BEES AND POLLINATIONS

–Richard

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via video.nationalgeographic.com
Although I cringe at this fantastic Vampire Squid being described as a „living fossil”—another oxymoron that won’t go away from the popular lexicon of…

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Since, in THEORY, I will have a new job sometime this year (still looking), I thought this might be a good time to start trying to clean up my office.  I re-discovered a whole bunch of old folders that I stashed in a box many years ago.

I found an entire NSF grant proposal that I have absolutely no memory of. It got a positive review, it had all sorts of collaborators, but wasn’t funded. And I remembered None. Of. It.   Scary!

I found 2 half-written manuscripts that I never finished, and will probably just give up on.
One was an examination of how advertising has historically used gendered entomophobia in order to sell pesticides and cleaning projects. If you want to pick that one up, let me know; I’ll mail you everything I’ve got.

The other was a project I started working on in the late 90s. I was placed on several prayer lists courtesy of some students in my evolution classes.  I got interested in writing about how millennial fears factored into different styles of Creationism.  Millenialism isn’t much of a hot topic now that it’s almost 2011, so I guess that one is dead in the water.

BUT!

I also found lots of strange things stashed away in folders. In 1996, there was not a web as we know it now: “In 1996, Americans with Internet access spent fewer than 30 minutes a month surfing the Web.“   So, when I got kinda crazy stuff about Beware the Blue Beam, I couldn’t just blog about it, or post it to Flickr.  I could maybe post something to alt.science.biology’s listserver on Usenet.
But now, with Web 2.0, you are welcome to riffle through my files!

I got stuck on The Institute for Creation Research mailing list from 1994 to 1997.  Before the novelty wore off, I used to actually open and read all the stuff they sent me.  ICR even produced little daily devotional booklets, I guess so you could read something condemning evilutionists every morning with your coffee.

Most of them featured the standard bible verses that showed up on nearly all of my class evaluations:  False prophets, Fools that think they are wise, yadda yadda.

But some of them were really weird. Like Henry Morris, Mr. Creationism, suggesting that teachers of evolution should be hanged and drowned.

In fact, he said it twice–here’s a link to the second time.

WWJD?  My reading of texts about Jesus give me the distinct sense he would not be down with this. While I might like for JC to put a smiting on ICR, that isn’t his style.  Dude’s a pacifist.  (Except for bankers, maybe. But who hasn’t felt that way recently?)

I also am fairly sure that this particular daily rant about “uncontrolled greed” and “opulent lifestyle” was foreshadowing PZ Myers’ rise and domination in the blogosphere.

Check out all the strangeness in my Flickr Stream; I’ll be adding things over time.

Filed under: Science, Skepticism Tagged: creationism, creationist, evolution, ICR, threats
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I was cleaning my office last night, and found a newsletter from my graduate department in 1987!   It’s a little late, but this one was so amusing I had to share. Lyrics by Jim Richmond; hopefully he doesn’t mind me sharing them here.

Sung to the tune of the Christmas Song (Chestnuts roasting on an open fire)

Professors resting wherever they are,
Grad students nipping at their knows
Post-docs with their eyes on jobs aglow
And secretaries dressed up like who knows;

Everybody knows some plants and some insects too,
Goes to make the work just right,
Tiny technicians with their eyes half aglow
will find it hard celebrating tonight.

We know the Chairman is on his way,
He has lots of authority in his say,
And every PI is sure to try
To see if the Dean can make their proposal fly.

And so to you I am offering this simple phrase,
For you, whatever age you are,
Though it’s been said many times many days,
Merry Christmas to you.

Filed under: Entomology, Insects, Science Tagged: academia, christmas, graduate school, holiday, songs
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As another year approaches its sad end, Professor Dennis Dutton, who created „complicated fiction” (as seen doing so in front of a live audience in the clip below) by combining art and literature…

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The honey house is a small, insulated building where we handle the honey from the time that it is harvested until it is bottled. There are tasks to be done in the honey house throughout the year, but the comfortably warm building is an exceptionally nice place to be when outside temperatures are below freezing. Honey bees produce honey in the spring, summer, and fall when flowers are in bloom. They store honey in their hives for the winter. We harvest a small portion of their surplus honey and store it in the honey house. All honey changes over time from a liquid to crystals of sugar. The formation of crystals doesn’t harm the taste or quality of honey. Some of the sugars in honey are stable as a crystal and not as a liquid. Different honeys convert to crystals faster than others. Generally, honeys that bees make from flowers crystallize faster than honeys derived from flowering trees. Cool temperatures also speed the formation of crystals. By winter, most honey contains crystals. We slowly warm the honey to re-liquefy it. Stirring daily, most honey can be liquefied in three to five days at 108 degrees Fahrenheit. The honey is then held at 100 degrees until needed. The warm honey pours freely from the bottling unit. Some liquid honey is made into creamed honey. This spreadable honey is formed by mixing in fine crystals of honey and then chilling at 57 degrees.

–Richard

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A beach path through the sand dunes, leading down to the wide open east coast beach – a scene etched in most New Zealander`s minds – the hot sand that has to be run and hoped quickly over, wild native grasses and` bunny tails` to be picked, brought home to sit in a glass to remind us of our holiday, along with the bag of smelly shells still with their inhabitants in – but after washing them out, if you listen carefully with the shell to your ear, you will hear the ocean, swishing in onto the sand . . .

 A man and his dog . . .  My son Cameron with Bella – both love this beach with a passion. Cameron surfs every day if he can, Bella runs and runs, chasing seagulls and shadows. Cameron, with his family, lives a couple of blocks back from the beach, he reckons by the time he is 40, they will be living on the beach ! 

 Looking back along the beach towards the Maunga (Mt Manganui) with the distant Kaimai ranges in a blue haze – these are the ranges I have to travel over from my lush Waikato valley to the east coast – this long range of hills are like a spine down the side of the North Island, starting in the Coromandel, running right through, separated by narrow valleys and with a different name as they spread.
I must admit, I do have a stronger `pull` to the west coast of NZ, it is wilder, has black sand mostly, with a strong and distinct feel about it – the east coast is lovely but abit too tame for me. I love the wind and crashing waves of the west coast – might be something to do with all the iron in the sand or even my Irish heritage – who knows . . .

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It was in February of 2010 that I worried that my bees may starve through what was left of the winter.  When we started out last winter, the hive was heavy with honey.  But it was a long winter, and like every other living being, the bees ate to survive.  The hive became very light and I could tell that their honey stores were depleting.  That’s when I decided to use the „mountain camp” method of feeding to keep them from starving.  With the mountain camp method, which you see above, basically you lay a piece of newspaper or wax paper across the top frames, then you add a layer of sugar, wet it with warm water, add another layer of sugar, wet it, then keep repeating until you build up a decent store of food. Pros: The bees have food and shouldn’t starve. Cons: Its messy and gums up the hive.

As we went into the current fall/winter, I knew my bees were running somewhat low on stores.  So I fed them 2:1 syrup until they stopped taking it, but then I considered using the mountain camp method again to get them through this winter.  But then I saw where fellow beekeeping friend and blogger, Steve at Steve’s Apiary in Cedartown, Georgia, posted a recipe for bee candy.  When I saw his blog post, I figured I would give it a try.  It looked easy enough and might be fun.  So I ran down to the grocery section at Walmart and purchased the ingredients, but you can find them at any grocery store.  I doubled Steve’s recipe since I have multiple hives, but you could cut it in half if you need to.  Here it is:

Bee Hive Candy  
Ten pounds of granulated sugar
32 ounce bottle of clear Karo Syrup
2 1/2 cups of water
1/4 teaspoon of cream of tartar (to keep it from crystallizing)
Pure vanilla extract
Heavy grade paper plates (don’t use foam plates)
Candy thermometer

First I put the sugar and Karo Syrup in a large, stainless steel stock pot. Then add the water and the cream of tartar.  My advice is to use a pot with a heavy bottom.  If you don’t, when the syrup starts cooking, it will burn and you’ll have to start over again.  I started out with a high heat, then once it starts to boil, I turned it down to medium high.  Oh, and prepare to stir, stir..and stir some more!

The syrup has to reach 240 degrees Fahrenheit.  And it will.  Just keep watching the heat and stir, stir..stir!  At first, the syrup is cloudy but as the syrup heats, it becomes more of a clear liquid.  What do you do now?  Just keep stirring.  When it starts boiling, take your candy thermometer and keep checking it until the mixture reaches 240 degrees.  Once you get there, turn the heat off and continue to stir the mixture.

Keep watching your candy thermometer, and when the temperature drops to 180 degrees, you can begin to pour it in the paper plates.  But before that, I added a healthy splash of pure vanilla extract to give the mixture some smell to attract the bees.  But be CAREFUL!  The candy started to splatter after I poured the vanilla in, and I had to back away until it settled down.  But as I stirred the candy, the sweet smell of vanilla filled the air.  From the pot, I poured the mixture into the paper plates with a metal ladle.  The entire mixture was enough to fill nine large Chinet paper plates. 

If you don’t think that all that stirring is enough to build up your biceps and triceps, then maybe scrubbing and washing the pot and spoon will give you a workout.  Actually it wasn’t that bad at all.  I’m sure the dish washer would easily remove the candy residue, but I just decided to wash it the old fashioned way.  

How did the bees like it?  See for yourself!  The next day, I broke a few of them in half to give them a rough edge and to make it easier for the bees to get started.  Before I put the candy in the hive, I laid down a sheet of wax paper and punched small holes in it so the bees could easily get to the candy.  I also sprinkled some Mega Bee pollen substitute around too.  The bees went right to it and started eating away.  I consider this to be a great success.  So did the bees.

The next time I make bee candy, I think I may experiment some.  I may try some essential oils or maybe a splash of Honey-B-Healthy.  Or I may try some other natural additives to see what the bees are more attracted to, for example, citrus or mint extracts.  Oh, and by the way, I couldn’t help but test the final product to see what it tastes like.  My opinion?  Marshmallows.  Its nowhere as fluffy as a marshmallow, but tastes just the same.  I’m no fan of marshmallows.  So I’ll leave the candy for the bees.

Just a note: You can find cheaper syrup besides Karo brand, but I wouldn’t.  Karo lists just corn syrup and water in the ingredients.  I found a cheaper brand that was full of preservatives and things I’d never heard of.  It pays to read labels.  Second, unless you’re an excellent candy maker, you need to use a candy thermometer, and of you don’t have one, buy one.  Don’t chance it because you will mess it up.  And last, be careful.  The boiling candy mixture is extremely hot.  If it gets on your skin, you can count on a really nasty burn.  Protect your hands with protective, insulated gloves…maybe something like an Ove-Glove.            

If you decide to try it, good luck!  And thanks to Steve for passing along his recipe.

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A new sunflower beginning to emerge, all tightly curled and twisted, slowly unfurling to become the beautiful `sun` shaped flower we all recognize – rather lovely I think . . . .

My favorite seat in the Herb Garden down in Hamilton Gardens surrounded by flowering herbs, the tall yellow flowers being Elecampane. also known as Horseheal, Scabwort and wild sunflower. The bright yellow daisy-like flowers (below) attract bees and other pollinating insects, the roots of this plant being used by herbalists to treat stomach ailments in ancient Greek and Roman times, still used by vets to treat skin diseases on animals.

Globe artichoke, one of my favorite structural plants in either the vege or flower garden, the intense blue/purple flowers with the amazing silver leaves, tall and striking in any garden – an acquired taste for the palate.

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This is just pants! A company that sells pants. Rather expensive ones too. (Designed to fit really well, I’m told.) Is named after the one ape, our cousin, whose social life…

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