Raising Queen Bees of Your Own

Here are two excellent videos, or maybe three, on how to set up and raise your own queen honeybees.  This is an excellent thing for most anyone to take up, being a beekeeper, that is.  If you have any doubts about being able to do something like this, put them to rest, as beekeeping is NOT a hard skill to learn.  Mastering the art of beekeeping is another thing altogether, but in that it takes years to do.  I am NO master beekeeper at this point.  I have kept bees for quite a few years at this point, but have never done it with great gusto.

At this point, I feel that it is something that I MUST master - one of those skills that may become extremely important and valuable in a short while.  I plan to learn how to build my own equipment completely from scratch, from any lumber or wood that is available.  I want to try to track down, or create, all the hand tools that I might need to be able to build beehive parts from any kind of wood.  It could be that we sustain EMP attacks, that would reduce us to 1800s-type technology.  I hope that's not the case, but I want to be ready to handle it well, if it happens.

So check out the Fat Bee Man's videos.  They are really informative and helpful!







Don't be afraid!  Dive in and learn about beekeeping while you're doing it.  That is the best way!

Ciao,

Panchito

Keyline Design - Mark IV

Here is an interesting article I found on Permaculturenews.org.  I think that Mollison must have been very influenced by Yeomans' insights and genius.

You decide...


Keyline Design - Mark IV


Ciao,

Panchito

Perma-Prepping Again

I met recently with a young man by the name of Braden Trauth, founder of www.this-land.org.  What the?  This Land?  What in the world could that possibly be?  Think "This land is your land, this land is my land..." but then think permaculture.  Permaculture, you might be interested in knowing, is a design system that can create super healthy, super abundant environments that can eventually replace most of your food expenditures - in theory.

At a recent outdoor event nearby I picked up a copy of Edible Ohio Valley, a local magazine that had a booth at the fair.  In the latest issue, Braden had an article published about permaculture.  I read the article.  It was good.

I checked out the This Land website and ended up contacting Braden, who came over to meet me and take a little tour of my property.  We had some great discussions, ate some grapes that were close to being ripe that I picked from our Niagara vines, and discussed potential workshops that I might want to host and/or lead here on our land.

I found Braden to be an intelligent young man, full of knowledge, and very concerned about the welfare of others.  Hailing from a well-to-do family of Cincinnati, at a fairly young age he seems to have had a bit of an epiphany regarding life, faith, and how to live that faith out in a tangible manner.  In his case, helping others to create healthy, productive, natural environments via permaculture.

I'm all for that notion.   I've been studying, researching, and trying to put into effect similar ideas here on my own bit of land in the Cincinnati area.  My main problem is that I have neighbors, and those neighbors desire that my land look much like their land, dead, grassy, dandelion-less desert.  To do such a thing is sort of anathema for the likes of me.

So, I'm hoping for a good year of business from here on out, to be able to sell this place and purchase a place with copious amounts of land, build a better house, and start creating a permaculture inspired system.  I think it may be the only way into the future for humanity, although I also believe that we're approaching the final hour, before apocalyptic events kick in.

So if you stumble upon this blog post, and find that you’d like to know more, do more, give more, and potentially create such a living situation for yourself and/or others, contact me, via a comment on this post, Google +, or some other manner.

Ciao,

Panchito

Raised Bed Production

This Spring I came up with a great new source of free lumber.  There is a company nearby that purchases glass in bulk, making windows and doors for industrial situations.  They set the crates and skids outside their building with a sign saying "Free Lumber".  I avail myself of their lumber as needed, and have been able to build several nice raised beds as a result!

There are surely similar situations near where you live as well.  I obtained some great lumber from a sign company last year for the building of three other raised beds.  My thinking is that if there is lumber and other building materials to be had for free, why o why would anyone spend money on new lumber?  Why would us "Greenies" not do all we can to reuse, re-purpose, and recycle existing materials, instead of adding to the problem, enabling the lumber companies to continue making huge profits at the expense of our environment?

Anyway, here are a few shots of our raised beds for your personal enjoyment...

Wofati

So I'm wending my way through the permies.com website, and I cam across an article by Paul Wheaton titled "Wofati Eco Building".  What the...  So I read the article.  Paul is a guy who is very interested in building techniques that are really cheap, really cheap.  He is also one who desires to create structures that are made from local materials, preferably from your own land, or nearby, eco-friendly, quickly constructed, extremely durable.

I HAD a book by the name of "The $50 and Up How to Build an Underground House Book", by Mike Oehler.  I leant it to a friend, who decided he didn't want me building such a structure on his property, so he "lost" it.  Book?  What book?

Anyway, Mike Oehler has created some great, super-cheap houses from materials found on his own property, mostly.  Paul thought through Mike's ideas, visited Mike, visited other experts in the field, and made some interesting modifications, which you can read about here:

http://www.richsoil.com/wofati.jsp

I am very interested in this sort of thing, as I find that the housing industry is a joke.  Overpriced, under-built, low-quality housing without an iota of ecological leaning.  I say, "Go for broke"!  Under-price it, over-build it, max out the quality, and max out the eco!  Forget about building 2x4 houses completely.  There is absolutely NO reason to build the crap we've been building for the last 100 years or more.  There exists designs to tackle ALL aspects of green building TODAY, eliminating the need to order lumber from a lumber yard, order flooring from another store, order roofing from a roofing supplier, etc.  I'm interested in knowing your thoughts, whoever you are, so please leave a comment when you read this post.

Thanks,

Ciao,

Panchito

Oscar Perone of Argentina and his PermApiculture

Oscar Perone is a growing figure worldwide in the realm of apiculture, or bee keeping.  His methods are quite different from the typical european/american style of apiculture.  The following is a short series of video clips that highlight a few aspects of his method.  Enjoy.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bUXFbem6FMo&feature=colike

If you would like to discuss this in more depth, in English, or Spanish, please feel free to contact me via the comments section.

Ciao,

Panchito

Der Krameterhof

Sepp Holzer, an Austrian farmer, has become a source of inspiration to me of late.  30 years back he inherited his father's farm, which amounted to around 111 acres, or 45 hectares, of rugged, Austrian Alps land.  You'd think that something at that altitude would NOT be a good place to farm, but as they say, "Necessity is the mother of invention".  His is a radical departure from the norm, alternative farming, alternative agriculture, natural farming, and back-to-the-land, are all good descriptions of what he has been up to for most of his life.  These descriptions fall short however.

Take a look at this video about Sepp Holzer and his farm, the Krameterhof.  If this doesn't inspire you, you probably should look for some other blog to read.



I am planning on purchasing a hilly tract of land and creating something like the Krameterhof, only in the Cincinnati, Ohio area.  I am thinking of an intentional Christian community, with a common purse, and a good work ethic.  We will produce most of our own food, electricity, various products, music, and much more, while working toward fulfilling the Great Commission, to the extent that we can.  We'll see what my wife has to say about it????

At any rate, I hope you enjoyed the video.  Sepp Holzer and his Krameterhof are a great example of permaculture in a temperate climate, or even in an semi-arctic climate, since he actually has plantings above the natural tree-line on his mountain.  We stand to learn a great deal from innovative people like him.  America really needs this kind of thinking.  Here in the USA we have spent the last 30 years screwing everything up,, while teaching the rest of the world to do the same.  Let's undo what we've done!

Ciao,

Panchito

A Whimsical Notion, Or Poop N Paddle

Okay, so the title is a tad bizarre.  Today, or rather, this evening I am going to share a funny/serious little video that I stumbled upon.  It touches on a very serious topic, and does it in a funny way.  Our outdated, environmentally asinine method of dealing with our "leavings" needs to change, as do many aspects of our crazy society and way of life.  So here's a primer on fixing our toilet water situation.  No, I'm not talking about perfumes, nor colognes...



  />

Ha ha!  That guy's crazy... in a good way!

There is a lady, of Swedish extraction, who wrote a book some years ago about her experiences and experiments in creating a living space and a greenhouse that used zero fuel for heating.  A totally solar-heated life and business.  This lady created what today is a common item in grocery stores across the US - mixed baby greens salad in a bag.  In the book, she went into great detail laying out ways to treat sewage and graywater in a completely organic manner.  The book is called Solviva, and the author is Anna Edey, and she was WAY ahead of her time.  Check out her site/sites at www.solviva.com

Ciao,

Panchito