Smaller bee nest block
My
firewood
nest block will
require some upkeep to prevent it from turning into a breeding ground
for bee pests and diseases. An alternative to this type of
maintenance is to make lots of small nest blocks with only four to six
tunnels apiece and space the blocks of wood 25 or more feet apart
around your property. Smaller nest blocks will naturally
decompose faster and will also spread the bees out --- think of them as
comfortable small town environments for bees.
To make one of these
"small bee towns", cut some scrap 2X4s into eight inch lengths.
Then drill holes in one end using the same criteria I used for my
firewood nest block.
Smaller wooden blocks
are much easier to char by placing them in the wood stove until they
catch fire, then running them under water until all sizzling stops.
The last step is to
mount the blocks on easy-to-find landmarks that get morning sun.
I put one small town bee nest on the side of the East Wing and another
on a post in the mule garden. Hopefully, spreading the nests out
will tempt the bees to visit several parts of the garden rather than
sticking to one area.
Stay tuned for yet more
bee suburbs tomorrow!
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About us: Anna Hess and Mark Hamilton spent over a decade living self-sufficiently in the mountains of Virginia before moving north to start over from scratch in the foothills of Ohio. They've experimented with permaculture, no-till gardening, trailersteading, home-based microbusinesses and much more, writing about their adventures in both blogs and books.
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Be careful with that miter saw.
In my student days I worked as a temp in a wood processing plant for a couple of months. Us temps were easy to recognize; we were generally the only people who still had ten complete fingers...