L'shana tova v'metuka

To a good and sweet new year!!!  Happy Rosh Hashanah 5775!

In honor of the sweet new year, on which we eat apples and honey and the upcoming Shavuot, when Jews are actually obligated to eat honey, I want to share a little update on my bees!  I have my suit, my smoker, and my hive tool. I have read every book on beekeeping on Amazon (almost) and I'm ready to not kill a hive of bees!

So, Ceebs, my beekeeping mentor, captured a bunch of swarms this summer and one of them is designated as my own little swarm. In my craft room/office is a completed hive (empty of bees, of course) and two complete hives waiting to be assembled.  It was going to be a project for the summer, but that sort of got away from me, so it's really a post Hallowe'en project.

This is me at the HoneyLove Sanctuary.

Anyway, HoneyLove, an awesome organization that you should check out, has a bee sanctuary out in the fields of Moorpark. My bees will end up there, but as Winter is Coming, the bees are starting to store up honey and plan for the cold season right now, so it is probably unlikely that I'll get my hives out there until Spring. Sad trombone.

Bunches of hives. Many, many bees!

Next year, hopefully, my hives will be up and running and the following year, in 5777, I should have honey to share with my friends and family on Rosh Hashanah!

Oh, it's May? Already?

The last 7 months have been a bit of a whirlwind, but things seem to be calming down a bit and once I'm past June 8th, I'm free and clear for the rest of the year.

Meanwhile, what's been up?

• Well, I attended Craftcation in April and loved it.
• I'm getting bees.
• I'm almost through with loquat season, which, unfortunately this year has not been nearly as productive (entirely my fault)
• I've planted, but not nearly the spring garden I was hoping for by this point

Over the next couple of weeks I'm planning on replanting my cucumbers as SOMETHING (I suspect squirrels) ate the plants right out of the ground, roots and all. When I told the owner at the garden shop, he barked; 

"REDPEPPERBLACKPEPPERCINNAMONMUSTARD!". 

"All of them?" I asked. 

"REDPEPPERBLACKPEPPERCINNAMONMUSTARD!". 

OK then.  Apparently, I am to encircle the cucumber plants in these spices, which I have now purchased in bulk to sprinkle throughout my garden. I have to replant 2 artichokes as one just died a miserable quick death and another one stuck around looking runty until one of the chickens scratched it right out of the earth. Damn chickens.

All the chickens are doing well. Gave their coop a nice, thorough scrubbing this weekend after attending the UC Pathology lecture on backyard chicken diseases. Frankly, I'm used to medical slides but the necropsy slides from the pathologist...well, I needed to clean the coop. Thankfully, I'm not going to post any pictures.

As for the bees, I'm going to be hosting two hives of my very own at a sanctuary up north a bit near Westlake Village. I'll post photos as I put the boxes and frames together and get them painted up all pretty.

Los Angeles Events

While I generally am a cranky bitch when it comes to crowds, one of the things I love most about L.A. is the community.  There are cultural and community events every weekend and it's often a tug of war to decide whether to attend a festival, event, meeting, opening, or stay around the farm. Also, we're so diverse here in L.A. from the smell of carne asada wafting from every carniceria to the Greek Festivals that seem to be held every month at some church or the other to the festivals for agriculture, books, countries of origin, religion,  flea markets and films -- we've got it all.

While I can't or won't always attend an event, I often wish I could tell my peeps about upcoming activities.  L.A. Ell used to do this but she isn't anymore, therefore, a prominent feature of Bluestocking Farm, the blog, will be a calendar of events.  I was thinking that I would post events on the sidebar or a new page so that those of you reading from beyond L.A. won't have to be bothered with the goings on of our fair city. Tell me what you think.

For now, here's what's going on this weekend in L.A. and surrounding areas.  Get outside! It's the first weekend of summer!!!


Saturday, June 25
11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Drive on out to the Valley, NoHo in particular for the NoHo Rocking Food Truck Fest and Flea Market featuring Ta Bom, Slap Yo Mama, Komodo, Truck Norris, Da Munch Box, Waffles de Liege, The Greasy Weiner, Sweet E's and more!  You know you'll love it!! And it's for a fundraiser for Hope for PAWS animal rescue!


7:30 p.m. Gates open at Cinespia for a screening of The Warriors at Hollywood Forever Cemetery. Grab your picnic dinner and your best leather vest and snuggle up next to a mausoleum for a night of New York youth gang life in the '70s.  DJ is TBA.


Sunday, June 26
10:00 a.m. Kickstands up for the June Oedipus Motorcycle Club ride. The last Sunday of every month, this 53 year old gay motorcycle club rides through the hills around Southern California. This month Ojai and Frazier Park.  It's a long one but it's going to be a beautiful weekend.


11:00 a.m. Backwards Beekeeping meeting at the new Atwater Crossing. Interested in beekeeping? Want to help protect bees? The meeting is fun and Kirk Anderson, founder of Backward Beekeeping is a quote a minute kinda guy.  Love him. Also, if you happen to know of a swarm in your area, they'll come take it away for free and give it to someone who would like to keep bees rather than exterminating it!  Call the Bee Rescue Hotline at (213) 373-1104.

1-3 p.m. Pasadena Food Swap at Orange Grove Park in South Pasadena. Diversify your pantry while meeting your friends and neighbors!

2-4 p.m. Santa Monica Food Swap at Salon Vert in Santa Monica - like a Silent Auction and a Potluck had a baby! 

Know of any other events?  Let me know and I'll add them to the list!