New Hope Cuisine

At the Table Matters meeting on Friday, I arrived late and could only make it to one table. I chose to go to the New Hope Cuisine table and was truly inspired. I have always considered it a disgusting crime that we throw out tons of "unsatisfactory" food in grocery stores. Things such as a cake with a crack in it that nobody will buy, are being thrown out into landfills. What New Hope is doing, is taking all that food and creating frozen gourmet meals and soups from rescued foods. Whole foods is their main supplier however they are trying to get other businesses to partner up with them. At the moment Costco and Safeway are refusing to do so. In our discussion on how to get people to buy these delicious meals ( the lemon and apple chicken was all rescued food), I suggested making a Facebook page for the meals. When I think about advertising these days, the majority of it is done through technology (TV, computers, radio) and youth are a great target for these meals. University kids are always busy and may not always have the time to make themselves a good meal so New Hope would be perfect! When Scott, the Executive Chef and Instructor said that he is not at all technology savvy, I mentioned that Rockridge (I believe West Van and Sentinel too) have a program called Work Experience where there would likely be people willing to volunteer to help with creating an online area for the New Hope Cuisine. I took an extra one of his business cards and plan on talking with one of the Work Experience teachers about the idea. I hope it works out because what Scott and his team are doing is amazing.

Colony Collapse Disorder

The response for this subject will be late because of the 14 holds on one copy of the film at VPL.

Week 7

This week I spent 20 minutes composting at school and 45 minutes cleaning up dead plants in the gardens and planning out next years crops.

Identifying and Treating Varroa

Interesting elements from Varroa Mite History, Distribution, and Biology video:

• Compared to the size of the host (bee), varroa mites are one of the largest parasites on the planet, like a basketball sized tick on a human.... scary
• Natural parasite to an Asian species of honey bee, not American
• Varroa Mites have a special apparatus they stick out of the Royal jelly to breath when they are waiting for the larva to be covered

Next time I'm in the apiary I will look for any bees with deformed wings, to make sure they are not carrying deform wing virus.

Questions:

What other viruses can varroa mites transmit to honey bees?

What is the most effective way to get rid of varroa mites?

Identifying Nosema

Interesting facts from Nosema Disease Diagnosis and Control:

• Spore explosively uncoils when it hits the bee's gut and passed from bee to bee through feces
• Disease increases when bees cannot leave hive for cleansing flight
• sample size is as big as 100 bees

Questions

• What are the best conditions for nosema to thrive?
• Why must dead bees be soaked in alcohol longer than live bees?

Next time I'm in the apiary I will look for feces in the hive to see if they are taking cleansing flights or not.

Common Bee Diseases

Interesting elements from Beekeeping Made Easy: Pest/Disease Program:

• Three types of brood, however all very different, only AFB means burn everything
• Nosema and paralysis is only found in adult bees
• Small hive beetles prefer queenless hives

Next time I'm in the apiary I will look to see if there are any signs of brood (any of the three kinds)

Questions from this reading:

• What is it about vegetable oil that blocks the sent that attracts tracheal mites?
• Why are animals such as squirrels able to mess with hives without being stung or effected by stings?

Week 6

This week I did 15 minutes of composting at school and 20 minutes of gardening at home. I ended up falling off a horse and bruising my hand and hip, which made it difficult to garden so I did not get my whole hour in.