6 Spring 2017 Applegater
Applegate Valley Beekeepers
tend bees organically
BY SHANNA ROSE
Bees are responsible for one-third
of the food we eat. Without bees, we
could be faced with a world also without
avocados, lemons, apples, melons,
berries, and many other foods.
The demise of bees worldwide
is not news to anyone. CCD, or Colony
Collapse Disorder, is a multi-faceted,
poorly understood problem with a
variety of causes. Neonicotinoids, a
common ingredient in pesticides, are
directly responsible for the death of bees
and other pollinators. They
also disrupt bee navigation,
which is crucial to survival of
a bee colony. Neonicotinoids
are already banned in the
European Union, and many US states
are considering a similar ban.
Other possible causes of CCD
include lack of proper amounts and types
of forage (flower nectar and pollen),
environmental toxins, erratic weather
patterns, and commercial migratory
beekeeping, used for California almond
pollination, which can transfer diseases
and the varroa mite to various locations.
The varroa mite is a relatively new but
destructive parasite that some beekeepers
fight with chemicals and medications that
can further weaken bees. Meanwhile, the
mites may adapt and become resistant to
the miticides.
By discouraging certain practices
and advocating others, the Applegate
Valley Beekeepers help hobby and
backyard beekeepers keep their bees
strong, healthy, and better able to
withstand mites and other diseases.
Hope lies in the beekeeping renaissance
of backyard and hobby beekeepers and
small farm apiaries. The Applegate Valley
Beekeepers and similar groups that
practice natural, sustainable, and organic
methods of beekeeping could be the link
that keeps bees a vital part of our ecology.
Some beekeepers harvest honey in
the fall and feed their bees sugar or corn
syrup for the honey that would otherwise
be their winter food. The Applegate
Valley Beekeepers advocate waiting until
spring to harvest honey and then taking
what is left from the bees’ winter supply.
Beekeepers who love to garden may
find more ways to keep bee populations
healthy. Planting herbs like oregano,
thyme, basil, rosemary, and mint may
help control mites. Growing sunflowers
or buckwheat can provide bee forage
in July and August, when blackberry
blossoms, the primary summer nectar
source in the Rogue Valley, are no
longer available. In early spring, willow,
crocus, poppies, and fruit-
tree flowers, like cherry and
plum, will help the bees during
their expansion period. In
summer, squashes, melons,
and cucumbers provide forage for bees,
who, in turn, provide pollination for
higher yields of vegetables.
When apple and plum trees are cut
down to make room for vineyards, bees
lose important forage. As bad as star
thistle is for pastures, it is an important
nectar plant for bees at a time of the year
when little else is available. Knowing that
bees use invasive plants like blackberries
and star thistle to make delicious honey
makes those plants easier to tolerate!
Beekeepers feel that bees
repay them well for the care they take
of them. They find peace in the buzzing
of the hive or the frenetic movements of
a swarm. To not disturb or accidentally
crush bees during a hive inspection,
beekeepers must learn mindfulness,
moving slowly and purposefully.
Beekeeping is a balm to the multitasking
mind. Stings are a small consequence
of learning how to work with bees—a
reminder to be more present.
The Applegate Valley Beekeepers are
a good support for the backyard or hobby
beekeeper who chooses to tend bees in
a more natural and sustainable manner
than is generally done with commercial
operations. With a range of experience,
members help one another as mentors
and students, farmers and homesteaders,
working professionals and friends.
Shanna Rose • shanna2rose@gmail.com
Sap tap wrap
This year we had four days of sap tapping weather—
January 28 - 31—with temperatures ranging from the
high 20s to the high 40s. I set 25 taps in 23 trees and
collected a total of 75 gallons of sap. One tree with two
taps produced seven gallons in four days!
Laird lights off
I was able to use my barrel-stove evaporator for the
the syrup season.
first time, and it performed at least as well as my propane
range. With the evaporator in operation six or seven hours a day, I was able to
keep pace with the incoming flow. The syrup was finished on the propane stove
with the temperature kept below the boiling point. After a final filtering, I was
able to bottle five quarts of medium-dark syrup with a great flavor.
All in all, it was successful, though short, season.
If you are interested in tapping our local big-leaf maples next season, give
me a call.
Laird Funk • 541-846-6759
Give back to nature—plant native!
BY SUZIE SAVOIE
and other Ceanothus
The Applegate
for California
Valley is located in
tortoiseshells;
the Klamath-Siskiyou
bleeding heart
Ecoregion, which
(Dicentra spp.) for
contains more than
Parnassians; stinging
3,500 plant species,
nettle (Urtica dioica)
of which 280 are
for red admirals;
endemic, meaning
pearly everlasting
they are native here
(Anaphalis spp.) or
and grow nowhere
pussytoes (Antennaria
else on earth. A
spp.) for American
biological assessment
painted ladies; and
by DellaSala and
canyon live oak
others (1999) ranked
Local guidebook written by (Quercus chrysolepis)
the Klamath-Siskiyou
Tom Landis and Suzie Savoie. for California sisters.
as the fifth richest
The small amount of protected
coniferous forest in the world in terms
habitat in the United States is not enough
of species diversity.
Much of the plant diversity we see to ensure the survival of native plants
in our region is a result of pollination and pollinators. Our own backyards
of flowering plants by a variety of and properties need to provide habitat
pollinators, including bees, moths, as well. Lawns in the US are estimated
butterflies, beetles, flies, hummingbirds, to cover 63,000 square miles, about the
true bugs, ants, and spiders, many of size of Texas. Most people landscape with
which have co-evolved with the plant ornamental plants that have very little, if
species they pollinate. Co-evolution has any, ecological value for native species. By
created specialization—90 percent of planting natives we can turn our lawns,
the insects that eat plants can develop backyards, or back forty into habitat for
and reproduce only on the plants with wildlife and pollinators.
The task of transitioning a
which they share an evolutionary history.
A commonly known example of this is yard, garden, or large piece of property
monarch butterfly caterpillars that eat back to native plants can seem daunting.
Thankfully, southern Oregon has many
only milkweed plants.
The evolution of pollination resources to help you learn how to create
has created mutualistic relationships beneficial habitat. The Siskiyou Chapter
between plants and pollinators with Native Plant Society, the Siskiyou
shared benefits. For example, a bee Field Institute, and the Oregon State
gets protein in the form of pollen from University Extension Center’s Land
a plant’s flower, and, in return, the Steward Program are great places to learn
plant gets a mechanical pollen transfer about native flora and land stewardship.
Folks who just need a little
from a pollinator, aiding in the sexual
reproduction of the plant. Because most introductory information to get started
of these mutualistic relationships are should check out this local guidebook:
highly specialized, conservation of native Native Pollinator Plants for Southern
plant diversity is extremely important Oregon. Through our mutual work with
for the protection of native pollinator Southern Oregon Monarch Advocates,
Tom Landis and I wrote this guide
populations.
Co-evolution and specialization to feature practical native plants that
have benefitted pollinators in many ways, can be found in local nurseries or
but with specialization comes risk. If the through native seed sources. The guide
larval host plant or floral food source that provides information on plant form,
a pollinator is reliant on disappears, so nectar resources, bloom time, host-
does the pollinator.
plant status, and propagation methods.
Once common along the Oregon Printed copies of the guide are available
coast, the Oregon silverspot butterfly fell by emailing klamathsiskiyou@gmail.
to only four populations by the 1990s com, or you can view or download the
due to habitat loss and degradation. The guide for free at klamathsiskiyouseeds.
Oregon silverspot has only a single larval com. Special thanks go to the Siskiyou
host plant: the blue violet (Viola adunca). Chapter of the Native Plant Society for
Without the rearing program at the providing funding for the initial printing
Oregon Zoo, it is likely that the Oregon of the guide. The second printing has
silverspot would be extinct. Landscaping been paid for through support from
that includes blue violet instead of other Southern Oregon Monarch Advocates
exotic ornamental plants would help this and donations from native plant and
species recover within its historic range. pollinator enthusiasts such as you!
This spring, give back to nature—
Examples of host plant larval
specialization for butterflies in the plant native!
Suzie Savoie
Applegate include wild parsley (Lomatium
klamathsiskiyou@gmail.com
spp.) for Anise swallowtails; deerbrush
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