I recently uploaded this video to my YouTube channel. Recorded in 2017, our first install into the Top Bar hive. We dropped the queen, so that adds a layer of complexity!
It’s worth a watch again…
Beekeeping
(a hive inspection)
Glad to have Scott along for my latest hive inspection!
The ladies calm quickly with a little puff of cedar chip smoke from the smoker.
The bees appeared happy and busy, and the Queen continues to lay healthy brood.
After such a dry summer, there isn’t quite enough reserve for a honey harvest yet. A simple & poetic reminder: sweet things come to those who wait.
{beekeepers}
Scott, thanks for being the best beekeeping co-pilot a gal could have. I love you more than pith helmets and fresh honey!
{bee checkin}
Friday was an excellent day for a hive inspection. My sister accompanied/assisted and my bro Josh helped us carry our supplies out to the hive.
I love this photo! It makes me think of Back to The Future, when Marty dresses like a space alien to scare his dad into asking out his mom. “I am Darth Vader, an extra-terrestrial from the planet Vulcan.”
{Bee Update}
5 days after installing our bees, I set out to do a hive inspection to see how the girls were settling in.
My mom came along to meet the hive, and here she is holding a frame of bees for the first time even though it made her a bit nervous. She is brave!
{Bee-Day: New Hive Install}
We’ve been working intermittently on setting up our new Langstroth beehive for the past two months.
On the first weekend of April, we picked up 10,000 new Italian friends (plus their queen) and introduced them to their new home.
The bees arrive in a 3lb “package” that includes a queen bee who is kept safe in a small box located inside the package.
Italian honey bees are known for their light blonde coloration and their docility. Our honey bees lived up to this reputation, and did not attempt to sting either of us even once during the install.
This little lady happily licked some sugar syrup off my glove for a full 5 minutes.
We’re excited to be beekeepers!
Happy Sunday, friends! What’s something you dream of doing?
{Bee Boxin}
We recently started getting ready for our first bees to arrive in April.
We have 3lbs of workers + an Italian Queen on the way & had to assemble and prepare their Langstroth hive.
Primed “super”; a section of the honeycomb
“The future of beekeeping is not in one beekeeper with 60,000 hives, rather it is 60,000 people with one hive. All of them aproaching the art and craft of being a keeper of bees as a holistic practice.”
Simon Buxton (2004), The Shamanic Way of the Bee
Thankful for so much help from family, and so excited for our bees to arrive in April! 🐝
{Gratitude Lately}
Lately I’ve been grateful for walls to climb.
For summertime memories.
For fresh grown basil and the scent of spicy oregano.
And for this baby cat, who throws a veritable tantrum of happiness whenever I come home from barre class all tired & sweaty.
Unbidden Grace 