what are you doing ?

[The Stratmangler]

one is earmarked for mi dad when he gets round to sorting out his 'hobby room' (shithole), the other, i don't know yet....

[jack]

Completely rebuilt WBC hive - like Trigger's Broom, it's mostly new. All western red cedar (apart from marine ply under the galvanised tin roof covering). Amongst many other things, the roof has been made deeper to take vents (the round black thing in the middle of the roof) both front and back. Finished with brass nails for a nice look.

Sissinghurst have given us all their hives but we are still allowed to keep them at the castle - a win/win for us.

Note: WBC hives are the "traditional English" hive and were invented back in the 1890s by William Broughton Carr.

They are a double walled hive - the pretty outside layer is made of stacked sections called "lifts". Inside these lifts is the hive proper, so to work on the hive, first you take the roof off, then remove all the lifts, then you can get to the hive.

It's a pain. The lifts' sides are all at angles which makes jointing them a nightmare. The dimensions are all weird and in odd 16th of an inch, e.g. 14 11/16th".

They date from a time when labour was cheap and winters were hard - sometimes when it was really cold, the gap between the lifts and the hive proper was filled with straw. Double-skinned hives are not necessary now and really the only reason to have a WBC is cosmetic, or, as in the case with Sissinghurst, the need to be period-correct.

I've never owned a WBC, and never want to. They're silly and pointless. I use "British Standard Commercial" brood boxes and "British Standard National" supers (the boxes the honey is in) - Commercials and Nationals have the same cross-sectional size, so they stack correctly. The Commercial brood box is deeper and wider internally than the National, so is better for more fecund queens, i.e. the brood box doesn't get so easily overcrowded - the traditional British black bee had a fairly small colony size, so the National brood box works for darker bees, but the Italian/New Zealand derived queens I use have larger colonies, so a Commercial brood works better for them.

That's enough about bees.

[shane]

It occurs to me that the last time I visited Sissinghurst was in 1975. It really is about time I went back. It’s a magical place.

[jack]

It occurs to me that the last time I visited Sissinghurst was in 1975. It really is about time I went back. It’s a magical place.

It's just up the road from here - we're about equidistant between Sissinghurst and Scotney.

Even though I and another beekeeper work at Scotney, all the bees are at Sissinghurst... For various reasons we can get into the gardens in the evening after they've closed so have it pretty much to ourselves....

I doubt that Sissinghurst has changed that much. The NT are like that...

[simon]

Did a proper job for lockdown yesterday, I turned the compost bins. I can't believe even the most ardent gardener looks forward to this job. Lots of lovely black gold awaits me though .

[izzy wizzy]

Did a proper job for lockdown yesterday, I turned the compost bins. I can't believe even the most ardent gardener looks forward to this job. Lots of lovely black gold awaits me though .

We're too lazy to turn ours plus it's back breaking and as SWMBO isn't keen, I'm let off the hook. Well done on doing it! Does it speed things up?

More days, weeks of still shovelling dirt. Nearly there hopefully.

[simon]

I reckon it does speed it up a lot. It mixes the material together which helps a better compost, and it aerates it which helps too.

You can buy tumblers - large bins that you fill up then spin each day or similar I think, which makes compost in a few weeks apparently. I'm too tight to buy a few of those, just turn it a couple of times and wait a couple of years. The leaf mold (oak trees) takes three years though.

[Ant]

It does make a difference ime, ours had gotten abit too dry over winter as the top is solid plastic, it one of those drum type one's that has a solid plastic top and a door at the base where you can get the good stuff out.
I was told by swmbo to turn it and add water once it was done. Did that about 3 weeks ago and its nearly ready now.
Anyone remember the fella on gardeners world years ago who advocated peeing in the compost bin?
Bob flowerdew was it?

[simon]

Aye, Bob Flowerdew. Organic gardening guru.

[izzy wizzy]

Aye, Bob Flowerdew. Organic gardening guru.

Well at least I do that bit.

[jack]

96GB of music backed up up prior to switching music server...

[chris661]

Best of luck with the server!


I've been doing some science, trying to figure out how to measure a speaker's ability to reproduce low-level information in the presence of high-level signals.
Some discussion here: https://www.diyaudio.com/forums/full-ra ... ments.html
So far, it looks like the microphone can capture low-level info better than I can hear it.

Chris

[jack]

96GB of music backed up up prior to switching music server...

...but now, along with my siblings, organising our mother's funeral such as it can be. The home she was in has Covid, but we don't think she had it. She passed peacefully early this morning...

[Nick]

Sorry to hear that. All the best for it. I know funerals are difficult at any time, but more so now.

[Cressy Snr]

Condolences to you and yours Nick.