By Claire Jones
Watch out for the invasion of the body snatchers! - no really it is just saddleback caterpillars, Sibine stimulea. I have noticed them in my yard this year and I would rather be stung by a bee than stung by this nasty caterpillar. They look like ugly bizarre clowns or a Scotty dog in a …
Continue reading "Saddlebacks are Back!"
Honey Princess 2012 On a hot and muggy afternoon recently, I worked at the MD State Fair in Timonium at the honey booth selling honey products. As a MD beekeeper, you are encouraged to work the fair for a shift to help our group, the Central MD Beekeepers Association, sell members honey. While there, I got to meet …
Continue reading "Honey Bee Royalty at the Maryland State Fair"
It happens every August - honey extraction! After babying the bees, feeding, monitoring, re-queening, splitting, and just plain worrying about them, now is the moment of truth. How much honey did they deposit in the combs for me to rob from them? I won't leave you in suspense - I extracted 55 pounds from my one …
Continue reading "Robbing the Bees- A Honey of a Day"
I ended up with some free Okra seeds this spring and thought I would try them, not thinking at all about eating them, but just to enjoy the beauty of the plants. Now they are 6 feet tall and producing tons of okra pods every few days so I am trying to use them in cooking.  I did …
Continue reading "Okra – Superfood Superstar"
Sustainable is the new catch word for gardening. I hear it everywhere and I think it is overused without anyone really understanding exactly what it means. By definition it means -  Conserving an ecological balance by avoiding depletion of natural resources. And by working gardens, keeping chickens for meat and eggs, preserving food, adding solar panels, …
Continue reading "Suburban Homesteading – Raising and Preserving Sustainable Food"
A Honey of a Good Book I don't know how I missed the publication of this book in April of 2011 but picked it up at a local plant nursery to look at and was enthralled. As a practicing beekeepr, I get a lot of information off the web and have several beekeeping books on my shelf …
Continue reading "The Handbook for Beekeepers – The Beekeeper’s Bible"
Cucumbers are spilling out of my vegetable drawer and my harvest basket. I am picking at least 8 to 10 a day, sometimes more! I can't give them away fast enough! So, I am going to make Bread and Butter pickles and Hamburger Dill pickles which I love and are so much better than store-bought. There is nothing …
Continue reading "Peter Piper Picked a Peck of Pickled Cucumbers"
The Invasion of the Blues I have been growing blueberries for years and this has been a banner year for picking them. We have had plenty of rain and the weather has been perfect for growing. I have only 5 shrubs but that is enough to keep us in berries, as well as providing the birds all …
Continue reading "Blueberry Bonanza"
Black is Beautiful For my updated post on black flowers, check out Black Goes With Everything. There has been an explosion of black flowers and foliage in the past couple of years in the gardening world. It started out as a trickle and now is a tsunami of everything black! When I go to the nursery …
Continue reading "50 Shades of Black"
I just came back from a day trip to NYC where I went to experience the 'High Line'. I have heard so much buzz from the media and friends on this new park in NY that I made a special trip to see it and was totally unprepared for the scope and genius of this …
Continue reading "High Line – Container in the Sky"
The Read I just finished reading 'American Grown' by Michelle Obama and it is a fascinating account of the garden and landscape evolution at the White House. From the very first vegetable garden installed by John Adams, our second president, the book mentions a variety of plantings and gardens until it ended up being a hodgepodge of styles …
I feel fortunate that I live just 6 or 7 miles from one of the most innovative and beautiful public gardens in the United States, right here in Monkton, MD, called Ladew Topiary Gardens. I first saw these whimsical and  enchanting gardens about 25 years ago that were created by, Harvey S. Ladew, a traveler, fox-hunter, …
Continue reading "Magical Mystery Tour – Ladew Topiary Gardens"
