Bees & Owls & Worms

I'm still debating whether to get chickens or ducks--which would need tending when I travel--so in the meantime I'm venturing into another, fairly low-maintenance agricultural project.  Beekeeping.  I didn't buy a standard hive, but a more user-friendly style developed in Australia.  It's called a Flow Hive.  It's based on vertical frames, partially made of an eco-friendly plastic.  The bees build the other side of the hexagons, fill each cell with honey, and cap them with wax.  When you're ready to harvest the honey, instead of opening and intruding into the hive, you insert and turn a handle, the cells crack, and the honey flows down into a trough and directly into your jar.  Without the mixing that happens with standard harvesting equipment, honey straight from the frames often has more distinct color and flavor variations.  I'm very excited about this new hobby--but I have a lot to learn!  

Another feature is the observation window to watch the hive in action.

I have a large meadow that is a haven for all kinds of rodents--moles, voles, ground squirrels, etc.  We have lots of hawks and other birds of prey, but I thought I'd try to bring owls closer-in with a nesting box, to help keep the rodent population in check.   Evidently Barn Owls are the biggest rodent consumers, but I decided to encourage Screech Owls.  Western Screech Owls are smaller, 7-10" tall (about the size of crows) with a wingspan of 18-24."  They have wide-set feather tufts above bright yellow eyes. Their variegated brown and gray hues helps them camouflage against tree bark.  Their low trilling hoots are distinctive, but not a screech, thank goodness. 

Cute, fluffy owlets / Adults scan the ground from a perch or cavity

Screech owls are primarily solitary and monogamous.  During the late winter breeding season, males make nests in tree cavities to attract females. The females select their mate based on the quality of the cavity and the food located inside. 

Screech Owl nesting boxes are meant to imitate a tree cavity

So far I don't think I've ever not been able to find what I was looking for on Amazon.  Case in point, I just received an order of live worms--500 live red wigglers.  And why did I want live worms?  For composting.  There isn't separate recycle pickup for garden debris here, and trips to the dump are expensive on a regular basis.  Also, buying compost for the garden last year cost me a bundle and was mostly twiggy.  So I decided to make my own compost using my garden's considerable volume of garden waste.  There's been a messy compost heap building (that actually produced a volunteer pumpkin vine last summer) but I wanted to organize the process.  

I had a large 3-part bin built that the gardener fills as he mows, prunes and weeds.  I don't cook much for myself, so I don't add too much in the way of food waste.  But we do add occasional cut-up corrugated cardboard boxes.  The gardener turns the organic matter in each bin once or twice a month, mixing and aerating.  Instead of relying solely on bacteria and microorganisms, we're adding worms to accelerate the composting process.  As the mixture in one bin breaks down sufficiently, it gets moved to the next bin.  So each compartment contains compost at different stages of decomposition.  The last bin should be rich, organic material that we can use to enrich the garden soil--coming full circle.