honeybees
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BSI: Bee Scene Investigator
(Note and disclaimer: The following post might actually contain factual information relevant to beekeepers.) All the bees are dead and I want to know why. I want to autopsy the bees. Technically, since they are not human beings, I want to dissect the bees. But Mr. Beekeeper husband is feeling really sad about these bees. He feels Continue reading
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The busy beekeeper tries to tuck the bees in for winter
A twenty-five pound bag of sugar is empty in the kitchen. Dinner was delayed because the stock pot of bubbling sugar water was taking up most of the stove space. All of my pyrex casseroles are filled with sweets that we won’t be eating. A five gallon bucket and a paint stirrer are coated with sugar 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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Adding more honey boxes…how sweet it is!
Eying a near-empty honey jar in our kitchen the other day, someone asked, “Do you still do honey?” Good question, since we did not harvest any last year. A rough winter in 2011 did in all of our bees, and a harsh summer did off two of the four replacement hives we bought. (Digression: The ESL Continue reading
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The Scent of Maywood: This Week It’s Wild Roses
A fragrance cannot be posted in a blog. Picture and video can provide sight and sound, but to really experience Maywood in spring, you have to smell it. On a walk down to the field to inspect the blueberries, the sweet smell of grass perfumes the air. Not the smell of a fresh mowed lawn, 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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Bee watching
People who don’t keep bees think this is weird, but one of the relaxing things we do around here at Maywood is to go down by the bees and just watch them. It’s a nice spot for sitting, down the hill from the house, tucked back in the woods. It’s very secluded ( in spite of Continue reading
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Purifying the beeswax
The most obvious advantage of maintaining bees is to have honey. A secondary advantage is to have the beeswax. It’s an amazing product with so many practical applications. Last year we harvested our first honey. This year we want to find uses for the wax. The first step is to get the wax from the Continue reading
Slightly Off the Grid 