Flower Farm

The hum of the 2 freeway can just be heard in the distance making this green oasis named Frogtownflora a surprising discovery in the Los Angeles metropolis. On Saturday April 5th my leisurely day was cut short when a friend insisted we visit a flower farm at their open day event in Eagle Rock. The farm is called  Frogtown as this is where Kathleen Ferguson first started growing floral plants and experimenting with environmentally appropriate CA native plants. The newly expanded location is where Kathleen grows flowers for her customers, free of herbicides and pesticides and with a focus on water conservation and regenerative farming practices.

Fittingly Frogtownflora has a new member, Anouck Bertin ,who is building a small beehive soon to be populated by a queen and her consorts.  While bees can fly 6 miles, hopefully, they will sample the rewards offered by the locally abundant flowers that Kathleen is growing.

 As Anouck is developing a new hive from scratch she explained that the new queen bee is one that has been previously mated with as many 20 male drones thus ensuring that the sperm she will be using over her life cycle is genetically diverse. To protect the queen during the introduction to the hive she will be kept in a chamber that is plugged with marshmallow preventing her release into the hive. As the drones eat their way through the marshmallow, they gradually become familiar with the Queen and are less prone to be aggressive to her as she joins the hive population. The drones that mated with the queen are not part of the new colony and indeed die after mating.

 The new hive that Anouck is making is comprised of  several wooden frames and each one will support the heavy honeycomb that the bees will create from their secreted wax. The frames were separated by top rails that allow a 3/8” bee space between each frame, necessary space if the bees are to work and move freely.

 Martin Pierce and I have a fondness for bees which explains the bees inclusion in our cabinet knobs and in our Netsuke collection of rounded animal inspired door knobs.

Bumble bee cabinet knobs and bumble bee door knobs

We have completed casting our new bumble bee cabinet pull which was developed in response to the popular demand shown for our much larger bumble bee door knob. In an earlier post we documented how the original pattern and molds were created and now we are pleased to share photos of our first pieces which were patinaed in a dark finish and then sealed with oil and wax. As with all of our cabinet hardware the patina and how it is applied is an artistic process and one where we spend a lot of time deciding how best to bring out the details of each piece, where to add and remove color to create shadows and highlights, which parts to burnish which to make dull.

Bumble bees unlike honey bees do not produce a surplus of honey that can be harvested, and they do not live-in large colonies in symmetric organized hives. The bumble bee instead creates its nest opportunistically by using tree holes, rodent nests, leaf litter to form a seemingly disheveled dwelling. The nests may be easy to miss as they use leaves, animal hair and grass to create a layer of insulation to regulate the temperature of their dwelling and prevent it from overheating.

We chose the bumble bee over the honey bee for our hardware designs as its rotund shape makes it easy to grip. The honey bee, by comparison has a slender abdomen and pointed wings and a body shape that is closer to that of many wasps. Not surprisingly as insect lovers we also have 2 styles of wasp which for the non-purist can be paired with the bee to make a cabinet hardware  statement.