Napa Valley Bee Company

SCOPING for BETHANY'S BEES

Scoping out where Bethany will be keeping her bees.
Lisa and Bethany in white.
Carless Carlos in red and blue.

BETHANY on BOARD

From the Bee Scribe
July 26, 2008

This photo that Rob has included is proof that, as with some rearview mirrors, objects near hives may be closer than they appear. It’s just another of those mysteries of the hive.

Okay, perhaps I was standing back a little farther than the other people in the picture, but then again, I believe I may be newer to beekeeping than most of the other people in the picture. There are many adjustments for the fledgling beekeeper. And while veteran beekeepers may be accustomed to standing at the center of a humming cloud, it was a new experience for me to be that near that many bees.  I would guess that most people reading Rob’s blog are beekeepers. If you have been working with honeybees for years, you may not be able to remember back to the first time you first stood among 20 or 30 vibrating boxes teeming with bees, or tried not to react the first time you heard a bee buzzingthisclose to your ear.  But if your sense memory does stretch back that far, you might recall that as much as you loved bees, and as privileged as you felt to me initiated into the order of the honeybee steward, it took a little adjusting, a little self-reeducating, to overcome the impulse to swat at something flying right toward your face. 

Rob says:
I agree with Bethany, at first it is a little intimidating having numerous bees buzzing all up in your grill. Definitely resist swatting. I find dodging, twisting, ducking, jabbing, and blowing all the while staying calm, cool, and collected is paramount in bee sting prevention. It gets less daunting the more time you spend around bees. Plus, that was one fired up colony of bees April Lance was showing the class. I was standing back too!

A new day - A new blog

As a side note to this whole blogging thing, which is new to me, I have come to realize a couple things -- well, actually I figured them out a while ago, back when I decided to apply for the Creative Work Fund Grant. I realized that I’m a lot of things:
A decent father,
A thought-provoking artist,
A reputable beekeeper,
An avid mountain biker,
An engaging instructor (in my field);
I can even knit and have sewn a couple quilts.
There is one thing, however, that I certainly am NOT, and that is a literary giant. Sure, I can come up with a witty sentence here and there, and maybe even a rhyme or two. But really, for the most part, I suck when it comes to the written word.

No, I’m serious. If all you folks out there in Bloggerland could only see me as I type, you’d be LingOL.  I’m worse then hunt and peck, if that's possible.

Remember "Welcome Back Kotter," that show from the late '70s-early '80s? That’s me: a modern-day Sweathog. I'm like the Vinnie Barbarino of bees. That said, I possess two things that Vinnie didn’t: spell check on my computer and friends who are far more comfortable with pen to paper than I am.

I have decided that the only way to get myself out of this sticky sitch is to hire the first-ever (to my knowledge) bee blog scribe. Here's how it works: Each quarter, I will ask one person to proof my blog before I post it. I say "proof" instead of "edit," because this is not so much for content than it is to catch errors in grammar and words that fall through the spell check cracks.

The thing is, I don’t want this person to be a text-checking chimp whose sole purpose is to massage the blog, but rather someone who will also have some input. This person will be someone who can add to the blog, has some experience in things related to the blog, and most important, will make me look like the male version of Sue Monk Kidd. Okay, so I haven't read her books, but I did listen to the audio book version of The Secret Life of Bees on my drive to Los Angles once.

So without further ado, I introduce to you Bethany Chamberlain, the summer 2008 bee blog scribe. A brief thumbnail sketch of how I met Bethany: Her niece, Sarah Domke, contacted me for permission to use some images of mine she had seen in a museum show. Sarah and her partners have an amazing local food zine called Secret Eating Society, and they wanted to feature some of my bee imagery in the current issue, for which Bethany wrote the accompanying honeybee article. Bethany also took a beekeeping class I teach at Nimbus Arts, in St. Helena. I really enjoyed her spin on the whole bee dilemma and somehow knew we would work together later. Bethany has a firm understanding of beekeeping, has bees of her own, and I like her style. The perfect person to kick off this new collaborative bee blog experience.

That's Bethany on the far leftany.

Back in Napa

I can’t believe it, but we made it home. It was an eventful journey but we all made it. Davis banged up, bruised, scraped, and sunburn. The trailer with a nice Latter-day scrape along the right side, a broken window, and a major tire blip. But neither worse for wear.
It’s exciting to be back and show off the trailer. The one person that understood my almost immediate connection with the trailer and it’s energy was Lewis DeSoto. Go figure the car guy is able to relate to what I’m talking about when I explain how I feel in the trailer. I haven’t even unpacked my things from the trip, I’m just leaving things where they are.
It will force me to go into the caravan at least once a day.
I'm WAY behind the Bee Ball. As soon as we arrived home the calls started coming in for bee jobs. One in particular was Matt Stegman. I had promised Matt I would pick up a wine barrel full of bees for about a week before I left, then stalled him for the 10 days I was gone. Great guy- not only did he put up with my T minus A (talk minus action) he even had home-made sushi waiting when I first arrived to check out the bees. I was a little nervous he obviously was really into fish with 2 or 3 salt water tanks in his house and a koi pond in the backyard. He said it was a "special sashimi" but all I could think about were all the fish around me, could what I was grubbing on possibly have been getting it’s bubbling on just before I arrived?  The sushi was unusually fresh. Matt had an interesting story on why he wanted me to take his bees. He got stung while hosting a party and went into anaphylactic shock. No kidding, right there with his guests and all. He told me his ears started to tingle first then his lips got all flappy. Luckily he huffed a hit or two off his inhaler which may have saved his life according to the Queen of the Valley Hospital ER. I left him protective gear to plug the bung hole and I borrowed my brother’s big red truck to pick them up the following morning. Matt’s wife just happened to be Meg’s younger brother’s kindergarten teacher in St. Helena. Interesting how you make those connections – it’s a small valley.
Matt's awesome, not only has he called me numerous times to see about his bees but has also forwarded me video for you guys to see the bees in action. Check out Matt's chalk drawing as an homage to his bees.
See, I thought I love bees. This guy REALLY loves his bees.
I told Matt he could come visit his barrel of bees at my place anytime.

Back of my trailer - Front of my house

Front of my trailer - Back of my car

Bees in barrel in front of Matt's house

Side of the bee barrel - Back of my brother's big red truck

Bee barrel on dolly in back of the truck

Coming & Going

Matt's bees far away (sort of)

Matt's bees up-close

Matt's bees as he remembers them

Almost Home: Reno, Nevada to Napa Ca.

It wasn’t easy tearing me away from the Beehive House but I couldn’t stay there forever. For ever ever….
The Beehive House has been a major inspiration to me for the EMoViTO, I hope that someday people who visit the trailer will be moved in the same way I was with the attention to detail. I can't get that place out of my head.   
We have been on this trip now 10 days and Davis and I are really ready to get home. He misses his mom and I’ve fallen behind in my beekeeping duties. It scares me to think of what I have coming around the bee corner.
Things I know coming are:
Look At historic building 181 in Napa State Hospital
Remove a barrel of bees
Check hive number one at AVM for Annie Favia
Endoscope an hive for a guy named Bob
and take a colony out of a wall for Darin the Gun Exchange Guy.
Not a whole lot going on in Reno, but yes lots and lots of slots, but I’m not much of a gambling guy so I just walked around the town with Davis. I didn’t see much I the way of bees either, maybe the elevation…
Although Randy Oliver keeps bees in Grass Valley and that is awfully close to Reno. We stopped at a lake on our way home to one of the sadder sights on the trip. Hundreds and hundreds of dead catfish floating belly-up. The live ones you could see had some sort of skin disease, just looked plain old nasty. My unofficial catfish diagnoses would be some sort of fungal disease. It just goes to show it’s not just the bees that are dying, catfish too. Once we saw the signs towards Sacramento it was difficult not to stop and get back to show off the trailer we have spent the last 10 days with to the rest of the family.

8671 in the parking lot of a casino in Reno

Check put this killer Monsters pinball machine:

Not much to do with bees. Although mummy rhymes with honey.

His REALLY big modern trailer - Our smaller old one.

At the Boomtown in Boomtown.

Filling-up with Love's

You gotta smell good in Reno

Smelling not so good in Reno.

With a windmill at a Plaserville fruitstand. We stopped for fruit and nuts. I got the wildflower honey $5.75 for 8oz. I haven't tried it yet.

lotsa Christians

Good Christians:

 

Not so good Christians.

Travel Mates

After my mom had read the blog she asked why there weren't any pictures of the family. She's right, all the images I have been posting are of either the Airstream, bees, or Davis.
Here they are:

Jo and Leah's shoulder feeding prairie dogs bread.

Leah, jo, and Candace's shoulder at the salt flats.

My mom with the trailer through one of the fire works display windows.

Candace with ours - him with his.

Fixing the broken window.

Through the window.

Looking at the dead catfish.

Davis with one of the 3 dogs  that were along for the trip.

Tons of Honey

A lot of Honey is flowing in all directions.
- Joseph Beuys

Some more of the honey related food things I saw on my trip:

 

BBQ

 

 

I saw Honey Brown at 2 other liquor stores after I reviewed it ( see clearfield, pa post 6/27/08)

I chose the Blue Moon.....

I bought something other then these two. I may have drank those Segram's Wild Berries when I was in my twenties.

THE REAL DEAL:

These are awesome! They were on sale 3 for $2. I bought all 12.

Salt Lake City, Utah to Reno, Nevada

To my surprise SLC was pretty amazing. Before rolling through all I had heard or seen are stories of how nutty the Mormons are and entertained by the HBO show Big Love. After a quick Whole Foods stop in Park City to grab a healthy bite to eat and a decent cup of coffee we headed towards the business loop of Salt Lake City. Our first stop in the land of Latter-day saints was the historic Wheeler Family Farm. From what I could gather the 75 acre farm was run by a husband, wife, and their six children back in the late 1800’s. I’m thinking yeah so…… what makes this farm so special I’ve heard that story a zillion times and even read the Little House on the Prairie series. County of  Salt Lake bought the farm in 1969 and converted it into a place for visitors, scouting, education, and birthdays. From what I saw it was a major hang-out for young pregnant Mormon moms to get together and have time away from the other wives. I’m telling you, I have never seen so many pregnant stroller pushing sinless beauties in all my days. Not one dad in sight, and the one other guy I saw was from out of town. I asked him if he knew where the main temple was located. Another thing about the farm that was a little bizarre was the clerk running the country store. At first I didn’t notice but when I went to purchase my 2 small jars of crystallized unlabeled honey and asked about the origin I was shocked. He was dressed in a kilt, not only the tartan but the whole Celtic get-up. All of which he made himself, even his Scottish sandals. He was the world’s first Mormon Celtic homesteader.
The farm was doing one thing right, bees. In my whole trip West the Historic  Wheeler Farm had the most bees. The vegetation was amazing, one whole section was put together by the Master Gardeners of Salt Lake County. It was a palooza of pollinators around a bed of lavender, catnip, and sage. The interesting thing was when I inquired about why with such  wonderful gardens and grounds there was no mention of bees. The head gardener first told me he had not thought about it but later changed his story to being concerned about a Latter-day lawsuit if someone were to get stung.
My experience with bees in SLC didn’t end at the Wheeler Farm.
The Beehive House is the older of Brigham Young's two Salt Lake City residences. Designed by temple architect Truman Angell and built in 1854, it stands today as a museum offering tours of what life was like for the Young family back in 1855. The amazing attention to detail captivated me with the  skep beehive logo on the banister, the door knobs, and chairbacks. Strong work ethic and the value of industriousness give the Beehive House its motif, as the image of beehive sits atop the house. The name of the mansion is drawn from this theme, the beehive being a symbol of diligence and productivity. In fact, the beehive is a prominent symbol throughout Utah today, reminding residents of the pioneer legacy that Brigham Young helped to establish. I explained that I was a beekeeper from Napa, California to the Book of Mormon toting Stepford docents. Not sure if they were impressed with my beehive excitement of just wanted me the hell out of there but two young ladies, they always roll in pairs, gathered up their notes and gave me a personal tour showing me all the bee ornamentation. It was like a Christian Easter egg hunt walking through the playroom, the family store, the fairy castle, and the gracious sitting room looking for the symbol of industry and work ethic according to Brigham Young. I can only imagine after spending time in the Beehive House an evening the where Young family exhibited their talents and sang, prayed, and practiced polygamy together. It was difficult for me to tear from the honey comb hide-out but we still had to make it to Reno before dark. Salt Lake City is an amazing place that I highly suggest everyone visits at least once in their lifetime.

You know when you're getting close to Salt Lake City:

Bees in Salt Lake:

Bees in flight Salt Lake:

Beehive House

 

Cheyenne, Wy to Salt Lake City, UT

For the first time on this trip it feels like we made some real progress. We spent a lot of time in Cheyenne before we headed out but most of the time today was spetn driving. I have found that if you use the cruise control set at 55-60 we can get 250 miles out of a tank of gas. Generally gas has been running about $3.90- $4.15 a gallon and cost roughly $70 to fill-up. 8671 pulls really nicely, she tracks well and is easily visible around when making lane changes. We have been tugging her along with a 2006 Honda Pilot that has been plenty strong enough to handle the load. I was nervous about making the great devide but that too was cake even with a ton of stuff in the trailer we have collected along the way. The best thing to me is being able to use the camper as intended and sleep in it at night. The double bed Davis and I have been using is very comfortable. It is what I guess they call a goucho in Airstreaminese. It is a couch that pulls out and the back cushion slips down to make a double bed. Why they don’t call them a coucho is beyond me.
Cheyenne is a very industrial city. It looks a little depressed, with a lot of houses for sale, closed stores, and not much happening in the rural area. Downtown on the other hand was a lot nicer, the attention to detail on the buildings added interest one wouldn’t have seen if they just skirted the city’s periphery. It was the first time I got a real sense of home sitting in the Starbucks sipping a grande mocha (“easy on the moch”, which equates to 2 pumps) as I bee blogged away. Unfortunately I left my A/C cord in the car when my sister and mom went thrifting, I only had a 43% charge on so I wasn’t able to get nearly what I had hoped done.
While checking out the town I found an old used bookstore. Hoping for a rare find of a bee or airtream book that didn’t happen. However,  I did find a 1st edition Diane Arbus book for $9.99.  Also in Cheyenne I met an old timer that took an interest in 6871, he told us that the Governor of Wyoming kept an Airstream at his mansion that the public were allowed to visit. It turned out to be a beautiful early model 22 foot Globe Trotter. You couldn’t go in the trailer but a window was left open, the inside had obviously been redone to governor’s standards. A lot of birch, reupholstered cushions, and the windows had been replaced with bullet proof looking glass. I asked the grounds keeper about the trailer and he talked about how little the trailer gets used, “ the Governor just doesn’t have time”. The grounds of the mansion were impeccably groomed, I saw the first bee I had seen in the last few states buzzing the flora right next to the man’s unused Globe Trotter. It was exciting to see, not only because I didn’t think I’d see another honeybee on the trip also because the Wyoming honeybee is much darker and the bands around the abdomen much more pronounced. I only saw one girl so who knows if all the bees in the area are so distinctly different. Besides the difference in the color the bee I saw appeared much more nimble in flight. She was whipping around with agility my Napa bees don’t possess, or with me don’t care to exhibit.
Just outside of Salt Lake City is a town called Rock Springs, Wyo. It is seriously the most delightful town we have visited on the trip. Rock Springs is clean and has an old time charm that was beyond words. Albeit, out in the rough a little for me, but big enough to have all the amenities needed for an extended stay. We had dinner at the Bitter Creek Brewery, the Boars Tusk beer and salads were soundly welcome compared to the crap we have been eating along Highway 80. One of my biggest challenges has been to keep a well rounded diet in Davis as we travel the roads accommodating the masses. According to Michael Pollen 2 of 3 Americans are over weight and 1 in three are obese. Go figure…….  The majority of the food across this country is fast food like Mcdonalds, Arbys, Taco Bell, and Dunkin Donuts. Mind you, I’m down with the Dunkin. Boston cream donuts are bliss first thing in the morning w/a cup of coffee.
  Next to the brewery was a neat bike shop. We rolled into town at 7ish so it was closed but I could tell it was for the serious cyclist. They carried Specialized and Gary Fisher. Through the window I saw big hit bikes, commuters, 29ers, and even a decent looking custom built single speed.
So having the bike shop right next to the brew pub is a win-win situation as far as I can see. Any town with that combo is good by me, I wish we could have stayed longer. A great night had by all with possibly the exception of my sun burnt, sleep deprived little boy who fell running to the camper and scraped all the skin off his nose. Its been rough for the kid. A new camper, awful diet, and a skewed sleeping pattern has left him slightly behind the proverbial ball.

Cowgirl Up! You've gotta love Cheyenne.

The Governor's Globetrotter.

Me and the Governor's Globetrotter.

Bees and the Governor's Globetrotter

Around Cheyenne:

My Mom and Davis waiting to go.

                                 Before

                                  After