To finish out the end of the year, here’s a selection of photos I took throughout the year.
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December 2010
A few basic facts about bees:
* A single honey bee may collect 1/12 teaspoon of honey in her lifetime.
* To make 1 pound of honey, bees may need to fly 50,000 miles.
* Honey bees may forage up to 2-5 miles from the hive.
There is a lot of discussion about Colony Collapse Disorder based on the disappearance of bee colonies. The USDA site answers some questions about Colony Collapse Disorder and how it affects us.
Here’s another perspective from the New York Times.
The National Honey Bee Day website has a lot of resources about honeybees
It’s always nice to end with a note of hope. Some help for the bees.
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San Francisco’s urban farming movement: what other towns could learn from this.
A bit pricey but I like the idea of these hanging pots.
Cats eating plants? I never would have believed it until I got our two kittens recently. Here’s a good article on the subject from Fern who writes Life on the Balcony. I thoroughly enjoy reading her blog!
San Diego’s own Vince Lazaneo, Urban Horticulture advisor with the UC Cooperative Extension, wrote an information article about tree trimming in the Union-Trib on Friday.
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My apple trees are less than two years old and I’m still trying to figure out what the norm is for fruit budding and ripening. My little Fuji apple has put out two small crops, but the Anna’s and Dorsett Golden apple trees are putzing along with the occasional flowering buds. I have decided that these little trees are just confused and need some guidance to get back on course.
A scrawny example of an Anna's apple tree
I was reading up on apple trees and something caught my eye that made a lot of sense. Since we live in warmer climes the trees don’t always drop their leaves when they should, so a little intervention can help the process along. Pinching off the leaves and buds will stimulate the tree and hopefully, get it more in sync with a normal growing and producing cycle.
I stripped the tree, not that you could tell any difference!
I pulled off the one apple that was growing because it was not getting any bigger and it would just be another drain on the tree. The little Fuji apple tree had six apples but I stripped those off, too. Hopefully, this will spur strong, new growth on all three of these little trees in the spring and make them stronger producers for the long run.
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I was feeling crafty last week and made a sign for the front yard. Cute, huh? You’ve probably noticed that I have used it in the blog title, too. It was time for a change. 
I like it!
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