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.

Honey Caramels...yum! Merry Blogmas #4

By the time this comes out, it will only be a couple days until Christmas. I had big plans now that we are newly retired, that i would be more organized then ever. I would slowly decorate the house in early December, the gifts would already be bought and wrapped and the Christmas menu would be sorted out and planned. None of that happened. Here it is 5 days away and i am scrambling. At least i got my families box mailed off but that was about all i managed to get done.
But today, i have made headway, got the tree up and decorated, gifts are wrapped (most anyways), and I got the trees along the road on our property decorated with big red balls.
Then i remembered i wanted to make a batch of honey caramels. I had found a new recipe and wanted to try. They were pretty darn good and who doesn't love sweets at Christmas...so here it is.

Honey Caramels

3/4 cup cream, 1 cup honey, 6 Tbs butter and 1 1/2 tsp vanilla

In a heavy pot, add the honey and cream and bring to a boil,

you will need to boil it about 10 to 15 minutes until the temperature reaches 275F

Once up to temperature, remove from heat and add in the butter and vanilla. Stir well then pour into a 9x13 greased pan.

The good stuff

Cook until the temperature reaches 275F

Once up to temperature, add butter and vanilla, stir and pour into buttered pan

                                       

Once cool, cut into pieces and wrap in paper. Keep in fridge.

You can fancy them up with laying pecans down on the pan add the caramel then put some melted chocolate on top to make turtles.
Anyways i better go and finish off the last of the things on my list. I hope everyone has a Merry Christmas and may 2020 bee a great year.

These are a few of my favorite things.....Blogmas #3

These are a few of my favorite things, to do with Beekeeping.

You Tube Channels
Although there are lots of beekeeping videos on You Tube, these are my 2 favorites. One  of them lives in Tennessee the other in Manitoba 

Kamon Reynolds- Tennessee's Bees
I have been watching and following Kamon for quite some time. Although he is located in Tennessee and has a totally different climate then us, for me, that is only one part of beekeeping. He is so good at explaining things and can easily laugh at himself....no big ego there!
He takes a practical approach to beekeeping and has a great sense of humor. He posts new videos almost every day.

a Canadian Beekeeper's Blog
This is Ian Stepplers channel and he is located in Manitoba. He too is a awesome speaker and although he is what i would call a commercial beekeeper (along as a farmer), he is very passionate about his bees. What i really like about him is that he really cares about his bees and talks about them like us hobby beekeepers do.
Kamon often mentions Ian in his videos so its nice to know a guy who has 400 hives and a guy who has 1200 hives have a lot in common. I was so lucky to be able to  meet and listen to Ian speak this year at the BCHP's conference.

My favorite beekeeping chore
I am not sure i can only pick one but here goes

I love to go and just sit out at the hives with a cuppa and listen to the constant hum. I love the feel of when  a bee lands on our bare arm and walks around. It does feel pretty neat. (not sure that is considered a chore though)

I love the smell when you crack open a hive in the summer during the nectar flow.

But one of my favorite things to do is......dealing with the wax. Not sure why i like this so much but maybe its the smell. The smell that reminds me of when my Grampa first gave me a bowl full of beeswax.  Ummm ok so that wasn't just one thing.........

My Favorite beekeeping tool
Ummm that may be a tough one to narrow down to one.
I love my  J-tool.
I love my 5 gallon bucket with tool bag on it. It holds all my beekeeping tools and supplies.

But i think the #1 tool would be....the meter to test my electric fence, so i don't shock myself with 2.5 Joules of power on the inside of my leg crawling thru the fence (ouch)

Well thats it for now. Merry Blogmas everyone.

Telling the Bees.....Blogmas #2

It is said, if you tell your bees about the deaths in your family and kept them up to date on all family happenings, in return this would prevent terrible losses to happen with your bees. It was important to sit outside the hives and discuss things, not unlike you do to the bartender at the pub or your hair dresser.
So the other day we thought perhaps it was time to go have a chat with our bees. We have had a couple tough years with our bees, so we would try anything. So armed with a lawn chair and cup of coffee we brought them up to speed on what was happening in our world. I am hoping this prevents them from dying off during the winter. It was worth a try and besides there is something quite relaxing about sitting listening to the constant hum of a happy hive. (even though it was -15C and the plastic lawn chair was cold on the arse)

Having a chat with the bees

A Strange Tradition

There was a time when almost every rural British family who kept bees followed a strange tradition. Whenever there was a death in the family, someone had to go out to the hives and tell the bees of the terrible loss that had befallen the family. Failing to do so often resulted in further losses such as the bees leaving the hive, or not producing enough honey or even dying. Traditionally, the bees were kept abreast of not only deaths but all important family matters including births, marriages, and long absence due to journeys. If the bees were not told, all sorts of calamities were thought to happen. This peculiar custom is known as “telling the bees”.

Merry Blogmas everyone

Let it snow Let it snow Let it snow

Welcome to my very first Blogmas. I will be attempting to write a post once a week until Christmas. Not too much happening with the bees right now. But i will be writing about the winter, some honey recipes. some photos and other bee related "stuff". So here we go.......

I know...some of you will think i am crazy but i love snow. Always have....always will.  There is something really magical about it, (in my mind anyways). I can never be sad if its snowing.
Monday night (Dec 2) was our first snow warning of the winter.  And it began before we went to bed. I had to stop the urge to get up every hour and look out the door. But i wasn't disappointed when i got up and saw it was still snowing. All i wanted to do was curl up on the couch with a blanket and a good book. But instead we spent the day putting wall boards up in the loft but took lots of coffee breaks so we could sit and stare out the window.
The next day i thought i should wander over and make sure the snow hadn't piled up in front the hives. While crawling thru the electric fence, it dawned on my the last of the bears were probably denned up by now so tomorrow we are taking in the battery for the winter. The entrances were fine so i just cleaned up a bit and left.  With all the snow the spirit of Christmas is starting to set in.  In my next Blog i may make some Honey Fudge or some Honey Sponge toffee. I think it may also be time to start to decorate

Remembrance Day November 11, 2019

      It seemed only fitting that today was the day i found a box that hadn't been unpacked for years. When opening it i discovered 2 bottles i hadnt been able to find for a few years now. As i gazed down it brought back the memories of the day i got them.

     Grama and Poppa Forrest had put their farm up for sale and were having a big garage sale. It was an emotional day for me as that was where i spent many happy years growing up and helping them on the farm. Wood cutting, haying and just spending time exploring the fields. I remembered out in one of the fields the rock with fossils in it and the little skull with movable lower jaw that hung off a keychain, which was always kept in the glove box of the red Farm All Tractor. But one of my favorite things was  the old wooden cupboard that hung on the wall in the barn and kept all the cow medicines and teat cream. It had been built out of Dynamite crates. During the garage sale, Poppa asked me if i would like that old cupboard. We walked to the barn and took it off the wall. It is one of my prized possessions.

Also that day, he found a case of what i thought was canning jars, but on further inspection they were glass jars in the shape of bee skeps. Each jar still held honey, which at that time was close to 50 years old. He gave me a couple of those jars and also a bag full of old beeswax.
My Grampa and Great Grampa owned a commercial nursery when my Mum was a child. They also kept bees. Each summer they would attend the local fairs and the PNE and set up displays of their flowers, honey and wax. My Mum and her siblings were in charge of melting the wax and pouring it into little decorative molds. The molded wax was used as part of their displays at the fairs.

Grampa and Great Grampa's honey jars

     Anyways, today i found those 2 little jars. I removed the lids hoping to still be able to smell the golden honey that once filled it. But the scent of honey was gone. I filled the sink with hot soapy water and when dry i decided those cute little bottles would once again hold honey.  I am not sure if it was allergies or if i got soap in my eye, but i felt a tear run down my cheek. I miss my Grampa, but i think  he would of been happy that i put some of my honey in his jars


A little about the jars:
The Hazel-Atlas Glass Company of Wheeling, West Virginia started out at Washington, PA and later plants included Clarksburg, WV; Zanesville, OH; Ada, Oklahoma; Montgomery, Alabama; Oakland, California; Pomona, California and other locations (1902 – 1964).  Hazel-Atlas made the Beehive Jars and listed them in 1935 Bee Culture magazine. They were made in three sizes from ½ pound to two pounds.