A Successful Split One of our hives swarmed last month. It wasn’t a surprise, but I didn’t expect them to do it this early since the weather has been seesawing with cold temperatures, rain or wind. I put off inspection of the hives because of the weather. I knew from the last inspection that the hive in question came out of the winter with a … Continue reading After the Swarm
Time To Recognize Our Little Friends The United Nation has designated May 20 as World Bee Day and this year is the first observance of this day. I’m so happy that the importance of these little pollinators is finally and officially recognized globally. Hopefully it will bring a change in the rules and regulations to help make the environment safer for them, protecting them. You … Continue reading World Bee Day
Getting Vibrant Again Spring is finally here or should I say summer is finally here. The temperature was over 90°F for a couple of days which broke the record. I’m not complaining after months of snow and freezing temperature. The plants in our garden are not complaining either. They’re pushing out shoots and buds all over the garden. Dragging on as winter did, spring is … Continue reading Spring Colors
Some Colors In The Garden I see the spring light at the end of the tunnel, a little dim but still a cheerful light of hope. Snow still covers the majority of the garden but in the bare specks there are colors. Crocuses in the front yard bloomed nicely this year. Last year they became deer food. At least deer left the bulbs alone so … Continue reading Spring At Last
Just In Case… It’s over 50°F again today and the honeybees came out of their hives even though it’s cloudy. I observed them carrying out their dead and picked up a few for a closer inspection. I found that dead bees from hive #2 have their tongues sticking out, a sign of starvation. So I decided to open the hives for emergency feeding. Even with … Continue reading Winter Emergency Feeding
Cleaning Up Today, January 23, the temperature rose up to 62°F and the rain stopped around noon. Our honeybees from hives #1 and #2 came out to relieve themselves and get some fresh air. Hive #2 went into winter with fewer bees than hive #1, but today, many more bees emerged as the population clearly has grown. It seemed more bees than from Hive#1. With … Continue reading Mid-winter, A Warm Day
They Survived After a week of Arctic blast temperature here, we have a balmy 60°F temperature this morning though raining. The rain will continue for the rest of the day and is expected to stop by Saturday morning. But 60 degrees Fahrenheit is high enough for the honeybees to come out of their hives and start cleaning themselves. This weekend the temperature is predicted to … Continue reading Happy About The Honeybees
A Dandelion Wish “The dandelion flower tells us that life is short, delicate, and you never know where the winds may take you. Irrespective of that, don’t forget to dream, wish, and remember the bigger joys that come from the little things in life.” Anonymous May you find peace. May you find happiness. May you find the key to unlock your dreams. May your garden be … Continue reading Happy Holidays
I’m Keeping My Fingers Crossed Losing all six hives last winter took the wind out of my sails. I set up three new hives in spring but the weather has been uneven through the whole season. The cold weather had lasted much longer than usual and the temperature has been seesawing from spring into autumn. Some days we had 40°F in summer and 70°F in … Continue reading Beekeeping In The Age Of Climate Change
Try To Get A Natural Effect We have a few days off for Thanksgiving and have spent most of our time grinding up leaves for mulch, fixing the deer fence to make sure there is no breach and planting crocuses and tulips. Autumn is the time to put in spring crocus bulbs. We put a couple of hundred bulbs in a year ago and love … Continue reading Growing Crocuses
Petals and Wings 