Frances and the Bee

I'm (finally) getting you a photo of this year's harvest.  Introducing... our 2014 honey! Here is a photo to compare this year to last year (on left). Although they look similar at first, this year's honey is much lighter and sweeter, more like store-bought or clover honey.  We do miss the slightly pungent hint of buckwheat in last year's batch, we're so thankful to have this sweet reward. Please stay tuned for updates on our winter preparation for the hive.

I'm sorry I've been a bit behind with my updates.  Since I've last posted, Mr. Bee has been busy getting the hives ready for winter and it's become rather chilly outside. We've had high temperatures in the forties lately. After a lot of thought and consideration, we did decide to only winter the strongest, middle hive. We harvested our honey last night...in the kitchen.  We'll be putting everything in jars this week, so I'll share photos of the result soon.  We got about six gallons this year!  That's in addition to the six gallons that we're estimating we've left for the bees. While I'm busy trying to remedy all the stickiness in our kitchen and get some photos of our harvest, I'll leave you with a list of what we've been doing lately.  These photos are by Mr. Bee, on his phone.  I hope they come through your screen clearly. We replaced the screened bottom board with a solid-bottom winter board. There are only three small holes...

 This may be my new favorite photo from this year: Each bee is in action, one leaving, one coming in with pollen, one checking, one watching... In preparation for the end of the season, Mr. Bee brought out a scale and weighed a super full of honey and some individual frames.  We're trying to make sure we have a more educated guess of how much honey we'll be leaving for the girls to try and make it through winter. A frame of honey from our hives weighs approximately four pounds.  I think it's very possible that a frame could weigh five pounds or more, but our bees didn't draw the comb out far enough for that. We'll be leaving two boxes of brood on the bottom of each hive and up to three boxes or 90 pounds of honey. We would like to harvest more, but when a Minnesota beekeeper wants to keep bees alive through the winter, there are sacrifices to be made. Soon I'll have some photos of our harvest and this year's honey.  We're waiting for s...

A couple weeks ago, after days of rain and grey skies, we found a bunch of mushrooms around Mr.T's yard. They looked so alive and colorful, each so different, but all so delicate.  Days later when we returned, many were already spoiled.  Here are some interesting fungi:

As many of us prepare for the school year and autumn, our honeybees are still quite busy with the same tasks they've been at all summer.  The only difference is that we are seeing more and more honeycomb. Although pollen and nectar are a bee's main source of food, she and the others will get honey in the comb to get them through winter, when nectar and pollen are not available. Why honey?  It can last forever. Really, forever.  Honeybees get the humidity/moisture levels in the honey to 17-18% and then put a cap on it. We know that honey preserves amazingly at this point. Above you can see some capped honeycomb.  Below, you can see that this honey is not capped, meaning that the bees know it is not at the correct level of moisture. If harvested before it is capped, honey is certainly above that level and can ferment.  Bees are so smart, aren't they? You may be thinking, "If honey can last forever, why does it crystallize in that little bear bottle...

There are many wildflowers in our area - some consider them weeds, and others see them as a vital part of our environment.  Trees and wildflowers are the major sources of pollen and nectar for our bees. Mr. T. has even taken the recommendation of the county to leave his ditches un-mowed in order to allow more of these plants to thrive.  Thanks, Mr. T for helping the bees! I think wildflowers are so beautiful - and interesting to look at. Here are just a few from the space right in front of our hives: While Mr. Bee checked the hives, the kids and I chased this awesome camouflaged grasshopper:  Our girls are still loving the wooden frames, and you can see below that they're drawing out the comb right up to the edges, wide and in an extremely even pattern. Beautiful! The hives are starting to be filled with capped honey, and this is very exciting for us. Little Miss Bee tried on her dad's beekeeping veil. Look how tall t...

We were on our way to the lake last weekend and decided to check on the bees on our way out of town.  A lot changed in a few days!  I didn't have my camera with me to show you in photos, but I'll leave a quick update here and get some photos to share soon. - The first hive, which had been doing the best, had build no new comb in the new box we put on - zero percent new comb. We think they may have swarmed.  You may have heard of a "swarm" before. In beekeeping terms, it means about half the hive left to start a new colony. Yes, they up and left.  Often a swarm will rest peacefully on a nearby branch (or picnic table, etc. - something nearby) until they are able to start forming a new hive.  Some beekeepers are dedicated to catching swarms and some cities even have volunteers who will come and collect a swarm from someone's property and put them into a hive. There are beekeepers who never purchase new bees: they either keep their own hives or collect swarms to ...

Mr. Bee and I went without the kiddos this time to do a bigger inspection and move some boxes around to get ready for the "honey flow".  This is when the nectar flows are in peak and the bees make tons of comb and honey, and it's important for us to make sure they have plenty of frames available to work on. While Mr. Bee and I were getting suited up to do our big inspection, I saw a strange insect pollinating some little wildflowers nearby.  Upon a closer look, I was amazed that it looked just like a honeybee...except with a bright green body!  I've looked into it and I'm pretty sure this was a "Green Metallic Bee", of the genus Agapostemon.  According to Wikipedia, there "are some 45 species" of this type of insect, and their range goes all the way from Canada to Argentina! ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agapostemon ) ( photo below mine) Green Metallic Bee, Clear Lake, MN by Erica Knudson Our girls are working hard.  The third hive...