Looking Ahead to What 2024 Will Bring for Suburban Sodbuster

[@EastxWestFarms]

Three major projects for us this year: expand the vegetable garden, expand our swale and berm system, get bees. And then there’s all the other stuff to take care of.

[@SuburbanSodbuster]

Yay, bees! 😁🐝

[@bradgoliphant]

Moving my hives to a new community garden which I will partly manage and we are starting a garden and planting lots of African Blue Basil-a bee magnet!

[@SuburbanSodbuster]

That community garden sounds like a great project!

[@ryanarmstrong6056]

When we started a Back to Eden garden at our old place in Ste Genevieve county, it didn’t hit its stride until year 3. The first year was a struggle. I picked up 5 swarm traps and 2 hives from Dr Leo last week. Hoping I can start my apiary this spring.

[@SuburbanSodbuster]

I do anticipate that it'll take some time for the method to reap benefits. That might set back my "market garden" plans a bit, but I'm flexible. I've been trying to improve the underlying soil with compost for the last couple years, so hopefully that'll give a bit of help, and I've been trying to learn from the mistakes of those for whom BtE hasn't worked. It'll be an interesting experiment, in any case. Best of luck for your own hives - I hope swarm trapping goes well for you.

[@willguitar7]

Great to see the things you're doing on your homestead in 2024! Look forward to seeing your Layens hive offerings. Best to you!

[@SuburbanSodbuster]

I'm looking forward to having the Layens products available online and at the homestead expos. Right now I'm still trying to convince myself that I can do it all. 😆

[@ConnieKelly-hp6be]

I am a first year beekeeper! I’ve gotten my hives from Dr Leo and I’ve ordered my bees so the adventure begins!

[@SuburbanSodbuster]

I wish you good fortune with your hives this year! Are you also planning to put up any swarm traps? If the bees you ordered are coming from somewhere other than your local area, you might find that caught swarms will have greater resilience.

[@ConnieKelly-hp6be]

I’m going to put up one swarm trap. Not very high as I’m disabled! But, yes, the bees I have ordered comes from my local area. Dr Leo stressed that on many of his videos.@@SuburbanSodbuster

[@steverasmussen637]

ok thanks

[@curly-hairedcountrygal1275]

Stump hive!! Awesome! Ooh and Back to Eden method! So many exciting things!!! And speaking at Ozarks Homesteading Expo--- yay!!!

[@SuburbanSodbuster]

I've wanted to get to that stump since the tree was cut down, but it's always been a low priority goal. In the garden I've been critical of Back to Eden, mainly due to the reports of those for whom it didn't work. But further study and the positive experience of some friends has made me realize it can work very well when done right. I may not do it perfectly but I'm willing to give it a try. And I'm very excited about the Expo! I had resigned myself to being satisfied that, this year, I'd sign up as a vendor and maybe speak in the future. So I was thrilled the day I got the email saying that I'd been accepted as a speaker.

[@noureddinemekdad6705]

From Algeria🎈🎈🎈

[@lambbrookfarm4528]

I have done a lot of woodchip/winecap mushroom beds. Many plants benefit from association with Winecaps. It's about the fastest way to turn 70% hardwood chips into humus that I know, and you get delicious mushrooms. Thanks for posting, Montie, indeed, happy new year, I'm looking forward to expanding as well.

[@SuburbanSodbuster]

I've been thinking about growing mushrooms; I'll need to look into this. Do you spread the winecap spores into the woodchip mulch around your other plants?

[@lambbrookfarm4528]

@@SuburbanSodbuster They can be spread by spores, inoculated; woodchips, saw dust, wood pegs, or cardboard. The fastest way to propagate them is with stem butts, the base of the stalk with some ' rooty' mycelium attached.

[@lambbrookfarm4528]

this video may helpkzbin.info/www/bejne/hGSni4loZ62Jm6Msi=bsErqZfsTWMi14Pd,@@SuburbanSodbuster

[@huckleberry4487]

Sounds like an exciting year. I'll be trying some new things that will tie in to some of the other things I'm already doing. Are you planning on meat birds or egg production? My favorite layers are golden comets, but they're also great foragers so they do better free range.

[@SuburbanSodbuster]

I'm focusing on egg production right now, along with harvesting the litter to supplement my compost. Going completely free-range isn't an option for me due to plentiful hawks in our area, but I do hope to implement some sort of rotational system (chicken tractor, moveable runs, etc.) to let the chickens work through the garden soil after harvest.

[@daleorthman]

Put your seat belt on professor Sodbuster!!! Your in for a busy year... I am curious on how you plan to build your Layens compared to Dr. Leo's. I personally don't like plywood and would like to see solid wood but that is just me and I understand shipping costs are an issue for weight and moving them around as well.

[@SuburbanSodbuster]

At first the hives will be generally based on the insulated hive plans, with some additions I have in mind. I do have some ideas for changes/additional features but I'm not sure how soon I'll be able to test those.

[@ThomasKMills]

👍have you ever considered queen rearing. Would like to try that myself

[@SuburbanSodbuster]

I've considered it, but it's probably not something I'll pursue in earnest this year. I do intend to be more proactive in harvesting excess queen cells for splits as I grow the apiary this year.

[@steverasmussen637]

do you need to have a permit to keep bees in the suburbs and how much do you charge for mentoring

[@SuburbanSodbuster]

Where I live is an unincorporated part of my county, so I have no municipal restrictions and the county has no permit requirements. About 1/2 mile away I'd be in a municipality where I'd be required to get a permit each year, so I'm fortunate. I've also found no county limit on how many hives I can have, but I don't want to be the reason they impose limits, nor do I want to exceed the carrying capacity of my area or become a nuisance to my neighbors. As for mentoring, I don't offer it as a paid service right now. I'm torn between a philosophical conviction that mentoring shouldn't be a "for-profit" venture, but also recognizing that time is valuable and mine is limited. For the mentoring I mentioned in the video, I've found some interested parties and will be walking through the process of helping them get started with bees this year. As a pilot program, that process should help me to determine if and how I'll offer mentoring in the future.

[@steverasmussen637]

how long is the mentoring last i live in Kansas city and do you have any openings left@@SuburbanSodbuster

[@SuburbanSodbuster]

@@steverasmussen637 this year I plan to work with one family, helping them to get started keeping bees on their homestead. This is expected to go over the course of the year to help them through the entire season while chronicling the process on this channel. If I mentioned mentoring projects (plural) in the video that was optimism, possibly beyond what I can manage. With many expected changes this year I'm purposefully trying not to take on too much. I really don't know what my mentoring plans might look like next year. I'm on the opposite side of the state from you, so in-person mentoring would be very difficult.

[@StephenMoore-u7g]

How do you feed bees and do treatments in Layens Hives?

[@SuburbanSodbuster]

I only feed if necessary to help weak colonies, like late-season swarms, in the fall. When I do I use frame feeders. I don't treat at all; instead I keep local bees from feral sources and propagate from my strongest colonies.

[@jamesbarron1202]

Have you experimented with the OA Sponges? There was a beekeeper on Bob Binnies channel recently who’s been testing Randy’s sponges and he said he was going to give a lecture at the beekeeper conference on his results. I’d like to know what he said.

[@SuburbanSodbuster]

No, I don't use any treatments.

[@toddhill8543]

Question for you not relevant to this video. Draught was pretty bad this year and of course this was the year i split my hives a few times went from 8 hives to 20. that being said they didn't have a lot of stores in fact i didnt really get any honey from them this year. I just did a drive by the hives all but 1 looks alive but am wondering if I should break the seal and look into the hive and see what kind of stores they have left what do you think?

[@SuburbanSodbuster]

It wouldn't hurt to open them to see how things are, even if just to pacify your concerns. I have a few hives I plan to open this Thursday, when temps reach 60, to see their status.

[@haroldmarsh5156]

When and Where is the OKI fest

[@SuburbanSodbuster]

This year's Okie Homesteading Expo was March 22-23 at Pryor, OK. For future events, follow their FB at facebook.com/okiehomesteading or visit their website: www.okiehomesteading.com.