Norwegians, Swedes and Bees

Some of the guys doing a very Norwegian past time- grilling hot dogs. Oddbjorn (in the middle) introduced me to eating frozen hot dogs. No thanks.

This is reindeer moss (actually a lichen). It is an important food for reindeer and has some great fractal patterns.
This is Fredrik and a brown trout. Two days in a row he has won the fishing contest. This time he could choose a lure from both mine and Hartvig's gear as his prize. His fish was amazing and was well worth the lost lures.
This is me shaking the bees off a comb of honey while my professor looks on (or talks on the phone). Their bees are extremely gentle and little protection is needed. We practiced extracting honey today and harvest around 50 litres or so, which isn't bad considering how early it is in the season.
A comb of capped honey...
Stockholm- amazing city. They call it "Venice of the North" because of the water channels that divide the islands that make up the city.

This is Hartvig explaining that the old rusty nail that I found was not actually older than the country of Canada and that just because it is square doesn't mean that it is special.
I spent a day with the Norwegian beekeeper society. I also managed to get stung inside my ear that morning which is highly unrecommended.

Chicken-of-the-woods

While biking home today from my lectures on honey bee diseases, I happened upon a sulfur shelf aka chicken-of-the-woods (Laetiporus sulphureus). I had been wondering for a few years when I would come upon this delicious and unique fungus.

Here it is a bit closer up. Fried with some olive oil and salt it is remarkably like chicken (slimy chicken). I picked a few kilos and fried up half of it tonight and the rest will be for tomorrow.

In other news: I will be defending my thesis on May 22 in Norway and then returning to Sweden to finish off my bee course. May 31 I head back to North America and will do some hiking with Colleen and her friend on the Appalachian Trail. As these events are in the future, I don't yet have any pictures of them but they should eventually make it on here. After the AT I will plan on meeting my new niece in Toronto.

Downtown Uppsala

The apartment building on the left is my home for this month. There is a tradition among these 12 apartment building to scream and yell at exactly 10pm every night. People normally hang out of their window or stand on the balcony to yell. It takes some getting used to.

Main square of Uppsala. This is about a half hour walk from where I live.
Huge church- its steeples can be seen from just about anywhere.
Everyone (besides me) has a bike out here.

More flora and fauna

This is a pretty typical Swedish farm. Wheat fields tucked into a matrix of mixed forest.

Crab spider waiting for a pollinating insect for lunch.

Nomada sp- this is a type of bee that lays eggs in other bees provisions (pollen balls etc). In this case it is looking for an Adrena vaga nest to lay its eggs in.
Pulsatilla- anthers and stigma.
Blueberries are finally blooming in the forests and the bumble bees are working them pretty hard.

Spring in Norway and Sweden

Spring has come to the nordic countries and like most cold places it comes with exuberance. Here are a few shots from the forests. This one is of Hvitveis (Anemone nemorosa). I am currently in Uppsala, Sweden studying bees, apiculture and pollination as my final course for my Master's. Today we studied bumble bees and tomorrow it will be solitary bees. Pretty amazing stuff.
Anemone nemorosa.
Some sort of Pulsatilla found near the castle in Uppsala, Sweden.

Bombus pascuorum?? I took the shot before I started this bee course so my identification might be a little off. Bumble bees are some of the earliest pollinators and can handle pretty low temperatures. Today on our field excursion we caught 8 different species. The colder climes have a higher diversity of these bees.
This is the apple cedar rust fungus (Gymnosporangium sp.). Part of its amazing life cycle is on juniper or cedar and part of its lifecycle is on apple or hawthorn trees.
Oxalis sp. one of the first bloomers in Norwegian spruce forests. Some sort of springtail can be seen feeding on the pollen. The plant can be eaten by humans as well.

Abigail-my new niece!

Here is a photo of my brother Jonathan with baby Abigail. Jonathan and Amber had baby Abigail about 2.5 weeks ago. I have yet to meet her, but I am certainly looking forward to it.
Abigail could be one of the best looking babies out there.