A Journey to Preserve Bee Pollen in Colombia Part 3 by Alex Dunwoody

We finally finished both of our prototypes! The prototype below is a passive solar in-trap dryer, which means that it dries bee pollen as it’s collected. The plastic covered sides of the trap fold down to let radiation from the sun in during the day, which heats the metal air duct on the interior.. The sides of the dryer can additionally fold up to make working with bees on these types of hives easier.

My passive solar dryer, my baby.

Our other trap is a hybrid solar dryer, which means that it uses energy from the sun to passively heat air and to actively move air over the pollen using solar powered fans.

My passive solar dryer, my baby.

A few days ago we installed both of these traps in the apiary and are measuring moisture content reduction in pollen as well as trap temperature and humidity levels. Sadly, I am leaving the project at this point to explore more of South America, but Salomon will continue with these experiments and present the results to beekeeping campesinos in the greater bogota area. If one of these designs causes a significant enough decrease in pollen moisture content, it will increase the quality of pollen and decrease the post harvest drying costs. Campesinos will have access to international markets, which require a higher grade pollen quality than local markets, and increase their pollen profits.

Installing the pollen dryers in the apiary

Comments

Welcome to the UC Davis Blum Center Blog!

Here you will find updates on our organization, and blog posts written by each of our Blum Fellows about their experiences abroad. Make sure to check out our website at blumcenter.ucdavis.edu, and like us on Facebook at www.facebook.com/UCDavisBlumCenter to get regular updates and see our upcoming events.

Visiting the New Roots Farm, By Stella Sappington

At this point in my project I have incorporated my supervisors notes into the first draft of the survey, asked questions regarding his changes, and begun to survey clients. Many of the changes he made were for the purposes of brevity and clarity. He removed the questions I had in place regarding favorite foods and whether the interviewee was the primary shopper, as well as an experimental question about community meals. He also managed to consolidate the multiple questions I had regarding food insecurity that were separated whether they interrogated price, unavailability or distance. I questioned these changes as I was concerned about the knowledge gap between shopper and interviewee that one report mentioned and elucidating rich responses to all aspects of food security. However, I ultimately incorporated each of his changes. At this time I have called 80 numbers intending to administer the survey with only 10 respondents. Their answers are so far similar in nature and offer good gu...

Sky-High Natural Dyes by Jennifer Hoover

In June of 2014, I was bracing myself for my last few days in the Himalayan village I had come to call home. I had spent 3 months there, befriending a few women with whom I worked on various textile projects. As we wrung out the last of our skeins of yarn over a dye bath, Nirmala commented, “You will always remember the time you had only two students.” “No,” I countered, “I will remember the time I had two teachers.” “Three students, three teachers,” we agreed. This, to me, is the power of participatory action research: we are all students, and all teachers; all researchers, and all research subjects. And so I am thrilled to be back for further collaboration, with the support of the Blum Center. I am here in Kullu Valley working with some participants in a women's self-help group (www.whims.in) who produce textile goods as a way of generating some independent income and preserving traditional craft skills. Although the women have started working with the acrylic ...

UC Davis Blum Center for Developing Economies

Search This Blog