The change in temperature also signalled that there were some chores that needed attending to. I did a full hive inspection on Thursday afternoon, when the sun was shining and the bees were going to and from the hive as fast as they could. (A few actually bounced off me when I got in the way of their mad scramble). I removed a couple of unused bars of drawn comb, to tighten up the interior chamber a bit, noted no queen cells (thank goodness!) and only about a dozen drone cells (so, no worry that the colony was thinking of moving out). Though I could not locate the queen, here were larva in various stages, in a brood nest that spanned the top of five bars, and pollen and nectar being stored - with some capped honey. Still, not enough. I moved the remaining bars to the center of the hive, to make room for the feeder at one end of the hive body, and today I made a thicker-consistency syrup that I will quickly put into the hive tomorrow, assuming there is a break in our rainy weather. With the way the hive is now set up, it's not too difficult or risky to quickly lift the lid and switch out new syrup bottles as needed over the next week or two.
As with my Spring feeding, this syrup includes chamomile tea, thyme, a dash of sea salt and some apple cider vinegar. This time, though, rather that an 1:1 ratio of sugar and water, the ratio is 2:1. The less water the bees need to evaporate for storage the better right now. Hopefully they will bulk up their stores a bit to make it through the colder months. The lack of drones shows that the queen is already streamlining the colony to make it through the winter. I put the bottom board on today, to cut down on the inflow of cold air, and will wait until it gets a bit cooler to limit the entrance holes from 3 down to 1, so the bees can still go out to forage as needed, or make cleansing flights on sunnier days. Ideally, we will be physically moving the hive back to its original position, where it will be more protected under the branches of the apple tree, and where I will ideally do a visual check each time I go to see the rabbits. Once the real winter weather is here, I'll just have to keep my fingers crossed that the colony has enough food stored to survive. I'll hang a branch across the entrance hole so that any bees emerging will reorient and make it back to the new hive site (fingers crossed). If we were concerned about larger predators, I could also tie the hive to the tree for stability.
The chickens are not impressed with the rain, and hang out under various tables, benches, in the gazebo where my seeds are drying, and even under the bee hive - but close quarters are leading to some lost feathers, telling me that not everything is peaceful. I continue to have all four girls settling into the chicken tractor at night, so I just have to hope that no one is getting seriously hurt when I see a pile of wet feathers scattered on the ground.
It seemed to take forever this year, but the Monkshood has finally bloomed, though the rain is doing a good job of pounding the tall stands of flowers. Still, they look lovely in contrast with the orange/yellow of the Black-eyed Susans which are still glowing in the rain.
I trimmed my potted perennials and berry starts back, checked labels, and tightened up most of my containers in their little corral. I removed several empty pots, which had either failed during the gardening season, or been eaten by curious chickens. I dug up a couple of new sorrel divisions, and will *not* be leaving them here where the girls can eat them... again. Some of the extra divisions, and some garden volunteers were planted out in the front yard, to help fill in spaces between existing plants and berry bushes. When it rains, it helps new plants settle right in. My seeding of winter rye is coming up nicely thanks to the weather.
I made some additional 'Greek' and lasagna casseroles to use up fresh herbs from the garden, before the cold turns them to mush. Chard stood in for spinach. Lots of chard. The final harvest of apples was sliced for a full load in the dehydrator, and the nicest fruit will be making a Dutch Apple Bread for sharing this weekend.
A quick grab of tomatoes in the hoop house today became an all-out harvest at the sound of the rain increasing. Because the fruits have taken so long to ripen, many have succumbed to blight or mildew. I quickly dunked the harvest in a bowl of water with a squirt of castile soap, and spread them out on a towel to allow them to dry and get some decent air flow while they ripen. The fully green tomatoes may not colour up, but I might finally get around to trying a fried green tomato recipe or two, just to use what we have managed to grow!
There are still some cherry tomatoes from the last picking, to enjoy with lunches over the next few days; some will be sliced and frozen, to be thrown into sauces over the winter. The other night we had a lovely treat of homemade, fresh salsa.
During the next break in the rain, we need to get the garlic, shallots and multiplier onions in the ground.
