Rain, peas, and bees

Boston has been in the midst of a short-term drought this spring and much-needed rain finally arrived Saturday. Unfortunately, it then rained off and on for over an entire day, and I am now concerned about the lack of a drainage system for my plants. However, the sun is back this morning and the plants no longer look like part of the scenery for "All Summer in a Day." In fact, the pepper plant has definitely perked up and even the questionable strawberry plants are standing a little taller. It's so convenient when Mother Nature does my job for me.

These are not my plants. But they capture how my plants looked - I didn't feel like opening my window and letting all the wind and rain into my kitchen for what would have been a soggy, sorry picture.

New leaves on the pepper plant! Note that despite all the rain, the packing peanuts were still not completely dissolved. Hmm.

I am currently searching around for recipes to use the sage, rosemary, and thyme from Trader Joe's. I went to supercook.com and highlighted "thyme" and found a recipe for focaccia rolls that looks quite appetizing. It uses both rosemary and thyme, although I'd have to use dried basil, as I don't have any fresh. I'm not sure about how the dried/fresh herbs will mix. I have a hard time finding time to make bread, so this may be an endeavour for some unknown future date. The other possibility that is more likely to happen is to roast some fingerling potatoes with herbs and some olive oil. Unfortunately I was already a bit too enthusiastic for food this week (baking and cooking are my other escape from lab, and this week I've already made raspberry granola cookie bars, whole wheat pizza, lamb and couscous, tomato/chickpea/cucumber/feta salad, and for dessert a blend of strawberries, raspberries, and blackberries), so I'll be waiting a few days to use the herbs.

From top, moving clockwise: One portion of lamb and couscous, raspberry granola cookie bars, berry mix, and finally a tomato/cucumber/feta salad that I use as topping for the lamb and couscous. Not pictured: the whole wheat pizza with green peppers and onions (I purchased the pre-made crust dough, so I'm not sure that counts).

My seed trays are also doing well, particularly the pea plants. They are actually growing 1-2 inches a day at this point, and I'm concerned something will happen to them before I find some sort of lattice to put in a pot with them. It is exciting to be able to measure the difference each morning and night, though!

Pea seedlings! If the tray were mobile, which is currently isn't, I would have tried to avoid my lovely bathroom wall as backdrop. Oh well. The tallest one is now well over nine inches tall and definitely searching for a lattice to cling to.

This afternoon I went to a lecture that Harvard was hosting as part of a week of Earth Day celebrations titled "Urban Beekeeping." It was given by Dr. Noah Wilson-Rich of Best Bees, a Boston-based company that sets up and maintains bee colonies all over the metro Boston area as well as the cape. What is neat is that he then uses the profits from his business to fund his bee research. I loved his story as it obvious that he has truly melded both his scientific curiosity and his passion into one harmonious job. If we could all be so lucky! Since my father actually maintains several hives in West Virginia, I was familiar with a lot of bee basics. However, I didn't realize how easy it is to adapt bee hives for urban living - in fact he showed statistics showing that urban bee hives produce more honey and have a higher chance of surviving the winter than do rural hives. Other neat factoids:

1. Major die-offs/disappearances of bees have been reported for over a thousand years (including one a hundred years ago when the Isle of Wight lost 100% of their bee colonies), although it is unclear if these deaths have been due to the mysterious Colony Collapse Disorder or another issue.

2. He suggested using a tray to collect pollen that falls off the bees when they land at the hive and then mixing it year-round with tea. Why? Because by constantly exposing your body to pollen throughout the year, apparently you can lessen the severity of spring allergy symptoms. Sign me up!

3. I loved this story about the red honey of Brooklyn.

4. Finally, he had a great picture up of a hive that he had helped install in a math/geometry classroom at Fenway High. With one side of the hive entirely made of glass and the opening to the outside, it's totally safe and an awesome idea to teach students about ecology, biology, social behavior, and geometry (ever wonder why the bees make their comb in a hexagon?).