A year to remember

 Well here we are. We have made it to December 2020. It has probably been a year that most people can hardly wait for it to be over. 

We had all gone into the New Year, last year, with big dreams of winter to be over early, a fine summer a head and travel to see our family. But it would not be so.

The winter dragged on and on with our share of -20C and colder. Finally somewhere around March things were starting to warm a bit. The spring was not too bad, but with the warmer days, it brought high water. With a wet summer in 2019 and then lots of snow over the winter. The water had a hard time leaving as the ground was still so saturated. We saw water where we had never seen it before. It was still in those places in October and November.

2019/2020 winter hives

But by mid March, life changed. Suddenly Covid made an appearance. People went crazy, buying toilet paper and face masks and selling them on the black market. People were caught in sting operations, reselling masks for over inflated costs. The shelves where once sat toilet paper were empty.

 Then suddenly in April, bags of potting soil were no where to be found, as people who had never gardened before, were planting "Victory Gardens". Next, came a shortage of flour, sugar and yeast. 

As summer approached, we all anticipated long warm days of endless sun. But that was not what Mother Nature had in store for us. Nope. It rained and rained, pretty well all summer. The poor bees could hardly get out because of the daily rains. It would stop raining long enough for us to cut lawns and tend our gardens. Then by the end of May the mosquitoes came out. They were horrible. We had lived up in the area since 1996 and had never seen them this bad....ever!!! Which led to a severe shortage of Mosquito coils and bug dope. Yup.....so all we could do was scratch and complain about the weather (and hoped that the locust weren't the next thing to arrive).

Our little container garden 2020

By mid summer, we were all getting use to our new way of life. And who knew at the ripe old age of 62 i would be adding new words to my vocabulary like, self isolating and safe distancing. Face masks were something you wore you when you went to town, along with hand sanitizer, gloves and soap. Everyone were making masks of different shapes and sizes, they had become an fashion accessory...who seen that coming?

Not sure how it happened, but our gardens seemed to do pretty good, considering the weather. Then it hit.....people were buying up all the canning jars and lids. They were no where to be found . Thankfully for the way some of us live.....we had lots of both on hand.  By the end of fall, i had put up close to 400 jars of canning. Mostly cause i love canning and i love being able to go into my cold room and find a quick dinner.

By the end of October, thankfully most of the mosquitoes were gone and  sugar and flour were back on the shelves. It was now time to get ready for winter. Time to clean up the yard and put away tools and remove batteries out of machinery. 

James had no luck hunting this fall, so sadly we didn't get any extra meat to process. I kept telling him whenever he went out hunting...."if you don't get an animal we might have to become vegetarians this winter". But there was definitely a shortage of animals out there as well. But luckily we have enough meat to do us.

Even though this has been a very hard year, life did go on. I wasn't able to go visit my Mum this year, but i do talk to her everyday,  I was thankful that my sister lives close to her and was able to see her on a regular basis. I am also thankful for the staff and caregivers where Mum lives, that they have managed to keep everyone safe and healthy. So, not everything was doom and gloom. James and I managed to get so many things done this year. I lost count of how many projects we did. I would make myself a list every week of things I wanted to do. It would of been so easy to sit and whine and have a pitty party. But nothing makes you feel better than when you can cross everything off your list. I was also thankful for how much food our little container garden gave us and for our friends that were in our "Bubble" (another new word)

And here we are in mid December, the snow has blanketed all the muck from the wet summer and fall and made everything looks so peaceful and beautiful. By looking around, no one would ever guess we have lived through the most trying year of, possibly our life time. Christmas will come, we will have a nice meal, with friends and family but it may be in a different way.  I guess we just have to look at what is most important to us. For me, its good health, happiness and the love of our friends and family. 

From our Hive to Yours, Merry Christmas.  

James playing during -30C

Yup....I actually did that

 It's funny the things we think of when sitting watching the snow fall. My thoughts took me back to Sept on one of the few days we had this summer that didn't rain. 

I had decided to go over to check my feeders inside the hives. As usual, I went in my bee shed and gathered up the supplies I needed. Then I went around the corner and disconnected the electric fence.

I preceded to fill feeders and realized I had forgot to bring something from the house. So went through the fence, reconnected it and left.

As I returned. friends had come and were doing some work on a vehicle in the yard. I said hi and carried on to the bee yard. I am not really sure where my mind was or what I was thinking, or even if i was thinking at all.....but I did something i had never done since installing the fence....yup, you guessed it, I forgot to turn off the fence. 

I don't go thru the gate, I just kind of fold in half and step in-between 2 strands of wire. And when you do this the inside of your leg is up against the wire...(you know the part of your leg that is so soft and tender....yeah, well that part).

Well, holy cow man.....it almost sounded like a shot gun going off in my head and in that milla-second I thought I could smell flesh burning. But at that point, I was obligated to keep going. I needed to stop the burning flesh and 8000v from travelling thru my body.  

Once through, I stood bee-wildered for a second, suddenly I hoped that no one had witnessed my act of stupidness. So i carried on with my chores.

When I finished, it suddenly dawned on me.....How was i going to get out of my 30ft x 50ft compound? I noticed the people were still within yelling distance so asked them to get James to come over here. 

After a minute or two James came and asked what I needed, sheepishly I confessed to him what I had done and wondered if he could please disconnect the fence so I could get out. He was very kind  not to break out in uncontrollable laughter , like I am afraid I would of. So......at least I know first hand, the fence works and gives a big kick. Don't think I want to do that again.

Panels for charging the fencer

When we first were building the fence

Fall is in the air

Fall:

A couple weeks ago the weather had started to  improve. The sun came out for 3 days in a row and we could work outside without getting wet or wear a coat. But the mornings are cool now and when you look around the leaves have turned yellow. Fall is in the air. I love fall and the changing of the seasons. The smells and the ever changing landscapes. Even our bees sense the change. The scour the fields and meadows for the last traces of nectar or pollen. There is a sense of urgency in their actions this time of year. Like us....they are getting ready for winter, 

Its been a challenging year.

Food:

For the first time that I can ever remember, there had been shortages. People who have never planted a garden were buying up bags of potting soil and trying their hand at growing their own food. People were buying food and toilet paper like it was going out of style. Yeast, flour and sugar couldn't be found anywhere for weeks. People were getting back to the basics, of planting, bread making and cooking their own food. Then suddenly in Sept, canning jars and lids were flying off the shelves. Those shelves still sit empty.

I am so glad we live where we do. We have always shopped to have a full pantry all the time. Its not unusual for me to can 200-400 jars of food every year. We live an hour away from a very small town with limited groceries and about 2 hours from a bigger city. I don't like going to town often so this works for me. 

Bees:

 A week or so ago, we had a break in the weather, so it was time to address the bees. I was helping James build our front porch but decided if I didn't start with the bees I may not have anymore good days to do it. So I went over with the intention of trying to get at least 1 or 2 hives done. 

Up to this point I hadn't taken any honey off this year. I knew there wasn't going to be tons so left it as long as possible for the girls to enjoy. So armed with my smoker and a Rubbermaid tote I began. I was actually surprised at the amount of honey there was. I pulled off the top box and made sure every frame in the second box was full of capped honey, gave them a new bag of fondant and shut them up. I managed to get all 3 hives done and ended up with 2 boxes of honey for ourselves. We had a frame or two which had some uncapped honey and i knew it would keep. So while working on the front porch, i went and retrieved my frame stand and hung up that frame of uncapped honey. Our bees are located across the road from our house, so I wasn't really worried about robbing. Within a few minutes, a few bees appeared, within a hour the frame was full of bees removing the uncapped honey and taking it back to their hives. It was neat to sit and watch them work so hard.

Slowly the bees were arriving 

Determined to get every last drop

On Oct 13 after seeing that frost might be coming soon, i decided to get the candy boards I made in the hives and insulate the attic boxes. So in-between black clouds and pounding rains, I went over and got it done. So now I just need to wrap them, which I don't normally do until the end of the month or early November. However....I don't trust 2020 and have decided to wrap them around the 20th, give or take. Something in my gut tells me I better get it done earlier this year.

Homemade Candy Boards

Home & Garden:
It is now cool enough we almost need a fire everyday. However as crazy as it sounds....we still hadn't had a frost. Nuts eh. This is so unusual for us here. But I will take it. I had planted some sun flowers this year and they are just starting to bloom, I can now see the yellow of their petals. I may have to bring them in the house to enjoy, as i hear we are to get a frost in the next day or so. But that's ok I will enjoy them anyway I can. Our vegetable garden is finished and everything harvested. It was just a little container garden this year but it produced a surprisingly good amount of food for us. I have a nice amount of carrots in the cold room and sitting in jars on the shelves.  

Some of our carrot harvest 

Well here it is October 15th and a few days ago we finally got our 1st frost. Then yesterday we got our 1st snow fall.  I love snow?  I love the peacefulness of it. (especially if I don't have to work in it) I love how everything seems to slow down and I love that you feel the need to make homemade soups and bake bread. I know a lot of people do not share my love of snow and that's ok. I feel good knowing that my root cellar and the wood shed are both full. But when I sit on the couch by the fire, with a warm cuppa and a stack of seed catalogs, I will try not to feel guilty for hoping it  keeps on snowing.

 

Until next time..... Bee Calm  Bee kind  Bee Safe

 

 

Where did the Summer go?

Busy getting ready for winter

Is August really coming to a end already? 

Seeing a few more yellowing leaves and noticing that the days are getting shorter, I am reminded that Summer is coming to an end. As i look around the fields and along the sides of the road the Goldenrod is now in bloom, along with Asters, Hardhack and Tansy. The last wildflowers to bloom. Soon that smell of dying leaves will be in the air. Then I will need to prepare for our first frosts which usually happens in the first couple weeks into September. I look around to see what else is blooming but sadly that is about all there is. I see lots of berries on the trees and bushes like Mountain Ash, Bunch berries and the Elderberry.

The other day I was in the bee yard quietly sitting on my chair by the hives watching. Its one of my favorite things to do. They were busily working and I could see they were bringing in both gray and yellow pollen. It seems like every year around this time, they are flying with real purpose.....getting ready for winter.  They are also feeding quite heavy on syrup. Soon i will place pollen subs and possibly some fondant for them, to help them get ready.

Its been a terrible Beekeeping year, not necessarily for us but lots of our friends. From down at the Lower Mainland and right up to Terrace and Smithers, everyone is reporting little to  no honey. Its been an unusually wet and cool summer. I know folks who take hives up to the mountains in Terrace in July/Aug for the Fireweed nectar flow and that was a bust for the second year in a row. We havent pulled our honey yet so I can't say  how ours looks but I know it won't be much.  But as long as the bees have enough for the winter, that is most important.

One of our beautiful days

Another weird thing that happened this year was, swarming. Lots of swarming......and from the same hive. A friend of mine bought a Nuc this June and she told me hers have swarmed 2 times. It seems crazy. I heard this over and over this summer....and late in the summer too. Crazy. Another friend told me 2 of her hives attempted to swarm...but the queen refused to leave....like what was that all about. I heard the same thing from a beekeeper in Prince George. I know my big hive must of swarmed as well. With the nasty weather and hardly any breaks from it, I found capped queen cells in one hive. I wanted to deal with it but it had started to rain, then the thunder started. I had hoped to deal with it on the next  day that wasn't nasty and hopefully split it before the new queens emerged. 2 days later i went in...and all the queens cells were open. It was too late. 

So now i am hoping for several nice days so i can get into the hives and check out their food stores. Maybe take a couple frames of honey for us and start removing any extra boxes. I have already started feeding them and will continue until the beginning of Oct. 

I can't believe the beekeeping season is coming to the end. At least we still have a few months to watch them work and sit in the beeyard with them before they disappear inside for the winter.

Until next time.     

Bee Safe

Starting to plan winter projects (already??)

Every August when you see a few leaves start to turn and fall, you mind jumps ahead to winter. The garden is starting to produce and canning season is in full swing, . The firewood is in the wood house and the chimney is clean. Outside building projects are discussed and ready to get started so they will be completed before winter sets in.

Winter in Northern BC can be long and dark. It can start in mid October but normally waits until mid or late November. For the past 5 years we have wrapped our bees no later than the beginning of November. But I remember doing it in October one year during a early snow storm. I prefer not to do that again.

But its also the time when I start to  plan my winter projects. Things that I want to do for myself....fun stuff.

For the past 7 years I haven't been able to do my leather work and have really missed it. I use to make leather dog leashes, collars, belts and in later years I started making leather and cow hide pillows. But i wanted to try something different but could still incorporate leather.

My machine has been waiting patiently for me for 7 years.

I plan on making aprons. Not frilly light weigh aprons like our Gramas used to wear, but heavy duty cotton fabric work aprons. Aprons that will have some leather and copper rivets on them. I will also be making half aprons as well.  They will be able to be used in the garden, in the workshop or even while working your bees, which is how i came up with the idea. I get so hot in my bee coat and if I could wear a apron with pockets instead, I would be so happy and cool. It would also keep the propolis off my pants. And we all know how hard that is to get off.

Anyways i have already started to stock up on some fabric for them.

They will be similar to this. 

The second winter project I am planning is..... to learn about Queen Rearing.  I want to do a bunch of splits next year and its so hard for me to get queens mailed to me. 

Where we live, we only get mail 3 times a week and chancing getting a queen sent to me is not worth the risk. 

While talking with our bee inspector last month, he said why don't you rear you own. We talked about it for a short time but it long enough to wonder if I could actually do this. I think I can, well at least I can try.  It doesn't cost much to get into it but it does take time and effort and a whole bunch of luck. (mostly with Mother Nature and we know how cantankerous she can be at times)

So, today, I picked up a few items that I will need to rear some queens next year. I am pretty excited about that too.

Grafting tool and queen cell bar

I am a little scared to ask James what winter projects we have to do in the house this year, but I am hoping I will have time to have some fun.

Well, that is enough rambling for now. Enjoy the rest of Summer. I hope everyone is having some fun of your own.

Rain Rain and more Rain

Living life inside a Rainforest one would think we normally would get lots of rain. But thats not necessarily true. Yes we get rain....but this has been crazy. Enough already. Our nieghbours keep track of the rainfall and the other day she let me know since the 23rd of May we had received over 12 inches of rain. Yikes!
We have had many challenges due to the rain and cooler temperatures this year, (oh and lets not forget the high water and flooding). Getting a window long enough to cut lawns has been tough.  They are very long and lush, but on the upside, the clover is in bloom and the bees have been enjoying them during the dry periods.
The garden.....it too is lush,  but we need some sun and warmth to help things florish more.

Peas growing in old honey supers

Our little container garden

The driveway....oooohhh what a mucky mess it is.  Its a good thing we have 4 wheel drive in most of our vehicles

Mud bog driveway

Then there are the bees. My poor little girls.  They are doing ok, thankfully there are many periods during the day where they can get out to forage. Some of the things i have noticed how the rain has been putting a damper on beekeeping are:
1.  Hard to get in the hives to check for queen/swarm cells and general inspections
2,  Bees have less foraging time, July is usually our big nectar flow time
3.  The heavy rains can cause damage to bees wings if they get caught out in it or it can knock them to the ground.
4.  Bees use the sun as navigation. So it is possible they may not find their way home
5.  Chalkbrood. Its a fungal desease that kills larvae. Its can be caused by poor circulation and cool damp conditions. There are other things that can cause chalkbrood but the last 2 wet summers we have had minor cases of it. Due to the wet.
6.   The pounding rains we have had, it can wash away some of  the nectar out of the flowers.

You may wonder what the forager bees do on these wet days we are having. If it is pouring rain, they hunker down inside the hive. The forager bees help manage the humidity and temperature inside the hives. This time of year they are trying to get the moisture content down in the honey so they can cap it for the winter. Not sure what else they do....maybe watch a little TV?

Well all things considering, i am happy at the weight of some of our honey supers. I had high hopes for a good bunch of honey this year. But as it is right now, I will just be happy if there is enough honey for the bees to take them thru the winter and for maybe a jar for us.
Hope you have a good day. Chat again soon.

Apple Blossoms and Grizzly Bears

     We are now entering our 4th month of this Pandemic. Life for us hasn't changed a lot, but there has been lots of changes in the world.
Words like, self isolation,and self distancing are used on a daily basis and has become part of the norm. And who knew we would all wear masks and gloves when going out? I hate having to dig into my stash of  Nitrile gloves for beekeeping, so i can wear them while grocery shopping.

     Anyways, onto happier things. The bees seem to be doing good. Our smallest hive which suffered a substancial winter kill, is now doing great. I just added another box onto their hive.
I recently did a quick inspection to check for queen cells. I left the busiest one til the end and it turned out to be the one with some issues. When I opened it up, I noticed a very spotty brood pattern. I could see that there had been a recent hatch as the population was pretty big. I tried finding new eggs but we all know how hard they can be at times. (Especially with my older eyes and a overcast day.) Then I noticed there wasdrone cells scattered amongst the worker cells. When I flipped over one of the frames I noticed a couple of queen cups with larvae in them. As i turned over the same frame i seen two large capped supercedure cells. So i assumed the queen was either dead or going to be soon.
     I sometimes lack confidence in myself and my beekeeping knowledge so I talked to our bee inspector and explained the situation and he explained that since the drone brood was scattered amongst the worker cells, it may be a sign that the queen was running out of sperm. Hopefully tomorrow, if the weather is ok, I will go back in and see if one of the queens have emerged. Then we hope the weather holds long enough for her to have a successful mating flight.
     Update: I went through the hive about week after the first inspection. The 2 capped queen cells were gone. So this means they probably hatched and now we wait a bit longer to see if it all works out. I still plan on throwing in a frame of brood from another hive just incase the queen doesnt come back. At least the bees can make another queen cell and hopefully get a new queen.

   

One of the girls visiting a apple blossom

      As spring arrived, we were excited to see that all our fruit trees had survived the winter and are now covered with blossoms. The honey bees, bumble bees and other pollinator bees have been busy visiting them. And we have been enjoying watching them go from flower to flower.
      Along with the apple blossoms, its also the arrival of the bears. Hungry from a long winter and late spring, we see them almost daily. A week or so ago we were lucky enough to capture on film this young Grizzy as he wandered through our front yard. We watched him carefully to make sure he didnt go across the road where our Apiary is, but he only paused long enough to munch on some dandelion flowers then toodled off into the bush. Two nights ago we had another visit but this time it was from the most beautiful rust colored black bear I had ever seen. He too passed through quickly without any trouble.

Young Grizzly in the front yard

Well, its a wet miserable day here in the Robson Valley, so i think, like my bees, i will hunker down inside today. Hope everyone is staying safe and enjoying their bees.

Bye for now

Spring has arrived

Hi again!
I had started a new post back in April....but it was kind of boring so decided not to upload it.  But i will give you a bit of a idea what was going on during those times.
April 21
We had replaced all the broken insulators and re-tightened the fence. We then dug the battery out of the basement and hooked up the electric fence.
April 27
The girls had found their first bit of pollen. This finally made things feel like spring was on its way. By the end of the month a lot of the snow had melted.
May 1
With April behind us and most of the snow gone, we could finally get into the bee yard and start building the new hive stands. We had decided on a simple design and got to work.

Digging post holes for the stands

As you can see from the photo, we brought the Bob Cat in within a few feet from the front of the hives. We worked out there digging post holes and hammering and banging around and the bees paid us no attention. They carried on with their search for pollen to fill their combs for the brood. 

Moving day

Once the stands were built it was time to tear apart the hives and transfer them into their brand new homes. I was so happy to get them off that nasty old stand where the melting snow had saturated the bottom board and it was a nasty wet mess inside the hive. I felt so bad for them but was glad they had survived. Lesson learnt, we won't have solid bottoms on our stands again. The girls once again tolerated us disrupting them and not once did we get any warning shots on our faces. They were pretty calm. 

Hive stands complete and girls in their new homes

                                      

New strawberry bed on the left, filled containers in the centre. The old hive boxes will be planted with Peas.

Now that the bees are all settled in, we started getting a little vegetable "garden" done. We won't have time to build the greenhouse or set up a permanent garden this year so opted for throwing a few seeds in some old containers. I decided to set them in the bee yard since there is lots of room still. So we got that done the other day. We also had transplanted the strawberry plants  into a new bed. . So hopefully the bee yard will be full of fruit tree blossoms and lots of flowers from the vegi's soon. Its going to be such a great place to bring a cuppa and just sit and relax. 

Well, i hope everyone is doing good and staying healthy. Take care, chat again soon.

Dining room or Work shop

April 14 2020
Well since talking last time, the weather hasnt really improved much. We have had a couple nicer days, but then today it rained. However the snow is finally starting to go.
I had given up the idea of painting the new hive boxes in the workshop, so we brought them to the house. What better place to paint than in the kitchen...right. So i stacked 9 deeps in the middle of my tiny kitchen and got them painted. Somehow i managed to make meals and do dishes with 9 boxes in the middle of it all.

The next day, I went back over to the work shop and grabbed some lids.  I was concerned they weren't going to fit the new boxes because most of our older boxes were homemade and slightly different sizes. But they were all good. So i slapped some paint on them too.
Then I decided while i had time i should get some swarm boxes ready for "just in case". Once i can get in the hives to see how they wintered over and how big the colony's are, I will need to decide if I have to do some splits. So I wanted to be prepared in case one of them swarm before i get to them. So I rummaged through our stash of Nuc boxes and found 2 really nice ones with actual bottom boards and openings at the front, the only thing we need to make is lids. We brought those 2 to the house as well and gave them a paint job.

Its a good thing we hardly sit at our table, especially now with no company coming for coffee or dinner. Because there is no room. We can get to the coffee makers and into the pantry cupboard and thats about it. hahahaha
So now the dining room is stacked with 9 deep boxes, 2 nuc boxes, entrance reducers and 5 outside covers. Oh and lets not forget my Kitchen Aid mixer that is sitting on the table waiting for the parts to come so we can put it back together. Its probably a really good thing we are self isolating right now or i would be really embarrassed at the condition of our house.

Anyways I hope everyone is hanging in there and staying safe. We will. get through this somehow and come out the other side a little stronger. 

Take care everyone. Talk to you soon.

Is anyone out there.......

March 24, 2020

     I have lost track of how long its been since we started self isolating....but it’s been weeks now.
You know, living in a small town a lot of us are use to isolation. We are prepared to some point and are use to not seeing anyone for days. Although....i do really miss having coffee with some of our neighbors.

     Since the last time i wrote...the world has gotten even more crazy. Anyways i am trying not to think or talk about it, i like living in my happy little bubble. However i don't like the idea of not being able to get things like flour or sugar. That is a little unsettling.

     To keep us busy, James and I have been ticking off lots of projects. With the winter that just won't end and Covid 19, we have time, so why not.

     On one of our last sunny day with a high of +6C we went over to the bee yard and removed all the winter entrances, cleaned out the dead bees and put the entrances back on. I popped off the lid of the attic box and moved the insulation aside and peaked down thru the screened hole. I could see bees eating on the candy board. I then decided to remove the screen and squeeze pieces of fondant down the hole and press onto the candy.  I wouldn't risk going any deeper as its just too cold still. So I was content to know all 3 hives were still alive.

     So what else have we been up too. We have pretty well finished the bedroom. For many years we laid in bed gazing at the pink insulation and vapor barrier. So i was so very thankful to finally have walls and ceilings. Our loft is under the eaves so that and the fact when the Church was built i don't think they had levels or squares. So we needed to find a creative way to deal with imperfect walls and ceilings. We settled on 1x6's. I got to say it turned out great. I don't need a fancy house, with perfect drywall, i just don't want to watch a mouse run thru the insulation and vapor barrier while lying in bed. That project took the longest, as we could only bring home a small amount of boards at a time as we didn't have the room to store them all. So we would do 50 inches then wait until we went to town again. But its done yaaaay. We also completed finished the upper Bell Tower. It turned out awesome....we think. Its only about 8x8 but such a nice place to sit and have a cuppa and gaze over the "estate".

Upper Bell Tower Face lift

April 3

     Wandered over to the bee yard and popped off the outer lid of the hives, pulled back the insulation pillow and tucked a frame of capped honey and a little bowl of bee pro in each hive. We were in and out in less than a minute. I saw and heard all of the hives inside munching on their candy board still. So i feel good being able to give them honey and some protein.

April 8

    We decided since it was the warmest day we have had since Oct, the bees might be out flying. So we went over and sure enough there they were. One of the hives which hadn't come out much on the other nicer days, were out in full glory. The snow was brown from them doing their cleansing flights. The looked like they came through winter really well. So hopefully all the queens have made it. But its still a little cool yet to go inside.

    Ok i am going to end it there....or this will become a long boring book. Hopefully the next blog will have more bee news and pictures of the fence repairs we have to make before the bears come out. 

I hope everyone is staying safe and healthy. Take care.......Lyn

One very active hive!

Look....grass!!!

The snow is starting to disappear!

Crazy times.

March 17 2020
The world is a little crazy these days. With the Covid 19 scare right now, businesses are closing, meetings are cancelled and public offices are warning people to stay at home if possible. Self isolation and keeping a safe social distant are the latest terms everyone is using.

James and I went to town today, a small town of  about 600 people. It has 1 grocery store, a hardware store and numerous other little businesses.  We weren't going to go to town anymore for a while but ended up having a Dr appointment, (NO... we don't have Covid 19) so figured we would pick up a couple things at the hardware store and some grocerys.

The shelves in the grocery store were sparse. Tues is the day the truck comes in with groceries....but not today. So no fresh or frozen vegis, no frozen fruit, no milk or yogurt. I hadnt ever seen it that empty before. It suddenly made all of this craziness a little more real. I grabbed what i needed and left.

Tomorrow i plan on airing out my head and try to leave the stories of Covid 19 behind for a while, and wander over to the bee yard. We still have an unbelievable amount of snow, but the days are finally starting to warm. Our temperatures are still dropping at night but during the day we are getting some melting happen. I want to clean off the top of the hives...and hopefully try to shovel more snow away so the melt doesnt run towards the entrances. I want to remove my winter entrance covers and put on the regular ones to its easier to clean out the bottom of the hives.

I miss hearing the constant hum of a happy hive and i am slightly envious of videos and pictures people are posting of their bees flying around collecting pollen already. But i know our day will come soon enough. I will be happy just to see that each hive made it through the winter and can begin to build up their colonies.

March 18 2020
Visited the bees this afternoon and as i walked over there, i uttered a little prayer "Please bee alive, please bee alive".
As i approached the fenced area i saw the odd bee flying around. It was funny, as i walked through the fence, i had 2 bees fly up to me, like to say....Hi, we made it. I was so happy.

 I decided to chip off the 2 inch thick sheet of ice off the plywood i had over their lids and the last of the snow off the top as well. No bees came out of the hive next to the active one. So i went to the third one and cleaned the roof and the entrance. I then walked back to the second one and still nothing. Since it was upwards of 8C i decided to do a quick peek through the attic box. I lifted the lid, peeled back the insulation and there they were on the candy board below. I have a screen on the opening of the inside cover so i could see them quite clearly through it and also heard them. 2 down 1 to go. So then i went back over to the third hive and by this time  they were  mulling around out front. Phew...i was so happy to see all 3 hives were alive and well.

So i guess for now, James and i will hunker down and self isolate and perhaps to break up the day, make a coffee and wander over and visit the bees. At least they don't practice  the "safe social distant" thing. They have no problem coming up invading your personal space.....

March 18 2020

snow is starting to melt

Is it Spring yet?

Well, we have made it. March has arrived. We have made it through what every beekeeper considers the worst month ever....February. With a bit of luck our bees made it too. 

March is when cabin fever can set in and we all tend to get a little batty or anxious to get going on outdoor projects. The tomato plants need to be started and you get the urge to work in your garden. But then reality sets in as you look outside to the thick blanket of snow still lying on the ground. And the only sign of your garden is the 10in of fence posts sticking out of the snow.

For us beekeepers...we want to open the hives and check to see if we left our girls enough food to keep them going until the pollen arrives. But sadly, the thermometer says its only 5C and there's a cool wind blowing. But for me...i just have to believe that i gave them enough food to take them through until the warmer temperatures arrive.

But if you really really need to do something, there are a few things you can do to get ready for the upcoming beekeeping season. Here are a few things that may help you get through the cabin fever:

1.    Start putting together new frames and foundation.

2.    Repair old woodenware or if need be, pick up new boxes and assemble and paint them

3.    Swarm season (in June) comes up fast, so why not prepare some swarm traps.

4.    If you make your own pollen sub patties, now is the time to do that.

5.    Prepare candy boards or syrup. To have on hand when it warms up enough to add them in.

6.    Read over last years notes.

7.    Repair any tears in your veil, wash your bee jacket, clean up your tools.

8.    Remove the entrances and clean out any debris and dead bees that died over the winter

Wow....i have a lot to do. Enough rambling on...i better go build some new boxes and get them painted. 

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February Ramblings

I feel like Spring should be coming. The days are getting longer...and last week I ordered some bees. Today I  was thinking how i should go over to the workshop and dig out a few more new hive boxes to paint. But when i wandered over there....i see no one gave Mother Nature the memo about Spring. The snow is still quite deep, half way up the door. So painting will have to wait.

Hives stands we will build this year

 It also got me to thinking what else we will need before the new bees arrive. I heard from a friend that the old outside covers we have don't fit the new hive bodies...i just hope we can plane them down a bit to make them fit, so we wont have to buy new ones right now. I also need new inside covers. We are trying to update all our really old equipment. The problem was the new frames wouldnt fit the old boxes, they would end up sliding down inside the boxes and the bees would get really creative with their comb, so come this spring the bees will be moving into their new digs.
Another new thing for us this year, are hive stands. They will be similar to the one below. I am really looking forward to using them instead of pallets. We have always used pallets with plywood on top. But when it rains the water just sits on it and can sometimes make the bottom of the hive wet. And also it gives a nice perch for the likes of that nasty bee eating bird that was hanging around our hives last summer. So the new stands will be great.

Today after waking up to another 7 or 8 inches of fresh snow, i waited until it stopped and wandered over to the bee yard to check on the girls.  After trudging thru the new snow armed with a brush and snow shovel....i arrived to a nice surprise. The large overhangs on the hives kept most of the snow away from the entrances. A quick sweep and they were all set. But its getting harder to get rid of the snow in front of the hives. Under the raised pallet stands, its completely full of snow, so now i have to shovel it off to the side. A few of the girls briefly came out for a visit, then dive bombed into the snow. I spent the next few minutes rescuing them and putting them back inside the entrances, so they could live another day.
Anyways, i am getting excited for warmer days and opening up the hives to check on their food supplies. I am hopeful they still have lots left but always feel better when it warms up enough to take a look.
But for now......i have to sit back and wait.

It may take a while yet for all
 this snow to go

Its a new year

Happy New Years Everyone!
     Although i never make New Year resolutions, i always say to myself...you got to make this the year you do better and have some fun. Everyday you are getting older and you are the only one who can make changes and better your life. So as usual......this is it....this is the year!
     This year like last year, will be a busy one. But i am still hoping we can still sneak away and go on a little road trip to visit some bee people and their apiaries.

Bee yard in the snow

     We just came out of a very cold snap. And although it only lasted a week, it felt like forever. We haven't seen -40C for years now and it was brutal. Our house proved that we have a lot of work to do this year to make it warmer. The 1950's insulation and single pane windows gotta go. But we already planned those changes anyways but we didn't really think this "new to us" wood furnace would suck at heating this place so badly.
     So while we were clustering inside our house, all that everyone was talking about was...how their bees were doing. The cold lasted almost exactly a week and stayed between -30 to -40C.  Come Sunday the temperature began to rise and we hit zero.
I wandered over to the bee yard uttering a prayer all the way...please let me see life, please let me see life. And i did. One bee came out to say hi. There was sign that the other ones had made it too. So hopefully all going well, we will have bees this spring. But on the safe side i did order 1 more package of bees.

Having fun at -30C

So whats new for us this year, we are hoping the bees survive and if need bee we will maybe be able to do a split or two and expand out a bit. I am hoping we may be able to plant a couple more fruit trees in the bee yard. All going well the new trees we planted last year did ok during the winter. So as far as the bees goes thats about it, but with our place....there is tons going on. Hopefully the new windows will be installed and the new insulation and siding will be going up. We are planning a small addition on the back of the house which will house a summer kitchen and living area. Then of course replenish the firewood. The dream of a greenhouse and garden this year will be on the back burner until we get the real important stuff done first.
So another busy year for us. Well thats about it for now. Chat again soon.