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Author Topic: Early Winter  (Read 1411 times)

Offline Anonimo22

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Early Winter
« on: September 21, 2019, 11:09:59 am »
Hello fellow bee friends!

Sorry this post is a bit late.

Where I'm at, at 7:30 in the morning its 43 degrees Fahrenheit.

It won't stay that cold, and we're in the mountains. So by afternoon it may even become quite warm. This is how it usually goes up in the mountains until the real first 'staying' snow hits. (Some of them will melt and have a second chance possible for a few more days.)

I don't see a post on winter being here so I thought I'd bring one up.

***Are the rest of you done with your winter preparations yet for bees and the rest of your agriculture? Or are you starting them soon? Penny for your thoughts on this. ***

Also, I like to monitor real news that isn't mainstream and real science based. It appears that many of them are claiming we're in for an "EARLY WINTER". And some of those sources look legit. (So I hope people don't wait on what they feel they need to do.)

And this is partly weird because I was reading and listening to some of you and some Youtube channels barely talking about goldenrod recently, and that the goldenrod was late this year.

Its also odd...because where I'm at, last year, the year before, and the year before that it didn't really get cold where I'm at until mid-November for the first real staying cold and dead frost that killed the whole garden. (I think that was pretty generous.)

We still haven't gotten that far yet, and the garden is still working. But I think that its possibly around the 1st of October there won't be much agriculture going on. A lot of the weather models I looked at showed cold snow hitting in the window of last week of September until first week of October with a lot of cold heavier snow in the Rocky Mountains areas around Idaho, Wyoming, Colorado, and Northern Utah, plus Montana for those same window periods.

Not claiming to be an expert. And the models can change. But some of the models are pretty good now (weather).

But I hope nobody gets flatfooted by this. I think I won't have the same big window that I had last year. I think I'll have a full month less growing degree days or whatever you call them. And it is also weird in other ways because its like a Summer window and then straight for Winter for some people. (This is what it looks like is going on in parts of Canada already...from what some weather news is showing.)

I think that a lot of people aren't as prepared for this as they could. We aren't used to growing our own food as a country. And we're used to perfect conditions and not having to store food.

In Poland I was reading that 10% of the population works in agriculture, or knows how to grow their own food. A lot of countries that are good but not fully computerized like ours have higher figures. But westernized countries like Western/Northern Europe, USA, Canada, etc its only about 2 to 3% of the population knowing how to grow their own food.

This makes for some interesting ways for corporate price scalping to the public being possible.

The Saudi Arabia oil refinery fires from their attack also will not be fixed for months according to some sources. So this also may mean some more unpredictability and spinoff chaos ahead. (Their initial claims were that they'd fix it in days, haha.) (And their claims of SA making only 10% of the world's oil with 5% affected was a lie. You can easily look up the math and see that they do closer to 18%, and so half of that is... well enough rambling.)

Offline CoolBees

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Re: Early Winter
« Reply #1 on: September 21, 2019, 05:46:06 pm »
Hello back Anonimo22.

You raise some good points ...

I certainly hope that we get an early winter. I know it's supposed to be snowing for 4+ days where I'll be in the mountains next week - I totally love it when it's like that.  :grin:

As to growing food - where I grew up, we grew 60%ish of what we ate for the year, and harvested the remainder at the nearby commercial farms. (I haven't seen where you can harvest from commercial fields in many years now - maybe that's still available somewhere). In either case, canning and freezing all our foods for the year was the norm in the fall. I still love the smells of those times. It's an art that is being left behind by society today.
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Offline The15thMember

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Re: Early Winter
« Reply #2 on: September 21, 2019, 09:21:17 pm »
Hello fellow bee friends!

Sorry this post is a bit late.

Where I'm at, at 7:30 in the morning its 43 degrees Fahrenheit.

It won't stay that cold, and we're in the mountains. So by afternoon it may even become quite warm. This is how it usually goes up in the mountains until the real first 'staying' snow hits. (Some of them will melt and have a second chance possible for a few more days.)

I don't see a post on winter being here so I thought I'd bring one up.

***Are the rest of you done with your winter preparations yet for bees and the rest of your agriculture? Or are you starting them soon? Penny for your thoughts on this. ***

I haven't started my winter prep yet, but my climate is significantly warmer than yours I'm sure.  We've been having a very hot fall so far.  Not sure if/what that bodes for winter, but I certainly couldn't even begin to winterize my hives yet.  It's been too hot to even do my mite treatments. 


As to growing food - where I grew up, we grew 60%ish of what we ate for the year, and harvested the remainder at the nearby commercial farms. (I haven't seen where you can harvest from commercial fields in many years now - maybe that's still available somewhere). In either case, canning and freezing all our foods for the year was the norm in the fall. I still love the smells of those times. It's an art that is being left behind by society today.
Alan, that is awesome.  My family is currently working toward being more self-sufficient, and I wish we could say we raise 60% of our food. 
I come from under the hill, and under the hills and over the hills my paths led.  And through the air, I am she that walks unseen.

Offline CoolBees

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Re: Early Winter
« Reply #3 on: September 22, 2019, 03:28:53 am »
... that is awesome.  My family is currently working toward being more self-sufficient, and I wish we could say we raise 60% of our food.

Member, that was when I was a kid. We kept 2.5 acres of gardens. My mother was quite good at it - but we all pitched in.

Wish I could say that now ... I do have gardens to stay in practice(ish) - just not as big as back then.
You cannot permanently help men by doing for them, what they could and should do for themselves - Abraham Lincoln

Offline Ben Framed

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Re: Early Winter
« Reply #4 on: September 22, 2019, 03:35:33 am »
... that is awesome.  My family is currently working toward being more self-sufficient, and I wish we could say we raise 60% of our food.

Member, that was when I was a kid. We kept 2.5 acres of gardens. My mother was quite good at it - but we all pitched in.

Wish I could say that now ... I do have gardens to stay in practice(ish) - just not as big as back then.

Brings back good memories .... 
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14 If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.

Offline Bob Wilson

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Re: Early Winter
« Reply #5 on: September 22, 2019, 06:33:45 pm »
I saw goldenrod for the first time today. Not sure if that is a late summer issue or a drought issue, which we have both. It is headed back up to the 90? this week. Usually our first frost is mid-November.

Offline TheHoneyPump

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Early Winter
« Reply #6 on: September 23, 2019, 02:36:26 am »
First frost in my area is usually round about the full moon in August and with more certainty the full moon in September. 
This year, no frost YET.  This year appears to be one of those exceptions of an extended summer/fall.  That said, winter can indeed come in overnight, literally, and stay on through to end of April. Each day past August 25 of no frost or snow is a blessing.

Halloween costumes usually entails kids all dressed up in their goulish suits which is then covered in Bob and Doug McKenzie fashion wear.  This year may be different ....

.... Expecting hard frost this weekend.
« Last Edit: September 27, 2019, 07:13:44 pm by TheHoneyPump »
When the lid goes back on, the bees will spend the next 3 days undoing most of what the beekeeper just did to them.

 

anything