Frances and the Bee

 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: