Modesto, Calif., (February 12, 2018) – As bloom season arrives, growers, pesticide applicators and beekeepers are reminded to utilize spray application best practices for the protection of bees. Below are important reminders.
Tips for beekeepers, growers and applicators:
Constant communication between the beekeeper, grower and applicator is crucial in ensuring the safety of bees during pesticide applications. Regardless of routine applications, hives may be repositioned without notice to nearby growers.
Prior to positioning hives for pollination, brokers/beekeepers are required to register their hive location(s) with the Fresno County Department of Agriculture. Optionally, a beekeeper may elect to receive notification that allows local growers and applicators to check for beehives within a one-mile radius of the orchard. Forms can be downloadedhere.
Before spraying pesticides that may be harmful to bees, growers/applicators must file a “Bee Clearance” request with the Fresno County Agricultural Commissioner’s office. The “Bee Clearance” request will be considered binding after the requested party receives a complete bee clearance response. Growers/applicators will be made aware of nearby hive locations and be provided with corresponding beekeeper contact information. Growers/applicators must notify beekeepers prior to pesticide applications. The “Bee Clearance” request form can be downloadedhere. Growers/applicators may also contact the Ag Commissioner’s office at 559-600-7510 for immediate assistance.
To be safe, growers/applicators should spay pesticides at night and as the label states to ensure chemical drying time prior to daylight/temperature when bees begin to forage. If this is not plausible, consider tarping the hives (with beekeeper’s permission) to keep bees inside until the chemical has dried.
If there is not enough bloom in your orchard or clean water to feed the number of bees present, make sure that the beekeeper feeds them so that they remain close to their hives. Bees will travel up to two miles if forced to find food. Nearby orchards, regardless of specie, will attract foraging bees.
Additionally, blooming weeds near or on the orchard floor will attract bees to forage. Growers/applicators should consider this prior to pesticide applications.
Lastly, growers/applicators should verify the contracted number of frames provided by beekeepers for a baseline strength of the hives upon arrival. This information is crucial to growers/applicators if contamination occurs.
For additional resources, visit the Almond Board of California’s “Honey Bee Best Management Practices for California Almonds” guidelines at www.almonds.com/pollination.
Point Reyes Station, Calif., (September 6, 2017) – Gordon Hull used to be a geologist. It was the mid-90’s, and he was working for a government agency in Seattle. Hull had an affinity for beer and his home brewing hobby quickly turned into a passion. He applied for an apprenticeship with the American Brewer’s Guild, and took a 10 week leave of absence to better his home brew skills.
Gordon Hull, founder of Heidrun Meadery.
At the end of the course, Hull was surprised to get an offer to become a professional brewer. He quit his job as a geologist and moved to Humboldt to work for a commercial brewery. Hull realized he had an entrepreneurial spirit and was interested in starting his own business, but at the time there were breweries popping up all over and the competitive market made the timing wrong.
“At the time I was considering all of this, I happened to be experimenting with fermenting honey,” said Hull. “I’d tasted a number of traditional meads and they didn’t really appeal to me. I’ve always thought honey is such a beautiful substance; there should be a wine that reflects the character of the honey better than what I was tasting in medieval style meads.
“Because I don’t care much for sweet wines, I decided I would try and make a honey wine that’s not sweet. Because I like beer, I thought I’d put bubbles in it and make it sparkling. I produced a batch of mead this way, and was surprised and delighted by the outcome. It was quite refreshing and delicious, and I would drink it myself. If I was interested in it, I thought others might be.”
Hull started experimenting with his recipe and developing it more. He found if he used honey from different sources, he would get a different flavor of wine. For instance, a mead produced from orange blossom nectar produced a different flavor than if he used sage honey. Hull was fascinated by the fact that honey varieties are like grape varietals. Hull said that if he fermented out all the sugar in the honey, he would end up with a distinct character and found there was a very broad spectrum of flavors just like grape varietals.
“That excited me, maybe even more than making beer. There are so many people out there making great beer, I thought maybe I should try the path less traveled and consider opening a meadery.”
Hull spent the next two years developing a recipe, business plan and finding a location. He opened his meadery in Arcata in 1997 and produced his first batch in 1998. He described Heidrun Meadery, named after Norse mythology, as a one man show for 15 years. Hull had been making deliveries to San Francisco for more than 10 years and was tired of the commute, and coupled with getting married, he realized he was outgrowing the facility.
Hull said he also saw a need to develop the business further – there was more to it than just producing mead. “If I wanted to encompass everything that honey wine is about,” said Hull, “I needed to start a beekeeping operation – just like winemakers want to grow their own grapes. If I was going to start a beekeeping operation, I should also grow my own plants that the bees feed off of in order to produce honey. By doing so, I would be encapsulating the entire ecology of meadmaking in one place.”
Hull started looking for farms, something that could encompass both his business and his growing family. Hull and his wife Jeffra currently have two children Matilda, 9, and Penelope, 6.
Hull began looking south of Arcata where honeybees prefer the climate and the habitat. He found a farm in Marin County in Pt. Reyes Station. The farm was previously a dairy and had all the existing structures they would need. It was located close to their primary market in San Francisco to help facilitate distribution as well as welcome customers. It’s location along the Highway 1 corridor already offered a flow of visitors and Hull said his business fit into the community well. His wines pair well with many other farm products from the area, particularly cheese and oysters.
While the farm provides the perfect opportunity for customers to taste mead, it also allows them to see the flowers that feed the bees who are producing the honey which is making the mead. Visitors can see the whole ecological cycle in one place.
The four years after they purchased the property were spent getting permits and making minor changes to the infrastructure to better accommodate their business. Following this, they opened their doors, tentatively at first, to the public in 2011.
Former Dairy now used as meadery.
Heidrun Meadery now employs five people including Jordan Uth, a horticulturalist who manages all the farming aspects of the property and the greenhouse. She also cultivates flowers to sell to local floral shops, restaurants and weddings.
Heidrun’s sales director, Carly Sheriff, manages mead sales as well as the tasting room and its two staff members. Jay Uth, Jordan’s husband, holds a full time cellar position and is responsible for bottling and packaging the mead.
The company contracts two beekeepers who manage over 100 colonies for Hull, one dozen of which are on the farm. They have eight different apiaries within a 30 mile radius of the farm.
Hull is experimenting with micro-terroir of the different apiaries. He’s currently made mead from two spots, but plans to make more in the upcoming year. He has faced several beekeeping challenges as he set up his business but said he’s overcome most of them and feels confident that he’ll be able to make more varieties of mead from his own bees.
Hull still serves as the company’s meadmaker and is currently making six varietals, sourcing honey from all around the country. In the past he’s purchased honey from Oregon, Arizona and Hawaii to make several distinct flavors.
Honey comprises about 1/5 of every bottle, with Hull using a 1:4 ratio of honey to water. The mead process starts with melting the honey for one week at 105°F. The specific temperature is necessary to keep the honey from getting too hot which can volatilize the flavors.
Hull describes his mead process as a hybrid between beer brewing and champagne production.
The brewing part of the process comes first when the honey is blended with water. It’s boiled for 15 minutes to sanitize, but also so it doesn’t have to be filtered later in the process.
The mixture is then transferred to fermentation tanks where yeast is added and primary fermentation occurs for one week.
The mead then rests for one month until it is clarified sufficiently to bottle. It’s bottled in wine bottles with beer tops that don’t allow the CO2 to escape which gives it a champagne pop. The mead sits for two months while it clarifies at which point it is ready to drink with the exception of the sediment that has to be removed.
At this point, the bottles are placed in a riddling rack for two weeks and turned every day. Hull has recently invested in a large machine to mechanize and speed up this process. They are then placed in cold glycol which freezes the sediment that is easily popped out by pressure when the cap is removed.
The bottle is then fitted with a cork and hood, washed, labeled, foiled and cased.
The mead is distributed around the Bay Area, including many Whole Foods locations. Hull said changing people’s buying habits for wine isn’t an easy task, especially with a product that isn’t well known. However, Hull said that if people can visit the farm, have the experience and taste the mead, he’s confident he can change their choices.
Hull said many people who have tried mead in the past have not liked it, and he understands their suspicion. Yet, he emphasizes that his meads are a departure from traditional meads – they are light, dry and refreshing. As far as he knows, he’s the only producer of naturally sparkling mead in the world.
Heidrun Meadery produces about 3,000 cases per year, and they always sell out. He plans to increase that 20% over the coming year.
Hull said developing a business has taken a lot of resources, and he is concentrating on staying a family run business and focusing on the customer experience. His primary objective always has been and still is to make the best possible mead.
The farm’s visitors are often seasonal, with the majority of visitors coming during the summer months. The farm is kid friendly, and Hull said they welcome families. It’s a place where both adults and children can come to have fun.
“I feel very good about the connection we have to botany and apiculture. We have a lot to teach visitors, but it also helps us to help people understand. Most people understand where honey comes from, but if they can connect the bee with mead, we’re doing our job,” said Hull.
Sacramento, Calif., (August 1, 2017) – The weather last week was hot and dry across the State. The summer monsoon across the southwest desert helped trigger some showers across the deserts last week, while additional pockets of moisture found their way into the Sierras and managed to produce a few scattered showers throughout the week. Rainfall was limited to Monday through Thursday across the interior deserts and parts of the central and northern Sierras. A few monsoon showers and thunderstorms dropped up to half an inch of rain in places across the desert, with most areas receiving around a tenth of an inch. A stray thunderstorm near Alturas in the northeastern corner of the State dropped nearly half an inch of rain. Snow cover continued to dissipate across the State; however, some areas of the Lassen Volcanic National Park still had nearly ten feet of snow in some areas.
Temperature highs were in the 60s to 80s along the coast, 70s to 90s in the mountains, 90s to 100s, in the valley, and 90s to 110s in the desert. Temperature lows were in the 30s to 50s in the mountains, 50s to 60s along the coast, 60s to 70s in the valley, and 60s to 80s in the desert.
Wheat was harvested for grain and shaft baled for straw. Alfalfa fields were being irrigated, cut, and baled. Corn and sorghum for silage were cultivated and irrigated. The corn silage crop was in various stages of development, from already tasseling to developing ears. Cotton continued to be irrigated, cultivated, and was growing well. Cotton was blooming and forming bolls. Black-eyed beans continued to be irrigated and cultivated.
Mid-season peach, nectarine, pluot, and plum harvest continued. Some harvested stone fruit orchards were pruned and topped. Table grapes were harvested and vineyards irrigated. Wine grapes were maturing well. Valencia orange harvest continued but was winding down due to high temperatures and fruit availability.
Walnut, almond, and pistachio orchards continued to be irrigated. Mechanical and chemical weed control continued in orchards. Harvest preparation was underway in almond orchards. Almond harvest began in the warmer regions of Kern County. Pistachios were beginning to split. Navel Orange Worm sprays and fertilizers were applied to pistachios. Walnuts were sizing well.
In Colusa County, triple digit heat impacted the harvest of vegetables, including processing tomatoes and honeydew melons. The processing tomato harvest was somewhat erratic, interrupting the smooth flow of ripe tomatoes to the canneries. The melon packing sheds were affected by the inconsistent flow of fruit. In San Joaquin County, harvest was ongoing for honeydew melons, watermelons, cantaloupes, onions, and fresh vegetable crops. Farmers’ Market vegetables continued to be harvested and offered for sale. In Monterey County, mid-year harvest and production slowed for two weeks. It was expected to pick back up with more harvesting and preparation for the third or last rotation of the year. All commodities, lettuces, brassicas, and spinach were in production. Asparagus was finished and artichokes will pick up again in August. In Fresno County, harvest continued for both organic and conventional tomatoes with lower yields than expected. Quality was reported as very good. Onions, carrots, and lettuce seed were harvested. Soil was prepared for yellow peppers. In Tulare County, tomatoes, cucumbers, squash, and peppers were picked by certified producers and sold at the local Farmers’ Markets. Yellow squash, zucchini, eggplant, Bell peppers, green chili peppers, and cucumbers were harvested and shipped domestically. Sweet corn harvest continued and was sold at roadside stands and local Farmers’ Markets. Melons were irrigated and prepared for the upcoming harvest. In Kings County, the tomato harvest continued with a decent harvest reported. Tomatoes were sprayed with fungicide and pesticide.
The decline in nutritional quality of rangeland grasses and forbs continued. Range and dryland pasture conditions across the state were reported as fair to very poor. Wildland fires burned some north state pastures and ranges. Elevated temperatures continued to impact milk production. Bees were active in melon and sunflower fields.
Come join us to learn about the benefits cover crops can provide for your orchard!
This collaborative field day hosted by Project Apis m. and Kamprath Seeds will demonstrate how cover crops can improve soil health while improving the health and vitality of bees. Expert speakers from the grower and beekeeping community will be presenting information on:
Seeds for Bees free seed program
Frost and organic matter management during harvest
Concerns about cover crops competing with almond bloom
Sacramento, Calif., (February 1, 2017) – The stopping of the Pineapple Express coupled with a retreat of the persistent upper-level trough that has been present over the western region for the last couple of months produced a week of warmer and drier conditions.
Temperature highs were in the 10s to 40s in the mountains, 40s to 50s in the valley, 40s to 60s along the northern coast and deserts, and 70s to 80s along the southern coast. The temperature lows were in the -10s to 20s in the mountains, 20s to 30s in the valley, 20s to 40s in the desert, and 30s along the northern coast and 40s along the southern coast.
Widespread showers fell on most of the state on Monday, with the heaviest rains seen in the San Diego area, where over one inch fell. Most other areas received less than a quarter of an inch of rain. Snow fell in the mountains, with the greatest accumulations in the 4-8 inch range in the area just southwest of Tahoe and also in parts of the southern Sierras. Tuesday and Wednesday continued to bring limited showers in certain areas, particularly the northern mountains and southern coasts. Thursday through Sunday saw no measurable precipitation at any reliable sites. Snow packs in the mountains continue to be in very good shape, maintaining cover through the week and likely increasing by 4-6 inches in the area around Tahoe.
Continued rains have benefited the growth of already planted grains and field crops, but the rain has hindered ground preparations for continued planting. Low spots in some fields were showing stress from repeated standing water. Farmers in some areas have been encouraged to report crop losses due to flooding.
Standing water and muddy conditions continued to hinder fieldwork for much of the state. Winter field work continued when conditions permitted. Deciduous fruit orchards continued to be pruned and brush shredded. Removal of orchards and vineyards continued in preparation for replanting with new varieties. Rain continued to slow navel orange and Satsuma mandarin harvest. Fungicide applications to citrus were made as conditions allowed.
Some almond and walnut orchards were impacted by falling trees due to strong winds and saturated ground. Nut orchards continued to be pruned and brush shredded as weather conditions permitted.
In San Joaquin County, conditions were drying out, which helped with standing water in the fields. In Monterey County, heavy rains were welcomed, though the saturated ground restricted field access. Growers began planting cole crops, as well as lettuces and greens. In San Mateo County, the fields were still very wet and unworkable. In Fresno County, the onions and garlic have germinated.
Non-irrigated pasture and rangeland continued to green up due to this winter’s rain. Range was reported to be in excellent to good condition. Standing water and flooding continued to impact some valley pasture and dairies. Sheep grazed idle fields and dormant alfalfa fields. Where field conditions permitted bees were staged in preparation for the bloom season. Bee keepers continued to feed their hives to compensate for the lack of blooming vegetation.
Davis, Calif., (January 30, 2017) – The UC Davis Honey and Pollination Center’s annual Feast, scheduled for Saturday, Feb. 11, will celebrate mead and honey, as usual, and something else: a new partnership to bring a pollinator-friendly kitchen garden to the Robert Mondavi Institute for Wine and Food Science.
Amina Harris, director of the RMI’s Honey and Pollination Center, said the garden will be part of the Good Life Garden that sits amid the institute’s buildings in the south campus, and is being developed in cooperation with the UC Davis Arboretum and Public Garden.
“We are creating a team to look at plantings, irrigation concepts, educational signage and even the installation of a beehive,” Harris said.
The center’s mission: Helping UC Davis become the world’s leading authority on bee health, pollination and honey quality.
Kathleen Socolofsky, assistant vice chancellor and director of the Arboretum and Public Garden, said: “We are thrilled to be able to plan the next phase of the Good Life Garden with our partners at the Robert Mondavi Institute, including the Honey and Pollination Center and other academic partners in the College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences.”
Ideas for the garden will be presented at The Feast: A Celebration of Mead and Honey, described by Harris as “a tasty way” to celebrate pollinators and the wonderful fruits and vegetables they help bring to the table.
The dinner, now in its fourth year, also serves as a fundraiser for the Honey and Pollination Center’s outreach and education programs.
Harris said Ann Evans, author of The Davis Farmers Market Cookbook (second edition), has created a feast menu that is redolent with seasonal flavors: hors d’oeuvres and Honey Stingers featuring ginger mead; a rich tomato aspic salad; and a main course of chicken with plumped dried figs and apricots, and roasted Musqué de Provence squash with couscous. Wines, honey lemonade and sparkling mead will paired with each course.
A cheese interlude will accompany a dessert mead flight with a perfect closure to a winter feast: mead-poached pears served with butter cookies and the mead flight.
Sacramento, Calif., (January 17, 2017) – A continued abundance of moisture across the State for the entire week tapered off over the weekend as the upper-level trough pulled away to the east with surface high pressure building over the western United States.
Temperatures were fairly consistent, but cooled slightly late last week as a drier airmass settled over the State.
Nearly all locations in the State saw precipitation last week, with the heaviest rainfall impacting the northern and central Sierras from Tahoe northward to the Lassen Volcanoes area, where precipitation totals reached near 12 inches. Specifically, the area around Blue Canyon received a total of 9.99 inches of rain. The coastal mountains received heavy rainfall with 4 to 8 inches falling, while most of the valley received rainfall totals between 3 to 4 inches. Even the deserts, received up to 1 inch of rainfall over the weekend. The mountains once again received very heavy snow this week, with some areas receiving 2 feet of snowfall in a single day. Lodgepole reported a total of 23 inches of new snow on Thursday. The heaviest snow fell in the Tahoe region and in the mountains just to the north, where up to 5 feet of snow fell. Elsewhere in the mountains, 2 to 4 feet was the norm in the Southern Sierras, with coastal ranges seeing up to a foot of new snow.
Temperature highs were in the 20s to 40s in the mountains, 40s to 60s valley, 50s to 60s along the coast and, 50s to 70s in the desert. The temperature lows were in the 20s to 30s in the mountains, 30s to 50s in the desert and the valley, and 40s to 50s along the coast.
Recent rains benefited the growth of already planted grains and field crops, but the rain hindered ground preparations for continued planting. The forecast for optimal returns continued to look positive. Sorghum seed continued to be received for future planting. Hay alfalfa remained dormant.
Some pomegranates were harvested. Deciduous fruit orchard continued to be pruned and brush shredded as weather conditions permitted. Most post-harvest field activities were halted due to the heavy rains and standing water. In drier locations the removal of orchard and vineyards continued in preparation for replanting with new varieties. Blueberry planting continued, as weather permitting. Rains continued to slow navel orange and mandarin harvest. Fungicide applications to citrus were made as conditions allowed.
Nut orchards continued to be pruned and brush shredded as weather conditions permitted. Most post-harvest filed activities were halted due to the heavy rains and standing water.
In San Joaquin County, winter Farmer’s Market vegetables were harvested. Commercial basil fields were cut and packaged when weather permitted. In Madera County, tomato fields were being prepped for planting. In San Luis Obispo County, winter vegetables such as Chinese Napa cabbage, bock choy, parsley, cilantro and spinach were harvested. Spring vegetables were planted. In Fresno County, there were heavy rains, but winter vegetables remained in good condition. In Tulare County, the growth of the winter vegetables benefitted from favorable weather conditions.
Non-irrigated pasture and rangeland greened up considerably due to recent rains. Range was reported to be primarily in fair to good condition. Snow and ice covered some grazing land in Modoc and Siskiyou Counties. Some dairies were impacted by standing water and sloppy conditions from the week’s precipitation. Sheep grazed idle fields and dormant alfalfa fields. Bees continued to be brought into the state in preparation for the bloom season. Bee keepers continued to feed their hives to compensate for the lack of blooming vegetation.
