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Drilling Mason Bee Blocks

March 4th, 2009 · No Comments

The not-at-all-dumb Paul asks:
“Here’s a really dumb question. How did you drill your holes? Did you use a drill press? If so, how did you get it to go all the way through? I tried making one today and the press would only drop down about 3″. So, I bought a long bit and have [...]

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Tags: wildlife

The PNW Planting Calendar and My Lie

February 28th, 2009 · 2 Comments

First, my lie. I said that I had come up with a patented, super creative way of making my mason bee blocks, but lo and behold: this Randy Person beat me to it. Yes, his name is Randy Person.
Now, take note that he has explicitly copyrighted the whole design.  You may contact him [...]

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Tags: garden

Honey Bees: The Beginning

February 23rd, 2009 · 3 Comments

Oh, lord, now I’ve done it.
As if the buying the yard in spite of the crappy, falling apart, remodeled-by-hippies house so I could grow stuff wasn’t bad enough… and as though it’s not enough hassle to take care of those stupid chickens…  I had to have bees.
I started with my little friends, the mason bees.  [...]

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Tags: garden

Mason Bee Block Design 2009

February 15th, 2009 · 7 Comments

OK, I decided.  I’m going to go with two routes: drilled through blocks and a big, ol’ piece of PVC stuffed with straws.  Why two?  Erm… cuz… three would be too many!
OK, today I’ll show you how my patented drill-through-rolled-liner (DTRL) idea works.  Last year, I tried a similar thing, but for some odd reason [...]

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Tags: garden · projects · wildlife

Mason Bees, Part… oh, I don’t know… 65?

February 14th, 2009 · 2 Comments

Happy Valentine’s Day, if you’re into that kind of thing.
As my three faithful readers may know, I am obsessed with mason bees (Osmia lignaria).  Honey bees and bumble bees are also quite awesome, but the mason bee I find particularly interesting because:

It’s native.  Whoo-hoo!  There’s something native to somewhere still!
They don’t sting.  I don’t know, [...]

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Tags: garden · projects · wildlife