Best Burger 1 pound ground 85% grass fed beef 1 pound ground organic pork 1-2 Tablespoons Sriracha Hot Chili Sauce 1-2 Tablespoons Lea & Perrins Thick Worcestershire Sauce Grill Mates Montreal Steak Seasoning (we use the lower salt version) Grill Mates Fiery 5 Pepper Seasoning Using your hands mix the pork, beef, Worchestershire, and…
1 cup coffee 2 oz Bourbon 1/3 cup organic heavy whipping cream 3 teaspoons raw sugar 3 teaspoons vanilla syrup Blender or Whisk Heavy Glass or Large Mug Heat the glass or mug with hot water. Add the vanilla syrup to the heavy whipping cream. Whip the heavy whipping cream by hand or in a…
What could be better on a lazy fall weekend than ribs from the smoker? Below I share with you how to make ribs so good you may never darken the door of your local BBQ joint again. I have an upright electric smoker with two grill grates and two pans. This recipe is based on that smoker…
A very non-aggressive bee raised in a nurturing chemical free hive, smelling the sunflowers. Since sensationalized stories about aggressive bees seem to be hitting the news lately, I thought it would be a good idea to post about dealing with an aggressive hive. The first step is to do nothing. Refer to the previous post about observation and management. Maybe the “Mean…
Hive management is an art, not a science. There are some basic principals I try to follow in an attempt to make hive management a more predictable and consistent art. First off, if you are in doubt, do nothing. You can’t make the bees do anything. What you can do is provide an environment which will encourage…
The options are many: Langstroth, Warre, Top Bar, Long Hives. The impassioned reasoning to favor one or the other is endless. For someone trying to get started it has to be overwhelming. I am going to make some very specific recommendations for your first hive and give you the reasoning for each part of it. What works (or lately…
You read Part I, you have your bin, now what? Time to assemble! What you need to get started that was not in the box with your bin. Newspaper for shredding and lining the bin. Eggshells A cup of finished compost or worm castings. Water A big tub or bucket to mix things in. Two cups of kitchen…
Double Digging, Intensive Gardening, French Bio-intensive, whatever current buzzword is trotted out to sell the latest gardening book. The most sacred of sacred cows. And a complete waste of your time and effort. Compost Myth-busting returns! Digging and especially Double Digging (turning the soil completely over) is a backbreaking waste of time. Digging destroys the delicate soil structure which…
The continuing process for changing over to foundationless hives is very simple. Keep adding new frames to the center of the bottom box two at a time. When you add a new pair, move a pair of old contaminated foundation based frames up to the second box. Each time, you should place the new pair of foundationless empty…
What is natural comb? What is foundation? What do you mean by foundationless? It is apparent there is a lot of confusion out there surrounding this. I think this post will make things crystal clear! Most chemicaly managed hives are full of nasty old comb drawn over foundation by a hive of bees in the late…
Backyard Ecosystem began as an expression of my determination to make a difference in our own backyard. Literally and metaphorically making a difference at the micro level of my yard and to operate at macro level of treating the entire planet as something I am an integral part of and whose destiny is shaped everyday by what I do in my corner of the world.
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