Is it summer already?

 May has come and gone now. It was extremely hot and dry. Lots of forest fires sprung up in BC and in Alberta. We had one close to us in McBride, about 90km away. So needless to say on top of the dry and heat we then had smoke. Thankfully the fire was brought under control quickly and people returned to their homes.

We had our first nectar flow when the dandelions started blooming around May 16th, the bees were happy not only to get more pollen but to also get their first food of the season. The sad thing was, that the heat was so great that the dandelions  were closing their flowers around noon most days. The edges of some of the flowers looked as though they were burnt. It seemed dandelion season was short lived probably due to the heat and no rain.

The poor dandelions struggling from the heat and dry conditions 

We will be heading into Prince George on Sunday June 4th to pic up our nucs. I ordered two this year from our friends Christine and Tavis from Rushing Apiary in Terrace. I  am very excited to introduce new blood into our Apiary. They ordered Carpathian Queens from the Ukraine. So it will be great to see how they are. From what I understand, the bees are original from  the Carpathian Mountains which covers 7 counties including the Ukraine. They are quite hardy and are known to be calm . 

Here we are picking up 16 boxes of bees for us and our club members

I had just finished installing our new bees.
I think I might of been saying good night to them here

June 5

I was so surprised when we opened the lids of the nuc boxes, there wasn’t a huge outburst of bees as you would expect. Nope…..they were all busy inside the box and weren’t concerned at all. So needless to say, it took only minutes to transfer them out of their nuc boxes and into their hives. Within minutes they were fanning on the front of the bottom boards, telling their mates this is home. When I went over the next day they were already bringing in pollen and cleaning up their frames I had given them. So, they had settle in.

.

The beautiful Carpathian Queen
Photo taken by Monica Z 

June 10

After weeks of no rain, we were so relieved to get some late this afternoon. Hopefully more flowers will open and supply some nectar for the honey bees and native bees. We might actually get a day off watering the garden too.

Tomorrow, as long as it’s not raining, I will be doing my first inspection of the two new hives. I’m excited to see how they are doing. Stay tuned for pictures and an update next time .

Well that’s all for now. Take care.

 

 

Spring time in an inland rainforest

 May 2 2023 

9:15 PM.

 It was another hot day, I am enjoying the night air on the front porch. It’s almost dark but it’s one of my favourite times to sit out here. In the dark, you are forced to use one of your other senses to enjoy what’s going on. I can hear Robins and a few other birds still singing but the best are the sounds of the toads. Near the end of our driveway we have what I like to call our wetland. This time of year when the toads emerge they make a sound that almost sound like ducks quacking. I love it.

Cleaning up the bee yard

Now that the snow is pretty well gone, things are coming alive. The other day we had a bear grazing in the yard. The buds in the cottonwoods are bursting open with this hot weather. The brown dead  grass is greening up and the fruit trees are showing life once again.

The weather we have been having for the last week, is very uncommon for this time of year. Records have been broken all over the area for highs temperatures. It’s been +25C. We are not used to it yet.

Today I decided to remove the bees winter wraps and air things out a bit. I also removed their entrance reducers during the day. I haven’t  done inspections of the hives yet but all going well if the weather holds, I will get it done soon.  They are still bringing in pollen from the Pussy Willows, but on the weekend I noticed the catkins are starting to develop on the wild hazelnut trees. So it won’t be long for those.

We also tore apart the old strawberry beds and built new ones. Tomorrow I will fill them with dirt and get them p,anted. We also added two grape plants today. Most of the fruit trees and bushes survived the winteri, so we were pretty happy for that. However one cherry tree doesn’t look very good but we will leave it for now and see if it comes around.

Another cool project we got done last week was to build a water tower, we don’t have electricity or running water on the property where our bees are. So we decided to build a tower and have gravity feed water to make it easier to water the forest garden/orchard. 

New water tower

It’s such a beautiful time of the year…..crazy busy, but still beautiful. Cheers my friends. Until next time

Is this Spring

 March 17 2023

Although it was still -12C over night and we still have a good 30+ inches of snow, there is something in the air that says Spring.

We are seeing different birds visiting our feeder and we notice the odd insect flying. The days are warming up as high as +7C some days. The days are also longer now, which lifts your spirits as well.

This is the time that things start to happen. The grow lights are set up and slowly seeds are being started for the garden. 

 

The one thing I don’t like to see this time of year is….all the dead bees that come out of their hives for a cleansing flight and get cold and crash in the snow. I try to save them all but can’t. As much as flying bees means life bees it also means a certain percentage of them won’t make it back to their hives,

It won’t be long until the bees will be finding pollen. I believe willow is the first pollen they normally bring in. All going well, it should start happening within a couple weeks.

Last week it was a nice day so we went over and checked the hives and even though it was too chilly to check on their food stores, I was able to pop off the top and put in a bottle feeder to give them food if they needed it. Instead of 100% sugar syrup, I treated them to some honey mixed in with it. I figured since they pulled through the winter, up to this point….they deserved it.

March 22, 2023

Such a beautiful day today. We decided to sit out on the front porch and have a cuppa. Within a few minutes of sitting there a bee showed up. I swear they hear us talking and come over to see us.

One of the rescued girls out of the snow

Look who came for a visit

April 7 

The past two nights we haven’t had freezing temps overnight. Which means, the melt has started to happen. We went from30” of snow down to 12” over the past three days. Today it got up to a very balmy 16C. 

      

Two days ago I mixed up more honey syrup and grabbed a few pollen patties to take over for the bees. I opened the lids to find they were still doing good. Within minutes they were coming out and flying and landing on my arms and and fingers to greet me. Each hive got more syrup and a full piece of pollen

A fresh bottle of syrup and a pollen patty

I’m excited to start a new year of keeping bees. I have two nucs to add to the apiary this year. My three hives were the New Zealand packages I bought in 2019. The two new ones are coming from Terrace. It will be nice to have some new bloodlines in the bee yard.

Well that’s it for now. See you when the snow goes,

Happy New Year!

Not much has been going since we put the bees to bed. We experienced a cold snap near Christmas  and the mercury plummeted to -39C. Other than frozen pipes my first thoughts were of my bees. I know they have survived those temperatures over the three winters, but you still worry about them.

It was a sad Christmas for my family as my mum was not doing well and I had wondered if she would pass on Boxing Day like our dad did 8 years previously. But she pushed on, but soon lost the battle on Dec 29th. I packed up and headed  down to the coast so I could help my sister take care of everything. I suspect another trip will have to happen in a month or two to tie up the lose ends. I still can’t believe I won’t ever be able to ask her anymore questions. 65 years was just not enough time to have her in my life.

But I did get to see my family all together and we had a nice visit. My Mum’s brother is the only sibling left now. So we told him, he just  got two more kids! I love my Uncle Bill. I spent tons of time with their family growing up and I can always rely on him for lots of silliness and laughs. He also remembers the bees his Grampa and Dad had at the nursery. So I always pick his brain for more stories.

I was there for a week and it made me realize how much I enjoy the quietness of living up north. I was thankful when we were driving home, the weather behaved and the roads were clear. 

After a few days I wandered over to download data from the sensors in my hives and look for any life. I could hear three out of four hives. So I was pleased at that. But a lot can happen between now and Spring. So best not stop worrying yet..

I decided to order two Nucs for this year. I ordered them from fellow Beekeeper's in Terrace of whom I have gotten to know over the past 5 or 6 years. I like the way they do things there, they really seem to care about the health and well being of their bees. 

The Nucs  I ordered, were intended as back up incase mine didn’t make it. But I decided I would keep them whether mine survive or not. Nice to get some new blood in my apiary anyways. 

Right now I am working on garden plans, organizing dates to start seeds and laying out the forest garden in the bee yard. So lots to keep me busy until it’s time to play with the bees again. I’m counting the days until I can sit and have coffee in the beeyard and hopefully they have all made it through another Northern winter.

I think the next three years are going to be fun and a little exciting, both for us and the bees.

Stay tuned and until next time……

And then it was winter

 We went from a warm and balmy October into winter by the end of the month. Shortly after wrapping the bees we got snow. But then our first major snow fall came on the 5th of November and left us with a good foot of snow. The snow didn’t leave. And we got some cold weather early. Nights dropping close  to -20 a few times.

As usual I never got my honey extracted until October. Yup, not the ideal time, but that’s the way it goes sometimes….ok maybe a lot of the time.

The guys were out hunting so I went down stairs and started the process. Everything was going good until about half way through and my electric extractor stopped. The guys looked at it but it seems cause of its age something had worn out and it wouldn’t spin. I even tried  made a new washer out of leather to see if that would work but, nope.

So armed with our headlights we headed across the road to one of my bee sheds and retrieved the very old and very reliable manual extractor. I’m talking vintage. My Grampa used one like this in the 40’s.  So we packed it in the back of the truck and brought it home. I threw some soapy water in it and let it sit overnight.

The next morning after giving it a good scrub, I packed it up the front stairs and in the house. Then dragged the stand James had built me for my electric extractor up the basement stairs and got to work.

To make a long story short….it worked flawlessly and I finished all the frames. When there was something vintage to use, I had no problem finding extra arms to crank the handle when my arm got tired.

Considering the very hot dry summer, I was very happy at the amount of honey we got. I know a lot of people didn’t get any extra this year…so I am feeling blessed.

I also got a fair amount of wax. I haven’t really done much with my wax over the years so I decided to spend a few days cleaning it all and melting it down. 

I really need to find a easier way to clean the wax, the process I did is so time consuming and messy. It was so messy I ended up splashing hot wax in my hair and down the front of my shirt. It was easier getting it off my shirt then out of  my hair 😜. Sheesh, I am such a clutz.

Anyways here it is November 26 and we are having our Christmas craft sale today. It’s snowing lightly, so I am feeling rather festive. My table is set up, with all the things that my girls worked so hard to make this year. Honey and wax, then I made some wax food wraps and some beeswax wood conditioner. 

I have new plans for new products for next season….all going well.

The bees are put to bed for the winter. I have done all I can do for them. It’s all up to them now and Mother Nature. 

Now the hives sit quiet. But if you listen real close….you can hear the gentle hum coming from inside. See you in the spring 🐝❤️

   

                                                                  

  

It’s in the air

 September 17 2022

As I am walking over to the beeyard, I see that all the native plants along the road are turning autumn shades of yellow and orange. You can now hear the leaves crunch under your feet. I love this time of year. I love the smells and the sounds of everything changing around you. I love the thought of curling up under a blanket watching the snow fall, holding a steaming cup of hot chocolate. 

We have been feeding our bees for the past couple weeks now and I will continue til the end of the month. They are still bringing in a little pollen from here and there.

During the summer a friend gave me a big dahlia in a pot which I put at our front porch. For the past week, we have been watching the bumble bees, honey bees and a few different pollinators visit the flowers and collect pollen. Overnight the bumble bees curl up and sleep in the flowers, sometimes two or three different kinds in one flower head and I found myself hurrying out each morning to see who had slept over.

Dahlia with two different types of bumblebees sleeping in it.

October 15

Here it is mid October and we finally had a good frost last week. But it is still unseasonably warm though. The bees are still flying, so I have continued to feed them syrup and fondant. But this will be coming to an end by later next week.

Tomorrow we will be going over to the beeyard and start to get them ready for winter. I won’t be wrapping yet, but I will be putting the insulation in their attic box. Next week I hope to start making candy boards, then I can get them put in. Each hive this year, will be getting a 8 pound candy board.

October 17

I got the candy boards made and they are downstairs drying. I had two packages of fondant left so I added them to the four boards.

October 19

It’s really cooled down. There is snow on the mountains finally. It seemed strange not seeing any snow up there. I decided to slip in the candy boards and get them one step closer to getting them all done for winter. I keep telling everyone how calm my bees are. But today they were a tad feisty. I got my first sting of the year while reaching in their hive to remove the bottle feeder. Ouch.

I managed to get the first three done but started to have second thoughts about doing Hive 1. Hive 1 is a huge hive and most time when I go in the hive I can hardly find the bottle feeder for bees. Was I actually going to have to put gloves on…? I opted for smoke instead. To my surprise they  were pretty laid back and I was able to get the board in and put back together without any problems.

I still have to screen off the inside cover and insulate their attic boxes and I will be all done inside. It looks like tomorrow will be good enough to do that.

October 26

So lots went on over the last month but I finally got the girls wrapped and tucked away for the winter. It’s all up to them now. I have done everything I could. 

I think I miss them already

Wrapped and ready for winter

Next blog I will talk about my honey harvest….as usual I was late extracting it. But I got it done. More on that next time.

Happy Fall everyone.

Quiet time

I love my bees

 My beekeepering friends probably get tired of me talking about how calm my bees are….but it’s true.

When we retired and moved back home in 2019, I ordered new bees from BeeMaid in Alberta, three packages.  In the past I had mostly gotten nucs but since I had lots of drawn out comb and had some nasty experiences with some nuc suppliers, I decided to order packages from New Zealand. When they arrived, they were beautiful healthy bees, with nice temperaments. I was very happy with them.

Here it is Sept 2022 and I still have those three original hives plus a split I did from one of them last year.  I love these bees. They are calm and relaxed. And even the bee inspector commented how calm they were.

 I decided two years ago to start going into the hives with only wearing nitrile gloves. I wanted to be able to feel the frames better and they are way less bulky. It won’t stop a bee sting but that’s ok. This year I decided to go gloveless all together. What a difference not wearing anything on your hands. It forces you to slow down and to take note where your fingers are. There is something really neat about the feeling of a bee crawling on your hands and arms. Nothing else feels like that.

Today I went into my big hive to start pulling honey. This is my overachiever hive. It’s motto I am pretty sure is….go big or go home. Not only was there lots of honey, there was lots of bees. As I removed each frame, my hands and forearms were speckled with these little vibrating insects. There is something very calming about that. (Or frightening in some peoples eyes). 

Anyways….I don’t really know why they are like this….but I am glad they are.

Til next time….cheers🐝❤️