www.Over-the-Hills.com

BLACK CROW SOAP INVENTORY

2012-01-18T09:55:00.001-07:00

Current Inventory

Black Crow Homemade Organic Soaps

January 17,2012

www.BlackCrowSoap.com

1. Sage,Rosemary, and Thyme

· Madewith all the sage, rosemary, and thyme in my garden at summer’s end.

2. FaceKiss

· Hypoallergenicscentless complexion soap made with strong tincture of chamomile flowers,walnut oil, apricot oil, lanolin, vitamin E, and glycerin

3. FaceKiss with oats!

· Hypoallergenicscentless complexion soap made with strong tincture of chamomile flowers,walnut oil, apricot oil, lanolin, vitamin E, and glycerin. A light distribution of organic steel-cutoats provides a very non-abrasive yet effective ‘scrubbing’ surface.

4. Sweetgrass

· Atraditional Lakota scent.

5. Lilyand Pear

· Lightand lovely

6. Heather

7. Hyssopseed scrub soap

· SeePsalm 51:7 for Biblical reference. Hyssop smells like anise, and the seeds are fantastic if you want to wash and exfoliate at the sametime. Seeds all organic and from mygarden.

8. Lavender

9. Chaisoother

· Madewith chai tea and extra emollient oils for a masculine scent that sooths winterskin.

10. Rosemaryand mint

· Mintand rosemary from the garden in two layered soap that is really beautiful.

11. Herbgarden

· Iput every last herb from my garden into this, including basil and mint.

12. CorianderRose

· Corianderfrom the garden. Rose color with whitestarbursts—very pretty!

13. Honeysucklealmond

· Thehoneysuckle mellows the almond.

14. Bergamot

· Thisis the herb that makes Earl Grey tea distinctive. The bar is a visually appealing swirl of blueand yellow.

15. Bamboo

· Sowhat does bamboo smell like? GREAT, andindescribably ethereal.

16. Mandarinclove

17. Heliotrope

· Spookyviolet, black, and iridescent swirls for natural skin-friendly mineral mica

18. Coffeeand cream

· Coffeeis a natural deodorizer

19. Coffeeand cream SCRUB

· Greatfor kitchen soap. The coffee liftsodors, and the creamy “scrub” part cleans off just about anything.

20. Rosemary& mint SCRUB

· Greatfor kitchen or shop as the rosemary is another of nature’s deodorizers, and theminty scrub part. . . scrubs

21. Happyskin! Lavender & Heather

· Largeshower bars designed to be the ultimateantidote to dry winter skin. Bar islayers of lavender and of heather; the heather layer is infused with steel-cutoatmeal for skin-friendly exfoliating. Every possible emollient oil has been put into this soap, includinglanolin, glycerin, vitamin E, apricot oil, and walnut oil.

22. Happyskin! Tea & Pear

· Sameas the Happy Skin! Described above but made with super-strong anti-oxidantgreen tea and topped with a creamy layer of pear-scented soap that makes thebar look like a cross between a granola bar and a cupcake!

23. BlackHills Forest, Meadow & Sky

· Designedto look like an impressionist painting from the side, it combines rich pine andbalsam fir scents and light floral scents

24. DakotaSunrise

· Thisone you just have to see. . . . if onlyto PROVE that sunrises in The Hills are really this intense. Take a look at these striking DakotaSunrise art-bars to see for yourself.

Black Crow Soap is currently soldlocal retail only through Dakota Thyme in Rapid City, opening February, 2012. Contact Kate at BlackCrowSoap@gmail.com or 605373.5487 for direct sales and special and non-local orders.

"DAKOTA SUNRISE" BARS

2012-01-14T19:42:00.024-07:00

Well, it had to happen sooner or later. Kate has taken this notion of "soap as art" to a whole new level.

Each early morning Jane and Kate grab a stiff coffee to chat about the coming day. There they sit in our living room during pre-dawn darkness like theater-goers, peering expectantly out the huge picture window to the infinite rolling-prairie ranch lands. Then right on cue another great South Dakota sunrise explodes upon the horizon. Roy G Biv could just cry.

So what does one do to memorialize this daily "routine"?

Make soap.

Yup. Dakota Sunrise soap.

And that's just what Kate did. She and the Black Crow put their heads together. Kate poured some random soap-mixin's in to a tray and set the tray on the window sill during sunrise Then she let Black Crow caw-caw his special sunrise incantation, the way only crows can.

And this is what developed. What do you think? Did The Black Crow get it right?

Dakota Thyme Signature Soap

2012-01-02T17:21:00.004-07:00

Dakota Thyme will be opening this winter. To help celebrate this great new addition to the Black Hills way of life, Black Crow Soap created this surprise "signature soap" which re-creates the store's branded color scheme. Not to mention the special aroma of Black Crow's ponderosa pine-scented soaps.

BLACK HILLS EXPLORERS FIND GOLD AT SILVER CITY

2011-12-10T15:51:00.002-07:00

Golden wintry scenery, that is. On December 10, thirteen Black Hills Explorers went in search of outdoor adventure on Deer Creek Trail near Silver City. What they found was a bitterly cold trail with a silver lining that evolved as the day went on, to a toasty golden sunny landscape that was seasonally decorated with beautiful ice formations of all shapes and sizes along Rapid Creek.

The trek crisscrossed six impressive heavy-timber pedestrian bridges, and passed between deep, vertical canyon walls of rock warmed by the direct rays from a low winter sun.

The entire trail is on an old railway bed, with smooth surface and gradual slope. However, that did not prevent having to deal with slippery footing on ice and snow. As part of the day’s adventure, trip leader Lee Alley provided a short seminar on how to select and use snow shoes on various trail conditions such as found that day.

To learn of next month’s program, see the Black Hills Explorers’ web site, www.BlackHillsExplorers.org or call group leader Lee Alley at 605.863.0806. To receive activity announcements, and to get last minute alerts on travel changes, send your email address to Lee@LeeAlleyRealEstate.com.

We Found a Golden Winter's Day Near Silver City

The purpose of the Black Hills Explorers is to explore new knowledge, activities and places in the Black Hills in order to better appreciate where we live. The group normally meets the second Saturday of each month by 8:15AM at the Canyon Lake Center (but check each time, for occasional re-scheduling). Sign up at least two days prior, in the Canyon Lake Center office. Van seating is first-come/first-served for pre-signups. Be sure to read the special Participation Guidelines for each trip when you sign up.

No Exploration Activity for November

2011-11-09T13:09:00.002-07:00

Sorry to say, we will not have a monthly Explorers activity this month of November.

We -will- meet on December 10 at CLSC. Please sign up in the CLSC office at least two days before, by 5PM Wednesday, December 7 if you want to reserve space on the van (first-signed...first-seated). We've had a number of recommendations for checking out the Little Devil's Tower area. If you have an alternate suggestion please let me know. See you all on December 10!

-Lee

PS: We've had a number of folks indicate an interest in snow-shoeing in January - March some time. If that interests you, then you may want to get your request in to Santa for some snow shoes, and (I highly recommend) two adjustable-height hiking poles.

ANNUAL FALL MIGRATION -- 2011

2011-10-28T18:14:00.000-06:00

ANNALISE'S BUTTERFLY FLITS AROUND

2011-10-28T18:04:00.003-06:00

Hey, Microsoft.
Why do you insist on inverting random photo's
when uploading to those other guys?
(G-o-o-g-l-e)

2011: A STRANGELY UNPRODUCTIVE YEAR

2011-10-27T21:10:00.002-06:00

Many of us in the bee club suffered through the summer with our new nucs of fledgling colonies doing very little to prepare for winter. Every spring the hives are supposed to awaken at around 60 degrees, to start the 6-month rush to make enough honey to live on over the next winter. That's the annual cycle. Supposedly.

My first colony two years ago went gangbusters from the start, with lots of excess honey in the fall to share with humans. This year, my four colonies will be lucky to make it through the looming winter with enough honey. They need that energy to beat wings all day, all night, every day, clustered around the queen to keep her at 92 degrees even when it's 20-below outside. Good luck, Ms. Queen and all the attendants.

Here is how they looked on September 18, 2011, over three months after receiving the shipment from a new supplier in Nebraska:

After 3 months, almost nothing to show.

Seem to be in no big hurry toward the white plastic frames.

But, they are avoiding these wood frames, too.

They seem to avoid the plastic frames, building upward to the feeder instead.

Bottom of feeder

Detail of feeder bottom

CHECK OUT NOW EVEN MORE JANE-PARKS

2011-10-27T20:54:00.000-06:00

Jane now has a private circuit of mini-parks. We first broke the story here about her privately secluded vista park.

Now, it turns out, Jane has some additional contemplation-stations. This one is in a small clearing embraced by a semi-circular split rail fence, and anchored by a huge old pondersa pine as the shadow-maker center piece.

This one is perched above the entry route to home in the forest, ready to take census on all who would come and go..

And this one is a 2' diameter solid oak chunk of tree trunk salvaged from Kate's university.

We put the trunk-chunk next to the Goose House.

And just in case you thought it's only about geese, goats and gazing,

here is where pets are fed twice daily with undivided attention (click the pic):

BLACK HILLS EXPLORERS ENJOY FALL FOLIAGE FOTO FLING

2011-10-08T16:50:00.004-06:00

The fall season’s first chill was in the air on October 8 and autumn leaves were abundant on the trees. It was time for the Black Hills Explorers’ (First) Annual Fall Foliage Photo Fling. And few places better to find colorful outdoor scenery than Horse Thief Trail, from the lake of same name to Mt. Rushmore.

Horse Thief Trail is a short three-mile route deep in the forest, mostly in ravines and draws with trickling brooks, and surrounded by towering granite pinnacles. But mostly, the Explorers were on this particular route on this day, in search of the yellows, oranges and reds of fluttering fall leaves. And they weren’t disappointed. For three delightful hours the club strolled among the flashing rainbow colored leaves, while protected from the chill wind by giant grey granite monoliths.


Vern Thorstensen, Bev Schlosser, Stan __, Cathy Schofield, Gigi Kern, Jim Kern

A photographer's dreamscape

Jim and Gigi Kern stirring up leaves

What's a hike without a quaint bridge?

and a beautiful mountain brook?

Cathy Schofield scouting a meadow

kinnickinnic

"Kinnickinnic"? These berries were prolific. They are quite tastey, but with a strange texture. Vern Thorstenson seemed to know all about them.

Photo by Bev Schlosser

BLACK HILLS EXPLORERS HIKE 1200 FEET UP TO GET TO THE BOTTOM OF BEAR BUTTE

2011-09-11T17:46:00.013-06:00

Most of us know about Bear Butte, a stand-alone monolith towering 1,200 feet above the prairie just east of Sturgis. But did you know it was originally formed 2,000 feet underground? On September 10 the Black Hills Explorers climbed high to get to the bottom of this mystery.

The Butte, called Mato Paha (“Bear Mountain”) by the Sioux Indians, is so named for its resemblance to a reclining bear in eternal sleep resulting from combat injuries. On this trip, the Explorers were joined by geology professor Alvis Lissenbee, who has studied the geology of the area extensively. Lissenbee explained that around 50 million years ago, this entire area was covered by a lake bed 2,000 feet above the current prairie. Then, Dr. Lissenbee explained, molten magma (quartz monzonite) from far below was thrust upward into higher underground cavities. That is the same extra-hard material of the boulders and needles around Mt. Rushmore. However, the magma that formed what is now Bear Butte chilled more quickly, resulting in its highly fragmented small pieces. Eventually the softer sandstone and shale over and around this mass has eroded, swept toward the Gulf of Mexico, leaving the Butte to stand 1,200 feet above its surroundings. We were also joined by one of the park rangers who helped us appreciate the long-held deeply spiritual place of Bear Butte in Lacota culture. There was an impressive display of items used in Lacota spiritual practices.

Like walking on tennis balls.

On this adventure the Explorers were made uncomfortably aware of the small talus rocks that formed the Butte, as they rolled and slid under underfoot. The trip to the top was long, steep, hot, and sometimes precarious. If one goes, it should be noted that some of the stairs are difficult to manage, and some in need of repair. However, the reward for reaching the summit was a delightful 360-degree panorama of the entire Black Hills skyline, from Crow Peak west of Spearfish, to The Needles south of Harney Peak, plus the vastness of the surrounding prairie.

Some of many steps along the way.
(Sorry, Google's Blogger insists on us hiking sideways!)

On October 8 the Explorers will celebrate its first annual Fall Foliage Foto Tour, this year along the Horse Thief Lake Trail. The purpose of the Black Hills Explorers is to explore new knowledge, activities and places in the Black Hills in order to better appreciate where we live. The group normally meets the second Saturday of each month by 8:15AM at the Canyon Lake Center (but check each time, for occasional re-scheduling). Sign up at least two days prior, in the Canyon Lake Center office. Van seating is first-come/first-served for pre-signups. For questionable weather, check the web site prior to leaving.

More information about the Black Hills Explorers can be found at www.BlackHillsExplorers.org or by calling Lee Alley at 605.863.0806. Any person of any age is invited to accompany the Black Hills Explorers’ activities, and encouraged to join the Canyon Lake Center. Be sure to read the special Participation Guidelines for each trip when you sign up.

What's in a name? The first to summit:
Kathleen, Kathy, Cathy and Kathryn.
Too bad my wife, Kathryn wasn't able to come.

Well, hey. Why not? Google's software won't allow this upright either!
This is Dr. Alvis Lissenbee describing how the Black Hills were formed sideways.

The Black Hills Explorers

Thanks, Clint, for this GPS track of our route.

BLACK HILLS EXPLORERS SHOOT PIXEL-PERFECT PICTURES

2011-08-31T15:14:00.000-06:00

Have you ever wanted to take great pictures of your adventures, then share them with friends and family? On August 13, members of The Black Hills Explorers attended a workshop at the Canyon Lake Center to improve their skills in taking digital photo’s, enhancing the photo’s on a computer, then sharing the results with friends and family. As part of the workshop, members practiced their new skills with a “field trip” to photograph scenery, close-ups of flowers and critters, and portraits of friends.

The workshop covered three aspects of digital photography. The first topic “exposed” essential facts about the inner workings of a digital-image computer file, how to set the cameral to take the best pictures, and what the photographer can do to help the camera do its best job. In the second segment, participants learned how to move the digital photo’s from the camera to a PC, and then how to edit (“tweek”) each photo’s size, framing, color, brightness, and even clarity. In the third and final workshop segment the new photographers learned how to organize their photo’s on a PC, how to set up an online album, and how to email photo’s to friends and family.

These Are Glamorous Models Recruited for the Pictures

Kathy Goodrich-Wilmes Snaps a Close-up Flower Photo

Instructor Lee Alley editing one of his photo's.

ARE THESE LEE's BEES?

2011-08-31T08:58:00.000-06:00

All four of my own hives have been worse than lackluster all summer. We installed new nucs in three hives in early June, and I didn't see a single bee, not one, return with pollen all summer. Then on August 22 the three newly nuc'd colonies decided maybe its time to prepare for winter. Too little too late? Still, only about one in three returning bees has bountiful pollen cargo.

The fourth colony, the Tazmanian Crazy Ladies who can't comb a straight line to save their lives, probably won't save their lives. With their wandering, interlocked combs it has been impossible to inspect their hive without destructing brood. It appears now, though, that there was no brood. Apparently they lost their queen and there were no eggs to raise as queens, or they just starved the babies.

So, Kate's garden is a-buzz with foraging bees. I think they are mostly from April's hive, about 1/4 mile away. For all this foraging, not that many are returning to my hives with pollen.

Click on the photo for a short bee movie.

KATE'S PRIVATE WONDERLAND 2011

2011-08-16T09:38:00.000-06:00

Can You Find Kate?

CHICKENS GET FOX-PROOF BLIZZARD DOORS

2011-08-16T08:35:00.001-06:00

I heard about a book written in, I think, 1924 that claims chickens benefit as much from feathers for warmth as people do if we make coats out of their feathers.

The book also claims chickens suffer more from moist, musty, deseased, pest-ridden enclosed chicken houses than from exposure to cold. Hmmmm....who woulda thought, keeping chickens warm with a form-fitting feather coat. The author, an MD, made extensive studies of commercial and research chicken operations in the northeastern states and concluded the best chicken house is not closed to keep them warm, but rather open on one side to keep their air fresh. Cold fresh air over warm, dank air.

However, my night vision videos disclosed we have a pair of foxes living on our property. They would love an open front chicken buffet.

However, the book's author admitted that on the most bitterly cold blizzards it is ok to enclose the chicken house. We also respect Kate's concern that chickens are just plain happier and more productive when not laying eggs pre-frozen.

Nervous Deer and Fanciful Foxes at Our Forest Pond in Piedmont, SD

2011-08-15T09:51:00.012-06:00

I placed a motion-activated trail camera on a tree trunk, overlooking the water's edge of a pond on one of our properties in the Black Hills, SD.

FOR VIDEO CLICK THE CAPTION BELOW

Nervous Deer and Fanciful Foxes

Well, that doe is apparently still dating that worthless buck. Even after he failed to rescue her from the Invisible Pond-monster. In the non-color scenes, the two are out on a midnight date, by infra-red light. Maybe she doesn't want to be seen with him in daylight any more.

In the Frantic Deer scene, we believe the little fella is being stung by wasps. These wasps' stings are far more potent than a simple honey bee.

I think this pair of foxes used our free-range chicken flock as a buffet before the chickens learned to go in to the hen house at night.

Stay tuned. More to come.

JANE'S PARK

2011-07-23T20:41:00.001-06:00

Jane is a contemplator. A wise woman who knows what to do with the human brain during stolen precious moments of solitude. She needed a "peace garden" (peace of mind, that is) to ponder the past and conjure the future. This is a start.

Jane's Park

A LATE-JULY FOREST MOZEY

2011-07-23T20:31:00.000-06:00

The goats and I were kinda bummed-lonesome with Jane gone so we decided to cheer ourselves up with a walk in the woods and to high places. It worked. It sure cheers things up to wander around nibbling on Mother Nature's grass and Grandma Jane's sausage biscuits.

Custer with Bear Butte in Background

Saving the Good Stuff for Later

MAKING FACES

2011-07-23T19:17:00.003-06:00

Just some random glimpses of the faces of a wonderful life at Ten Green Acres in South Dakota. Nothing like it.

Goofy Goose and Wise Owl

Goose Eye

Cat's Eye

Goose Eye

Eagle Eye

Glass Eye

Haunted Eye

HOW SEATTLE BUILDS BIRDHOUSES

2011-07-23T19:00:00.000-06:00

Cole and Annalise built a custom home for our South Dakota birds to grow a family. Not sure how rough and scrubby forest bird will do in this fancy palace. We'll see.

EXPLORERS REACH HIGHEST SUMMIT EAST OF THE ROCKY MOUNTAINS

2011-07-23T18:47:00.001-06:00

Four generations of enthusiastic men, women and children embarked on a Black Hills Explorers adventure to the summit of Harney Peak on July 9. After hiking some of the members went fishing in Sylvan Lake, others went swimming at the Sylvan Lake beach, and others rested in the shade on the lush lawn at the shore.

The seven-mile round trip hike with 1,100-foot elevation gain reaches the old CCC fire watch tower. In 1855 the 7,242-foot mountain, highest point east of the Rocky Mountains, was named for General William Selby Harney. The tower was built by the Civilian Conservation Corps in 1938 then de-activated in 1967. On the day of this hike, clear skies and cool breezes provided an impressive 360 degree unobstructed panorama of the entire Black Hills, plus parts of four states.

The Black Hills Explorers group normally meets the second Saturday of each month at 8:15 at the Canyon Lake Center (but check each time, for occasional re-scheduling). Advance signups are in the office. On August 13 from 8:30 – 11:30 (during the Rally and typically one of the hottest weeks of the year), the group will meet in the Canyon Lake Center for a digital photography workshop. This learning-adventure will help Explorers learn how to take better outdoor photo’s, edit (improve) photos on a PC, then store and email the photos to friends and family. Participants may bring a digital camera.

More information about the Black Hills Explorers can be found at www.BlackHillsExplorers.org or by calling Lee Alley at 605.863.0806. Any person of any age is invited to accompany the Black Hills Explorers’ activities, and encouraged to join the Canyon Lake Center. Children under 18 must be accompanied by a parent or guardian.

Explorers en route to the Harney Peak Fire Tower (in background)

Jim and Gigi Kern almost to the top with The Needles in the background

April Malik with her daughters Alysala, Aisha, Aleeya, Aisulu, Asea

Sylvan Lake and Beach

CATS NEED TO GET OUT

2011-07-23T18:29:00.001-06:00

The cats were getting antsy (ahem), so I took them with me and the goats on a dinner-mozey in the forest.

PACK GOATS CARRY THE BEER AND ICE

2011-07-23T18:14:00.003-06:00

They wanted to go on a munch-mozey. But it was blazing hot. So we negotiated a deal. They carried the beer and ice. I carried the camera.

EXPLORING A BLACK HILLS GHOST TOWN

2011-06-20T16:00:00.000-06:00

On June 13 twelve of our Black Hills Explorers toured the Galena, SD mining town ruins and got in about five miles of healthy hiking on a beautiful sunny day in the process. Here are some images from our trip.

For more photo's click here.

The Black Hills Explorers meet at 8:15AM every second Saturday at the Canyon Lake Senior Center. Before attending you should call the leader, Lee Alley at 605.863.0806 or send an email to Lee@LeeAlleyRealEstate.com. That way you can get tips on where we're going, what to wear, etc. Also, please stop by the Canyon Lake Center at 2900 Canyon Lake Dr to sign up during the week before. They will ask you to post a $5 fuel-cost share for the Center's van which we use.

FLUME TRAIL GEOCHACHING

2011-05-14T17:58:00.004-06:00

The Canyon Lake Center's Black Hills Explorers set out on Saturday, May 14 to locate a hard-to-find treasure box hidden along the Flume Trail.

Ten of us went on this snow-misty 7.5 mile trek, including some steep-slope rock-scrambling in search of geochached treasure. Our youngest on this outing was 61 and the eldest was 84. NOTE: The 84-year old recently returned from summiting 19,000-ft Mt. Kilimanjaro in Africa. That's nearly a mile higher than Colorado's highest peaks!.

Our GPS expert Clint VanBlaricum showed us all how to use the GPS, then he even "broke the code" and was the first one to locate the sneaky little treasure hidden under rocks off-trail. We took a marble from the box, and left an LED flashlight. But we brought home some great memories, including new GPS and geocaching skills, and great respect for the tenacious vigilance of our fearless GPS leader.

Each outing is the second Saturday of the month. Our next outing is Saturday, June 11, leaving the Canyon Lake Center at promptly 8:30am, returning mid-afternoon. We will tour an historic Ghost town or two, from the old mining and logging days. For more information, call the Explorers' leader, Lee Alley at 863-0806, or email to Lee@LeeAlleyRealEstate.com.

10 Brave and Cagey GPS Sleuths (including Lee, holding camera)

Up and up we went, in search of geocaching riches.

Spirits ran high, anticipating great wealth.

But then, reality set in. We had to read our maps and GPS's !!!

Gee, I dunno. It could be up there.

Then Coach Clint, GPS expert stepped in to help.

Which way did he say is 'up'?

Let's just let him find it.

And...He did !

Coach Clint, the GPS expert and treasure hunter extraordinaire'.

Heading back home.

MUMZIE LAUNCHES SOUTH DAKOTA's FIRST GOOSE-RANCH

2011-04-09T19:16:00.001-06:00

Kate snuck in a loud squawking flock of two baby geese today. Turned them over to mom Jane, experienced in these matters. Jane had ducks as a kid. But for us, that's close enough to expert.

Kate's hope is that they will serve as Guard Geese . (Hey, it's a crazy world lately anyway. And this is South Dakota, after all.)

So, here is day one on the job for these treacherous bullies. Turns out they are as proud as they are territorial.

Three Cute Chicks

On their way to the nursery tub

Hey, you wouldn't leave us down here would you?

HEY! C'mon.
There's a bunch of low life stinkin' chickens down here.

OK. The joke's over. Get us out of here.

You WILL pay for this...

Just wait. Don't mess with a Guard-Goose. "I'll be bock."

When I look like this. This ain't just hen-peck, you know.

But, first, we'll chow some chicken grits.

JANE SPLITS SOME LOGS

2011-02-12T08:33:00.003-07:00

Jane was heading off to church. But a cold spell and some casual burning had depleted our wood supply. So, not wanting to return home to a cold kitchen, Jane chopped up a quick chord of wood before a few chords of joyfulness at church.

Ya know?...you don't find a mother-in-law like this behind every wood pile.

PS: That red and black gadget is a Greyhound manual hydraulic log splitter from Harbor Freight. The online product reviews raved about it's ease of use, safety, durability and speed of work. I agree on all points. Best $147 I ever spent. Especially since: "With this, even a great-grandmother can split your largest logs." (Of course, any grandmother who actually does split logs is pretty "great.")

A SPECIAL VISIT WITH MOTHER NATURE AT CHRISTMAS SUNRISE

2010-12-25T12:58:00.003-07:00

Last midnight the Black Hills Pack Goats, the chickens, dogs and Lee had enjoyed a special quiet Christmas eve in the forest, with the full moon's silver light glistening on the frosty snow and frozen fog on the pine needles. (Kate and Mom were away with Paul Sr. in Gillette.) We homebound forest beasts all promised to get up at the crack of Christmas dawn and walk again together in the forest as it wakes up.

The morning light tapped ever so lightly on the goats' front door.

The goats were rising from bed just as I arrived.

"Hey, Lee. Are we still going out for breakfast?"

"We'll just nibble a few bites before we go."

"Hey! Don't forget us!"

"Hmmm... Maybe we'll just stay here and clean up after the goats."

Lee, we may nibble some free needles here and forego the hike.

Hey, Goats. What's the holdup? Let's go!

OK, Lee. We're here as promised.

Do we have to just stand around?

Let's go for a real hike, darn it.

OK, Lee. You stand around and take pictures.

We'll be over here eating at the buffet.

Click on photo's of scenery for larger images.

Did you want us goats in this one?

Here's a good one. Get a picture of this one, Lee.

OK, I'm ready. Take my picture with some needles in the foreground.

The forest makes a beautiful church to attend for Christmas,

and make sense of the real world.

THE GOATS CELEBRATE A SPECIAL KIND OF WHITE CHRISTMAS

2010-12-20T20:25:00.004-07:00

The Black Hills Pack Guys were staring from the barn up at the white-frosted forest of pine needles on the high ridge. Normally, luscious green pine needles are their favorite treat in winter, but during the wintry snow season, they go nuts for pine needles that are "seasoned" frosty white with frozen fog. (For evidence, observe Harney's tongue, licking the tasty frost from his lips.) First, though, before going out for such a special Christmas occasion they insisted on wearing their dress-up neck-muffs.

BLACK HILLS PACK GOATS HELP GATHER FIRE WOOD

2010-12-12T17:53:00.005-07:00

The dogs wanted to lay around inside, "roasting by an open fire".

So we headed out on a sunny chilly day to gather kindling.

All the dogs came along to supervise.

It takes a special kinda wood to toast a dog rump just right.

Kate says she knows where the best kindling is.

(Up past the high meadow, of course.

I just knew she'd get a brisk hike out of this, somehow.)

After loading every one up, Sturgis leads the way home.

Almost home. Been here about 350 times.

The dogs set a fast pace, anxious to get back to a warm fire.

Yup. The pups seem to approve of the Yuletide fire...

"Roasting dog butts by an open fire, Jack Frost nipping at your nose..."

THE SEWING ROOM

2010-12-11T07:59:00.001-07:00

BLACK HILLS PACK GOATS GO TO THE DOGS ON A WINTER HIKE

2010-12-04T17:42:00.002-07:00

Just a short jaunt out of the barnyard on a whispycrispy day following our great old-west buffalo hunt. (Kinda sorta). The Boyz are agarb with hunting season fashion statements. Dogz too. Guess which of the svelte superhiker caprines weigh over 300 pounds. (Hint: There are no wrong answers.)

SOUTH DAKOTA STYLE BUFFALO HARVESTING

2010-12-04T17:02:00.002-07:00

Three of our families went together to buy buffalo meat...on the hoof...self-serve carry-out...fresh. We hired a Lakota family over on the Pine Ridge Reservation to harvest one of the buffalo from their humble buffalo ranch. We all loaded it in to my truck (which was appropriately wearing my www.SkyBISON.com logo) then took it to a meat processor in Rapid City.

KATE FILLING ORDERS FOR CUSTOM HOME MADE SOAP

2010-11-27T19:25:00.004-07:00

The Black Crow Soap brand is spreading by word of mouth. Kate has orders from various states, but mostly from friends and family. She is really cleaning up in the soap biz.

Click on any of these thumbnail images to see the full size photo.

ANNUAL MEGAKATE HARVEST

2010-10-30T20:06:00.001-06:00

Remember that Bobcat-driven compost stirring action last spring? It paid back a plentiful harvest. Kate's Garden performs in grander scale than ever.

SKYBISON IS BACK....AGAIN ! TOOK FOTO'S OF CLIENT'S HOME.

2010-10-30T19:41:00.002-06:00

This ten acre property is 1 mile east of Exit 37 on I-90. Notice the view of famous sacred mountain, Bear Butte, in the background. The even more famous Buffalo Chip Campground, a major player in the Sturgis Harley-Davidson Motorcycle Rally, is near The Butte.

But these outside views of the property are far less striking than the surprising interior photo's, shown at www.PleasantValleyHome.com.

Whoooo-BOY ! Great to be back in the air !!!!

STOP! THIEF! I'm Bee-ing Robbed!

2010-09-05T16:38:00.000-06:00

...or not. Heard a great frenzy of in-flight bees surrounding the hives. Thirty minutes later it was calm inside and outside the hives. But, still, there were these large galutes coming and going, and not a one of them was seen to be bringing home pollen for the good of the colony. Just don't know, are these drones? Robbers? Just big, lazy ladies?

JANE CHECKS OUT BEEKEEPING, GOAT HERDING AND GORD-GROWING

2010-08-18T22:51:00.003-06:00

Jane joined Kate and Lee on a full day of farm chores. Fine work by a nooh-yawk sitty girl.

LEE'z BEE'z GET A FRONT DOOR SECURITY WEBCAM

2010-08-11T12:50:00.002-06:00

The first part of this movie is playing at 1/2 speed. Most of it is running at 1/3 speed. Sure makes it easier to observe bee behaviors.

Notice the arriving cargo bees with pollen packed on their legs. Also, do you agree there is a non-random number of instances where an arriving bee head-butts a departing bee? Notice starting at 18 seconds, a bee stumbles out of the house on to the front deck, rubs her face with her front feet as if to wake up, then takes off for the day. In the last second, see on the right where an arriving bee and a bee just taken off collide. This is a very busy airport.

A SUMMER SUNSET HIKE

2010-07-26T20:36:00.002-06:00

Kate and I took the goats and 2/3 of the dogs out for a summer sunset dinner-tour. We found a gold mine of choke cherries, sumac, lush oak leaves, and prairie grasses as high as a packgoat's eye to gorge on.

Look closely at the next foto, the one with Kate sitting with Momma Jane's dog, Lucy. Can you find one more dog and three(3!) goats in the foto, too? It was just like those live morning talk shows on TV, where passers-by in the background make faces at the camera. Just as I was about to click this glamor shot of Kate and Lucy, three goats ran over and jumped in the picture, as if to say "Did you want me in this shot, too?" Who says there is no ham in a goat?

TALE OF TWO HIVES

2010-07-26T20:11:00.000-06:00

Two new duplicate bee colonies, from the same source, were installed on the same day in early June, in identical hives only two feet apart. One colony is building parallel planes of wax comb and filling it with well behaved little girls, surrounded by orderly and consistent honey.

But the other colony right next door is running amok, building curve-shaped comb in total disregard for the carefully constructed prepared frames inside their hive box. This unruly, doing-it-my-way colony is building new babies, new comb and new honey faster than the fastidious, engineers next door.

See? This is what happens to a community when an engineer is not in charge of order, discipline, planning and design.

Speaking of engineers...notice on the photo at left how the bees are hanging in a chain. And notice there is no guide telling them how to build comb straight down. That chain of bees is believed by some, to be like a gravity-driven plumb-bob. It tells the other bees what direction is down. That's how the bees get panels of comb to be parallel to each other.

Next class, we'll go over the hexagon (the shape of every single one of the cells) and why the mathematics of structural engineering confirms that the strongest/simplest structure is a triangle, and a hexagon is just six triangles formed to simulate a circle. The beehive comb-cell, it turns out, is the mathematically optimized maximum structural strength from the minimum of construction materials. (Hey, if you had to make 13,000 flights to flowers a mile away just to build one 1/4" comb-cell, you'd be focused on structural economization, too.)

Mumzie Goes Rodeo'ing.

2010-07-26T19:32:00.001-06:00

Kate's mom Jane had not been to a rodeo since seeing one in the 1930's at Madison Square Garden, in Nooh-yawk-sitty. Uh-huh. Somehow, seeing a rodeo there, with other urbanites instead of in a small ranching town out west is kinda like watching a snow ski-jumping contest at a Miami shopping mall. So off they went, to the annual New Underwood, South Dakota Rodeo. New Underwood's population soars when all 87 people show up for the annual rodeo. New Underwood's street map looks like the two cross hairs in a gun sight. Kate's friend DeAnne was there with her son July, to compete. It appears Jane settled right in to an alignment with the way rodeo's are supposed to be, out west. The folks there were happy to see Jane join right in.

Mumzie Goes Hiking

2010-06-27T23:50:00.002-06:00

I took Momma Jane and Kate to my far-east ridge for sunset, followed by a fullmoon rise. Wow. What a sight. Pics do no justice. Jane was moved. What a grand opportunity to help a deserving caregiver re-discover the world. Few people could appreciate this sight, this environment, as much as our Jane seemed to. Please enjoy with her, and her with us.

THIS DOESN'T TAKE A REAL ESTATE GENIOUS

2010-06-09T23:23:00.000-06:00

From our back yard in Piedmont, SD.

If you ever see something better than this...buy it.
At any price.

ANIMALS SEEM TO BE GETTING ALONG

2010-06-01T16:31:00.000-06:00

Or crowded ...

ONE BIG BEE

2010-06-01T16:19:00.000-06:00

One of our family. Click on this lady!

INSTALLING TWO NEW COLONIES IN TOP BAR HIVES

2010-05-16T21:34:00.002-06:00

I designed and built two modified top bar hives. Meanwhile, two colonies arrived via the mail. Kate's friend and hiking buddy, Karen, was my highly able partner for the installation ceremonies.

Too bad some things went awry. First, when the bee supplier called to say they were behind on shipping, I said "fine," not knowing they already had the bees packed, but they just sat there in the Georgia warehouse. When the bees arrived, their was no more food, the bees were badly stressed, and I am not sure one of the queens survived.

Then, despite request the post office call me when the bees came in, I arrived home to discover the bees had been waiting all day without food.

So we rushed the hives out to the yard and installed the bees. Same as last year's installation of a new colony...first move the queen's chamber to the new hive, then shake the livin daylights out of the bees in the inverted shipping box. Oddly, I still did not get stung this year even though I shook and banged on their shipping box.

Let's hope these ladies thrive in their new forest home.

Lee's Bee's at www.Leez.Bz

BEE CLOSE UPS

2010-05-16T21:07:00.001-06:00

Honey bees get a bad rap. Most barefoot and front-porch stings are from those mean and nasty wasps. Honey bees are fuzzy-cuddly folks. They go out of their way to avoid conflicts.

Honey bees are also beautiful, delicate, interesting, and extremely well-engineered. See the long, flexible tongue-like proboscus on one lady, used for collecting nectar and pollen. See the backward-facing toe claw on the front foot, and the opposing front-facing claw on the middle foot? And there appears to be two claws on the real leg. And those EYES! All the better to find stuff with, I guess. If you click on any of these photo's they show in much more detail.

Any how, enjoy the fuzzy little girls. By the way, these models were from two colonies we installed just yesterday. See the next post about that story.

Lee's Bee's at www.Leez.Bz

OPEN HIVE MAY 9, 2010

2010-05-09T23:53:00.000-06:00

Opened the hive today for spring inspection. Here is what we saw. Notice the lady laden with ample pollen.

BREAKING IN A NEW GRANDPA

2010-04-30T07:06:00.002-06:00

Nolan Alley invited me to Flagstaff for grandfather-training. Nolan's parents, Stacy and Paul are already trained and handling their parental duties in stellar fashion.

BEAR HUGS IN BEARIZONA

2010-04-29T23:16:00.004-06:00

Lee stopped by Bearizona, Arizona to visit Bearizona's Chief Operating Officer Vanessa and her husband Patrick, and their eldest son. Bearizona intends to open in late May (this year!). I met Sean Casey, the owner-developer, who is a great young man. I also met a couple newborn baby bears that Vanessa is introducing to the Park. These cubs feel, at the same time, wild and dangerous, and dependent and vulnerable. Whew!

Kate's Buxom Bust Builder Balls

2010-04-29T22:21:00.002-06:00

Take a bunch of soap-bar scrapings-scraps, then pound, pack and squish the scraps in to a ball. Kate says its a perfect bust-builder exercise...for those with the soap balls to do it for hours on end.

HARVESTING OUR FIRST HONEY

2010-04-29T22:04:00.000-06:00

If the bees can start with last year's beeswax honeycomb, start warehousing honey first thing in the spring, then they are more likely to produce enough honey to make a sweet-toothed person cry. But we chose the "crush and strain" method, where in we cut out the entire beeswax honeycomb along with the honey in the comb. We then crush and stir it in a food grade white 5-gallon bucket. We then strain the honey, pour it in to Mason jars and seal. The strained-out beeswax is used for candles, lip balm, car-door lubricant, etc.

THE DATING-n-MATING LIFE OF HONEYBEES

2010-04-18T21:25:00.000-06:00

Went looking for that pesky elusive queen again today. Found larvae, so she must be there somewhere. In the process, found a small few of the special oversized beeswax comb-cells the ladies fabricate to induce drones.

Can you imagine that? These ladies evict and kill redundant males each fall, then in the spring those same ladies just order up some males to date a hive queen.

But, wait. Their queen has already mated once, for life. So what they're doing is creating drones to mate with a just-in-case new queen. ("just-in-case mating males"?)

In case the old queen needs to be "superceded", or in case they have plenty stores to support the natural colony-replication event called "swarming." When the colony swarms (subdivides), the ladies first create a dozen or so new-queen larvae, then the first new queen to emerge and sting the other queen larvae to death (who needs competition for those nice, "pure" drones) leads half of the colony on a pilgrimage to find a new hive home.

What all this sorts down to is this. The 75,000 worker ladies are creating a couple dozen males to compete for mating with a virgin queen, and any male that does will die immediately, while the males that don't will lay around all summer getting fat on the ladies' free honey until they boot the guys out the front door.

Life is tough.

FIRST SPRING LEE'z B'z HIVE INSPECTION GOES WELL

2010-04-13T23:29:00.000-06:00

Waited patiently until outside air temp reached 60degF. Books say 50degF, but need inner hive to sustain above 60degF. Reached it today. Time for spring house cleaning and annual health checkups for both the overall colony and the ladies individually.

SOAP AS ART

2010-04-02T19:41:00.012-06:00

Kate has developed a new way to create visual art into her home made Black Crow Soap. That is in addition to the methods she has developed for incorporating innovative fragrances, sculptural shapes, cleansing performance, and moisturized healing in to every bar.

The lead photo bove is taken of a tray roughly 12"x18" before cutting in to soap bars. How long before someone wants their "cake" of soap framed instead of sliced in to bars?

After hundreds of experiments with ingredients, processes and special tools, Kate has worked out a set of soap-making techniques that are her own brand and unique style. While every batch is a new work of art, every single batch incorporates the special ingredients and methods that make them so different. (Hint: One phase involves wearing industrial eye and skin protection, with ice cubes, lab thermometer and lab beakers on the back deck...with instructions: "Don't any body go near that bubbling brew!")

Speaking of brand, a national distributor, Dakota Thyme, has begun placing Kate's soaps in to special shops and boutiques, retail priced at around $5 per bar. See Dakota Thyme's very impressive web site at www.DakotaThyme.com.

But if you are a client of Lee Alley Real Estate (www.LeeAlley.net) you will enjoy special gift baskets of Kate's soap and an entire year's supply to celebrate when Lee closes a deal for you.

Here are some of the scents Kate has worked out so far. She is always experimenting to fine tune more scents. Every one requires different chemical-process treatment:

· Almond

· Coriander Rose

· Lavender

· Ginger Root

· Hyacinth

· Sweet Grass

· Prairie Pine

· Sage

· Bergamot

· Cinnamon

· Chamomile Face Kiss

· Rosemary and Tea Tree Oil

· Rose geranium

· Gardenia

· Green Tea

· Turmeric and Petitgrain

· Fir Needle

· Coffee and Cream swirl

KATE'S GARDEN COOKING CLASS

2010-04-01T23:08:00.000-06:00

Kate shows how to cook a garden. Compost, that is. At 150 degreesF, her compost piles, "stirred, not shaken", have shown to be effective at killing all seeds, weed and otherwise until fully cooked down. Then the spent garbage-cocktail turns in to a base as safe and nurturing as a momma's breast to feed and protect springtime vegie sprouts.

And this video exposes her apparent philosophy that when it comes to gardening, "size counts".

Lee'z B'z First Spring Pollen Feast - 3/28/2010

2010-03-28T18:37:00.003-06:00

It's a full moon, and the bee's moons are lined up. Warm 60 degrees today, low wind.

I had prepared to go up and feed them pollen/protein patties to jump start their spring brood-rearing. Some folks said brood rearing should ideally start 36 days before first sustained major nectar/honey flow, given our short northerly season. (After 17 days gestation, then 19 days inside housework duty, new girls are ready to leave the hive to join the foraging army). Therefore we want to start "family planning" 36 days before, so the full-force women's army will be ready to forage for honey ingredients 36 on "opening day" of spring pollen.)

Well, as a newbee, I blew it. When I got to the hive the mature over-wintered ladies had already mobilized a massive airlift of pollen and were going strong. Certainly no jump start needed, as you can see in the pics and video.

See the white pantaloons on the returning bees. Since it is whiter than the orange honey/nectar pollen of last summer/fall, I presume this is elm tree pollen. Guess I need to tag one of these ladies to see where she goes. Or check the forest for white buds.

OLD WOOD TOYS FOR NEW GRAND CHILDREN

2009-12-24T16:22:00.012-07:00

My first three grandchildren burst upon the scene in the past year or so. Wanted to get to business with my grandfatherly duties.

Made some solid wood toys for the kiddo's for Christmas. Especially, the 18-wheeler semi truck for the solitary girly grandbaby. Annalise may appreciate that the truck is made of scraps left over from installing oak flooring in our home. The truck cab is from a chunk cut from the end of a bannister end-post. I tried to copy as near as possible a similar toy truck my father made for Paul when he was a toddler.

I also made Jacob's Ladders for the kids. See this video.

I am posting a photo of an assembled puzzle here. The 3-D puzzle has interlocking pieces in all 3 dimensions. Except for a couple careless cutting errors, no two touching pieces are made of the same type (color) of wood (just 'cause it looks cool).

And the puzzle is loaded with "hints," to encourage Nolan's use of logical reasoning. If Nolan simply looks for clues, the puzzle will "speak" to him about how to put it together. (Although, the first time I tried to re-assemble the puzzle, it sure didn't speak to me very much.)

Now, here's a puzzle for you...
I wanted to make the puzzle without any two touching pieces made of the same kind (color) of wood. How do you suspect I knew in advance that no matter how the design would come out I would need exactly four different kinds of wood? Not three. Not five. Four. Guaranteed. Every time.

We covered it in a Topological Mathematics course in 1966. No matter how crazily the politicians may have revised international boundaries, an inexplicable law of math has provided that no map in history has ever required more than four colors in order that no adjacent countries have the same color. (It's kinda refreshing to know there are at least some laws that lobbyists cannot bribe Congressmen to violate.) Ancient Greek mapmakers knew of this four-color phenomenon, but could not prove or disprove it.

You can Google "Four Color Map Theorem." Or read this paper, written in plain English by a mathematician at the Los Alamos National Laboratory, home of the A-bomb.

So, Nolan...hope you enjoy the apolitical puzzle. Annalise, enjoy the 18-wheeler truck (don't all girls?). Cole, I'll send the Jacob's Ladder asap.

BLACK HILLS PACK GOATS ON A STICK

2009-11-28T22:31:00.002-07:00

Lee experiments with a fancy new video boom (hand held electrical conduit) while enjoying a late-fall Saturday afternooon hikelet with Thuh-Boyz.

MULTI-USE BEE FITNESS AND RECREATIONAL SPA FACILITY

2009-11-16T20:40:00.001-07:00

Kate's Mom, Jane, seemed to feel Lee'z B'z are not being pampered enough. She quized me on the phone from Cincinnati one day about how the bees drink, attend to personal hygiene, how they play and persue life as a (nearly) all-female colony. Then one day a month later a large box shows up from UPS. The rest is, as they say, history. South Dakota's first (and I suspect only) Multi-use Fitness and Recreational Spa Facility for bees. One unit is the wading pool, another is the water park, and the third is the combination beech/sunbathing unit. Well, this should take the sting out of living life as a bee. Except I noticed this morning that one of the units now serves as a skating rink. Rats. Where am I going to get 400,000 pair of bee ice skates this close to Christmas?

A LATE FALL HIKE TO UPPER PICNIC POINT

2009-11-16T20:20:00.001-07:00

Goats were getting barnyard fever. But November is hunting season. So we all donned our garb for hunting season and took off. A beautiful crispy-air day with no wind and visibility enough to see Chicago. We mozied all the way, sampling dried oak leaves, pine needles, tree bark, ground holly and various weed seed pods. A truly delicious walk-in buffet.

GOATS ENJOYING A FINE FALL

2009-10-19T13:31:00.007-06:00

The Black Hills Pack Goats have been enjoying an especially sanguine fall season. Can you tell? Custer decided to convert a feed trough to his private lounge. Harney even snuggled up to Custer for an afternoon nap. Custer went nose to nose with Kate. And, of course, Custer had to pose for a glamor portrait to use in press releases to his fans.

WINTERIZING A FIRST-YEAR HONEY BEE HIVE

2009-10-10T22:08:00.002-06:00

Added 2" styrofoam temp insulation on three sides, 3/8" thick mouse guard with 3/8" holes on bottom entrance, and new top entrance with 3/8" spanning entire front width. All this for first wintering of new hive and newbee beek. Please comment and advise. Thank you. -Lee

CAN THIS KITTY HANDLE A BARN MOUSE?

2009-10-05T10:06:00.010-06:00

The new barn kitty starts the day going for one wounded chicken, then two hours later taking on an entire flock of wild turkey. Look close to see the incredulous deer watching this new predator unleashed on the forest. This might be a good time for our barn mice to seek alternate housing arrangements.

KATE'S SEEDY PRIVATE LIFE

2009-10-02T22:03:00.015-06:00

We've been pretty busy. I had not walked in to bedroom #5 in months. Shoot, someone could have been living back there and I wouldn't have known.

Well, someone was living back there. So many times when I've been out at bedtime, as Kate calls it, "kissing the goats good night," it turns out Kate was leading a seedy private life unto her own.

After being busted, Kate admitted to having scrounged, scavenged, and socked away millions of seeds from thousands of plants from all over the Rapid City/Black Hills area. She's been smuggling them home in little baggies. All harvested from fall dried flowers languishing still in their summer beds. Some from beds around campus, some with permission from City gardners, some from County beds. Samples from beds all over the region, and all converged in stacks of baggies on one final bed (in our extra bedroom).

I finished goat-kissing early last night and stumbled in on Kate in the back bedroom. It felt like returning to the Witches' Market on the edge of La Paz, Bolivia. There was Kate laboring under a high-intensity desklamp, splitting open seed pods, sorting and counting, cataloging and caressing. She did it all. Except the incantations.

Her private life exposed, she consented to a coming-out photo shoot.

HAY FEVER

2009-10-02T21:55:00.004-06:00

Always something new at Ten Green Acres in The Black Hills of South Dakota. We got a new barn-kitty/mouser from the animal shelter. So...we needed to build a hay barn for him. All the while the Black Hills Pack Goats were certain it was all about them, stocking in supplies for their winter pantry. Whoofda. It was all about me, getting a live-in farm hand who never calls in sick. See the video and watch all three plots unfold...

LEE'Z B'Z HOLD AN OPEN-HOUSE

2009-10-01T13:52:00.011-06:00

I have opened the hive for quick checks several times, but by the four-month mark, it was time to do a detailed walk-through of the ladies' four story home. It was also time to make some decisions in preparation for the coming winter. Since I'm a newbee, I'm still processing what was inside. But anyway here's a photo record of what the ladies have been doing inside the past four months.

This is the #2 Frame in newest (second) super.

#5 Frame in 3-Month (Upper) Deep

#7 Frame in (oldest) 4-Month (Lower) Deep

Looking in to The Abyss.
Middle of the lowest hive box.

What IS that Monster ? !

It's not easy re-assembling a hive when
10,000 of its inhabitants are angrily seeking
an opening in your clothing to sting to the death.

HOW BEES DO FAMILY PLANNING

2009-09-25T21:35:00.006-06:00

When a community loses tens of thousands population over winter then has to repopulate with tens of thousands of newborns in the spring, get them raised and slotted among six job descriptions, all without a top-down presiding leader, then "family planning" takes on a whole new meaning. So how do bees do it? I'm a newbee, but this is what I understand. Also watch the video. But caution. It includes violence and adult bee content.

Honey bee drones have about one function in life. Which, by the way, leads to immediate death.

Each hive of 75,000 females needs a few drones around, so that when the queen takes one mating flight in the spring...well...you know. Birds n bees and all that.

Anyway, while we humans do spring cleaning, bee home makers do their major house cleaning in the fall. They need to get ready for the cold, starving winter. And, since these ladies know there won't be any queen flights for a few months, what to do with those remaining drones who never got any action?

All winter, drones just lay around, eat precious food, eye the girls, and contribute nothing. (Sounds like football season?) So at one point in the fall the ladies boot most (but not all) the boys out. No one knows how the ladies arrive at a consensus decision on what day to do it. Or how they rate the guys to decide who's in line for lucky in the spring.

If you watch this video close you can see this ritual in action. The video is shot at the front door to a hive. One little guy (actually the drones are the largest) just won't give up and tries to sneak back in.

No big deal. If the girls run short of queen-ready drones in the spring, they know how to re-breed some new drones next spring (the female worker bees know how to set gender by size of honeycomb cell, feeding regimine and larvae uncapping/recapping schedule). But they must do it all in time to date the queen. Then from that one mating the queen will have over 100,000 babies over the next few months. Some of whom will be drones that they'll have to kick out in the fall.

FALL HARVEST: RUSH RUSH RUSH

2009-09-17T22:11:00.005-06:00

No soapmaking, ultralight flying, hardly any packgoat-catered hikes, and minimal housekeeping. We're overwhelmed by fall harvest deadlines. Happy deadlines. Kate's vegie gardens have come in bountiful. The new, improved and enlarged solar vegetable drier I made for Kate this year to replace the old one, is still not large enough. Need to double it next year. Good rains yielded plenty alfalfa hay to last us til first-cutting of hay June next year...that's why I had to build a new hay barn. And still not done. Racing against the first-snow date. Lee'z B'z population exploded from under 10,000 in the mail order rom Georgia in June, to around 75,000. Those ladies have sucked nearly eight 25 pound bags (200 pounds!) of sugar thru their little bodies to make honey and thanks to a boomer year of white clover and forest flora we're overflowing with honey the B'z won't need to over-winter, that now needs to be harvested. Trouble is, I have never harvested honey, don't have the right centrifuge, hot knives, canning jars or decanting barrels. So I need to learn quick what to mail order on line to extract honey. This week the year-one chickens started laying "practice eggs" (i.e., soft shell). Soon they will be popping out brittle-shelled eggs by the dozen per day. The Black Hills Pack Goats are now strong and eager young adults approaching 200 pounds, if not more, at only 2 years old. Next summer these giants will be packing some real serious supplies for us. The forest-thinning has yielded many downed trees that need to be harvested for fire wood to heat with in two years. But we haven't even begun to chop wood for this coming winter. The mice will soon want to set up warmer fall housekeeping in my hay barn, so we have a vet at the animal shelter helping nurse a kitten back to life so we can let it grow strong and frolic in the happy life as a claw-totin sheriff to clean up Dodge (our barn) this winter. Then there's good old Sherlock. She's a Timex dog...takes a licking and keeps on ticking. Holy cow. If it's this busy with just 10 Green Acres, what do people do with 100 acres?

Did I mention our big innovation this year? The "yard truck." It is one awesome labor saving, productivity-making machine. I've arranged to be regional distributor for this British firm.

Hey. It was a slow day.

As if any one should believe that.

FALL IS COMING

2009-08-29T08:36:00.002-06:00

BEE BREAKFAST BAR

2009-08-26T22:57:00.003-06:00

Caught some early morning bee-grazing. The Ladies are still at it.

Also, tonight we opened the hive again, while Amanda, Ryan, twin babies Lidya and Grant were with us. Only Ryan came close to observe. The Ladies are hard at it. Lots of comb on new super, but only 10% filled with honey, and only 2% of comb capped with honey inside. ... i.e., "room to grow."

Got to admit, though. The photo is just a bumble bee passing thru, near my Ladies. The bumbler is a real ham, right?

THE AERODYNAMICS OF CARGO BEES

2009-08-12T13:43:00.006-06:00

Please click on these photo's. It's the best I could do with a cheap instamatic, but still it is fascinating what these ladies do all day, every day. Soon as the sun opens flowering blossoms the ladies take flight en mass to bring back the pollen and nectar. If you've ever seen a hang glider come in for a landing, it sure looks like the ladies here have it knocked solid. Also, see the leg-sacks of pollen. On this day they were bringing back material from bright orange flowers. A dew even showed up having found white blossoms, that made it appear they were wearing white bloomers. The girls are so focused on their tasks that they ignored my bare hands holding the camera just six inches away. And this morning I discovered they have resumed the consumption rate of 1/2 gallon of sugared water per day.

TOURISTS POSING AT LOOKOUT TO BEAR BUTTE

2009-08-12T13:32:00.002-06:00

We live in such a scenic wonderland. It was Motorcycle Rally week, with 17 gazillion motorcycling tourists. The Black Hills Pack Goats wanted to go sight-seeing, too. So we went up to (our privately named) Picnic Point. Appropriate to the setting the goats asked if I would snap some photo's of them posing like tourists, with Bear Butte and Piedmont Valley in the background. (Hey. It gets kinda "isolated" out here in the Black Hills now and then, so we entertain ourselves.)

DEER BAIT

2009-08-12T13:14:00.005-06:00

A squash plant came up on its own from a prior year. Click on the photo here to see the pooled water around the staman, and droplets on the leaf. Kate tried to protect the poor thing from deer with deer netting, chicken wire, cattle-panel fencing, barbed wire, concertina, profanity, and land mines. Not good enough. Two days later all that was left was the stiff rope of central vine. No leaves, no branches, no blossoms. And a very proud momma deer with her baby staring at us from nearby.

HIVE AT SIX WEEKS: CAUGHT BY SURPRISE!

2009-08-12T13:04:00.003-06:00

We opened the hive on July 22 (about 6-weeks) to check on things. One frame (#6) in the upper hive box was fully covered with comb that was 2/3 capped with tan wax (brood) and 1/3 capped with white wax (honey to eat later). The outer frames (#1, #10) were much more proportionately covered in white-capped honey stores. All seemed healthy. Too healthy! I was caught with my frames down. Needed to expand the hive asap to disuade "swarming" (colony abandonment of hive). Rush-ordered new hive eqpt from Georgia.

Portrait of Lee'z B'z

2009-07-20T21:04:00.002-06:00

Well, I tried anyway. Ever tried to get 13,000 hard working little girls to sit still for a portrait? These little ladies are HARD workers !!!

Harney the Black Hills Pack Goat Gets His Day

2009-07-17T22:01:00.004-06:00

This is about Harney, the herd runt:

Bear Butte, Buffalo Chip CG at Sturgis Before the Rally

2009-07-17T21:54:00.002-06:00

I squeezed in a short afternoon flight to catch the shadow on Bear Butte and the Buffalo Chip campground. The Chip sure feels empty without the 10,000 motor homes and 30,000 bikers. In the center photo you can just make out the visitors' center on the southeast side.

SOLAR FOOD DRIER and COLUMBINES

2009-07-14T10:49:00.004-06:00

Some folks will remember our over-engineered, over-sized smelter oven food dryer from 2008. We’re cutting back for 2009, with a new, improved more compact but higher capacity model.

We started with a $5 used window pane from the Re-Store here in Rapid City. Then added some lumber and screws. Kate says first-day performance is fine.

Sure is simpler than the “high performance” model in the books, with all the hardware, hinges, handles, sliders, etc. Heck, just make the darn thing, pick some vegies, lay them on the rack, and get on with life…

Oh. BTW. Here is a columbine flower growing next to the new dryer. It merits some attention. Don’t you agree?

2009-07-11T22:48:00.003-06:00

Kate hit the Rapid City Farmers’ Market today. Home made soap, knitted body scrubbers, choke cherry jam, Grandma Jane’s pottery, and even great grandma’s table cloth.

Again, she joined Kayla and Mary Bodensteiner in their booth.

It sure was an impressive display of finely crafted art pieces and household luxury items.

It was such a hit that a local TV news crew dropped everything else they were planning for the weekend, and came over to capture this historical event.

2009-07-04T19:20:00.001-06:00

We opened the hive at about one month old on July 4, 2009. In some spots comb was completely bridging between the tops of the three central frames. Therefore I broke some comb when pulling out the central frame. Never did see the Queen.

July 4th Picnic Hike With the Pack Goats

2009-07-04T18:32:00.004-06:00

Some good friends joined us for an old time down home Independence Day family time. DeAnne, Jeana, July, Jolie and Alan stopped by for a quick lesson on making home made soap. Then we went for a hike, catered by The Black Hills Pack Goats. Then we opened the new Lee'z B'z (www.Leez.Bz) bee hive. July is one quite cool dude. See the next post...

2009-06-16T06:01:00.004-06:00

Lee's B'z

2009-06-12T16:25:00.006-06:00

One-week old hive. Wish I knew if this looks healthy. Seeking advice. Stay tuned. http://www.lees.bz/ web site is in the works.

More Great Pics of Children on Grandpa's Farm

2009-05-09T22:03:00.006-06:00

Vanessa and Patrick's family dropped by for a visit. We inspected the new crop of baby chicks, collected fresh eggs, fed the chickens, gave peanut-treats to the goats, learned how to strap on a goatpacking saddle, and went for a short hike. Overall, a GREAT chance to get acquainted with new friends.

Chicks n Totes

2009-04-27T15:49:00.005-06:00

We have one new chick per acre at Ten Green Acres. On top of the 12 chicks added this time last year. We have til about mid June to expand the Chicken Ranch quarters for them all. Kate trades the eggs for lamb tallow, which in turn makes more soap, which in turn is traded for feed for the chicks. ("sustainable").

Kate has resumed her tote bag manufacturing business. Brings new meaning to "cutting-room floor." Kate works under close feline supervision of GreyCat.

What, exactly, is "soap"?

2009-03-11T15:15:00.001-06:00

If you mean the regular “soap” you buy in the store, then it is a bar of detergent consisting of some or all of the following:

· parabens (methyl, propyl, butyl, ethyl), synthetic fragrance, synthetic colorants (labelled as FD&C or D&C), petroleum derived ingredients (petroleum, mineral oil, Vaseline), sodium lauryl sulphate, sodium laureth sulphate, formaldehyde, aluminum, toluene, phthalates, polyethylene glycol compounds, and synthetic alpha hydroxy acids.

The fact that “soap” in the store is actually detergent is made clear by the Food and Drug Administration. If you want all the gory details, read “All that Lathers is not Soap” on the FDA site:

http://www.cfsan.fda.gov/~dms/cos-215.html

Old-fashioned or home-made soap consists of oils and animal fats that have reacted chemically with lye so that they are “saponified” to become something that is neither fat nor lye. . . . but soap!Soap is not found in nature, but neither is wine, glass, bread, and other stuff humans create. When a fatty acid meets a strong alkali (e.g., lye), the alkali splits the fat molecules into fatty acids and glycerin. After that, the sodium or potassium part of the alkali joins with the fatty acid part of the fat. This newly combined substance is “soap.”

If you want a thoroughly nerdy explanation offered by a chemical engineer, go to http://www.waltonfeed.com/old/old/soap/soapchem.html .What, exactly, is in Black Crow soap?As you might guess from reading above, the list of what is not in our soap is far longer than what is in it.The simplest soap recipe we use is as follows:2 pounds of lamb tallow or well-rendered beef fat1 pound of coconut oil1 pound 10 ounces of safflower oil~8 ounces of lye~23 ounces of distilled water

That’s it.

Of course, we rarely do simple. We use specialty oils, such as grapeseed, olive, tea tree, neem, jojoba, and other oils to make soap that is particularly emollient for the skin.
We also add natural cosmetic-grade oxides for color and cosmetic-grade essential oils (purchased mostly through www.wellingtonfragrance.com if you are curious).

We are also learning how to include natural antioxidants, such as rosemary and vitamin E, so we can keep those brown spots from appearing if the soap sits around unused for days.Commercial soap—even the “organic” stuff—has preservatives added to it in order to keep the lawyers at bay. Since we are not chemical engineers, we want to stick with ingredients we could eat.Why use this home-made stuff instead of good old lifeboy?

The answer we came up with is “because we know what is in it, and it makes our skin feel better.”You can read many research articles on the topic and will learn that commercial detergent cleanser (i.e., “soap”) strip the skin’s natural pH balance and typically kill off the harmless bacteria on our skin that is there for a reason. . . . Again, we are not doctors or chemists, so all we can do is repeat what we’ve learned and stick to ingredients we could eat.What about that pure-looking glycerin soap sold in the stores?Glycerin is also precious soap ingredient, and when we make a batch that forms droplets of glycerin on the top, we know we have a great recipe on our hands.Alas, the clear “glycerin soaps” on the market are not made from pure glycerin. Those bars are just ordinary detergent soap mixed with other ingredients, such as alcohol and sugar, to make it translucent.

While we could eat both sugar and alcohol, we elect not to use either in our soap.Is it easy to make soap?Yes—and fun. But you have really got to find it relaxing and engaging to make it worthwhile because there is a LOT to learn and a fair amount of equipment to assemble.Making soap can also take over your kitchen and living room pretty readily!

Rather than give a slew of URL references, we suggest doing an online search for soap making techniques. You probably want to look for “cold process” techniques. You definitely do not want to be fooled into thinking you are making soap by melting and pouring into molds so-called “melt-and-pour” soap.

“Hot process” techniques simply refer to cooking the soap longer. It’s not particularly hard once you get it right, but, overall, we find that the cold-process technique results in a better product.

Home Made Soap !

2009-03-05T08:41:00.007-07:00

A whole new type of adventure has opened up at our Over-the-Hills Retreat. (/Farm, /Goatpackers, /SolarBarn Lab, /Chicken Ranch, /YouNameIt). "Soap." Yep. Soap. Kate started making organic seed-paper last fall (bury the paper after using it, and it sprouts vegetables or flowers, depending). Somehow, I'm not sure when or how, one day all the stirring and cooking and curing evolved in to soap making. Now we're both deeply committed to bringing this marvelous concoction to life in our kitchen.

Heck I never thought we were that hard up for soap. Walmart carries it.

But Kate insists that you can't buy real soap in the store. Store-soap has detergent, she says, not real soap, and it is laced with preservatives and other nasties. So she let me try a bar.

OK. Now I'm a convert. Home made or not. I'm not going back. It gets my grimey barn dust off better, quicker, with squeaky skin. Really! It is better.

Now, I've even pitched the shave cream can and started using the same soap with my safety razor. Much better lubrication. I even had to check the razor the first two days to make sure the plastic guard was not still covering the blades.

So now, Kate has hired me as her helper and we're making our first batch of astringent-laced "green" organic shave cream.

Kate and I will be developing a soap blog. Keep watch for http://www.blackcrowsoap.blogspot.com/.

I'll keep you posted right here. Never a dull moment at Over-the-Hills.
-Lee

Cross Cultural Forest Exchanges

2009-02-11T22:24:00.007-07:00

We frequently have deer, turkey, squirrels and many birds stopping by the yard. But seldom do we see inter-species engagement. But one young deer, who lives on our acreage with its mom, one day decided to get acquainted with our chickens. One chicken in particular. And the chicken, decided on this day to explore a deer, this young one. Who knows why those two decided on the same day it was time for an exchange.

Kate and I love to see the little yellow and black finches come around to Kate's home-made suet bird feeders. But we've recently begun getting a whole new class of birds coming around (to bulk up for next Thanksgiving, I think).

Kate's Bountiful Harvest

2008-10-11T18:14:00.003-06:00

Kate worked hundreds of hours on her plants. Planting, trimming, thinning, watering. I think she may have even hugged a few plants on chilly windy nights. Then fall came with a wild frenzy of Kate's well timed picking, digging, snipping, and washing. Then a bunch of nights slicing, dicing, and chopping, while vacuum packing. Followed by hours and hours of cooking, frying, baking, simmering, and steeping.

Kate fed a herd of co-workers at a special lunchoen, which featured Kate's surprise "Sumac Punch," which was a hit with everyone.

And Kate calls this "free food." (If you ignore hundreds of hours of dirt, sweat, grit, aches, and blisters.)

Kate's Garden

2008-10-11T17:56:00.003-06:00

Last spring we hauled in 15 bobcat-loads of horse manure. And three truck loads of dirt. Plus a bazillion buckets of self-cooked compost. Add a pinch of salt then stir with tiller til sore. Kate then drenched it with loving water torcher all summer and caressed each leaf and blossom each morning and evening all summer. This is the result.

Goats on Parade

2008-08-16T13:29:00.010-06:00

The Black Hills Pack Goats and I are hoping to organize South Dakota's first 4-H Packgoat group. In order to recruit young people to join the group, we agreed to enter the annual Central States Fair kickoff parade. The Black Hills Pack Goats made a fine impression. Hundreds of people smiled big, rubbed their chins and uttered things like, "Hmmm....Goats. Who'da thought. COOL!"

We just hope some folks along the parade route will check us out at the County Extension Office. If you are interested, please contact Ms. Tana Clark at 605-394-2188.

For more about the Black Hills Pack Goats, see http://www.blackhillspackgoats.com/.