Dandelions and Disease

As some of you know, I hit a bump in the road. Acute myeloid leukemia. That will slow a person down, for sure, those lucky enough to survive anyway! Several friends have asked other friends questions about my treatment, so I hope this helps.

With most cancers, you have a tumor that can be hit with a drug to kill it, and then doctors remove the dead tumor. Think of hitting a dandelion or two in your yard with Weed-B-Gone. Let it die. Dig it up. No more dandelions.

With leukemia, picture a yard (your body) with dandelions everywhere, because your blood is throughout your body. My dandelions are raging, taking over the yard. Too many to hit with little sprays of Weed-B-Gone. So, instead, the doctors are wiping out all the vegetation (blood cells in my marrow): the dandelions and other plants as well. 

For treatment, I have continuous chemo. Then, after a period of a few days, we'll give my little yard a chance to reseed over several days. Then tests to see if it worked. Then we repeat the cycle to make sure all bad weeds are gone. Get the picture? With luck, I'll reseed with my own blood. If that won't work, then they'll look at other options like stem cells or bone marrow from donors.

That said, you will understand why I can't have visitors, why I can't go out for a walk, and why I can't come home. I'm in a 10 X 10 cubicle and being very carefully monitored for the next several weeks here at the James, OSU. Lucky for all of us, love and prayers extend beyond the walls of my little unit. Thanks, everyone, for your kind words, cards, happy thoughts, and prayers! I feel the love from family and friends, and it lifts me up.

As many of you know, I started working (writing, getting involved to raise awareness) and researching the horrible crime of human trafficking . My work had only just begun. I'm taking a rest, but I'll get back to it! Thank you all! <3 be="" div="" happy.="" i="" m="" need="" now.="" right="" think="" to="" where="">

Intro to Bee-Keeping--Dan Williams' Interview

The benefits of honey are numerous! Honey bees are few. I had been sourcing local raw honey for our farm market and not having much luck. Then, at the recommendation of my bee-keeping friend Desiree, I found Williams' Honey Bees. Dan Williams consented to do an interview for me but, before I share that interview on bee-keeping, I must tell you about his Tulip Poplar Honey. OH. MY. GOSH!!!

The color of the honey was perfect. Its tempting aroma prodded me to try it on a spoon first--creamy sweetness that filled my mouth with its delectable flavor! Then I put it on hot buttered toast and let it ooze for a minute into the bread's many crevices. Wow! The toast became a chewy confection. I'm hooked! Dan offers a variety of honeys and bee pollen.

So, with that introduction, here's my interview of Dan Williams of Williams Honey Bees, Frankfort, Ohio:

ME:  When did you first get the idea to get bees and process honey?

DAN:  I used to buy, sell, and trade goats with a guy up in Hocking County. His dad was a beekeeper with a few hives. One day while dealing goats the old man came out and started talking bees. Out of respect I stood there and listened, and an hour later I was amazed. 

A few years later...

One day me and a buddy of mine were out at the farm shooting our bows. He had just put a new sight on his bow and needed to tune it in. We needed to set up a few straw bales behind our target in case he missed. So up in the hay mound I went. I lifted up a bale of straw and was immediately attacked by yellow jackets. They chased me all the way down the ladder and out of the barn and stung my face up pretty bad, before I could get to the hose to spray them off. My buddy drove me 4 miles to my house where my wife was waiting at the front door with 2 benadryl that I immediately chewed. My face was swelling so bad so quick that we went to urgent care quickly. By the time we got there the swelling had stopped but since I was there and stung 15 to 20 times on the face I thought what the heck we're here I might as well let the doctor look at me and possible give me something to ease the reaction. The doctor took care of me and said, "wow, you did pretty good with that". Hum?? My face is swelled up and one eye is completely gone, pretty good? I don't know, but if you say so. My wife called her cousin who had kept bees for a few months to come get these "bees" out of the barn. At the time I didn't know what kind of stinging insect they were, except that they stung and it hurt! He came out to get the bees that turned out to be yellow jacket. He went ahead and killed the nest of yellow jackets for us and started talking beekeeping with me and how to get started. Wow! This is easy, I thought, and the doctor said I did "pretty good with that". The next spring I got my first bees! 

ME:  When did you actually start your business?

DAN:  A few months after getting my bees I realized that this was not something I would do for a hobby. I was obsessed and couldn't help myself. I tell people I used to fish and turkey hunt but now from Feb-October all my spare time goes to the bees. Usually my vacation time from work gets burnt up to get ready for spring, sell nucs, and harvest honey. 

ME:  What is the hardest part of beekeeping, and how many hives do you want to maintain?

DAN:  To me there is nothing hard about beekeeping. The hives are heavy, the sun is hot, and the hours can be long but I was once told do something you enjoy and you'll never work a day in your life. Put me in a bee suit on a 90 degree day and I'm a happy camper! HAHA

I'm looking to maintain as many hives as possible while still keeping my wife as my wife! HAHA I'm joking! I don't know how many hives I want. I used to have a goal of 100 but once I hit 100 I said 200. Time will tell! 

ME:  Do you ever retrieve wild bees from people's homes, trees, etc., and if so, do you still want to collect the wild bees?

DAN:  Taking bees out of a wall in someone's house is an all day job and, when it's all said and done, you have one hive and a hole in someone's house. What I do to increase my numbers is split the hives I already have and install a new queen in each split. I can do about 30 of these in a day vs the one out of someone's house. So I pass on the bees from someone's tree or house. Now if a swarm is found around Frankfort, I will still go get them. A swarm is the way bees naturally reproduce. The old hive will produce a new queen and the old queen will leave with about half the bees to find a new home. Once the old queen and her bees leave the colony, they will usually cluster up on a tree branch or other object close by. They then start sending scout bees out in all directions to find a new suitable permanent home. Once the scout bees locate the perfect new home, they come get the rest of the bees and all at once they take off! When this swarm is seen hanging in a large cluster like this, it is very easy for a beekeeper to come get those bees and put them in a hive. They can hang around looking for a new home for a few hours to a few days. There is an extensive list of beekeepers in South Central Ohio on www.sciotovalleybeekeepers.com that will come and remove these bees. 

ME:  You supply bees to other people. Exactly what do they get?

DAN:  When customers come and pick up bees, they bring with them an empty hive and I install 3 frames of brood (baby bees) in various stages of development, a frame of honey, an empty comb and a marked laying queen. (The queen is marked with a dot of paint on her thorax to make it easier to find her if needed.) I screen up the entrance and they take the bees to their new homes. Once they get there, the beekeeper will remove the screen and start to feed the bees a 1:1 mixture of sugar to water to help them get started.

I also sell queens for beekeepers to requeen their colonies or to make splits. I use artificially inseminated queens to raise queens off of. These queens are part of an extensive breeding program where various traits are selected for. Such as gentleness and honey production. When queens mate, they mate with up to 20 drones. The use of artificial insemination is used by the queen breeder to control the genetics that she is exposed to. These breeder queens are then used by me to raise queens off of. When a queen is mated and ready to be shipped, I cage her in a special cage, put her in a priority or express envelope and send her to other beekeepers around the country through the mail. 

ME:  Do you have a brief experience you'd like to tell people about and/or a final thought on the subject of bees or beekeeping or honey?

DAN:  If anyone is interested in keeping bees, check out the Scioto Valley Beekeepers. We meet once a month in Circleville, have a website www.sciotovalleybeekeepers.com and a facebook page. 

From Last Fall to the 2013 Old Homestead Farm Market

Chris is never one to sit still. The winter offers very little opportunity for excavation work or residential site development, so he has been a systems analyst, doing a variety of design, mechanical and engine repairs for area farmers. 

I took time off from working on the blog, the farm market, and everything else, to write a book. It's available through Amazon and has NOTHING to do with homesteading but is an action/adventure on something I feel passionate about! Click Trapped in the Mayan Tattoo to learn more about it. This was intriguing to research and write, based on some real-life events. I would rate it PG-13. It's an e-book, and can be downloaded to a Kindle or you can get a free Kindle app for your PC, Mac, or e-reader.

Chris spent his free time in the fall and winter renovating equipment such as this Oliver hay rake and his Oliver baler, both from the early 1960's, while he continued to rebuild his 1958 Allis Chalmers tractor. Then he started building a hay elevator from his own design, using a few salvaged pieces of metal, some new metal and parts, and a lot of ingenuity. He still needs a mower but he's been prepping the soil and sowing red clover and orchard grass because, frankly, if the hay isn't there, you wouldn't really need a mower! First things first. 

Last year his equipment was minimal and that meant a lot of manual labor. We had haystacks! Really! Then he baled the hay from the haystacks and one farmer bought all of his hay in one sale. This year, he'd like to be able to help more farmers so he plans to put up a lot more hay.

Recently, we had our business meeting to plan our 2013 Farm Market. In addition to hay, Chris is looking forward to adding some items to the farm side of our farm market. These will be useful additions and I'm excited about them but, in order to expand as much as we want, we need to get our building up. Until then we'll continue to use the Airstream camper.

Another change is that the Old Homestead Farm Market sign is coming down for a much-needed face lift so that it won't continue to blend in with the sky. I love what Chris has planned for it!

We'll have eggs each week, both chicken eggs and duck eggs, fresh from Pauley's Pampered Poultry!

As for produce, we won't do as much vegetable farming for the market. Our clients prefer the jams, jellies, breads, fruit pies, and fudge. That was a surprise to us! Although we have a few who look for carefully grown produce, most of our customers love the sweets. I will continue to offer special gluten-free and sugar-free items. We thought we would have more followers who would come just for the fruits and veggies but we had some veggies left over each week, except for green beans that consistently sold out! For this year, I  have requests for more green beans, beets, corn and, of course, we'll still offer a variety of tomatoes. 

People have asked if we're interested in becoming a CSA, where people buy memberships and pick up their farmer-chosen produce each week. NO!!! We like to be able to pick and choose what we eat, and we believe our friends who come to us enjoy that freedom as well. 

More changes:  No seedling plants. They didn't sell well and they are very time-consuming. And Mid-March is too daggone early! Brrr! We'll open in Mid-May! 

Looking forward to opening our Old Homestead Farm Market!

(In the meantime, I'm working on the second book, a sequel to the first with many of the same characters and more adventuresome challenges, expecting to publish by August.)

To know more about the book, click on this link:

Trapped in the Mayan Tattoo