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Saturday, July 20, 2013

Day 11: Waterfall hike

Today Kwao took Kylie, Lauren, and I on the famous waterfall hike. It is along the same road as the hike of death, but more towards to ocean. We stopped at Black Sand Beach (also famous) for about an hour to swim and climb. Only, it was a little scary becuase we had to watch out for schools of fish and Barracudas. But, we just stayed towards to shore and swam around. The water was great and it was nice to get a good swim in (without rocks). Kwao took us on top of a little island near the beach with a great view of the land. The spot we were at was very special becuase it is where the two big ocean currents meet.
Me in the water:
View:
We also visited the old Spanish ruins that are nearby. There was a large, deep structure built behind the buildings that we tried to guess the purpose of. Cellar? Holding place for slaves? It was fascinating and very neat.
Me at the ruin archway:

The hike to the waterfall was mild and very pretty. The waterfall itself was not running very much but the effect was still amazing.The freshwater gathered in a deep pool that we could swim in. The water ran in a small stream down the hill. It was quite refreshing becuase it was very cool.
Me and Lauren in the pool:


  
I got to try a wild almond! There were a few trees near the waterfall that Kwao pointed out. He cut them open to eat. 
Me and Lauren in the pool:


Day 10: Building more hive stands

We built more hive stands for the next round late this afternoon. The cement was mixed in a big pile on the side of the road. Any extra cement was used to fill in a pothole (one out of a million, but it is something). We stacked concrete blocks to the side for filling. (The fire next to us was the neighbor burning yard debris).
 All of us watching Kwao mix the cement:
 Me transferring the cement to the blocks to fill:
 The key is to get the cement to be soupy and spreadable but not runny.
 Filling the blocks, which got a rebar in each hole just after:
 Taylor (right) using a rock to pound the rebar in:
 We will wait until they dry and then have eight stands to use for four hives!

Friday, July 19, 2013

Day 10: Installing hive stands

Today we installed some hive stands that were built last week. They are made of concrete blocks, concrete, and metal rods (I forget what they are called at this moment). We used four of these contraptions to re-establish two top-bar hives that needed new stands. The previous stand was warped wood that was falling apart. We had to dig holes big enough for the concrete blocks to fit in. It was VERY hot and a sweaty job becuase we had to wear our suits while doing it.
Placing the stands:
 The stands in the holes dug for them:
 Leveling the stands:
 Me digging:

 Me waiting to dig:
 Placing the other stands:
 Done!

 Emmanuel at the mango tree right next to us:

 The other completed hive (Tanzanian hive which is a square top-bar hive):
 Finished:


Day 9: BEEkini-keeping and piles of meat

Here are pictures of the drive from St. Thomas. We stopped at one of the best "Jerk" places around. I had jerk pork and it was amazing.
Cool painted sign that we passed on the drive:
 A (blurry) picture of the jerk place sign and our driver Jimmy:
 Jerk pork, succulent and in a pile:
 The pork was delicious becuase we were hungry and becuase it had tons of spices on it. To die for. We also had coconut water and festival bread (simple, slightly sweet bread).
The title "BEEkini-keeping" was a joke we had in the car CREDS: THANK YOU CODY. There are signs all around town that advertise beach parties, some of which are risque. I was wondering about the signs when someone said that we should advertise the beekeeping trainings as bikini-keeping trainings. It would certainly bring in more people. Quite hilarious!

Day 9: Top-Bar Training in St. Thomas

We left at 5:30 in the morning to go to Tom's training for top-bar beekeeping in St. Thomas. It was alittle tough for me becuase I had woken up in the night with an earache from water being in my ear. I got help drying it out but still only got four hours of sleep. The car ride was three hours long. We got breakfast when we got there. The coffee came with sweetened condensed milk! I got chicken as well...haven't had meat in awhile.
 The training was at the St. Thomas Beekeepers Association meeting. Tom presented about top-bar hive management. They had already gotten a training about building top-bar hives so they had a good idea already of what it consisted of. But, Tom informed them about how to look into the hive, make decisions based on what you see, and how to deal with problems. It was all very practical and extremely well done. The members were very responsive and actively engaged. Tom is a teacher and did a really great job in interacting with everyone. He had lots of volunteers to demonstrate!
People at the meeting who are beekeepers:
 
Tom showed everyone how to make the wax foundation mold. This was a very popular idea becuase wax is expensive in Jamaica, as are wax foundation sheets. They have to buy from someone that had invested in a mill to make the sheets. Wax is also hard to come by, so it ends up being very expensive for the beekeeper to replace their sheets. One man in particular was very impressed and excited about the service that this cheap alternative can give to a beekeeper.
Tom putting together the wax foundation mold:
 A volunteer helping to build the wax foundation mold:

 Tom showed everyone how to make a pollen trap of his own design that can fit on a top-bar hive. He had everyone involved in building one of their own. He also left them cut pieces of wood as templates so that they could build more. We all had a really great laugh when one of the women was joking about the drawer being "draaws" (ladies underwear).
Building the pollen trap:
 Painting on the wall at the meeting building:
 Tom showing everyone alternative hive material ideas:

The training ended up being from 9:30 to 5:30 becuase of all the topics covered and the tools created. The pollen trap took quite awhile to put together. But, overall it was a fantastic experience. Kylie and I did surveys of all the members for the Farmer to Farmer program. Everyone was SUPER nice. I had lots of fun just talking to people and hearing what they liked about the trainings. It was clear that many of them were able to get more hives and understand management better of the bees. A lot of people wanted to see marketing of bee products as a future training topic. Very cool.

Wednesday, July 17, 2013

Wildlife photos for fun


 Lizard eggs:

Day 8: Foundation, rocks, and ice-cream. Yum!

This morning, Tom showed us how he makes a foundation mold. It was really neat! He took a single sheet of wax foundation as the template. He built a special wooden frame to hold the foundation in place that was clamped down tight. Then, he mixed and poured concrete over it. I got to mix some of the concrete! I had never done that before and Tom showed us how to get the right consistency. The farm uses concrete for various purposes and they keep it around. Once the concrete had dried, he put it into the oven to bake it. The wax melts and the foundation imprints into the concrete. His design is two sides of concrete with a hinge so that new foundation can be pressed into it. Pretty neat!
Template holder:
 Cody placing the wax foundation carefully on one side (it has to line up):
 Mixing concrete:
 Pouring the concrete in and pushing it into the template by hand:

I didn't get to see the baking of the concrete becuase I was at the beach helping to move rocks. Hard, hard work. We moved tons of rocks of all sizes all the way from pebbles to giant boulders. Kwao used a pole to move and hold the really big boulders. We did it in order to clean up the beach and make it more enjoyable. It was pretty rocky before and hard to sit down on the beach and be comfortable. So far so good but it will need more work.
Me picking up rocks at the beach:

I left in the middle of work in order to visit Annotto Bay. There were others that were going for ice-cream and invited me becuase I had never been. The ice-cream was delicious and we visited the supermarket as well. Fun, fun, fun.
Pictures from the drive: