It’s hard to believe, isn’t it? But it’s been 5 years since I closed the Open Grove Newsletter.

At that time, I promised myself I’d never do another newsletter. Ever ever ever ever. And here, 5 years later, I’m sticking my toe in the water of newsletter-dom. Starting in the New Year, I’ll return to publishing a newsletter once a week.

The newsletter will include updates from Denver Cereal, the Queen of Cool as well as the Alex the Fey thrillers. It will also include a note from me about what’s going on in my world, the book business in general, cool stuff, and of course, generally quirki-brightness that is all me. I’ll add special links to audio programming both from the Open Grove and new material.

I hope you’ll join me.  You know I hate to do anything by myself!

After years of living in extremes, I decided to spend this year looking at and working toward living the Middle Way. To be honest, I’ve been fascinated with meditation for a long time. I met Sharon Salzberg when I was working in the Open Grove. She is a truly fascinating woman.

In this 8 minute video, she explains her experience of overcoming

In honor of earth and arbor day, I decided to share some odd bee facts on Twitter. My friends on Plurk asked if I would share them on Plurk.  

How could I not share them with you?!? I tried to pick facts that I haven’t shared before.  I’ve expanded the facts for the blog. 

Thursday Thirteen : Odd, and interesting facts about honeybees

1.  In the US, native tribes called honeybees ‘the white man’s fly’ as bees would arrive 5-10 miles ahead of a wagon train. 
Beehives were considered as essential as water or food. Not only did they predict the weather (bees won’t fly if it’s due to rain), the honey and propilis provide effect antibacterial properties. Pollen collected by bees is an excellent protein source and honey is a sticky sweet carbohydrate.  Wagon train folks weren’t stupid!

2.  A honeybee must visit at least 2 million flowers to make 1 pound of honey (the standard unit for honey).  
Honey is generated from nectar taken from flowers. The worker honeybee ingests the nectar.  Once at the hive entrance, the bee passes the nectar to another bee. This bee then passes the nectar at least one more time. It’s the enzymes in a bees stomach that turn nectar into honey. 

3. In the last 100 years, there have been 4 recorded bee plagues: 1916, 1960s, 1970s, and now.
In 1916, 90% of Europe’s honeybees were destroyed by a traceal mite. (The mite wasn’t discovered in the US until 1984. It exists now only in moist regions.) European bees were saved by a noble Capuchin monk called Brother Adam at Buckfast Abby. He traveled over 100,000 miles collecting the survivor hives then breed them until he created the Buckfast bee. (He’s a hero of mine.)  The 1970s saw the rise of the varroa mite. This is a particularly nasty mite that destroys hives over winter. Further, an infected hive becomes sensitive to viruses and disease.

4. The first thing a hive does every morning is flying back and forth in the direction of the sun. This is called a beeline. 
Imagine, if you will. You wake up in the morning, cup of coffee in hand, and wander out to the bee yard. What you will see is seemingly frantic bees fly up toward the sun and back to the hive. Over and over again they fly. Once they have it, off they go. Because bees navigate using the sun, they must know where their hive is in relation to the sun. 

5. Beekeeping was well established in Egypt by 2400 BC as depicted on 5th dynasty temple reliefs. 
The Egyptians used honey in embalming bodies because they believed that bees were the ‘zootype of the Soul.’ Thus bees were the messengers of the dead and speaking with them akin to speaking with the spirits of the dead.  This the English tradition of telling a hive when someone has died in the house stems. (Ancient Egyptians – the Light of the World by Gerald Massey) Recently, a 3000 year old man made Honeybee hive was discovered in northern Israel at an archaeological dig in the huge earthen mound called Tel Rehov.

6.  Honeybees recognize individual’s faces.
For a beekeeper, this can be an awesome thing or a horrible thing. I’ve pissed off a few bees who definitely recognized me later. That said, my bees tend to be calm, happy and hardworking. They let me sit right by their entrance and never investigate. I’ve taken hives to other locations where other people attended them. Those bees became anxious and hostile, like the people who attended them. Once home? They calmed right down. Go figure.

7. The oldest honeybee specimen is over 100 million years old.
For reference, human beings are believed to have evolved 3 million years ago. Crocodiles evolved 80 million years ago. Honeybees are believed to have evolved form carnivorous wasps.

8. Through pollination, honeybees are responsible for the creation of every flowering plant on earth.
Prior to honeybees, the earth was covered with coniferous trees. 

9. Bees are mentioned in both the Bible and the Qur’an.

Bible:  

• Deut.1 [44] And the Amorites, which dwelt in that mountain, came out against you, and chased you, as bees do, and destroyed you in Seir, even unto Hormah. 
• Josh.21 [27] And unto the children of Gershon, of the families of the Levites, out of the other half tribe of Manasseh they gave Golan in Bashan with her suburbs, to be a city of refuge for the slayer; and Beesh-terah with her suburbs; two cities. 
• Judg.14 [8] And after a time he returned to take her, and he turned aside to see the carcase of the lion: and, behold, there was a swarm of bees and honey in the carcase of the lion. 
• Pss.118 [12] They compassed me about like bees; they are quenched as the fire of thorns: for in the name of the LORD I will destroy them.

Qur’an:

• 16:68-69: ’And thy Lord taught the bee to build its cells in hills, on trees and in (men’s) habitations….. there issues from within their bodies a drink of varying colours, wherein is healing for mankind. Verily in this is a Sign for those who give thought’.
• ‘Honey is a remedy for every illness and the Qur’an is a remedy for all illness of the mind, therefore I recommend to you both remedies, the Qur’an and honey.’ (Mohammed)

10.  The ‘Killer Bee’ (also called the ‘Africanized Honeybee’) was created by the USDA. Go team! 
The idea was to create the ‘superbee’ by crossing the gentle Italian honeybee with the more aggressive, but hardworking African honeybee.  The hope was to create a gentle and hardworking. They created a very aggressive, high swarming, low honey creating bee. Of course, a queen bee got loose in the Brazilians jungle and the rest is history. Africanized honeybees were seen in So. Utah this year. I’ve seen them in So. Colorado. These bees offer are a legitimate threat to the American (meaning entire continent) honeybee population. As they spread north, they breed with more winter tolerant bees. Once they can tolerate the cold, world domination will be next. Or something like that.

11. Honeybees will always stop what they are doing to take care of baby bees.
When we collect a swarm of bees, we often add a frame of baby bees. The swarming hive will alway stay to care for the baby bees. In fact, a honeybee will give another bee water and food even if it’s not from the same hive. Moreover, if a bee from another hive ends up inside a hive when night comes, they will stay to become part of that colony.

12. Honey is the only food source that does not spoil.
Honey changes form – from liquid to crystal – but it does not degrade. Honey found in Tutankamen’s tomb, or the site in Israel, is as good, and good for you, as honey taken from a modern hive. 

13. Colony Collapse Disorder is a big freakin’ deal.
Originally described in 1896 as ‘Disappearing Disorder’. In the 1960s, disappearing disorder caused wholesale havic causing many beekeepers to go out of business. It’s back, and it’s worse. Why is this a big deal?

• This is a world wide problem. This round of the syndrome was first sited in the 1990s in Europe. 
• Honeybees are not the only pollinators effected. In the United States, there has been a wholesale die off of all pollinating species including bats. 
• 36% of US beehives and 15% of UK beehives have been lost.
• No one has any idea what’s going on. There’s a million theories. But there’s always been a million theories. No one knows why this is happening. If someone tells you they do? Just smile and walk away. No one knows. (Best guess? Some kind of bee stressor.)

Read more Thurday 13s by going here.
Read more of my fascinating Thursday Thirteens by clicking here.

The Open Grove is back in business. I haven’t let my breath out yet. I guess after all this time (8 years), I can’t really believe it.

But Tuesday, I signed an agreement that said that, as long as we stayed in holistic health and well-being (which is what we’ve always done), we could continue the Open Grove.

Unbelievable.

Keep your fingers crossed for me – will ya?

The problem with being a human being is that we get in our own way. When challenged, many of us roll over and play dead.  What if you were a 2,000 year old tree?   Richard Preston shares the Northern California rain forest, my heart’s true home, and it’s fabulous trees. This video is 19.31 minutes long and soooooo worth it.  

You must see these trees.

?

This video is 4 minutes long.

I have BIG news.

Or small news if you know me well. ?When I whisper my plans to my friends and loved ones, they say, “Of course.”

This video describes the WHY but not the WHAT.

In the next days and weeks, somethings will die.?

Open Grove Claudia is on her way out. ?She will be replace by Claudia Hall Christian. (Mark, you can still call me OG)

The Open Grove will fade. ?The Seeds of Happiness will take it’s place.

I just wanted to whisper to you…
“Change is coming… and it’s very good.”

Besos?

Disclaimer: All content of this article are the opinions of the author, please investigate facts on an individual basis.

It’s only a matter of time.

What am I talking about? I’m talking about my new fabulous L’Equip Blender. Turns out it’s deadly.

Check this out:

This is a piece of blender blade. It broke when I blended: 1 cup of frozen berries, 1 cup of cold soymilk and 2 pieces of frozen banana cut into 2″ slices.

I tried to return the blender to 877myjuicer.com. I was told that the only thing they could do was discount another blender. They continue to sell this blender.

I emailed the president of the company who manufacturers the blender and they said they were “disappointed” in these blades.

Disappointed? Really.

Hopefully no one will die.

Please pass this along to your subscribers. No one should purchase anything from 877myjuicer.com or Kitchen Resources.

If a company doesn’t give a shit that they sell a dangerous product, why give them your money?

Letter to president of Kitchen Resources

UPDATE:

Interaction with Kitchen Resources Product Manager, including my response.

Response from 877myjuicer.com: (8/5/08)

Hi Claudia,

Thanks for keeping me in the loop on this email chain. We have learned a lot about the RPM Blender because of this and have made an internal decision to discontinue reselling this product effective immediately. It is clear that there are dangers, which we were completely in the dark about until you brought them to our attention, associated with the LEquip RPM Blender and until we get undeniable proof that the problem has been rectified it will stay that way.

Thanks,

Andrew
877MyJuicer.com

After posting about some interesting movements in the music industry, Colleen at Loose Leaf Notes asked me to look into book publishing.

Inspired, I set out to answer her question.

At little background first.? Book publicity has changed drastically in the last seven years. When we started the Open Grove in January, 2001:

• In-house publicists from hundreds of publishers sent dozens of copies of books. I received 12+ books a day.? I heard that Oprah received over 50 books a day.? Yikes!
• Almost every author went on some form of a multi-city book tour.
• I received telephone calls, letters, and a few emails (2001) from publicists hungry to get their clients on the Open Grove.

Within two years:

• publishers began to merge into multinational conglomerates,
• the tide of books became a trickle, (Thank God)
• authors financed their own book tours,
• some savvy best selling authors began publishing their own books, and
• small book presses were growing.

By 2007:

• many of the major book publishers had closed their publicity departments,
• authors whispered that they spent their entire advance on a publicist – some where helpful, most were not, and
• the publishing industry lost 17%!? Book publishers closed left and right.

Walt Whitman sold his book door to door. What’s an author in 2008 supposed to do to sell his or her book??

• What works?
• What doesn’t work?
• What are people doing to promote themselves?
• What was the data? Which marketing endeavors increased sales? What had no effect at all?
• Self publishing? Big New York Publisher? No advance publishing? E-book publishing?

I asked my favorite Marketing forum and came up with some good ideas, but no data. I sat through ridiculous seminars run by sharks and charlatans. (No, Janet, I didn’t kill them, I only WANTED to kill them.)

What sells books in 2008?

No one knows.

I mean, I have some ideas? But I’ve already written about them.

Unsure of what to do, I did nothing. Then I noticed a little project of Brad Feld’s (Liz, he’s the venture capitalist I was talking about).? I decided to steal his idea.

I’m sending out an SOS.

Let’s collect our information and experience. We don’t have to toil alone. Together, we can create a resource for authors. With information, we wrestle our creative efforts from the mouth’s of sharks.

(100% of these proceeds will go to Wounded Warriors. )

What I’m looking for:

• Direct experience marketing a book, selling a book or even getting a book published.
• What is working for you?
• What hasn’t worked for you?
• What do you believe is the single most important factor in selling your book?
• You book can be a self-published book, an e-book, a New York publisher.
• Did your book tour work?
• How much publicity help did you get from your publisher?
• What sells your book?

I’m thinking a short (100 – 300 words) this worked, this didn’t.

In return for participating, you will receive a free copy of the book. I’m hoping to collect 100 authors to participate in this project. If you are interested, please send me an email at: opengrove@gmail.com or leave a comment at On a Limb with Claudia.? If you know a published author, please let them know about this project.

Help an author out.? Please repost this call for entry.

In exchange for re-posting this on your blog, I will enter you in a contest for either a honey lover’s package – 2006 (dark brown spicy), 2007 (minty, light colored) honey and 2008 honey (yet to be determined) – or a $25 gift certificate to Amazon, Starbucks, Target or whatever – or a cool seed kit like I made for my friend Van.? Hell, if you want some tomatoes I can send those along too! Make sure to leave a link to the post in the comments. I’ll draw a winner from the comments to this post.

While sitting on my neighbor’s deck, I overheard this conversation:

“Can you believe it? She actually keeps bees?” The woman said.? “She even said that she wanted to GROW her food this year.”

Was she talking about me?? I don’t know her.

“Oh, she’s ridiculous,” the other woman said.? “What does she thinks she has?? An urban farm?”

They laughed.

My neighbor whispered, “That’s not you.? They are talking about someone in Boulder.? They don’t need to know about your backyard.”

Now at least I know what to call our little project.

Here’s a little update.

Beehives:

• We have four beehives.
• One with a beautiful Zia Queenbee.
• Another that is in the process of requeening itself.
• And two swarms. The third swarm did not stay.

Gardens:

• Everything survived the last snow storm and is beginning to grow!
• We’ve planted almost everything.
• We are starting new beds because order 3 get 3 free raspberries plants meant 18 plants and not 6 as I thought.? I’d complain but come on. Who wouldn’t eat more raspberries if given the chance??
• We are still waiting for a blueberry and strawberries.? Our squash and watermelons have not come up yet but we are optimistic.

Bed 1

Bed 2

Bed 3

Hope your weekend is going well!

After waiting and pacing around for most of the morning, I watched the mailman’s back as he moved off our porch and on with his route on Saturday.

No queenbee in sight.

Two hours later, a breathless postman pounded on the door. Tucked under his jacket was a box from ZiaQueen. He said his boss drove the package out to him. Together, we opened the package to find a beautiful queen and five attendants.

She was shipped in a priority mail box. Yellow queen cage was set next to the blue sponge so that they could get some water. This is brilliant packing. She and her attendants were happy, unstressed and ready to go.

Here’s a photo of her shadow. It’s hard to see her through the yellow cage. You can see that she’s longer than the other bees. Because she’s not very old, she is also not very fat. She will fatten up as soon as she gets in the hive and starts laying.

In the second picture you can see her red dot. Queens are marked by their born year – this year is red.

What did I do with her?

Last week, I put a queen excluder between two hive “deeps” this force the nurse bees to rise to care for brood while keeping the queen on the bottom of the hive. I took the top box – with only nurse bees, brood and food – and created a new hive. Once they were situated in a new location, the worker bees will fly back to the original location leaving the nurse bees and baby bees.

Lost yet?

Basically, I took the top half of a hive and moved it to a new location. This creates a new hive.

Then I put this queen in the hive. There is a candy plug on the end of the bee cage. The nurse bees will eat their way though the candy plug (my fingers are holding it in the first picture) to release the queen. When I left her, the nurse bees were already feeding the queen.

(Bees are like that. If they see another hungry bee, they will feed and care for it – as long as it’s not a threat to their physical location.)

The queen cage keeps the queen safe until the nurse bees get used to her smell. They will readily accept her in about 3 days – the length of time it takes to eat through the sugar plug. I’ll check on her on Wednesday to see if she’s been adopted.

Today, I fed the original hive with sugar water (5 pounds of sugar to 1 gallon of water) to replace the food I took. I put the syrup into a gallon ziplock bag then lay the bag in the hive. I made a light slit so the bees can get the syrup. I have a bunch of fancy equipment that does this but ziplock works the best. (Go figure.)

I also go stung. What stupid thing was I doing?? I wore my yoga pants instead of my jeans. The first bee sting of the year always has a little fanfare.? Later on, it’s like “whatever”.

I should get another queen later this week. She’ll go in the “little” hive, which has managed to hang in there.

Thanks for your interest and support. If you have any questions, do not hesitate to ask.