As I continue to learn about beekeeping I am drawn to the Kenyan Top Bar Hive. It was designed as a cheap, simple and more natural alternative to the classic Langstroth Hive. Like most choices there are both pros and cons to each side. I see two main advantages to the TBH. The first is that they are really easy to construct and also cheap to make. The second advantage is that it allows the bees to draw out their own comb in the manner that bees prefer. The more natural method of comb creation allows for the bees to choose what size of comb they need.
However there are some disadvantages also to the TBH. The largest disadvantage is that in order to harvest the honey, you have to cut the comb off the top bars. This means that each time you harvest the honey the bees have to invest the energy to create new comb. So at the end of the year you end up with less honey, but you do get more wax. The second problem with TBH is that they are not as standardized as Langstroth Hives so it be more difficult to work with other beekeepers if you need to exchange equipment. However you either build all of your own hives or get all of your hives from the same source you will not have any problems within your own apiary.
It will be a while before I have to make a final decision (maybe). I will try talking Tami into letting me keep bees as soon as we get a house. I may even try sooner if I find someone who does not mind sharing a corner of their property.
Monday, October 17, 2011
Friday, October 14, 2011
Free Books!
When we were all kids one, of the coolest things was going to the library. But often at some undetermined age we forget how cool the library is to us. Think about it. It is a place that buys very expensive things and then lets you take them for a month free of charge (that is if we remember to bring it back on time).
If you have been around me in the past 2 months you have probably heard me say that I cannot wait to be done with school. I want to clarify that statement. I cannot wait to be done with people telling me what to learn. Most of the time it is irrelevant to me and my life. There are some classes that I have chosen to take where almost everything is important. There are classes that I have chosen where some of the material is important. Then there are the classes that we have to take that do not even come close to being relevant.
The library on the other hand lets you choose what you want to learn. I think that sometimes we forget that the internet has not yet gotten to the point of replacing libraries. Yes much of the same material can be found online, and for somethings that are really new or change frequently can only be found online. However much of human knowledge has been written down and organized neatly in our libraries. Yes the internet is more convenient but the library can be much more powerful. More can be learned from the correct book in a couple hours than a couple days of online searches.
Trust me go to the library and find something that you want to read and or learn about. It is so much fun and so much better than learning from school.
If you have been around me in the past 2 months you have probably heard me say that I cannot wait to be done with school. I want to clarify that statement. I cannot wait to be done with people telling me what to learn. Most of the time it is irrelevant to me and my life. There are some classes that I have chosen to take where almost everything is important. There are classes that I have chosen where some of the material is important. Then there are the classes that we have to take that do not even come close to being relevant.
The library on the other hand lets you choose what you want to learn. I think that sometimes we forget that the internet has not yet gotten to the point of replacing libraries. Yes much of the same material can be found online, and for somethings that are really new or change frequently can only be found online. However much of human knowledge has been written down and organized neatly in our libraries. Yes the internet is more convenient but the library can be much more powerful. More can be learned from the correct book in a couple hours than a couple days of online searches.
Trust me go to the library and find something that you want to read and or learn about. It is so much fun and so much better than learning from school.
Monday, October 10, 2011
Learning to turn
Again I am learning something new and cool in my wood shop class. For my current project I needed a decorative handle for an ax. So I began to learn how to use a lathe.
Instead of spending a lot of time turning a piece of wood by hand and carving a little bit at a time you spin the wood at a very high speed and let the wood move into the tool to remove the wood. This is really nice because you are guaranteed to get perfectly round carvings on the piece of wood.
Unfortunately lathes are expensive. So unless you have a great need for turning lots of legs, or bowls it probably will not be worth it to buy a lathe. However if you know someone who has a lathe it can be a lot of fun to be able to turn something now and again.
The piece below is the handle of a battle ax that I am making for my joinery project in my wood shop class. You will be seeing more of this project as I continue to work on it throughout October.
Instead of spending a lot of time turning a piece of wood by hand and carving a little bit at a time you spin the wood at a very high speed and let the wood move into the tool to remove the wood. This is really nice because you are guaranteed to get perfectly round carvings on the piece of wood.
Unfortunately lathes are expensive. So unless you have a great need for turning lots of legs, or bowls it probably will not be worth it to buy a lathe. However if you know someone who has a lathe it can be a lot of fun to be able to turn something now and again.
The piece below is the handle of a battle ax that I am making for my joinery project in my wood shop class. You will be seeing more of this project as I continue to work on it throughout October.
Since starting this post in a couple days ago, I have bought a Shopsmith. It is an all in one workstation for the wood worker who is short on space (or also short on cash). I bought it used on craigslist for an amazingly low price considering all that is included. One of the things included is a lathe. So I will happily be able to continue learning to use a lathe after this semester ends.
Tasty Yogurt
Last time I made cheese I just bought a quart of yogurt and used that to make the cheese. This time I decided to make yogurt so that I could further bring down the cost of making cheese. It is a rather simple process needing only some plain yogurt, and a gallon of milk.
Carefully heat the milk up to 90 degrees C. I used a double boiler, but you could use a thick bottomed pan or stir frequently to prevent you milk from burning. You then cool it down to just below 55 degrees C (the temperature that kills yogurt bacteria) by placing the pot in a large amount of cold water. Take a cup of the milk and thoroughly mix in a cup of yogurt. Pour this back into the large pot of milk and stir thoroughly again. Now take your gallon of yogurt activated milk and place it in sterilized containers. Place those into a cooler with 50 degree C water to keep it warm while the yogurt forms. After about 3-4 hours you should now have a gallon of yogurt at the cost of a gallon of milk (under $2 for me since milk was on sale). Make sure that you save a little yogurt to make more yogurt next time.
Now that you have more yogurt than you probably have ever had before you can either make some amazing simple cheese, or you could take some and mix in fresh fruit or berries to have some tasty flavored yogurt.
Carefully heat the milk up to 90 degrees C. I used a double boiler, but you could use a thick bottomed pan or stir frequently to prevent you milk from burning. You then cool it down to just below 55 degrees C (the temperature that kills yogurt bacteria) by placing the pot in a large amount of cold water. Take a cup of the milk and thoroughly mix in a cup of yogurt. Pour this back into the large pot of milk and stir thoroughly again. Now take your gallon of yogurt activated milk and place it in sterilized containers. Place those into a cooler with 50 degree C water to keep it warm while the yogurt forms. After about 3-4 hours you should now have a gallon of yogurt at the cost of a gallon of milk (under $2 for me since milk was on sale). Make sure that you save a little yogurt to make more yogurt next time.
Now that you have more yogurt than you probably have ever had before you can either make some amazing simple cheese, or you could take some and mix in fresh fruit or berries to have some tasty flavored yogurt.
Friday, October 7, 2011
Adult Legos
Like many kids I grew up playing with Legos. Anyone who has ever played with Legos knows the feeling of being close to finishing this awesome project that you have spent hours on and then you realize that you are short that one piece. So its been years since I have seriously played with legos but now I have found something similar but also way cooler. It is called Hirst Arts. This guy sells Silicon molds that you pour plaster into to make your own pieces. So if you are short that one piece you just go make it.
This is what it looks like when you are casting. You have a small mold that creates somewhere between 10-20 unique pieces each time you cast it. After casting at least 10 times or so you can start building. I use this for making terrain for some games that I play. However it is also great for school projects. Almost everyone at one point or another has to make a diorama of a pyramid or a castle and this is such a cooler medium than sugar cubes or flimsy cardboard.
I must say that it is also great for any creative kid. I think it would be great for a kid to start of with Duplos when they are 2-3, graduate to legos around 4-5 and then around 8 or so be able to expand to something like this. The best part is that unlike legos, when you are done you and you like you creation you do not have to take it apart to build your next project. Instead you just spend more time making new blocks and then you are ready to build your next project.
Below are a couple projects that are in several different stages of completion that I have been working on. The first is the messy process of blocks being made.
This is what it looks like when you are casting. You have a small mold that creates somewhere between 10-20 unique pieces each time you cast it. After casting at least 10 times or so you can start building. I use this for making terrain for some games that I play. However it is also great for school projects. Almost everyone at one point or another has to make a diorama of a pyramid or a castle and this is such a cooler medium than sugar cubes or flimsy cardboard.
I must say that it is also great for any creative kid. I think it would be great for a kid to start of with Duplos when they are 2-3, graduate to legos around 4-5 and then around 8 or so be able to expand to something like this. The best part is that unlike legos, when you are done you and you like you creation you do not have to take it apart to build your next project. Instead you just spend more time making new blocks and then you are ready to build your next project.
Below are a couple projects that are in several different stages of completion that I have been working on. The first is the messy process of blocks being made.
If you are interested check out http://www.hirstarts.com/
Wednesday, October 5, 2011
Just Grow Something
I love to garden. I am still learning, and trying to figure what works best, but it is something that I find fascinating. It used to be that everyone had a garden. It was just part of life. Now we are at a point where very few people have gardens. I want to change that. I do not expect everyone to convert half of the back yards into gardens. Even if your garden is a single pot with your favorite herb I would be content.
To make this possible I am going to suggest a simple plan to get you started. Next time you are out shopping near a Home Depot or Lowes buy a small cheap pot and a small bag of soil. Next decide on a plant that would work for you. For the purpose of this disscussion I am going to suggest green onions. Now I am not talking about starting from scratch. I am talking about you taking the green onions out of your vegetable drawer in your fridge cutting off the green part, leaving about 1-2 inches from the root and stick those in a pot with soil. Add water and you are done.
They are a rather forgiving plant and they will grow well enough that most people could completely stop buying green onion completely. Watering them is easy. Every 2-3 days add water when it is a little dry. They are pretty hard to overwater, and if they get a little dry they bounce back quickly.
If you are a little more adventurous go with a larger pot and add in a tomato plant, basil, or another favorite plant. Below is the small garden that we did over the summer. In a short two months it went from the small garden on top to the larger garden on bottom. It cost about $25 and we got more green onion and basil then we could use.
To make this possible I am going to suggest a simple plan to get you started. Next time you are out shopping near a Home Depot or Lowes buy a small cheap pot and a small bag of soil. Next decide on a plant that would work for you. For the purpose of this disscussion I am going to suggest green onions. Now I am not talking about starting from scratch. I am talking about you taking the green onions out of your vegetable drawer in your fridge cutting off the green part, leaving about 1-2 inches from the root and stick those in a pot with soil. Add water and you are done.
They are a rather forgiving plant and they will grow well enough that most people could completely stop buying green onion completely. Watering them is easy. Every 2-3 days add water when it is a little dry. They are pretty hard to overwater, and if they get a little dry they bounce back quickly.
If you are a little more adventurous go with a larger pot and add in a tomato plant, basil, or another favorite plant. Below is the small garden that we did over the summer. In a short two months it went from the small garden on top to the larger garden on bottom. It cost about $25 and we got more green onion and basil then we could use.
Monday, October 3, 2011
Water Water Everywhere
During a particularly nasty typhoon, on my mission, we lost power. Now that really is not all that big of a problem. We ate the food in the fridge (which we never kept all that much) and just had to suffer the humidity without the comfort of electric fans. However like most places in the world our water came from a water tower. No power = no water in the tower. Since the typhoon was so bad that it knocked out the power for a week we had the interesting experience of not having running water for 5 days. Fortunately we were able to buy 6 gallons before the shelves of the local store were cleared. We expected the water to be out for a day at most. So by day 3 our measly 1.5 gallons per person were running rather low. This made for some very thirsty and very dehydrated elders.
Now many of you may think that because we do not live in a developing country that we will not have problems like this. We feel safe here. However it would not take that much for us to loose access to water. An extended blackout like the NE faced a few years back could do it. A break in a water main locally could do it. An earthquake (which can happen anywhere) could take out power and water for a huge area for a couple of days or more. There are plenty of things that could happen that could impair your ability to have access to water.
The solution is simple. Store a supply of water. The goal should be 1 gallon per day per person for 2 weeks or 14 gallons per person. You can do that through getting several flats of water bottles and putting them under a bed. You could store water in clean soda bottles. You could buy the large 2.5 gallon disposable jugs that have the spouts. If you use a water crock, make sure you always have a few extra jugs filled at all times. Or if you have a large family and room in a garage or somewhere else you could buy a couple of 50 gallon barrels. Although it would probably be wise to have some of your water supply in a more portable format like flats of water bottles.
You do not have to do this all at once. Start with a simple goal of having 1 gallon per person stored and add an additional 1 gallon per person per week. In three months you will have a full supply and not have to suffer like I did when we ran out of water.
Now many of you may think that because we do not live in a developing country that we will not have problems like this. We feel safe here. However it would not take that much for us to loose access to water. An extended blackout like the NE faced a few years back could do it. A break in a water main locally could do it. An earthquake (which can happen anywhere) could take out power and water for a huge area for a couple of days or more. There are plenty of things that could happen that could impair your ability to have access to water.
The solution is simple. Store a supply of water. The goal should be 1 gallon per day per person for 2 weeks or 14 gallons per person. You can do that through getting several flats of water bottles and putting them under a bed. You could store water in clean soda bottles. You could buy the large 2.5 gallon disposable jugs that have the spouts. If you use a water crock, make sure you always have a few extra jugs filled at all times. Or if you have a large family and room in a garage or somewhere else you could buy a couple of 50 gallon barrels. Although it would probably be wise to have some of your water supply in a more portable format like flats of water bottles.
You do not have to do this all at once. Start with a simple goal of having 1 gallon per person stored and add an additional 1 gallon per person per week. In three months you will have a full supply and not have to suffer like I did when we ran out of water.
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