shrooms and bees

This year we finally got a killer haul of shiitake. This is about half. We ended giving out quite a lot. The (about 25) logs they're grown on actually came from the city (Nagoya), though they're kept in the country (Asuke). It's more spacious and moist, as it's in the mountains next to a river. Not the worst place to keep them.

Got honey bees of the European variety. Found a fellow in the neighbouring prefecture who raises hives as a business. I'm not sure that using newspaper as an inner cover is the best idea. He seems to swear by it, though I'm having my doubts. Over the course of a week, the bees managed to tear this 2-layer sheet of newsprint to shreds. This is a shot of the first time I opened the box (I'd had it for a week). In my wildest dreams, I couldn't have imagined I would find such a large burr comb (the bulging comb). I cleaned out some of it and turned the frame to face another frame, rather than empty space. I'm kind of surprised the owner sent it like this, as it seems like a disaster waiting to happen and a beginner is unlikely to be able to anticipate the consequences of not regulating the hive space. Anyhow I've have made a follower/dummy board (like a wall to prevent expansion) and new inner cover. They're made from wood and sumaki (bamboo screens used for rolling sushi). Like everything, it's an experiment. It can't be worst than newspaper.