Getting to know the bees

Brendan and Tai work with bees at
Quesasda Gardens.

by Elizabeth Skow

We didn't know much about bees. But that was a few weeks ago.

Our household got together and purchased a beginner beekeeping kit this spring, joined the SF Bee Association, and took a basic beekeeping class. Still, experienced beekeepers told us, the only way for us to learn was to go ahead and do it.

You might already know a bit about my changing backyard: trees felled, new ones planted. Add to that: a TON of concrete moved to accommodate an apiary, a lemon tree planted, and some roses started which we expect to grow alongside a hive.

The hive, an unassuming cream-colored box, is already filled with thousands and thousands of diligent little creatures.

We were all interested in bees, but we had some reservations about getting stung.

Everyone at the SFBA said "Don't worry! The bees aren't even paying attention to you, they are doing their jobs," but no matter how many times people have told you bees are gentle, the fact is, they sting.

I found out firsthand when I picked up the bee box and my middle finger touched the screen part. Instant sting! Didn't hurt much, and didn't swell up.

Brendan, my housemate, volunteered to install the bees by pulling the queen and her little plastic sarcophagus out of the bee box without dropping her. After dropping her anyway, and reaching into the box full of bees to find her, he placed her in the center of the hive box where she would later be released as the other bees would begin to get used to her scent. He then literally shook the other bees into the box, installed extra frames for honeycombs, and stepped back to admire his work.

As you can see from the photos, Brendan is wearing a bee suit, and there are quite a few bees flying around. But our neighbor, like many seasoned beekeepers, doesn't use protection when he keeps bees. Brendan said he was a lot less nervous working in the bee suit next to someone with virtually no equipment.

Once the bees were installed, we waited about ten days to look inside and ensure that the queen had been released, with help from a bit of beekeeping magic: she comes with a candy plug that the other bees eat through.

A bee smoker made our first inspection easy. It puffs smoke into the hive opening which sedates the bees so that we could pry off the cover. Since bees like to stick everything together tight with propolis, the cover must be pried open each time.

After ten days, the bees had filled most of the box with honeycomb. After two weeks, the combs were filled with bee larvae, future workers to collect pollen and honey through the summer, and the queen was roaming around laying eggs.

I lifted out each frame to see how busy the queen had been. Pulling them out is tricky because the box is crowded and it's hard not to crush a bee or two. It is quite a sight watching the bees go back and forth across the frame, doing their job despite my rude interruptions.

We quickly grew more comfortable with the new hive, and placed a chair nearby so that we can watch the workers come in to deposits the loads of pollen on their legs. We find it quite meditative to watch.

Not that our own work is done. Next time we open the hive, we will be sprinkling our bees with powdered sugar which manages bee mites, a cause of feral bee colony collapse. Beekeepers have found that if they sprinkle powdered sugar on the bees, the bees eat any mites and mite eggs off of each other. That’s much better than using insecticides.

Thank goodness for the SF Bee Association...and Youtube.


Some amazing things about bees:

They dance to communicate where the most nectar is. You can see them doing this around the entrance to the hive in the springtime.

They are very neat, and they haul the dead bees and any trash out of the hive right away. One new hive owner reported that her bees had deconstructed the plastic queen cage, made of thick plastic, removing it piece by piece from the hive.

Aztec ritual, ceremonial dance hosted in Bayview

Danza Xitlalli de San Francisco and dancers from as far away as Mexico celebrated Xilonen (Tender Corn), a coming-of-age ceremony for young women, at Raza Park (also known as Potrero del Sol) on June 18th.

Xilonen (tender corn) is an Aztec ceremony that is held near summer Solstice and celebrates the rite-of-passage of girls into womanhood, a transition represented by the ripening of the corn. Twelve to fifteen young women or girls are chosen from within the community to be honored, given advice and counsel by elders. The ceremony consists of a nighttime vigil that lasts several hours followed, the next day, by ceremonial Aztec dancing.

Text and photos by Elizabeth Skow

On June 17th and 18th, a community based Aztec ceremonial dance group, Danza Xitlalli de San Francisco, celebrated the festival of Xilonen at Walden House in Bayview. Many Aztec dance groups traveled to the Bay Area from as far away as Mexico and Texas, joining groups from San Francisco, Santa Rosa and San Jose. About two hundred people attended the vigil Friday night and the dancing on Saturday.

The ancient Aztec ceremonies and dances are part of the Danza movement, which has been growing throughout the United States for the last twenty years. Joanna Uribe, longtime member of Xitlalli, who also serves as the group’s secretary, thinks the movement is gaining popularity because people are looking for ways to connect to their cultural traditions and community.

“Mexican and Chicano communities are looking for ways to raise cultural pride and find traditional spiritual roots,” Uribe said.

At the vigil, the Xilonen, or corn maidens, are prepared for the transition by receiving offers of flowers, candles and food. Traditionally, community members come from far and wide to support the girls who are honored. The June 17th vigil at Walden house was open to the community. There was a large altar decorated in corn and yellow flowers, with pictures of Aztec figures alongside some Catholic imagery.

All participants at the ceremony sang along with elders, accompanied by wooden stringed instruments, Mandolinas, which are Mexican mandolins. The smell of sage and chopal, which must be lit the entire night of the vigil according to tradition, wafted through the air, and the sound of rattles made from Chachayote punctuated the songs. There was plenty of food for everyone at the potluck table.

Many of the songs, all sung in Spanish, told stories from the Bible. The reason for this is that the Spanish forbade the Aztecs from drumming and also from speaking their own language. The people disguised their rituals — dressing them up in Catholic garb — to protect traditions and pass them down to their children.

“When people were caught playing the drums or owning a drum, the Spanish would cut off their hands,” said Xitlalli member Roberto Ariel Vargas.

Vargas said that the singing in Spanish and the mixing up of the images is an example of syncretism, when two oppositional ideologies are mixed together. There are examples of this phenomenon in most religions, but it is striking in this case.

The singing and storytelling went on until 1am, on June 18th, when the participants went to Raza Park (Potrero del Sol) to prepare the altars for the center of the dance. The dancing went from 10am to 2pm as families watched, participated and picnicked on the grass.

Some aspects of the Xilonen ceremony might be difficult for the uninitiated to understand in today’s modern society. Others serve a familiar and universal purpose.

“It is important to recognize our children as they are growing up, and to provide them with a venue to receive advice and cautions as they move into adolescence,” Uribe said.

During the year that the girls are Xilonen, Uribe explained, they have responsibilities. People in the community are watching them to see how they are doing. At a time when most teens are pushing their parents away, this is an opportunity for community members to step in and help.

Cindy Dominguez, 30, was a Xilonen when she was 16 years old. She and her sister both took on the role. Dominguez wasn’t a dancer, but was nominated because of her work as a youth advocate.

To prepare for being a Xilonen, some girls participate in sweat lodges with their community groups, or in small honoring ceremonies within their own group.

“Back then, what I got out of it was to learn about my indigenous roots and Mexica culture,” Dominguez said. “It made me realize how alive the traditionshttp://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gif are, and how it is carried on to the next group. Now it grounds me spiritually. I became a dancer and joined a dance group.”

Dominguez has been honored to act as a Xilonen guide the past two years. As a guide, she stays with the Xilonen during the ceremony to guide them through it spiritually.

Danza Azteca Xitlalli is the oldest Aztec Dance group in San Francisco, established in 1981 by Maestra Macuilxóchitl and Maestro Francisco Camplis. The group celebrates five major ceremonies per year, in addition to smaller ceremonies that have recently been added. The group always welcomes donations for food for the celebrations and for operating costs of the dance group.

Local history note: The Bayview Hunters Point neighborhood was once home to Muwekma Ohlone native peoples.

New talent at Footprints Local

Elizabeth Skow, twenty-year San Franciscan and new Quesada Gardens block resident, is now a regular contributor to Bayview Footprints Local News.

Jeffrey writes:

It was thrilling enough when Liz moved in across the street from me a few months ago, because I knew that she is the kind of person you want living nearby: a caring, involved neighbor.

I had met her at a Bridgeview Garden gathering two years before, saw her reportage in the New Bay View Newspaper, and watched as she did a great story on Quesada Gardens co-organizer James Ross while earning her degree from San Francisco State University. 

That was when she began to fall in love with the Quesada block, she said later, and set her mind to join the movement of positive change emerging here...as a resident.

Liz is a second generation journalist, whose work has appeared in the Contra Costa Times, Oakland Tribune, and the San Mateo County Times. She grew up in New Hampshire, where her father, John Skow, a freelance magazine writer, taught her to write and to use a chainsaw, both skills she has found indispensable.

When the co-founders of the Network decided to start a vehicle for information about the positive things happening in our community, the involved community members worked together to deliver on that vision...and to earn your respect. That was 2006.

It has been a labor of love and volunteerism ever since. It has survived on the hope that it will generate small acts of kindness: perhaps you will forward this to a friend, get involved in something you might not know about otherwise, or express a feeling of pride about the place you live because of something you saw here.

The Bayview Footprints Network of Community Building Groups has never shied away from changing with the times. A deep community review of the network created changes we all are still benefiting from.

Now, we welcome Elizabeth Skow and the changes she will bring that will make this local news vehicle even better.