How do I start a hive? Good question. I asked this myself and of Eric when we talked on GardenFork Radio and via email. Well, you're going to need some bees and that is the topic of this particular photo. What I am holding here is called a "bee package" and weighs a bit more...
Inside the Hive: Views from a First Year Beekeeper (Scene 4)
This picture is from the installation of hive #2, which is from a nucleus hive, commonly called a "nuc", from my beekeeping mentor's bee yard. My mentor has eleven hives and this year had a half dozen nucs as well. Our beekeepers association encourages new beekeepers to buy nucs from local folks. This is a...
Inside the Hive: Views from a First Year Beekeeper (Scene 3)
This block of wood that has been drilled out and covered with some screen is called a "queen cage" and holds, as you might suspect, a honeybee queen. There are other styles of queen cages but this is a pretty common one. The process of producing bee packages involves literally shaking worker bees into...
Inside the Hive: Views from a First Year Beekeeper (Scene 2)
My second image is a close-up of brood on a frame of wired wax foundation from hive #1. The bees in hive #1 had a lot of work to do as they came from a package brought from Georgia, installed about one month prior to this picture. I had installed a box of ten...
Inside the Hive: Views from a First Year Beekeeper (Scene 1)
As a first year beekeeper, everything is new and exciting and, quite frankly, I find myself yammering on to anyone who will listen about the comings and goings around my bee yard. My intention is to capture images from in and around my hives this year and post them here for others to enjoy. I'm...
Power Tool FAQ GF Radio
Power tool questions answered here, Tracy joins Eric to ask about the torque settings on her cordless drill, what are those numbers on the ring near the chuck? Tracy declines Eric's offer to answer more of life's deeper questions though. Move on to grounded and not grounded power outlets in your house, can i replace...
Workshop Bench from recycled Kitchen Cabinets & Counter RWG Video
Recycling old kitchen cabinets into a new workshop bench on this Real World Green show. Upcycling or repurposing kitchen cabinets that would have been thrown out, we make these into an upcycled garage or basement workshop bench and storage cabinets. This how to re-use kitchen cabinets video shows one way to recycle construction materials, or...
Workshop Organization is not genetic
While visiting my family I am always in the workshop fixing something. My dad's workshop is like mine, semi-managed chaos. There are many projects scattered in various stages of completion, some have been there a few years. There are bits and parts of things you can't bear to throw away, thinking you might be able...
Compost Tumbler DIY Composter
I saw this simple compost tumbler made out of recycled materials at a gardening display at the St Louis airport. This easy compost maker is made of 2x4s and a used barrel. Wondering how to make compost? This barrel composter makes it easy. Compost piles need to be turned and aerated, compost that sits in...
Bee Swarm Capture Video - GF Video
Honey bee swarm capture, or bees swarm rescue, or hiving a swarm caught on video. Capturing a honeybee swarm is a neat experience. Bees swarm in the spring, and then they move to a tree limb to start looking for a new home. This is when we can capture the swarm. This honeybee swarm was...
Simple Rain Barrel Plans
Neat rain barrel DIY system here using recycled materials from our neighbor Priscilla. She had two large water tanks that were not being used, placed on on top of the other, directed the rain water in to the tanks with a piece of leftover rain gutter. You could do the same thing with a rain...
Combining Hives - Beekeeping How-To
Last week I discovered one of our honeybee hives had lost its queen, we had a drone laying worker in the hive. A laying worker is a worker bee who, after the queen of the hive dies for some reason, starts to lay eggs in the hive. The eggs of a worker bee are unfertilized,...
Lawnmower Tune Up and Oil Change Tips
Time for the lawn mower tune up. I pulled the lawnowers out of the garage today, ready to change the oil and do a tune up on both mowers. We have several how to tune up a lawn mower videos on GardenFork ( links are below ), here are some photos and tune up tips...
Foraging: Garlic Mustard & Nettle Pesto Recipe : GF Video
Foraging was on our minds this weekend, seeing some edible wild plants in our yard, after listening to this NPR story on eating and cooking wild foods like edible Garlic Mustard and Nettles. Yes, you can eat nettles, despite the fact that the stems of the nettle plant have tiny barbs that sting if you...
Garlic Mustard Plant Identification & Foraging : GF Video
Garlic Mustard is an edible wild plant food. Here is video on how to cook garlic mustard, we made a great pesto recipe. You can forage for the leaves, but you can also eat the flowers and the seeds. Other names for Garlic Mustard are Jack-by-the-hedge, Poor Man's Mustard, Garlic Root, Hedge Garlic, Jack-in-the-bush, Penny...
Nettles Plant Identification & Foraging
Nettles, aka Stinging Nettles are a wild food that is edible. Here is video about how to cook nettles for a pesto recipe we made. Foraging for nettles is easy, they grow like the weeds they are considered, and are easy to harvest. Nettles have hairs along the stem that will sting you if you...
Simple Pizza and Bread Oven Plans GF Radio
Stuart Silverstein joins us to talk about how to build backyard bread and pizza ovens. You can watch our how to build a brick pizza oven video here. You can buy Stuart's book here
Build a simple ledge nest birdhouse GF.TV video
Here's simple bird house you can build that is perfect for a parent - child project using simple tools. This kind of birdhouse is used for ledge nesters, these birds are looking for a protected flat surface where they can build nest. You can watch our other how to build a birdhouse video here You...