Tribute to Armenia

This year has had a lot of Armenia in the papers- efforts to get recognition for the pre-WW1 massacres of Armenians. Above is a picture from yesterday of one super important, but under-recognized, tribute to Armenia, and a boon to bees, at least, here where I live. It's Himalayan Blackberry, Rubus armenia (this is from memory, often faulty), which Luther Burbank (is this right?), imported from Armenia, but wanted to make the berry sound big (dang it- is that a druplet?), so named it after  big mountains. As a kid, I always imagined this berry somehow tangled up in the Rhododendrons in the Himalayan mountains. Apparently, that was all wrong.

And round about June 4, they bloom here, and the bees go crazy for it. This year, maybe it it will be early- and it looks like it could be, based on the buds.

Luther Burbank lived on the Califormia coastline. I have a xerox picture of him on my studio door- a big one- 11x17- which I picked up at the Luther Burbank garden years ago. I put it on the door, and its been there for 15 years I think. Long enough for me to forget LB and to think he was my great-grandfather. I told my mother I had a picture of her grandfather, a Welsh miner who moved to Bellingham in the 1890s, and she said no, that wasn't him. So I had to think about where I had gotten the picture, which finally, I remembered. A dapper man in a suit and a smile.

For some reason, the town I grew up in, Mercer Island, has a Luther Burbank Park. That seems odd now- as he didn't live here. I do recall that as a child, we lived near it, in some apartments called the Tamarack apartments, which also, now seems odd. As there are no Tamaracks on this side of the mountains.

Below is my trusty F150 Ford, 1972, 300 Six, and from Montana. An EPA agent owned it there, and it has a bullet hole in the side to prove it (I am not kidding). I bought it from him 20 years ago. He wore a silk shirt, and had driven it straight from Missoula.  He was moving to New Zealand. I assumed there was a bounty on him. I bought it for $1400 and its been a great truck.

But it has its hood open as this weekend I had to switch out a water pump. I show this truck as it is the truck I am using to move bees around, and I think its an interesting thing.

Below that are some images of CBPV and a recent swarm.

I spent the weekend building supers and frames, and timing myself so I can know next time how much time I need to plan for.  I am sort of hoping that I don't have to build all this equipment each year. Its taking up a lot time.

Great 1976 truck. Blue and white. I thought it was a big truck when I got it. Now it could fit in the glove box of my neighbor's truck. 

The engine is a pleasure, and very famous as a work truck. It was built for 20 years or so. Its fun to work on, I enjoy it, and one can (and I have), stand inside the engine compartment to work on it- it has that much space. Water pump is off in this picture, as is the fan and belt.

This is hive #9 swarming a few weeks ago. You can see the bees pouring out, and the bees in the air. The ladder on the right is for a lift with pulleys, that I can pull supers up or down with. On the right is my access ladder. The hives are pretty tall for April- and this is a concern, because of the weight. 

And this is, in part, what CBPV looks like after a few days. These bees are mostly dead, but not all, they are mostly moving. Its early in the morning here, no bees out on the landing board. I just moved this hive this morning, at 6 am, as it seemed as bad as ever, has laying workers, and I think has infect another hive.

Looking down the hive when there are bees out.. These bees are shaking- and pecking at each other. Dead and dying bees below. The bees all cluster on one side of the board.