Author Archives: jkmcintyre

Cleaning out the Combs

Posted on June 12, 2016 by jkmcintyre

In November, we harvested the full honey combs from the hive that died of exposure during a bad fall storm. It was our first experience extracting honey – and from a top bar hive at that.  In all, we crushed … Continue reading →

Posted in bees, harvest, honeybees, top bar hive | Tagged | 3 Comments

Earliest garlic harvest

Posted on June 8, 2016 by jkmcintyre

I keep records.  Of all sorts of things.  The goings-on in the garden is just one of them. Harvesting garlic is an garden highlight, so it usually gets recorded. This year is the earliest I have ever harvested garlic here … Continue reading →

Posted in garlic, harvest | Tagged | 2 Comments

Digging up Grubs

Posted on April 28, 2016 by jkmcintyre
[caption id="attachment_2728" align="alignnone" width="2448"]Photo Mar 30, 4 09 14 PM Enter Grubs dug from the overwintered veggie garden[/caption]

Preparing the street beds for spring planting I first pulled the winter plants (kale, cilantro), hoed the weedlets, and mixed in complete organic fertilizer (COF). During this process, I unearthed nearly 40 large grubs of varying designs.

Happy happy day for the hens.

Is there a professional or amateur entomologist out there who can help me identify these guys? What do they become? Continue reading →

Posted in animal behaviour, bugs, chickens, pest control, spring, vegetable garden | Tagged | Leave a comment

Complete Organic Fertilizer

Posted on April 11, 2016 by jkmcintyre
[caption id="attachment_2766" align="alignnone" width="1024"]Photo Mar 05, 1 55 55 PM Complete Organic Fertilizer (COF) a la Steve Solomon – and pretty![/caption]

If you’ve been following this blog you may have noticed my struggle with soil fertility. The first few years of the garden were prolific Continue reading →

Posted in rain, soil test, vegetable garden | Tagged , | 2 Comments