Comments on: July Ramblings

By: PhilippinesPhil

PhilippinesPhil — Sat, 31 Jul 2010 03:27:46 +0000

Hey thanks, I hadn’t thought of that… I’ll give it a try. Luckily, there are plenty of Filipino dishes that use eggplant. And even better, I love all of them…

By: Beau

Beau — Sat, 31 Jul 2010 02:33:43 +0000

Phil- It’s a good thing you enjoy eggplant :) That’s amazing really, but so strange about the others. In the absence of pollinators for the tomatoes- you could get a little paintbrush, and go out and brush the pollen from one plant/flower to another… some folks swear by it!

By: PhilippinesPhil

PhilippinesPhil — Fri, 30 Jul 2010 02:43:41 +0000

This crop of eggplants is the only real success I’ve had as of yet in growing “traditional” American veggies here. So far, we’ve probably picked close to 300 from these few plants and they are still going strong. Tomatoes, cucumbers, carrots, none of them want to produce in my yard plot so far. No idea what I’m doing wrong.

By: Beau

Beau — Thu, 29 Jul 2010 15:24:17 +0000

Vincent- I would love it to be cool enough for a fire! Ah, the grass is always greener, as they say…

Ed- What a wonderful experience for you… I could use some of that knowledge that you have laying dormant :) Maybe you should get a hive or two one day…

Phil- I never thought about that, but it makes sense. Funny… I love eggplant, and have a hard time getting it to grow here!

Kathleen- We had that drought in 2007-2008, but as you said, things have come back nicely. :)

By: Kathleen Scott

Kathleen Scott — Tue, 27 Jul 2010 15:22:06 +0000

What a great post! I loved learning about your bees! The bit about dying queens is distressing.

We’re graced with lots of wild bees here in the Hill Country, as well as honey bees. The drought of 2008 & 2009 diminished the populations visibly but I’ve been glad to note a resurgence this year with the rain.

By: PhilippinesPhil

PhilippinesPhil — Mon, 26 Jul 2010 01:27:28 +0000

I’ve never seen a bee here. I’m pretty sure thats why I’ve had so much trouble getting vegetables to form. The flowers come strong but then wither away with no fruit formed. I DO have a dozen eggplants that produce like crazy but I’ve watched them and I’m sure its the profusion of ants that carries out most of the pollination; ants and flies, yuck.

By: Ed

Ed — Sun, 25 Jul 2010 18:47:52 +0000

It was a huge commitment which is how they got into the business and then out many years later. They went from a couple hobby hives to have a dozen or so. Then to make the processing easier of those dozen hives, they bought better equipment which them made having more hives feasible. Before they knew it, they were selling honey to stores in a 100 mile radius and it was a huge time sink right when they didn’t have extra time in the spring and fall. Thus they ended up selling the business to a fellow out east. They kept one hive to get back to their “hobby” but it eventually swarmed and they never did replace it. Still, I never pass by a honey stand at local markets without stopping and talking with the owner. I guess once a beekeeper, or in my case the son of beekeepers, always a beekeeper.