Create a Haven for Bees: The Bee-Friendly Garden

 The Bee-Friendly Garden

by Kate Frey and Gretchen LeBuhn

with lovely photographs by Leslie Lindell

Kansas Dad is the only real gardener here on the Range, but when I do think about the garden, I think about bees, butterflies, and hummingbirds much more than vegetables. They are, of course, inter-related.

In this book, the authors explain why bees are important, how individual gardeners across the country can make a different for bees, and how to create garden spaces to nurture and protect bees.

Kate Frey tells how she became interested in bees in the Preface:

Soon I was spending more time watching what was visiting the flowers in my gardens than looking at the flowers themselves. The garden became a place of intrigue.

The authors are encouraging to those who think they have little to offer bees.

An effective bee-friendly garden doesn't have to be large, nor does it have to be complicated. You can begin with a bare site and develop a bee-friendly garden from scratch, or you can simple incorporate some bee-friendly plants into an existing garden.

They argue that small gardens to make a difference, especially in more urban areas where there is a lack of gardens, especially gardens that are bee-friendly. The explain how to provide reliable and appropriate food sources, how pesticides can harm bees, the importance of nesting spaces and how to provide them, and encourage especially the use of native plants which are more easily grown.

From week to week, there are different bee species emerging and disappearing in your garden, so if flowers are only available for a short period in the spring, there will not be pollen and nectar available for the later emerging species. It also means that practices like tilling the soil in the early spring or removing dead tress can actually kill nesting bees.

The stereotyped American yard is not bee-friendly: gravel, plastic weed barriers, extended areas of lawn, and clipped hedges (cutting off the flowers). Luckily, the authors provide a variety of options of easy-care lawns and gardens for busy suburban families. Some even require less work than mowing every week.

A bee-friendly garden can be one of delight throughout the seasons.

As bees emerge and forage seasonally, you will see different bees in different seasons in your garden. Having a variety of plants blooming at different times of the year supports many different bees and provides you with a changing landscape of flowers and bees.

Healthy bees require a variety of food sources, different kinds of flowers, but in addition, they require a certain amount of each one because bees visit only a single kind of flower on any given trip. The authors recommend a 3 foot by 3 foot patch or a similar amount of the flower spread throughout the garden.

Throughout the book are lots of examples of different plants, how they might be combined, and even recommendations on placement within a garden to create a variety of different garden spaces. The resources in the back of the book list nurseries, public gardens, books, organization, website, and an extended regional plant list with many options for different areas within the United States.

Inspired by this book, Kansas Dad and I hope to tackle a particularly finicky garden bed in front of our house. We're putting together a plan for next spring that will include some of the recommended flowering plants. I'm also considering incorporating the importance and variety of bees in our area into our nature study...somehow. In the meantime, I've come to appreciate some of the variety we already have.


I received this book for free from Blogging for Books for this review. The opinions above are my own. The links in this post are not affiliate links.

My Favorite Picture Books: And Then It's Spring

And Then It's Spring by Julie Fogliana with illustrations by Erin E. Stead

This is one of the very few books I came across in a bookstore before seeing it at the library or online. I was immediately attracted to the title and the cover. The book delivered wonderfully. It's a quiet simple tale in which nothing much happens. We wait. The seeds are planted and we wait, surveying the brown countryside, hoping the seeds will sprout, that spring will really come.

The boys stays busy as he waits. He stomps in rain puddles. He plants other seeds, hangs a bird feeder, hangs a tire swing. Always, though, he returns to check on his seeds. In one cutaway, we see the earth beneath the seeds, teeming with life awaiting spring. On my favorite spread, the boy imagines bears tearing up his garden (because bears can't read the signs).

A number of other people have remarked that this is a book about patience, and I suppose it is, but for me the overwhelming thought as I read it was "wonder." The text inspires us to wonder: How can brown be "a hopeful, very possible sort of brown?" How can brown have "a greenish hum that you can only hear if you put your ear to the ground and close your eyes?"

Perhaps, later this year, I'll see my children lying with their ears to the ground, their eyes closed, breathing softly to listen for the hum.

My Favorite Picture Books: The Gardener

The Gardener by Sarah Stewart, pictures by David Small

This book, set during the Great Depression, is written through letters from Lydia Grace to her family members. Her parents are struggling, so she travels to the city to live with her uncle. She'll be helping him in his bakery, but what she wants to do most is plant and tend gardens.

Her arrival in the city is gloomy indeed. The train station is all grays and blacks. Her uncles bakery and home are surrounded by browns. Lydia Grace's first thoughts are of the plants she can put in the empty window boxes.

In brief letters and through the wonderful illustrations, we see Lydia Grace slowly changing everything. Flowers appear in the rooms and all around the shop. There is a brightening that spreads from Lydia Grace's flowers to the street and the neighbors. She wins over everyone with her flowers, her hard work, and her sweet disposition.

Lydia Grace is a delight. I'd welcome her to my home anytime.

We included this book in our history and culture readings for kindergarten with First Son for the Great Depression, when we read through American history in picture books.

Sad Strawberries

Our strawberry harvest was very sad this year. Last year it was wonderful. This year, we've made one batch of strawberry jam, a double batch of lemon strawberry marmalade and one batch of strawberry sauce. I think we may be done.

Kansas Dad thinks the June-bearing strawberries were hit rather hard by the bitterly cold winter and the drought-like spring.

Our apple tree gave a huge batch of apples last year, most of which went to the chickens because they had the audacity to be ready to be picked the week Second Son was born while we were a bit busy. This year, it didn't even blossom!

I was too tired and pregnant last year to really enjoy canning. This year I'm ready and there seems little available to can. Anyone around Kansas have luck with strawberries? Or anything else? I have an awful lot of pectin and jars I'd like to use!

My Small Successes XLII

1. We made our first batches of strawberry jam! So far we have four pints of strawberry jam and seven pints of strawberry lemon marmalade. The harvest is later than last year, but hopefully we'll still have a good one. Last year's was great, but I was too tired to can as much as I had liked. I tried a new recipe for pickled watermelon rinds, too, just because we had them. Kansas Dad is outside picking strawberries today so hopefully we'll have some strawberry sauce soon! (We also had strawberry smoothies for breakfast. Yum!)

2. We ordered a Wii Fit Plus with Balance Board. So far I've managed at least 30 minutes of exercise on all but one day. (That's 12 of the last 13 days. I didn't exercise on my birthday, more because I was worried about getting four adults and four kids to Mass on time than because it was my birthday.) I haven't noticed a difference in tone, strength, size or weight yet, but these things take time, right? I have been sore, so something must be happening. At the very least, I haven't exercised this much since I was playing basketball in high school.

3. I bought something for myself just because. I've wanted a Kindle for a long time but have never wanted to spend the money on something I so obviously didn't need. I had just enough birthday money for one, though, and my parents were encouraging me to order it. After consulting with Kansas Dad, I did. It should arrive tomorrow. I'm posting it as a success because it's the first time in (probably) years I haven't spent my birthday money on something for the kids, something for the kitchen or something for our homeschool. Not that I don't like spending money on those things, but Kansas Dad thought I was due to buy something for me. Now I'll be downloading all those classics I haven't read that are available for free. (Recommendations welcome.)

Head over to Chocolate for Your Brain for more Small Successes.

Query 35

Serious question now.

Which do you prefer:

• strawberry jam or jelly OR
• strawberry something for pancakes and ice cream (sauce or syrup)?

Strawberry season is coming up. Hopefully we have a good harvest this year. Last year I was a little too pregnant to really enjoy it.

Blueberry (or Strawberry) Oatmeal

I made a stand-by for breakfast recently, Blueberry Oatmeal, only I used strawberries instead because we still have some in our freezer from last year's harvest. I wanted to mention it here on the blog and realized the original page at Money Saving Mom is gone. Tragedy!

That's just not acceptable for all you poor people that haven't tried it yet. (The post was a few years old; I'm guessing they either expire after a while or it got lost when she transitioned to her new and improved site recently.)

So here's the Range recipe, a modified version of an original posted in the comments at Money Saving Mom by Suzanne Mosley. You can find her at Keep In Touch Stationary Co., though I don't think she's posting any recipes there.

Blueberry Oatmeal (aka Baked Oatmeal with Blueberries)

6 1/2 cups old fashioned oats (18 oz) *
1/2 cup brown sugar  **
1 cup applesauce
1 cup milk ***
1 1/4 cup water
1 tbsp baking powder
1 tbsp cinnamon (increase or decrease according to your taste and how much cinnamon may already be in your homemade applesauce)
cooking spray
2 cups blueberries (fresh or frozen) ****

Preheat oven to 350.

Mix everything except the berries together in a bowl. Stir well.

Coat a 9" x 13" Pyrex dish with cooking spray. Pour the blueberries in. Top with the oatmeal mixture. (I prepare the oatmeal this far and store it in the refrigerator overnight. It makes it a bit quicker in the morning. Just pull it out and leave it on the counter while your oven is preheating, then bake as below.)

Cover with foil and bake for 30 minutes. Remove foil and bake an additional 16-20 minutes (until browned).

Serve warm. My kids like brown sugar sprinkled on top. I like a little milk poured on top.

If you have any left-over, it is yummy warmed and served the next day or for a snack. It also works well cut into squares and frozen for a quick breakfast. It can be reheated directly from the freezer.

* Do not, I repeat, do not, substitute quick oats for any portion of the regular oats. Not even a tiny bit. Your baked oatmeal will be dry, tough, and unwanted. You may end up feeding a significant portion of it to your chickens, not that I would know anything about that.

** The original recipe called for 3/4 cup brown sugar. I'm decreasing it a bit at a time because we always sprinkle the brown sugar on top. My kids don't believe in brown-sugar-less oatmeal and they can't see it if it's already in the oatmeal. I should be bold and just eliminate it altogether.

*** You can substitute 1/3 cup dry milk plus a cup of water if you're short on milk, which we often are when I decide to make this. No one will notice.

**** I used four cups of whole frozen strawberries. The two cups didn't seem to cover enough of the bottom of the dish and we have a lot of frozen strawberries. I think having more was nice with the strawberries because they melt into the oatmeal more than the blueberries. I also think it would still have been good with only two cups if you don't happen to have the luxury of your own strawberry patch and an abundance of strawberries.

Final Strawberry Tally for 2010

Over the course of a couple of weeks, we picked 96 pounds of strawberries from our garden. (Kansas Dad spent a lot of time on his knees picking strawberries.) This number does not include any that our friends picked and took home or the ones the kids ate right off the vine or out of the bucket before they made it inside. (Seriously, once First Daughter grabbed one of the buckets, plopped herself down on the log and munched away until they were all gone!) It also doesn't count the ones we lost when Kansas Dad was out of town and I didn't even try to keep up with the picking. I would guess we could have almost doubled the total picked, if we had wanted. (We like being able to invite friends to come pick berries.)

(We have a lot of strawberry plants. Kansas Dad planted 150 last spring, about half of which were June-bearing, I think. Many of those put out shoots that he stapled with garden staples so they would put down their own roots. We'll be planting more next year or so and I'll try to post then on what we learned about strawberry plant placement for maximum ease in picking.)

So what did we do with all of them? We ate a great many (yum!) and froze quite a bit (over 40 cups, mostly hulled and whole; we've already been digging those out for smoothies).

We also used a bunch right away:

• strawberry soup (I used a recipe online that was ok but not great so I didn't even save the link. Mostly it tasted like melted smoothie.);
• 4 loaves strawberry bread (I decreased the oil in the recipe because it was almost too moist!);
• strawberry shortcake (from The Art of Simple Food: Notes, Lessons, and Recipes from a Delicious Revolution);
• sour cream strawberry muffins (substituting for the blueberries in a recipe from King Arthur Flour Whole Grain Baking: Delicious Recipes Using Nutritious Whole Grains, very tasty!);
• strawberry crumble bars (substituting for raspberries in a recipe from King Arthur Flour Whole Grain Baking: Delicious Recipes Using Nutritious Whole Grains, very good but next time we'll have to make them for a party - it was too many to eat before they went bad);
• strawberry pie using oatmeal nut pie crust (Both of these were delicious, especially that crust! I pressed the crust into the pie pan, refrigerated for 30 minutes, baked for about six minutes, then cooled and refrigerated again before putting in the strawberries.);
• strawberry compote (which is just strawberries and sugar, to use on my very first angel food cake);
• 2.5 pints strawberry-banana freezer jam (which only First Son really liked; we're probably going to use it up in smoothies or something); and
• 2.5 pints strawberry freezer jam (which we don't like as well as the canned jam we made; freezer jam seems to have a stronger taste and we prefer it a bit more mellow).

Then, there was the canning. I'm planning a separate post on what we learned about canning strawberries and a few tips, but here's a picture of all our jars (minus one we already gave away):

I particularly like that pretty strawberry jelly on the end:

Here's what we have (all recipes from Ball Complete Book of Home Preserving):

• 17.5 pints strawberry jam (the original quick recipe, some with liquid pectin and a variation with some lemon peel so it's "lemony");
• 6 pints strawberry jelly;
• 11 pints quick strawberry lemon marmalade (We love this recipe. Next year we'll be more ambitious and try some of the traditional marmalade which should be more caramelized.);
• 3.5 pints strawberry syrup (for pancakes and waffles and other such yummy fare);
• 2 pints strawberry sauce (for ice cream and other desserts - very yummy, but a bit harder to make than the quick jams with pectin because I had to stir boiling strawberry goo for 15 minutes. It's a good thing we have one of those plastic mitts to protect my poor hands - I still had to switch hands every few minutes because they'd get too hot!); and
• 3.25 pints maple strawberry smooch (a very good dessert topping option for those who prefer maple syrup to sugar or who happen to live somewhere that has a lot of maple syrup. You know who you are.).

Some of the pints I tallied are actually canned in half pint jars. We have more than enough strawberry jams, jellies and treats for the year and plenty to give away, too.

I highly recommend the Ball Complete Book of Home Preserving. Many of the recipes can be found inside the Ball boxes of pectin (including the marmalade recipe), but the back of the book has an extensive "tutorial" on canning with lots of tips and explanations that make following the recipes a lot easier. There are also a bunch of other recipes (many of which can be made with a simple water bath rather than a pressure canner) that we want to try with tomatoes and other produce. If you have excess garden or CSA produce, you're sure to find something intriguing to try.

Now I can save this post to read when the harvest gets overwhelming next year. I'll remember how wonderful all these treats were throughout the year and how satisfying it feels to look at that table full of jars! (We've also been even more inspired to get some other berry plants in. Perhaps we'll be able to plant some next year.)

For those that are wondering, we still have a few fruits on the ever-bearing plants, but it's not enough to even make it into the house.

Strawberry Update

From the 11pounds of strawberries Kansas Dad picked on Friday:

• 7 pints of strawberry jam
• 4 cups frozen strawberries
• ate about 4 cups with whipped cream.

From the 11 pounds of strawberries Kansas Dad picked yesterday:

• 2 loaves of strawberry bread (very yummy and very moist)
• strawberry shortcake shared with Grammy and Paw Paw (Kansas Dad made real shortbread and real whipped cream)
• 10 cups of frozen strawberries
• some we ate fresh

We didn't pick any today, but Kansas Dad is going out in the morning so I'm sure we'll be doing something with strawberries tomorrow. We also stocked up on some lemon, cheesecloth, pectin, jars, extra lids and freezer containers so we can try even more recipes from our Ball Complete Book of Home Preserving. There are a lot of strawberry recipes in there, so we shouldn't get bored too quickly.

The chickens are probably in heaven. Not only are they eating strawberry hulls to their hearts' content, they even got the sugary foam from the strawberry jam. Today, they thanked us with seven eggs, the most we've gotten in a long time!

By the way, I do have some pictures from our strawberry jam. I've just been too tired to get them off the camera. Hopefully I'll get to that tomorrow. You know, because our jars of strawberry jam are going to look very different from anything you've seen before. Or not.

Kansas Dad also planted a bunch of tomato plants yesterday and today. I think the pepper plants will go in tomorrow. I know I'll be thankful when it's salsa time!

I Sense Jam in Our Future

Kansas Dad just picked eleven pounds of strawberries.

Eleven.

Our New Huge Herb Garden

We've been dreaming about a big herb garden since we moved in, but didn't have a chance to even start anything before this year. We're a little later than Kansas Dad had hoped, but at least we've gotten going. He had to burn out some old tall grasses that were growing in there, then dig out the roots. (He liked the burning, but you may notice a few scorch marks on the fence.) We had already pulled out a number of the weeds, but he worked on those a little more, then tilled up a huge area for the herbs. Now he's gotten a few things planted and covered most of it with black garden plastic (or whatever it's called) and mulch. I think he also put edging all the way around, but we hope to have some stones lining it eventually. We have more stepping stones to put in, too.

I'm sorry it's hard to tell in the pictures how big it is and how wonderful it will be. There are two big areas of irises we'll be moving out, too, as soon as they've gone dormant.

I'm not sure how much more we'll get planted this year, but next year I'm imagining whole areas of basil (among other things). We'll probably bury some pots with mint, too, mostly for my tea. Yum!

The First Strawberries

Second Daughter is nearly as troublesome as the birds when ransacking the patch. Kansas Dad plans to put bird netting over all the rows when his ankle heals (sprained late Friday night).

We've moved on to much larger harvests and think we'll have enough to try a batch of strawberry jam this weekend!

Still Have Zucchini?

I just happened to search for our absolute favorite zucchini recipe online and you can find it here! (It's from The Food You Crave: Luscious Recipes for a Healthy Life.)

You will not regret it. Kansas Dad and I can eat a whole tray of them ourselves in about five minutes. I don't know what we're going to do if the kids ever decide to try them.

By the way, Kansas Dad doesn't dip. He puts the Parmesan and bread crumbs in a plastic bag or container and just shakes the zucchini - much faster. We've also found the cheap grated Parmesan works better than the shredded. Mmmm...wish we had some zucchini right now...

A Walk on the Farm

I grabbed my camera and took a few pictures yesterday. I love this patch of flowers. It used to be a pasture of some sort but has gone to seed, literally. Eventually we'll fence it off and probably use it for something, but for now it's a lovely sea of flowers.


They are mostly wax goldenweed. (Careful, they're prickly!)


With just a few of the Snow-on-the-mountain sprinkled here and there. These can cause a rash like poison ivy. Luckily we haven't had any problems with it ourselves.


Look! We have tassels! Oh, I hope we get some popcorn!


Silly me, I forgot to take a picture of the chicks, who are now looking quite grown up. The roosters sound grown-up, too. They're two months old today.

Love Is In the Popcorn

It was late when Kansas Dad was debating to plant any corn. He decided he'd try a small plot and asked if I wanted popcorn or sweet corn.

Popcorn.

You can never never have too much popcorn.

We're not sure how well it will do, being planted so late, but I have high hopes.

He Wasn't a Little Caterpillar Anymore

Learn more about the tomato hornworm here, here and here. It looks like we can feed them to the chickens. Anyone know otherwise?

Love in the Irises

On Monday, Kansas Dad wanted to plant corn. Instead, he spent four hours digging up, dividing and transplanting irises for me.


We need to do this with all the irises on the property, but we decided to do just a few this year, mainly the ones I like best that were very close to a trellis-thing we're going to move later this summer. I was afraid if we waited, the irises would suffer (as they're supposed to be divided right after they bloom). So my dear sweet over-worked husband put everything else on hold for some flowers for me.

By the way, if anyone's in the neighborhood and wants some irises next year, give us a call. We'll gladly trade a few for some assistance with the digging and planting. This bed has two main sets and a few random ones. Next year, we have about seven more batches to divide, including a ton of these bright purple ones.

Catching Up and Heading Out

I have a brutal headache and a lot to do tonight, so I'm just going to throw all these pictures together in a single post.

Kansas Dad has been hard at work on our garden. It's coming along a little slower than he'd hoped with all the rain, but hopefully he'll have a lot of time to work on it next week.



Second Daughter loved the chalk. Of course, you have to keep a close watch or she eats it.



We have a few beautiful clematis flowers. The vine as a whole needs a lot of pruning. Only four flowers so far, and two of them are hidden in the back. I have yet to identify the variety, which we need to do before we start pruning. Let me know if you know what it is!


First Son has discovered Legos and he's hooked. He has a few Pirate sets and will put them together (following the instructions) and then take them all apart again. Over and over.



Second Daughter has started crawling. Just today she figured out she could use this new skill to get somewhere. Not so convenient for me as I spent the day packing for our trip and had trouble keeping track of her. I don't have a video of her crawling, but I do have one of this snapping turtle running away from us.

More Life Out on the Range

I'm so pleased the yellow iris is blooming! I think the two other irises in the same bunch are going to be a different color, so I'll have to see if I can clear some space around this one and baby it a bit. I do love yellow in the garden! It's also in a hidden corner of the garden. You have to be on the rough path from the house around the fence to the swing set. It's great for us because we walk that way nearly every day, but if I can get it to spread we'll divide it up and put some out front where visitors can see them.


Apparently, we have another whole bunch of irises that will be the same color as these.


And, as if yesterday's spider wasn't enough, they're breeding right on the porch. (I found another who gob of them in the former flower bed, currently gone to weed, I'm trying to clear so Kansas Dad can make an herb garden.)


Also, I think I was mistaken in the cat with the kittens. I saw a completely different cat wander by with an early dinner dangling from her mouth. She's about the same coloring, but much larger. (I thought the first one seemed small to have had such big kittens already.) So that brings the stray cat count on the Range to 3 adults and 3 kittens. Country mice, beware!

A Gardening Break

Kansas Dad had a surprise for us when we arrived home from a birthday party over the weekend: two new swings so all three kids can swing at the same time! (This is also a very thoughtful present for Mama as the two daughters like to swing, and it's about all Second Daughter can do.)


He also built a little retaining wall for the mulch around our black currant bushes so hopefully the rain that continues to drench us won't keep washing it away.