Original Transplants

In Episode 29 of the Original Transplants podcast, Satoyama Homestead stewards Sarah and Will return from a long summer's knap to talk bees, chickens, early fall harvests, eclipse totality travels, paw paw festivals, and apple picking in one of America's heritage orchards. Will gives a rundown of the summer beekeeping season, and Sarah comes to terms with harvesting her first generation of dual-purpose breed laying hens. We celebrate the edible landscapes of Horn Farm Center (York, PA), home of the annual paw paw festival, and Hopewell Furnace (Elverson, PA), historic site, national park and home of a heritage variety apple orchard. We close with some promising forecasts for an awesome fall foliage season from Lancaster Farming and Penn State.

Episode 28 of the Original Transplants Podcast features Satoyama Homestead stewards Will and Sarah discussing the early season bounty. In the apiary, a weak honey season has been a strong brood season with success in honey bee swarm trapping and hive splitting. The chicks are within weeks of fledging the nest, and Mayapple the momma hen sounds like she's preparing to resume egg laying. The homestead garden shifts from radishes, spinach, lettuce, peas, and broccoli to cabbage, beets, collards, kale, kohlrabi, tomatoes, and peppers, and the succession of berries and cherries are ripening. We discuss growing season pruning and sheet composting and then report on agricultural news from Lancaster Farming, including the triumphant return of "heirloom hybrid" Florida's Favorite watermelon after a 100-year hiatus and Tyson Foods' efforts for more humane and sustainable poultriculture.

Episode 28 of the Original Transplants Podcast features Satoyama Homestead stewards Will and Sarah discussing the early season bounty. In the apiary, a weak honey season has been a strong brood season with success in honey bee swarm trapping and hive splitting. The chicks are within weeks of fledging the nest, and Mayapple the momma hen sounds like she's preparing to resume egg laying. The homestead garden shifts from radishes, spinach, lettuce, peas, and broccoli to cabbage, beets, collards, kale, kohlrabi, tomatoes, and peppers, and the succession of berries and cherries are ripening. We discuss growing season pruning and sheet composting and then report on agricultural news from Lancaster Farming, including the triumphant return of "heirloom hybrid" Florida's Favorite watermelon after a 100-year hiatus and Tyson Foods' efforts for more humane and sustainable poultriculture.

Episode 27 of the Original Transplants Podcast features homestead stewards Will and Sarah sharing some special excitement from the beeyard and chicken coop. Will explains his technique for honey bee swarm trapping which has yielded the homestead's healthiest colony so far this season. Sarah recounts her response to a notoriously broody hen and the multiplier effect it had on the homestead flock. After highlighting some early season harvests from the edible landscape and detailing additions to the homestead orchard, Sarah outlines the 12 Principles of Permaculture and how she and Will applied them to swarm baiting and flock rearing.

Resources:

Seeley et al. Bait Hives for Honey Bees (1989): https://ecommons.cornell.edu/handle/1813/2653

Seeley et al. Group decision-making in swarms of honey bees (1999): http://www.life.umd.edu/classroom/biol106h/PDF/Seeley.pdf

Seeley Honeybee Democracy (2010): http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/587249075

Christopher Shein and Julie Thompson The Vegetable Gardener's Guide to Permaculture (2013): http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/785870730

Episode 27 of the Original Transplants Podcast features homestead stewards Will and Sarah sharing some special excitement from the beeyard and chicken coop. Will explains his technique for honey bee swarm trapping which has yielded the homestead's healthiest colony so far this season. Sarah recounts her response to a notoriously broody hen and the multiplier effect it had on the homestead flock. After highlighting some early season harvests from the edible landscape and detailing additions to the homestead orchard, Sarah outlines the 12 Principles of Permaculture and how she and Will applied them to swarm baiting and flock rearing.Resources:Seeley et al. Bait Hives for Honey Bees (1989): https://ecommons.cornell.edu/handle/1813/2653Seeley et al. Group decision-making in swarms of honey bees (1999): http://www.life.umd.edu/classroom/biol106h/PDF/Seeley.pdfSeeley Honeybee Democracy (2010): http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/587249075Christopher Shein and Julie Thompson The Vegetable Gardener's Guide to Permaculture (2013): http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/785870730

Episode 26 of the Original Transplants Podcast finds Satoyama Homestead stewards Sarah and Will recovering from the installation of a testy package of honey bees. Hear their tips for bee package installation, dealing with a defective queen cage and observing behavioral indicators for queenrightness. After a brief visit to the chicken coop, the Satoyama stewards discuss seasonal chores in the edible landscape, including pruning, vegetable seed starting and transplanting, weeding and mulching. This is a great time of year to remove invasives like garlic mustard - which, incidentally, makes a tasty pesto. We close out this episode with an analysis of late-winter temperature variability and its impact on honey bee colonies, and a discussion of the unintended consequences (hint: radioactive wild boars) of nuclear power.

Episode 26 of the Original Transplants Podcast finds Satoyama Homestead stewards Sarah and Will recovering from the installation of a testy package of honey bees. Hear their tips for bee package installation, dealing with a defective queen cage and observing behavioral indicators for queenrightness. After a brief visit to the chicken coop, the Satoyama stewards discuss seasonal chores in the edible landscape, including pruning, vegetable seed starting and transplanting, weeding and mulching. This is a great time of year to remove invasives like garlic mustard - which, incidentally, makes a tasty pesto. We close out this episode with an analysis of late-winter temperature variability and its impact on honey bee colonies, and a discussion of the unintended consequences (hint: radioactive wild boars) of nuclear power.

Episode 25 of the Original Transplants podcast - Nor'easter edition! - features Satoyama Homestead stewards Sarah and Will reviewing the Chester County [PA] Beekeeping Association's 2017 Annual Conference and discussing plans for the 2017 apiary. Will looks forward to experimenting with splits and other proactive colony management strategies, and Sarah questions the logic of scapegoating small-scale treatment free beekeepers for the prevalence of varroa and other pests in commercial bee yards. Sarah updates listeners on the status of the chicken coop and explains the importance of supportive nutrition for chickens during the winter. She then cops to 'equinox exuberance' and describes her vegetable seedling starting project in the midst of a late season blizzard. The Satoyama stewards recommend some late winter chores, including cleaning and sharpening tools, autopsying hive deadouts and evaluating and scraping bee equipment, and processing wood from last year's tree work. We then review agricultural and environmental news from Lancaster Farming and Nature.com on the topics of small-scale agriculture with unusual berries, breakthroughs in honeybee genetics for immunity, the importance of 4-H and inspiring youth, and initiative to purge invasive pests from New Zealand. Find out more at http://spreadcasts.tumblr.com and http://www.satoyamahs.org.

Episode 25 of the Original Transplants podcast - Nor'easter edition! - features Satoyama Homestead stewards Sarah and Will reviewing the Chester County [PA] Beekeeping Association's 2017 Annual Conference and discussing plans for the 2017 apiary. Will looks forward to experimenting with splits and other proactive colony management strategies, and Sarah questions the logic of scapegoating small-scale treatment free beekeepers for the prevalence of varroa and other pests in commercial bee yards. Sarah updates listeners on the status of the chicken coop and explains the importance of supportive nutrition for chickens during the winter. She then cops to 'equinox exuberance' and describes her vegetable seedling starting project in the midst of a late season blizzard. The Satoyama stewards recommend some late winter chores, including cleaning and sharpening tools, autopsying hive deadouts and evaluating and scraping bee equipment, and processing wood from last year's tree work. We then review agricultural and environmental news from Lancaster Farming and Nature.com on the topics of small-scale agriculture with unusual berries, breakthroughs in honeybee genetics for immunity, the importance of 4-H and inspiring youth, and initiative to purge invasive pests from New Zealand. Find out more at http://spreadcasts.tumblr.com and http://www.satoyamahs.org.

Episode 24 of the Original Transplants podcast finds Satoyama Homestead stewards Sarah and Will reflecting back on 2016 and dreaming big for 2017. We talk about the bees breaking cluster on warm winter days, and feeding and sheltering bee colonies in the winter. We share our experience with one hen's hard molt and tips for nursing a chicken through a difficult molt during a cold snap. We discuss seasonal homestead chores/fun, including dormant pruning, sheet composting new beds, fiber arts, preserves, beeswax processing, tool maintenance, and saved seed germination trials. We then discuss news from Lancaster Farming about farmland valuation and conservation initiatives in light of Aldo Leopold's land ethic, and wrap up the podcast by looking ahead to the 2017 season.