The Plantsman

[The Plantsman @14Farms]

@HilarityjaneArt @RugbyIke @walterkirn Metaphysics is a philosophy.

[The Plantsman @14Farms]

@MaxImp707 @walterkirn That people choose to work flows from a philosophy.
That they are able to operate a farm in the U.S. is due to the freedoms we have - freedoms based on a worldview, a philosophy.
That they choose to eat together flows from a belief system. Same with rituals, acts, and products.

[The Plantsman @14Farms]

@RugbyIke @walterkirn And I think it follows that these belief systems essentially determine culture - the architecture, the laws, the music, art, education, clothing, etc. Philosophy is the builder.

[The Plantsman @14Farms]

@JoeDirt6u6b @walterkirn Only if our beliefs don't influence our behaviors.

[The Plantsman @14Farms]

@jmbinnacle @walterkirn What do we do with communism? It's philosophical but not noted for its emotional components or its accessibility to a child's mind - but culture certainly is downstream of it.

[The Plantsman @14Farms]

@magattew Shellenberger speaks to the woes of Africa, describing in detail the regulation and policies that keep the continent down. Reference the World Bank's disdain for funding energy on the continent that doesn't fit the alarmism's narrative.

Much respect to you for your voice.

[The Plantsman @14Farms]

Admittedly, the knowledge and experience that I have after just a few months of beekeeping can fit into a thimble and still leave room for a marble, but the experience itself has several crossovers with plantkeeping which I believe are helpful.

The most important of these crossovers is the continual observation and inspection of the project as a whole.

Both are forms of farming with various benchmarks to achieve and pitfalls to be prepared for. In plants, it may be seed germination, root development, plant form, feeding, budding, propagation, and pest/disease management. With bees, it's very similar. Brood production and development, drone to worker balance, resource management and feeding, colony splitting, and pest/disease management.

Though this video cuts much of what's actually going on, it shows some of what's involved in a hive inspection.

After removing the roof, you'll notice a board covering the next stages of the hive. This board simply keeps the bees building comb and developing the hive in the right areas, rather than in the attic. The board also has a plugged hole in it which, once its plug is removed, allows a jar of bee food (sugar water) to be introduced to the colony when resources are scarce.

Beneath this is the "Super". This is the part of the hive that will eventually have harvestable honey. This section of the hardware only gets introduced once the lower brood box has sufficient resources for the bees - their own honey, for example, to get them through the winter.

Beneath the Super is a mesh screen which keeps the queen from going upstairs and laying eggs. The holes in the mesh are large enough for workers to go through, but not large enough for a queen.

I inspected the super in this video toward the end because I really wanted to get to the main hive - the brood box - and see how everything is developing there. From what I've seen so far, everything looks good.

I'm not certain, but if all continues moving forward, we may have a little bit of honey to harvest yet this fall. I'll give updates along the way.

[The Plantsman @14Farms]

Honeybees from our own hive pollinating (and collecting pollen from) the orange trees at Flyleaf South. That's a pretty cool thing.

[The Plantsman @14Farms]

@grok @dogeai_gov @RandPaul "Potentially" sounds like "slush fund". Is it is, or is it isn't?

[The Plantsman @14Farms]

@dogeai_gov @RandPaul @grok Wouldn't the wall reduce the need (and financial commitment) for additional tech and personnel?

[The Plantsman @14Farms]

I'm wondering if the $1750.00 per tree was the deal-breaker.

https://t.co/0CYoYNI6X8

[The Plantsman @14Farms]

@Rainmaker1973 At least it's not creepy.

[The Plantsman @14Farms]

@RobertKennedyJc Yes

[The Plantsman @14Farms]

This is why America wins.

https://t.co/6XCipckU5L

[The Plantsman @14Farms]

@michaeljknowles With the usps losing billions of dollars per year, every year, forever, no one should have a problem believing your card was simply lost for a few days or months.

[The Plantsman @14Farms]

@WallStreetApes It would be interesting to know the brand and formulation of the fertilizer he uses, as this can be a factor. Same with pH.

[The Plantsman @14Farms]

@WallStreetMav Improved means to unimproved ends.

[The Plantsman @14Farms]

Crested plants are great. Until they try acting normal. When right in the middle of a big, beautiful, crested fan, your plant begins to grow a baseball bat - it reverts to the wild-type - some surgery may be called for. The genetics need preserved.

This video walks through the thought processes and pruning technique used when your Rembrandt tries going mainstream.

[The Plantsman @14Farms]

This is a condensed 7 day time-lapse of Stapelia gigantea moving through its flowering cycle.

First frame: Petals of first flower pull fully back to best enable pollination.

Second frame: Bud of second flower splits, then pauses.

Third frame: Housefly pollination and second flower opening.

Note: from the time it opens to the time it begins to wilt, the second flower reorients its entire frame further south to catch more sun. You need to watch the video from start to finish watching for this to notice that it happens.

Note: I omitted a day here due to the plant doing precisely nothing. The clouds were cool that day, though.

Forth frame: Left screen, petals of both flowers moving in tandem. More housefly pollination.

Fifth frame: Following pollination, ethylene production by the plant signals the first flower to redirect energy from petals to seeds, causing the wither, but increasing the likelihood of viable seeds, as the seeds receive the diverted energy from the petals.

Sixth frame: Second flower begins the withering/shrouding process. As its petals curve in, notice the tight, twisted shroud the first flower has already formed.

Note: the term "shrouding" is not a botanical term. I've applied it here to describe what I believe is occurring, namely, that the petals so fully close, twist, and lock up to protect the now developing seeds. From what? I'm not sure. Perhaps predation, perhaps the sunlight. I don't believe it's the temperature. Stagefright? Regardless, I'm sticking with shrouding

Fascinating stuff, life.