honey
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The First of This Year’s Honey: Beating the Bear
We pulled four frames of honey today. They were capped and we are so afraid that the local bear will defeat our electric fence and get to the hives again that we decided to pull some honey as soon as possible. Those of you familiar with our bear escapades will remember that last year the Continue reading
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Les Rûches de Notre Dame and the Prize of Paris Honey: Beekeepers Go to Paris
We were dining in Montmartre when the news broke that Notre Dame was on fire. Almost instantly, our phones began dinging with texts from back home. “Notre Dame is on fire!” “Where are you? Are you ok?” Concern for our well-being came with snarky comments, too: “Was John smoking cigars in the restroom at Notre Continue reading
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September Bees–and Moths for the Freezer
The honey bees are busy with the last burst of blooming weeds that cause humans so much distress, so bee season has not quite ended here. However, we have not inspected the bees in awhile. A gorgeous summery weekend in early fall was a great opportunity. (Especially since the next two weekends will find us on Continue reading
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How Much Honey?
It’s the big question everyone has when we harvest a honey box. How much honey is in there? Family wants to know, “Will we get some for Christmas?” Colleagues ask, “Will you have any to sell this year? Mr. Beekeeper asks, “How many pounds did I carry up from the bee yard?” Mrs. Beekeeper asks, Continue reading
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The hot, dry air of winter
This is the winter that will not die. Some people are tired of the cold. It’s March–when the bees are supposed to emerge to pollinate budding red maples– and the weather forecast is still calling for a temperature of ZERO. Some people are sick of the snow. My husband, for example, is outside right now chopping more firewood in anticipation Continue reading
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Snow Bees and Honey Butter
There’s a break in the weather. After a foot and a half of snow, Mr. Beekeeper trudges out to the tractor to plow before the next batch of snow comes in this evening. The “break” means that it is merely raining. “Merely raining” means that the foot and a half of snow is getting packed Continue reading
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Honey Harvest 2012
If there’s anything more satisfying to a beekeeper than seeing buckets of harvested honey, it is seeing that golden sweetness in jars. It’s a little bit arrogant on our part to take pride in a good harvest since the bees make the honey, but there’s enough work on the part of the beekeeper to justify it. Continue reading
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Preparing for the honey harvest
Today was an exciting day as we got the hives ready for harvest. Today’s tasks: to put bee escapes on the honey boxes and put entrance reducers on the front entrance to the hives. The goals: (1) to get the bees to exit the honey box without getting back in, and (2) to try to prevent robbing Continue reading
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Troubling Bee-havior
We’re having a rough year with the bees. First off, we lost all four hives over the winter. Then, after ordering replacements, three of the queens did not take and John had to order three new queens. Things were off to a slow start this spring. Last week we went on vacation. Before we left, Continue reading
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Harvesting the honey
Let the honey harvest begin! Sunday afternoon John began harvesting honey. A sudden thunderstorm cut his work short, so he only pulled frames from one hive. The rest will have to wait until next weekend. He was able to pull ten frames of honey from that one hive, yielding about four gallons of honey. We’ll know Continue reading
Slightly Off the Grid 