What is Killing the Bees?

...that may be contaminated with pesticides) that does not allow the bees to build their own comb. Regulate (through the use of foundation) the amount of drones the queen can make. Drones may be a sacrificial first defense against mites. Use queen excluders to prevent the queen from moving freely through the hive. Kill the queen and re-queen every year, often using artificially inseminated queens. Import hives from other climates. Feed hives high fr...

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Yes, We Do the Pinterest Thing

...o deck over an ugly concrete patio. The inspiration for the trellis came in part from an image I pinned off the interwebs: Not having a natural design sense, I gather images and synthesize them to come up with plans I can build. Google image search and Pinterest are great inspirational tools. But I have not made good use of Pinterest’s social features. Towards that end, follow us on Pintrest and we’ll follow back. Let’s exchange ideas!...

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Video Tour of the Root Simple Compound

...e our chicken coop. The video also features our rocket stove, horno and emergency potty plus a spin around the pantry. But the real star of this video is our 1920 bungalow. I wish they still build houses like this (sorry Dwell). Thank you Ben Loescher and Kurt Gardella for building our horno and thanks to John Zapf for designing our chicken run!...

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How to Make a Bee Skep

...your local thrift store, Modern Farmer Magazine has a post on how you can build your own. Looks like a fun project. How skeps are used The following series of videos show how skeps are used. Part 6 documents the steps leading up to the honey harvest. It’s a labor intensive process. To get at the honeycomb, skeps are “bounced” over an empty skep to remove the bees. These bees are then combined with weaker hives and overwintered. It’s easy to see,...

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Saturday Linkages: Straw Bales and Bike Hacks

...es: http://nyti.ms/10kt1Hf DIY How to fix a bicycle tube http://www.afrigadget.com/2013/02/22/how-to-fix-a-bicycle-tube/ … Bike headlight displays speed: http://boingboing.net/2013/03/20/bike-headlight-displays-speed.html Build-It-Solar Blog: A Inexpensive DIY Blower Door http://www.builditsolarblog.com/2013/02/a-inexpensive-diy-blower-door-that.html?spref=tw … For these links and more, follow Root Simple on Twitter: Follow @rootsimple...

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