas until Spanish, Dutch, and English settlers introduced it near the end of the 17th century.
4. Did you know that bees have 4 wings?
5. The honeybee's wings stroke 11,400 times per minute, thus making their distinctive buzz.
6. A bee flies at a rate of about 12 miles per hour.
7. How many eyes does a honeybee have? Five.
8. Honeybees communicate with one another by "dancing".
9. The queen bee is the busiest in the summer months, when the hive needs to be at its maximum strength. She will lay about 1,000 to 1,500 eggs per day.
10. In the cold winter months, bees will leave the hive only to take a short cleansing flight. They are fastidious about the cleanliness of their hive.
11. Honeybees do not die out over the winter. They feed on the honey they collected during the warmer months and patiently wait for spring. They form a tight cluster in their hive to keep the queen and themselves warm.
12. It takes 35 pounds of honey to provide enough energy for a small colony of bees to survive the winter.
13. Honeybee colonies have unique odors that members flash like identification cards at the hive's front door. All the individual bees in a colony smell enough alike so that the guard bees can identify them.

It's National Honey Month

To celebrate we will be posting different honey recipes throughout the month.

But, for today here are some interesting facts I found from a website about honey:


Intersting Facts About Honey
1. Honey never spoils. No need to refrigerate it. It can be stored unopened, indefinitely, at room temperature in a dry cupboard.
2. Honey is one of the oldest foods in existence. It was found in the tomb of King Tut and was still edible since honey never spoils.
3. Due to the high level of fructose, honey is 25% sweeter than table sugar.
4. Honey is created when bees mix plant nectar, a sweet substance secreted by flowers, with their own bee enzymes.
5. To make honey, bees drop the collected nectar into the honeycomb and then evaporate it by fanning their wings.
6. Honey has different flavors and colors, depending on the location and kinds of flowers the bees visit. Climatic conditions of the area also influence its flavor and color.
7. To keep their hives strong, beekeepers must place them in locations that will provide abundant nectar sources as well as water.
8. In the days before biology and botany were understood, people thought it was a special kind of magic that turned flower nectar into honey.