Michael Helmersson

Here's a website I just stumbled on with a list of Canadian nurseries:

https://ruraldreams.ca/order-fruit-trees-canada

Myron Brenner wrote: We are blessed to have a good supply of burr oak  to fire with. I do not like using any thing else !  We can get 34" long pieces into the fire box.  

34" logs of Burr Oak sounds awfully warm right now.  

David Wieland wrote:
Unless your trees are less than 5 inches in diameter, you'll need to make that roof very strong (maybe with I-beams) to withstand a tree that falls on it.

Most of the trees in the area I'm considering are under 5". The biggest threat would be from the tops of small spruces and poplars.

Ed Jo wrote:

Michael Helmersson wrote:

Ed Jo wrote:
One thing I do really worry about is branches as well as whole trees falling on my bees. I remove any dead branches that I find and will trim trees as necessary.

That's a good point. It's routine here for trees to fall, and it's rarely the tree that you're expecting to fall. I've been outside during high winds listening to the trees creaking and cracking and had a tree right beside me snap off at the height of my head. I'd probably provide a roof of some sort over the bees that could withstand a falling tree.

Welcome to Permies, by the way.

Anne Miller wrote:Have you looked at what they do at Wheaton Labs?

I must have in the past because that looks an awful lot like the idea I had/have in my head. I'm nearly certain that none of my thoughts or ideas are my own, but that I just cram all kinds of stuff into my head and then pull them out with no recollection of their origins.

Ed Jo wrote:

I just moved my bees from pasture land to forest last year. So far (fingers crossed) they are doing well. Currently they are about 10 yards inside of a sparse tree line. The thing I like the most about having my bees in the trees is that I no longer have to mow or weed eat around them. I have future plans of setting up a large pollinator garden on another part of my property for them and other pollinators.

Can you tell us what region you're in?

Anne Miller wrote:


And thank you for clarifying about the bees in the woods.

Did you get bees?

Not yet. We'll need to establish a safe place for them first. We have a lot of black bears around, so we'll need to protect the hive(s) somehow without electricity since we're offgrid. I'm thinking a chainlink enclosure with barbed wire and other pointy things as a deterrent.

Michelle Gillian wrote:I would love to make a home for bees in my garden, but do I have to collect honey? Or could I just let them all bee?

I beelieve they would prefer that.

Anne Miller wrote:

Lina Joana wrote:One possible problem regarding the “bees in a wood” quote

Please explain what you mean by “bees in a wood” quote as I am not seeing that anywhere.

It was in relation to a comment I made here: https://permies.com/t/141638/Keeping-Bees-Forest-Garden#1494582