We have just delivered a fresh batch of our medicinal soaps to Vance Vernon Pharmacy in Punta Gorda. You will find Copal Medicinal Soap for treatment of rash, itch and insect bites:
Copal Medicinal Soap.
There is also Jackass Bitters and Neem Soap which is indicated for sensitive and irritated skin.
Neem and Jackass Bitters Soap.
You will also find our popular White Pitahaya Soap which is a facial soap recommended for acne (here, they call it “bumps”) and oily skin.
White Pitahaya Soap.
If you do not live in Punta Gorda we can post within the country and internationally. Check out The Apothecary section of our website for more details.
Here are some pictures of “animals in action” on our farm. First of all, I would like to say that our cat is back on track after his traumatic event. He rather enjoyed being fed three times a day and the intensive heavy petting. No more nightmares for Kitty and by the way, he is sleeping well. This is the cat “not in action.”
Doing Well.
Tarantula in the house…this one might actually be a resident but we don’t mind because he does the night shift so only comes out after dark. I used to be terrified of spiders when I lived in Scotland (and they were tiny compared to the ones here). Anyway, I actually think that the furriness makes the tarantula look cute and cuddly.
And, of course, our beloved piggies residing at the famous gated community of Paradise Pastures are doing their piggie thing…eating. The population is now 15 with 4 expecting mothers. The maternity wing is ready to receive them! A few days ago, Mayor Gnome presented each of them with a gift of a personal wax apple. They were very happy but somewhat confused over personal ownership and so they ended up playing a popular piggie game called “snatch and grab.”
Three Piggies Eating One Apple.
Doing a photo shoot with guinea pigs is actually really difficult because they tend to be camera-shy. As soon as they see a camera pointing at them they usually scurry off into the corners. So, you have to realise that I took about 30 camera clicks to get these photos. I have to say that Stumpy (the Grandmother of all the piggies so-called because she has one stumped leg due to an unfortunate accident in the past) is a real champion with photos because she has bilateral cataracts so she can’t spot the camera. She’s a real natural, very photogenic:
Grandma Stumpy on the right. What a Cutey!
Another piggie picture:
Guinea Pigs Eating Wax Apples.
This is a huge caterpillar (the size of a finger) feasting on our fig plant. We eventually had to flick it off because it ate up all the foliage.
Bird Shit Caterpillar.
And, last but not least. This frog jumped onto Gnome’s shoulder and promptly fell asleep.
Froggie on Shoulder.
Gnome is much loved by the frog community for continuing the breeding program in various buckets of water on the farm.
Ground-breaking News in the world of Stingless-bee Beekeeping: Today was a good day to check on the bees. Unfortunately my last transfer was not successful (bringing my success rate to a ridiculous 50%) and it was time to clean the dead hive and make some improvements for another transfer.
Dead Brood Comb in the Brood Chamber.Dead, Rotting Brood Removed.
After cleaning and disinfecting the hive I added some improvements to deal with the cause(s) of this problem: parasitic fly and too much space. Number One: Seal the hive with beeswax. No excuse for this really…it has been laziness on my part.
Sealing up the Hive Parts with Beeswax.
And Number Two: Bypass the honey pot chamber for three to six months (maybe longer) until the bees have completely taken over the brood chamber using blocks of wood that fit together in such a way that they only leave a small passage through the honey chamber.
Blocks of Wood Bypassing the Honey Chamber.
To commemorate this simple hive, I have called it the Gnome Mark III Stingless-bee Bee Hive. The previous UTOB Hive ended up having two established colonies (again), one in the honey chamber and one in the brood chamber.
Brood in the Honey Chamber (again).
This is what I transferred into the new GM III hive today.
About a week ago, I opened up my stingless-bee, bee-hives to check up on the little darlings and discovered that in one of the hives the bees had started to build brood comb in the honey pot storage area. When I saw it, it was about half the size seen in the photo below. It doubled in size in a week!
Brood Being Built in the wrong place. This is where honey is supposed to be stored!
Out of curiosity, I got in closer to have a goosie:
Brood Comb Being extended with honey and pollen pots visible in the periphery.
It would appear that the bees have built an auxiliary brood area with new queen and everything in the middle of the honey chamber, co-existent with the original brood in the brood chamber with its own queen; so, two hives in one. I hypothesise that this is due to the depth of the honey chamber (which is currently set at 2 3/4 inches). The honey pots are about 1 inch tall so it is obvious that there is plenty of volume for a “nest” of brood comb even over a layer of honey pots.
I decided to test this hypothesis by reducing the depth of the honey chamber to 1 1/4 inches. Here is the new hive, which I have called the Gnome Mark II Modified UTOB Hive:
The New and Improved Gnome Mark II Modified UTOB Hive.
Compared to the original UTOB Hive:
Original UTOB Hive.
I admit, not a Mind-Boggling Difference but putting it together in Dry Season Super Heat Time made me feel like it was something amazing and deserving of its own name!
Anyway, I took the “extra” brood out and put it in the brood chamber of the new hive:
Transferring Brood from the Old Hive.
…Into the new hive:
Brood Placed in the New Hive.
Here’s another shot after more brood was moved over:
All the Brood Moved to the New Brood Chamber.
And that was that, all the hives were sealed up and put into their places. Now it is time to wait another month or so before checking on them again…
Let’s start with the bees since I’m really excited about them. Looks like they have been busy little…well, bees…they’ve started building their entrance tube…
Bees Working on Their Entrance Tube.
Sorry about the pics, you can tell I really can’t take pictures to save my life!
Anyway, about tobacco. Last I talked about it, I didn’t know whether it was going to dry properly but fortunately the weather has cooperated and I managed to get almost all of it in a condition to proceed with curing.
After it turns brown, I make a mixture of honey, water and my chocolate essential oil which is then put into a spray bottle and sprayed onto the dried leaves. I had a photo of this but all you could see was my big hands…The sugar in the honey helps the leaves stay moist but allows them to dry without being brittle (in the finished product).
What I do next is stuff everything into a three inch PVC pipe fitted with wooden blocks and use a stick to stomp all the leaves in, like so…
Filling Up Tube With Tobacco Leaves.
After all this has been done, I get my 20 ton jack, go under the house and do this…
Applying Pressure to the Tobacco Leaves.
Everyday, I increase the pressure until the leaves cannot be compressed anymore. The leaves will continue to ferment and develop all of those wonderful aromas that nicotine addicts love, especially since extra chocolate oil was added.
And then…you keep this whole setup going for six months to a year before it is done…it turns out to be a very good way to stop smoking tobacco, afterall, surely you can’t still be physically addicted to nicotine after six months to a year!!
I had a colony of stingless bees living in my electricity breaker box; needless to say, not the best place for them…
Wild Bee Hive in Breaker Box.
The first thing was to remove the wax surrounding the brood chamber…
Brood Comb Exposed.
I then had to carefully pry all those combs out in out in one piece trying not to damage anything as much as possible. I then carefully halved the comb (since I made two hives) and put them in their new brood chambers…
Half of the Brood Combs Gently Placed in Each Hive.
The covers were then all sealed up and the hives moved closer to the house for protection and observation.
This was also the first time we tried stingless bee honey. It was delicious; sweet but more watery than normal honey and with a truly intense floral aroma. It was like drinking liquid flowers. We also tried some of the pollen and the only word I can think of to describe it is amazing.
Unlike the bees we are familiar with, the honey and pollen is stored in pots…
Stingless Bee Honey and Pollen Pots.
Here’s a closer look without my grimy paws in the way…
Honey and Pollen Pots.
I’ve spent the whole morning looking at my new friends and they are starting to zoom in and out of their new homes, making it nice and comfy for themselves.
I can’t wait to build more hives!!!
I hope you are having as wonderful a day as I am!!
I think our local stingless bees are really cute, the species I have nesting in one of my old tool boxes is Tetragonisca angustula…
Tetragonista angustula in one of my old toolboxes.
They are nice and friendly and you don’t need any fancy beekeeping equipment since they don’t sting. It seems like a better start to beekeeping to me than going for Africanized Bees.
They don’t make much honey apparently, only about 1kg a year but what they do make is supposed to be very medicinal…which is right up my alley. They are also good pollinators for assorted crops.
Anyway, the point of all of this is that I made a couple of beehives in order to get this project underway…
Finished Hive.
Yeah, I know, it doesn’t look like much and I suck at taking photographs (but I am better at stitching up your face with some 7/0 prolene, thankfully…sorry doctor joke!).
We have just delivered a fresh batch of our medicinal soaps to Vance Vernon Pharmacy in Punta Gorda. You will find Copal Medicinal Soap for treatment of rash, itch and insect bites:
