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01 August 2010
Photo Recap of Sunday Work Party, August 1
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23 July 2010
The staff and community at Hayes Valley Farm wishes to thank all of those who have shared their sympathy and offered support over the attack on our honey bees. If you would like to help us rebuild, here are the ways which you can help.
New Hives: To help us bring honey bees back to the site, please make a donation by visiting the "Support" section of our website and click on the "Donate" page. To earmark your donation toward bees, please be sure to enter "Bees" in in the box next to "This donation is in honor of". If you would like to contribute to the general descretionary fund, please enter 'Hayes Valley Farm" in the aforementioned box, or Hayes Valley Farm will not receive your funds.
Additional help wanted: If you are in the security industry and are willing to provide advice, personnel or hardware to help us deter future violence against the honey bees, please contact us at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
Additional supplies wanted: If you have extra beekeeping suits, hive boxes in good condition, unused frames, other beekeeping tools or supplies you would like to donate for SFBC's use, contact us at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
To our neighbors and volunteers, if you have concerns about the beekeeping program at the Farm, beekeeping in the community, or anything else related to the bees, we want to hear you. Please don't remain silent. Feel free to send your comments or inquiries to This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it . Please understand we are overwhelmed by the outpouring of responses at this time, so it may take a few days to respond.
If you wish to help prevent senseless acts of violence against honey bees, dispel unwarranted fears and increase public understanding and appreciation of honey bees, become a "honey bee ambassador" by educating yourself and others. Read up on honey bees on the Internet or in books, learn to distinguish honey bees from wasps, talk to beekeepers, take one of our honey bee or beekeeping classes at the farm or take such a class offered elsewhere.
Join us for Honey Bee Basics on Sunday, August 1 at 10am and Honey Bees for Kids on Sunday, August 1 at 1pm.
Karen Peteros, Head Beekeeper at Hayes Valley Farm. Photo by Booka Alon, July 22, 2010
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21 July 2010
Sometime between the late afternoons of Monday July 19 and Tuesday July 20, an unknown person(s) intentionally sprayed pesticide into the entrances and ventilation holes of the two San Francisco Bee-Cause (SFBC) honey bee colonies at HVF. The same person(s) tried to do the same to a third, smaller colony on site, belonging to Chris Burley.
The killing of the two mature SFBC colonies was complete. The thousands of bees that died immediately or rushed to the entrance for fresh air fell onto the screened bottom board and clogged up the entrance to the hive, making escape impossible for any of the other bees and turning each hive into a gas chamber. Chris Burley’s colony sustained a loss of approximately 60-70% of its individuals.
The distinct scent of household pesticide could be smelled around the entrance and ventilation holes of the SFBC hives, and around the piles of dead bees. A sample of the residue from around the ventilation holes and a sampling of the dead bees have been preserved for analysis. A police report has been filed.
Each colony was healthy and thriving at HVF, and likely consisted of 60,000-100,000 individuals. Each was well on her way to producing 20-30 medium frames of honey that we planned to sell to support the work of SFBC. The honey was to be extracted during a HVF Honey Extraction class to take place on August 1st and another to be scheduled for September/October. We will proceed with the Honey Extraction class on August 1st but we will extract honey produced by SFBC’s Alemany Farm hives.
When considering the replacement cost of the equipment and hive contents which must be discarded, the market value of the thriving colonies, as well as the market value of the honey in the hives and to be produced by the colonies into October, the economic loss is in the range of $1,000 per hive.
Beyond the economic loss, however, is the emotional loss and the loss of educational opportunity the hives were to provide at HVF.
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14 July 2010
"Ah! You don't know what these beans are," said the man; "They’re magical. If you plant them over-night, by morning they grow right up to the sky." —Jack and the Beanstalk
On Farm Film Night this Tuesday, we will celebrate our coevolution with plants by screening The Botany of Desire. Based on the book by Michael Pollan, the film explores the power dynamic between plants and people, as well as what plants reveal about human desire. If tulips have tamed us with their beauty, I would argue that the fava bean illustrates our desire to attain prosperity.
Berms of fava, buzzing bees, volunteers leaving with bags full of beans: Hayes Valley Farm has been prey to fava fever during the last few months. The fava bean has been stamped into my mind and settled into my stomach. But what do all these favas mean? How does our relationship to them on the farm relate to their longer history with us?
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14 July 2010
"Borage, White," Photo by Zoey Kroll, March 22, 2008
B Is for Borage: Edible Flower for Courage
B is for borage, a much loved plant, not only for its lovely action on the adrenals, but for its beauty and value in the garden. For the past two years, I’ve harvested borage from the garden, dried it on a rack in a dark, dry room, and the bottled it in a jar for use in tea. I use all the arial parts of the plant: the flowers, stem, and leaves. This is good medicine for grief and depression, especially when it’s come from overtaxed adrenals—basically exhaustion. Anne McIntyre notes that borage is especially good when the adrenals are compromised from the use of steroids.
READ MORE AT BITTER PATTERN...
Alphabet Garden: Pick a Letter and Plant with Us!
Initiated by Edible Office eco-superhero Zoey Kroll, the Alphabet Garden is an open collaboration celebrating garden actions from A-to-Z. Each week we will focus on two letters of the alphabet. We'll have a planting and picnic party on 10/10/10, the day of 350.org's Global Work Party. Everyone is welcome to participate in the project by picking a letter of the alphabet and doing an interpretive planting, cooking, homesteading, or creative action. Learn more, participate, follow, and share at Flickr, Tumblr, and 350.org. Stay tuned for more about this exciting project!
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Over a thousand volunteers, neighbors, and community members have helped coordinate the farm efforts.