Going Against The Flow: Is The Flow Hive a Good Idea?

Milkwood

Milkwood writes…

“It’s fab, it’s new, and the honey flows straight into the jar. It’s so easy. But then, powdered instant potato is easy, too. Does that make it a good idea?

Despite my mission to focus on positivistic messages of change, at Milkwood we’ve got a charter of calling a spade a spade.

And to call yet another plastic beehive addition which does not benefit the bees but only the beekeeper… what it is.

We’ve seen a lot (like, a LOT) of media about the Flow Hive ™ in this last week and after a few hundred questions about what we think of it, we thought we’d spell it out…”

“The best analogy I can think of to demonstrate this point is battery egg production vs pastured egg production.”

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It’s the beekeepers dream… Honeyflow

honeyflow.com writes…

“Turn a tap and watch as pure fresh clean honey flows right out of the hive and into your jar. No mess, no fuss, no expensive processing equipment and the bees are hardly even disturbed.

“This really is a revolution, you can see into the hive, see when the honey is ready and take it away in such a gentle way.”

We are very excited to introduce our new invention that allows you to enjoy fresh honey straight out of your beehive without opening it.  It’s far less stress for the bees and much much easier for the beekeeper.”

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An In Depth Introduction to Holistic Management

 

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This is amazing: How Wolves Change Rivers

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The Funnest Guy of All!

umassdining.com writes…

(On the left is endomycorrhizal; the right: ectomycorrhizal)

“If you have any interest in gardening or farming, there is another player in addition to the plants and soil that you should know about: mycorrhizal fungi. This type of fungus forms a symbiotic relationship with approximately 90% of plants! The fungi colonize the roots of the plant and then extend their hyphae far into the soil, bringing nutrients and water that would otherwise be out of reach to its host. In return, the plant provides the fungus with carbohydrates.

There are two types of mycorrhizal fungi. Shown in the picture below, endomycorrhizal fungi associate with many agricultural crops and ectomycorrhizal fungi mostly associate with trees. Endomycorrhizal fungi penetrate the plant roots cells, while ectomycorrhizal form a layer around the root. Ectomycorrhizal are classified by producing mushrooms above ground, which endomycorrhizal do not do. Some popular edible mushrooms, such as chanterelles and truffles, are ectomycorrhizal. The entire underground structure of the fungus is called the hyphal network….”

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Strawbale Chicken Coop Demonstrates Simplicity of Good Design

Treehugger.com writes…

 

“Permaculture (and any good ecological design) is all about making connections between different elements in a design. (The classic bird feeder bread boardbeing a great illustrative example of such thinking.)

This strawbale chicken coop is another case in point. Highly insulated, with bedding available just where you need it—and a watering system that automatically provides rainwater to the chickens on demand. The positioning of the coop is carefully planned too, ensuring that excess runoff goes down to feed fruit trees on the slope below…”

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Daniel Pauly: The ocean’s shifting baseline

The ocean has degraded within our lifetimes, as shown in the decreasing average size of fish. And yet, as Daniel Pauly shows us onstage at Mission Blue, each time the baseline drops, we call it the new “normal.” At what point do we stop readjusting downward?

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How to Start Natural Beekeeping – for free!

Permaculture Media writes…

“Beekeeping has suddenly become popular again, having been in decline for more than half a century.

Honeybees have been in the news for all the wrong reasons: collapsing colonies, pesticide poisoning and parasitic mites – and all this bad news seems to have triggered an almost primitive desire in people to want to help and nurture this vitally-important insect that – despite all our scientific advances – we still do not fully understand.c

Ever since I can remember, beekeepers have been regarded by the media as harmless, doddery old men (mostly), who do strange things with wooden boxes full of bees, while dressed in sartorially suspect garb. However, this image is beginning to change, with more and more women and young people being attracted to the idea of learning this ancient craft and a new urgency in the air about preserving our honeybees for their important role as pollinators, as well as for their own sake…”

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Chicken tunnels

Eco films Australia writes…

“Although allowing your chickens to free-range a great idea, getting them to just stay on the grass and not destroy your garden is not an easy thing to do. They don’t seem to listen and wander about blissfully digging up your garden, making mounds in your vegetable patch, spraying dirt all over the place as they go hunting for bugs, worms and insects…”

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Healthier chook management

Dennis Argall writes…

“I previously had a large run for chooks (chook is the Australian generic for chicken/hen/rooster) which became unmanageable, the chooks constantly escaping and eating every seedling in the backyard. A conventional feeder meant I was also raising about 40 sparrows and four pigeons. Open water meant dirty water, worms and sick and dead chooks.

A fox came and cleaned up that flock. I replaced the chickens in that large run with asparagus, strawberries, leeks, artichokes, zucchini, yakon, youngberry, herbs, etc.

I resolved to start again but with closer management: small house for three hens, small mesh/net run to be moved around garden for day forage, vermin and weather proof feeder, my own construction, and nipple drinkers, to provide only fresh water…”

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