Us northerners love talking about the weather. Matter a fact our lives revolve, for the most part, around the weather.
But this year…..wow it’s been crazy. It started last fall. The fall that never happened. It was warm and very dry right into October. Then…..winter came. No September rains. No October rains….nothing. We went into winter basically in a drought.
Fast forward to May of this year. Hot and very dry. Then June came and went without giving us much moisture.
Living inside a inland rainforest our grass and trees are normally green and lush all summer. But not this year. If you drive to Prince George there is miles of cedars red from the stress of no water. Leaf trees are dropping some of their leaves and the wild flowers have all been early.
We have been tolerating weeks of smoked filled air and only once in a while we get to see our mountains. The other day I checked the map of fires in BC and was shocked at the amount of fires through out the province.
But through out the long hot dry spell, the bees are hanging in there. Their honey supers are filling up quickly.
To help keep them cool during the last few months, I added extra boxes on top to help scrub out some of the heat. I also fill their water bowls everyday, sometimes twice a day. They are doing good so far.
I haven’t pulled any honey yet but really need to get in them and do it. My big hive is five deeps high, which isn’t ideal, so I need to do that one first.
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| Smokey sunrise |
My concern is, the nectar flow started probably two weeks early this year….which means it may end two weeks early. Which means, we may be feeding them for quite a while before they settle in for winter. I best stock up on fondant and sugar soon.
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| Fireweed |
Anyways, I don’t have a ton of news, I will write more once I start pulling honey off the hives. I hope everyone stays safe during this hot dry spell and no fires come near you.
Cheers
