GardenFork – Eclectic DIY

Tag: howto

New beehives in our second beeyard, bearproofing the beehives

We have a real bear problem in our town with bears, and bears really like to tear apart beehives. So to hedge our bets, we decided last year to start a second beeyard in another part of town. Our second beeyard is near the center of town, right next to the cemetery. The honeybees and their hives are on the edge of a large hayfield, where they are protected by the prevailing winds and get excellent daylight throughout the day.

We hived two new packages, using medium supers on these hives. I put our hives on small tables. The height of the table makes it much easier to work the hives, and we can grease the legs of the tables to keep carpenter ants and other insects from entering the hives.

We use a few techniques to bear proof our beehives. First we have a solar powered electric fence made by Premier 1 Supplies. Premier 1 gave us the electric fence they sell to protect beehives from bears. So far it has worked. Its also very easy to set up and move. You can watch our how to bearproof beehives video here.

Second we use a ratcheting strap to strap together the beehives. The thinking here is that if a bear does get to the hives, the straps may keep the hives together despite the bear trying to take the hive apart. I’ve read where this has worked for a few people, so it doesn’t hurt, I don’t think. We may need a heavier ratchet strap, the kind used on semi trucks.

Newly hived bees

Solar powered fence from Premiere 1 Supplies

I like the rectangular net pattern of this electric fence.

wide view of the hayfield where the beeyard is

June 1, 2011
How to replace your car or truck fender : GardenFork.TV

Need to replace your damaged car fender? Learn here how to replace that car fender that hit guard rail, or got mashed by someone who couldn’t stay in their lane, or whatever accident damaged the fender, learn here how to replace your truck or car fender with a replacement from an auto recycler or a new fender from a auto body supplier.

Have you done any body work on your car? Let us know some good tips on repairing the bodywork on your car or truck below, thanks.

May 31, 2011
How to make Pesto, Parsley Pesto : GardenFork.TV Video

Looking for a pesto recipe? or how to make pesto? Watch our Pesto Recipe with a new twist, we’ll use parsley instead of basil. This same recipe works great for basil pesto BTW. Parsley is super healthy and easily found in the store or your backyard garden.

Eric’s Parsley Pesto Recipe

1 bunch of flat leaf parsley

2 cups grated Romano cheese

1 cup walnuts, whole or chopped

1 clove garlic, crushed

quality extra virgin olive oil

Grab your bunch of parsley and swish it around in a large bowl of water or you salad spinner filled up with water.

Cut off about 2 inches of the stem end off the parsley bunch. Then cut the parsley bunch into thirds, drop into a salad spinner and spin away. You want to remove as much of the water as possible. If you don’t have a salad spinner, you can roll up the parsley leaves in a dish towel to dry them out.

Add the parsley to your food processor, and pour in about 1/4 cup of the olive oil. About 6 glugs, I think.

Turn on the food processor and get the parsley cut up and mixed in with the oil.

Take the walnuts and toss them into a pan and toast them lightly. Don’t forget them on the stove, as they burn easily. I know this from experience.

Take the grated cheese and walnuts and crushed garlic and add to the food processor.

Top off with more olive oil, 6 glugs or so, and turn on the processor. If the machine sounds like it is bogging down, add more oil. Process to the consistency you like. I like it not over-processed.

You can now add this to pasta or spread on bread or garnish soups with. Its real good.

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What do you think? Do you have a pesto recipe or suggestion or idea? Let us know below:

May 27, 2011
Green Travel : Take the Train : RealWorldGreen.com

Air Travel has a huge carbon cost, its not green at all. Consider travel by train, its very green, and much less stressful. Watch this episode of Real World Green and green your travel. How do you green your travel or vacation? Let us know below:

January 4, 2011
Green Your Car, Increase Your MPG : RealWorldGreen.com

Learn how to get better gas mileage and green your car in this Real World Green video, on location at Eric’s dad’s house. Some more information than you need to know in this one, but still, you’ll learn some tips on getting better MPG from your car. Let us know your suggestions in the comments below:

January 4, 2011
Green Your Office Paper Use : RealWorldGreen.com

Greening your office starts with paper use in your office or home. Recycled Paper is just the start to an eco office. Watch here as we show you a few ways to make your office more green, and less full of paper. How to you green your office and home? Let us know below:

January 4, 2011
Green the Office : Take the Stairs : RealWorldGreen.com

Be Green and Healthy, forsake the elevator and take the stairs. Learn more in this Real World Green video. How to you green your health? Let us know below:

January 4, 2011
Improve Your Gas Mileage : RealWorldGreen.com

Improving your gas mileage MPG is one way to green your life, and its not that hard. Here we take a ride in Mark’s Shelby GT Cobra and talk about greening your car mileage. What’s your way to get better MPG? let us know below:

January 4, 2011
How to Recycle Glass : RealWorldGreen.com

Recycling glass does not get as much notice as recycling plastic, but we have a lot of glass in our waste stream. Let’s look at how to recycle glass in this Real World Green video. Let us know your thoughts below:

January 4, 2011
How to Recycle your Cell Phone or Smartphone : RealWorldGreen.com

Cell Phones and smartphones should not be tossed into the garbage. They’ve got some toxic materials in them, AND they may be of use to people who need a cell phone, but can’t afford one. Watch as we show you how to recycle your cell phone or smartphone

January 4, 2011
Green Sports Shoes, Sneakers, Tennis Shoes : RealWorldGreen.com

greening your athletics? yes, you can. Learn here how to recycle your old tennis shoes, sports footwear, sneaker, in this episode of Real World Green. let us know your thoughts below the video:

November 4, 2010
Repairing a hole or damage in drywall or sheetrock

I helped a friend of mine close up an inlet in his chimney, and we then needed to patch the dyrwall hole that the metal chimney stack originally went thru.

This is the how to repair holes in drywall method that I used, there are others. If you have a good drywall how to, please tell us below.

This method works well for damage drywall also

To repair a hole in drywall, you cut a replacement piece of drywall that fits inside the hole. I prefer to use drywall that is slightly thinner than the drywall we are repairing. So if we are repairing 5/8″ sheetrock, I like to use 1/2″ sheetrock.

The reason for the slightly narrower sheetrock is I find it allows you do a better repair that is less noticeable. If you use a piece of same width sheetrock, the joint compound you apply over the repair is more obvious.

screw in a piece of scrap wood as a support

Find a piece of scrap wood that is about 4″ wider than the hole you need to repair in the sheetrock. Slip this wood in behind the existing sheetrock, and using drywall screws, screw the wood support in.

cut a piece of sheetrock to fit the repair

cut a piece of sheetrock that fits just inside the hole you are repairing. Home improvement stores sell 2’x2′ repair pieces, or you can find a piece of scrap at a construction site.

screw the patch into the support

After the the drywall is screwed in, use well stirred drywall compound with a little plaster added , and using the most flexible wide blade you can find, lay an initial layer of joint compound over the patch. let this dry completely, and go over it with 2 more layers. The smoother the layers, the better it will look.

When its all dry give it a light sand to even out any ridges or marks. Prime the repair then paint with the wall paint.

How do you repair sheetrock or drywall? Let us know below.

October 1, 2010
Jiffy Mix Cornbread Recipe Hack – GF Video
Super easy cornbread recipe that’s kinda cheating, hence the name, Jiffy Mix Cornbread Recipe Hack. Lets take a box of Jiffy Corn Muffin mix and throw in a can of creamed corn to create a not-original recipe for pretty a darn good Creamed Corn Corn Bread Recipe. I’ve heard about different Jiffy Corn Mix hacks, and I wanted to try out one I had heard of from many people. The Creamed Corn Recipe Hack.

Full Recipe at the end of this post. Here are some of our other cornbread recipe videos:

I have a few corn bread recipes, but this one works for me and many people have commented that it works for them as well. There’s something in that comfort food vein that is evoked with Jiffy Corn Bread Mix. Hope they never change the box, who knows what the uproar would be? The idea for this recipe hack comes from my friend Charlie Shaw, and it sat in the back of my head for several years until I had the lightbulb moment to put a can of creamed corn into a box of Jiffy Cornbread mix. And you see what happened here. Cornbread Splendor.

Do you use Jiffy Corn Muffin Mix in your cornbread recipe? What do you add to mix it up? Let us know in the comments below:
Jiffy Mix Cornbread Recipe Hack – GF Video

Cuisine: American

Author: Eric Rochow

Prep time: 15 mins

Cook time: 30 mins

Total time: 45 mins
Ingredients

2 boxes of Jiffy Corn Muffin Mix

2 eggs

2/3 cup milk

14oz can of creamed corn

2 tablespoons butter
Instructions

Put a #8 – or 12″ cast iron pan in the oven at 375F for about 15 minutes

Mix together the 2 boxes of Jiffy Corn Muffin Mix with the eggs, milk, creamed corn.

Pull the cast iron pan out of the oven, drop in the butter and swirl it around, make sure it gets up on the walls of the cast iron pan.

Pour the batter into the cast iron pan, and bake for 30 minutes.

Check for doneness, the edges of the crust should be starting to brown.

Let cool for a few minutes, run a spatula up under the pan to loosen the corn bread. Flip onto a plate
3.5.3208
Thanks for watching, eric.
August 27, 2010
How to make a Window Flower Box : GardenFork.TV

Here’s plans and video to make a window box for your flowers. Easy to build in a weekend. Many window boxes fall apart because they are made of wood, I solved that. And here is Eric’s solution: the GardenFork Window Box Plans. Watch the show and then check out our video on window box planting. Below is a window box plan and photos to accompany the window flower box video.

How to make a window flower box

The wood box is made out of pine. It’s sized to be just slightly larger than the plastic pot that holds the plants. You can use common pine, be sure to prime it first with a stain blocking primer, else the knots in the wood will bleed through the paint. You can buy a can of stain blocking primer in a spray can, hit all the knots with a second coat, it dries pretty fast.

Give the window box planter several coats of paint, it will last longer that way.

I had to offset the hanger brackets because the side of the house has board and batten style wood siding. If you are attaching this do a house with vinyl siding or clapboard, you might want to slip behind the brackets some shims so the bracket screws don’t crush the siding.

When cutting the front and back wood pieces, be sure to cut them 1-1/2″ longer than the width of the inner planter. If you have coated screws, or deck screws, use those, as they are less likely to rust and bleed out of the paint.

This is how I make a window flower box, please tell us about your window box experience below.

June 24, 2010