March highlights and Compost Tea Party 4/26
Serendipitously, 2 sites featured my beekeeping this month. Also, save the date for April 26 – a Compost Tea Party at my home.
Beekeeper of the Month
At the start of the New Year I began keeping digital records of my hive inspections. I started doing this through the HiveTracks app. I’m still keeping written records in parallel with the app as I transition to digital. HiveTracks has been more helpful than I expected. 2 examples:
I forgot my bee journal at home during one of my mountain hive inspections. This could have been a problem, but because I’ve been keeping notes in the app – I had everything I needed.
I can see how long it’s been since my last inspection without even tapping into each hive. With my handwritten notes, I usually need to flip back several pages, find the hive number, check the date, and count back from present day. The app automatically displays the days since last inspection next to each hive name. This was particularly helpful with my first split of the year. I knew I didn’t want to touch it for at least 3 weeks to allow the new queen time to emerge and mate. I kept an eye on the app date and waited until the right time. She successfully mated and made it back home.
HiveTracks featured me as Beekeeper of the Month. I shared a little about how I got started with beekeeping and what my first swarm experience was like.
Celebrating the Environment on WildesArt
My friend, artist, writer, and TLT subscriber Barbara Hengstenberg has a new series showcasing people making a difference in their communities. Barbara surprised me with an invitation for an environmental feature on my beekeeping. Check out her series on WildesArt.
Save the date: Saturday, April 26
Compost Tea Party
10:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. ET | On-farm workshop at my home in Pittsboro, North Carolina
Compost tea improves soil health, fertility, and life. It allows plants to easily absorb nutrients, and you can make it inexpensively. From soil drenches to foliar sprays, learn the science and impact of each application. We’ll cover compost and vermicompost methods and their benefits:
Healthier soil means healthier, more resilient plants
Reduce fertilizer and pesticide use and expense
Heal damaged soil and improve soil structure to better retain nutrients
Reduce plant stress and increase disease resistance
Included:
Take home all the supplies for your worm bin—including worms!
For human consumption, enjoy a variety of farm-sourced teas and locally-baked treats during the workshop.
Note: This is the same day as the Piedmont Farm Tour. I’m not affiliated with the tour, but I encourage you to take advantage of the opportunity to visit surrounding Chatham County farms.
Paid subscribers of my Substack Tara Lynne Today attend at no cost and will see their registration instructions at the end of this post.
If you're not a paid subscriber, the workshop is $50 and you can register via my beekeeping site home page.
Everyone must register by April 15. I’ll send my address and parking instructions then.