beekeeping

It’s been a minute

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We drove home from Colorado in April and life and work has kept us busy.

Sadly my bees froze over the winter and most of my fellow beekeepers also lost a high percentage of their hives due to weather and mites.

I repopulated them and all was going well until a bear got into one of them. The electric net was stomped, hive frames, where the unhatched bees live, were scattered 100 yards down the hill. Honey attracts the bears but they really want the protein from the larvae.

The remaining bees were huddled on the ground and on one frame.

I put the hive box back together but I never saw the queen and could only hope she was ok. The clump of bees may have been a sign. I added an AC charger to the electric fence.

I called the NY conservation ranger who scheduled a site visit. Before she could get here, the bear came back and got the second hive.

I was very discouraged. With Tim’s help, we tripled the electric wire and baited it with peanut butter on foil.

The bees were pissed. One got under my suit and stung me under the arm. I stripped my clothes off in the front yard. Tim got stung in the hand and the Ranger got stung in the face! They were not acting like their usual mellow selves.

I was advised my fence was in good order, it was a nuisance bear to livestock (my two hives), and I was permitted to shoot it. Hmmm, I don’t think so.

I checked the bees a week later and, miraculously, both queens survived and were laying eggs. Meanwhile the workers were storing tons of honey. I added more honey boxes and will wait and see. It’s been 10 days since the last bear visit.

In the meantime, the deer get bolder.

At least they don’t eat my bees! They better leave my garden alone.

What’s worse than a snake in the grass?

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Snakeskin in the grass

One in the basement!

I found this little guy in the basement and another under the outside stairs. A quick search led me to Snake Away to try to keep them from the house. We probably also need to seal a few cracks.

That’s Tim on the roof, for the last time, cleaning the chimney. I’m belaying him from the ground and hate the whole process. He agreed to hire someone next time. I may have to get this promise in writing.

My zinnias keep blooming. Every time I cut a flower, two more appear. They may be my only crop next year.

Here is the last bloom in my wildflower garden.

Honey is in. It was a sticky day. Best advice was to have a bowl of water and towel nearby to rinse your hands, repeatedly.

I harvested about 17 pounds. Since then, I have fed the bees about 80 pounds of sugar to keep them fed over the winter. We traded.

Will you look at that. So pretty. I need more garlic and rosemary next time but it was quite the creative focaccia.

I’m in the honey

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My first harvest is in! The process is pretty straight forward but too sticky to photograph.

First, I selected frames that were completely full of honey and capped by the bees with wax. The bees know when the moisture content is just right. I only took six frames from one of my three hives. I “encouraged” the bees to leave the frames with a stiff shake and a gentle brush.

The honey house was ready with a honey extractor, wax uncapping knife, 5 gallon food grade bucket and lots of jars. The wax is sliced off the honeycomb, then two frames are centrifuged and the honey is flung to the sides of the extractor drum where it slowly drips downward. Turn the frames over and repeat, and repeat.

Next the honey, which still had bits of wax in it, is poured and filtered into the 5 gallon bucket and from there is poured into individual jars. The label design came later.

There were about 8 quarts of honey, after the 1/2 cup I licked off my fingers, and it’s worth its weight in gold. Given my investment, that comes to about $275 a quart. Now I know why it is called liquid gold!

Everyone needs a road trip now and then

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And this jeep does it with style, with a crocheted wheel cover.

We went to a show at the Saratoga Performing Arts Center and had some time to explore the Park, take the waters, and swim in a beautiful pool.

Last weekend, we visited Gloucester, MA for a dear couple’s 50th anniversary party. A fabulous thunderstorm rolled through our first night and hung directly overhead for quite a while. Very dramatic. We don’t get thunderstorms like that in the Adirondacks. The mountains catch them before they can reach our “Pleasant Valley”. The grey weather persisted through the weekend.

Next time we’ll be more careful about reading the fine print in an Airbnb listing. The first night, while it stormed, we both rolled into the middle of the little pull out couch‘s mattress. Tim took matters into his own hands and moved it to the floor for the second night. One of us slept beautifully.

There’s a good chance a group of my bees are enjoying their own road trip. One hive may have swarmed. They were gathering and talking about it for a couple of days.

I’ll inspect their hive this weekend to see if there is still a queen present, or in the making. In the meantime, I sampled some of their honey. It was light colored and delicious. I can hardly wait until they share it with me.

and the living is easy

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Summertime in the Adirondacks is stunning but brief. The growing season is only four months but is packed with beauty.

An evening boat ride with friends on Lake Champlain

Tim is already swimming in the ponds. I hesitate, to his dismay: too cold, too windy, too many weeds reaching for my legs and arms. And now I have heard snapping turtles ply these waters. I’ll wade in soon when the deeper lakes warm up.

My local beekeepers’ group met at my hives last week and declared they are doing fine. All three have queens, are laying eggs and gathering honey. That means one hive raised a queen all by itself.

They selected an egg, plumped it up with royal jelly, she hatched, took her maiden flight, mated with a few drones, and made it back to the hive without getting picked off by a bird or dragonfly. And there she will remain for the rest of her days.

Honeybee on milkweed

Perhaps I will get at least one jar of honey in July. This nectar bloom is short and sweet.

Purple clover down the road

We moved to the Adirondacks in the winter of 2009 after only coming up in the snow. How lucky to find summer is even better.

Field down the road
Common merganser (?) under the bridge

and then there were three, maybe

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Wildcamera

More bee stories, my latest passion. My hive survived the winter and it looked so strong, I decided to split it into two. In the meantime, I had also purchased a package (roughly 3 pounds) of bees with a queen.

I bought lumber to build a couple of hive stands and a new step for my she-shed-bee-shed.

Grandkids were here and we literally spent hours watching the bees bring back pollen. And they made me wear a tiara all weekend (doesn’t everyone have one in their bag of tricks) because I was the princess bee and they were the brother worker bees. I decided not to delve too deeply into the drones’ (male bees) role and demise.

All looked honky dory until I did a hive inspection today. I knew I would have to wait a month before the split hive showed evidence of a new queen laying eggs.

First, the worker bees have to “create” a queen by selecting and feeding a young larva royal jelly. Then it takes 16 days to hatch a new queen and about a week for her to fly off into the sunset with as many drones as she can find. And she has to make it back to the hive without getting snatched up by a bird as a tasty snack.

Well the original hive and the new package have no new eggs or larvae. But the one I thought was forming a queen, had fresh eggs. I must have mistakenly put her in the new hive. The original hive is trying to make a queen. And the package has some young brood I put in from my original hive so maybe they will make a queen. If not, I’ll put it atop one of the other two. Yikes!

They and the hummingbirds loved our rhododendron, which I could watch from the comfort of my living room chair.

This is quite a learning curve. Tim demonstrated his true love by driving an hour north to pick up my new package of bees when I was out of state visiting my daughter. Then he drove home with them in the car! My hero.

I’ll give them a week and see what happens.

I’m not grounded

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There have been a few possible bear events on our little road. I set up the electric fence again to protect the bees and their honey. But I wasn’t convinced it was working and our multimeter died last fall.

I tried to test it with a screwdriver but nothing happened. I sucked it up and grasped hold of the net. I could feel the little piezo spark but nothing more. Last year, I got the full voltage shock and this was not it.

I called the guy I bought the solar energizer from. He suggested I test the energize itself. I ordered the tester.

Tim was concerned we would lose the bees so he was in the process of moving the deer fence over to the bees. I tested first the controller and then the fence and they both were getting 19,000 volts. I called my guy again. I confirmed I still didn’t feel anything.

Then he asked me the most important question, “What shoes are you wearing?” To which I replied, my Muck boots, of course. I always wear those boots with the bees.

Voila, that was the answer. I wasn’t grounded! He told me I could confirm this by holding the fence in one hand and sticking my other hand in the dirt. Or even better, get Tim to touch it in his non-rubberized boots.

I declined. Maybe I am grounded after all.

How can this bee?

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It’s cold in the northern Adirondacks, -15 degrees F this morning with about a foot of dry snow on the ground. My bee hive was prepped for this before I abandoned it and went to Maine for most of the winter.

The tilted cover shielding the entrance prevented the snow from blocking it off. Miraculously, I listened with my stethoscope and they are buzzing and humming inside there. How can it be? They are maintaining a temperature of 90 degrees in a small cluster. What a wonder!

Speaking of stethoscopes, I received my second Moderna vaccine and I know I mounted an immune response. I slept for 16 hours the following day. Well worth it. The one time, other than childbirth, I was happy to feel crook.

Happy cows?

I wonder which one produced this albino calf? I thought it was a sheep at first glance.

Imagine

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I am starting to see things again. Not woowoo visions but interpreting reality a little differently. It is mostly centered around bees at the moment. On Deal Island, in the past, the rock formations spoke to me.

When I had to make the decision of which way to hang the door on the bee-shed, this knot made the decision for me.

You have to admit you see a bee flying at you. So the door went up and the shed is finished. My “weekend” project took three months and ran behind schedule and over budget. But it provided hours of learning and much welcomed activity as we moved in and out of PAUSE. I may have a little post construction depression (PCD).

It’s easy to see why because it is the cutest shed I ever built. Tim gave me some bee decor for our 14th wedding anniversary and it is the perfect finishing touch.

Now the bees are sending me their own message. Something about a dog.

My daughter lacked the vision but here it is.