DC State Fair

It's not the Iowa State Fair. There is no life size cow sculpted in butter, and there aren't any pig races. But, for a city without any agriculture except for backyard and community gardens, the first DC State Fair got off to a great start. There was a photography contest, largest and strangest looking vegetable competition and contests for home brew, cupcakes, pickles, jam and pie. I had to enter Blueberry Jam, Cinnamon Peach Jam, Bread & Butter Pickles and Sour Cherry-Peach Pie.



To be honest, I didn't think there would be much competition. How many folks in DC actually make jam and pickles? But folks did come out -- dozens of them -- and my jam and plain old pickles (pickled peaches won the blue ribbon) didn't place. I admit I was a bit bummed out and didn't really feel like sticking it out in the heat for the pie judging.

So imagine my surprise when my pie won first place! Slices were sold off for donations to the DC State Fair so this is all that was left of it. The lead judge and sponsor of the competition, Fat Man After Dark, told me my pie was the only one he gave a perfect score. I'm so proud!

Blackberry Peach Pie

We had blackberry peach pie for dessert last night with some peaches and blackberries we had picked late last week. Once again, the cookbook, Pie, was the inspiration.

The Bees are Fine -- We Think

We came home from vacation earlier this week really wondering if our girls had swarmed while we were gone. Knock on wood, but I think they're fine. It sure seems like it anyway. Karl hasn't opened the hive to check things out yet, but by the amount of activity coming and going, it seems like we still have bees.



I read in one of Karl's beekeeping books that there's a way to estimate the number of bees you had in your hive. You count the bees returning into the hive for one minute. To estimate the number of deep frames of bees in the colony, you multiply that number (the bees per minute) by 30 minutes (the amount of time one bee needs to make a return trip) then you multiply that by .0005. This gives you the number of deep frames of bees and you assume that one deep frame, covered with bees on both sides contains 2000 bees.

I've actually tried to count the number of returning bees, and it seems impossible. They just fly way too fast and there's just too many of them coming and going. I can't imagine ever getting an accurate count. I guess that's why I'm not out doing biology field work.

The Great Zucchini

We're back from our nearly three week vacation to Colorado and Chicago. While we were gone, a kind neighbor watered our garden, and I told her to please help herself to anything ripe. I guess she missed a zucchini!

Hill Rag

The Hill Rag, a local Capitol Hill newspaper, recently printed an article on urban beekeeping. I might know that guy named "Kurt."

Wild Blueberries

Hiking in the Colorado Rockies is always beautiful. It's extra special when you stumble across ripe wild blueberries. We had a great time eating them out of hand and it was fun for the kids to see the difference between these tiny wild berries and the giant ones we had picked earlier this summer.

Alpine Bee

We're in Colorado near the Rocky Mountain National Park this week. It's not a honeybee, but we had to stop to look at this hardy bee we found collecting pollen on the tundra at 11,000 feet.

Watermelon Harvest

Before we left on vacation we picked our first watermelon. Vegetables are fine, but it sure is fun to grow something sweet!