New Beekeeping Year during "New Normal"
Well, quite a lot has changed in the six months since my last post. We had one of our least productive years for honey and it was largely due to our failure to split the hives early in the season. I also had surgery in the early fall which made preparing the hive for winter drop on the list of priorities. Still, Mr. Bee prepared the hive for winter on our patio in hopes that we could keep a closer eye on them. We waited and watched and checked often to see if we could hear that buzz inside the box. They made if for some time, but unfortunately, the hive starved out and we were looking at another, "opportunity to learn from out mistakes." From talking with a couple other keepers in the area, it sounds like it was not a banner year for a lot of people around here.
Like in years past, we have picked ourselves up by the bootstraps and we ordered two new packages of bees. And then came the real time to persist...
All of the beekeeping mistakes certainly pale compared to what we are now facing regarding the COVID-19 pandemic. So much of the world is in lockdown, and I suspect many of you are on the same mental and emotional roller coaster that I am on; some moments I am overwhelmed with concern for the world, my relatives and friends far away, and my family here; some moments I am thankful for the slow down, the quiet moments together; some moments I am productive and full of purpose and others I am not sure what to do next. We are doing our best to follow guidelines and make the most of the difficult time.
Our time has been filled with everything: house projects, texts and calls to friends and family, online learning, playing in mud, frisbee with Scout, cleaning,making sourdough starter, feeding sourdough starter, wondering if we will be able to keep sourdough starter alive, etc. Update: we did successfully make bread with the starter.
I could go on (we all could), but I will say that stepping outside feels extra special these days. We made our first attempt at making maple syrup this year, and it all came at the perfect time. We spent an entire weekend outside feeding a fire, watching the sap boil, and...that's it. We ended with about a quart of syrup from 13 gallons of sap.
The smell of sap cooking reminds us that spring is here, that things will soon come alive again. Spring means the start of the beekeeping year, and for us, the start of two new hives.
Yesterday was "Bee Day." Amidst all the standstill, it is a comfort to me that certain things keep going. The bees were still delivered, the trees and flowers will still bloom, the sun will still come up.
Mr. Bee picked up our two packages of Carniolan honey bees today. (He practiced social distancing while he picked them up, of course.) We couldn't have asked for better weather: it was sunny and almost 70 degrees Farenheit!
We installed the bees closer to sunset today and we will definitely do that again since the bees were ready to settle in for the night. I've never seen such nice groups of attendants on the queen cages before:
Besides getting the bees into their places, we are remembering to be hopeful for the season ahead. This "new normal" that people keep talking about certainly doesn't feel normal, but we are taking the chance to be purposeful about what kind of "normal" we'd like to carve out as we move forward. Beekeeping is included.
Like in years past, we have picked ourselves up by the bootstraps and we ordered two new packages of bees. And then came the real time to persist...
All of the beekeeping mistakes certainly pale compared to what we are now facing regarding the COVID-19 pandemic. So much of the world is in lockdown, and I suspect many of you are on the same mental and emotional roller coaster that I am on; some moments I am overwhelmed with concern for the world, my relatives and friends far away, and my family here; some moments I am thankful for the slow down, the quiet moments together; some moments I am productive and full of purpose and others I am not sure what to do next. We are doing our best to follow guidelines and make the most of the difficult time.
Our time has been filled with everything: house projects, texts and calls to friends and family, online learning, playing in mud, frisbee with Scout, cleaning,making sourdough starter, feeding sourdough starter, wondering if we will be able to keep sourdough starter alive, etc. Update: we did successfully make bread with the starter.
I could go on (we all could), but I will say that stepping outside feels extra special these days. We made our first attempt at making maple syrup this year, and it all came at the perfect time. We spent an entire weekend outside feeding a fire, watching the sap boil, and...that's it. We ended with about a quart of syrup from 13 gallons of sap.
Yesterday was "Bee Day." Amidst all the standstill, it is a comfort to me that certain things keep going. The bees were still delivered, the trees and flowers will still bloom, the sun will still come up.
Mr. Bee picked up our two packages of Carniolan honey bees today. (He practiced social distancing while he picked them up, of course.) We couldn't have asked for better weather: it was sunny and almost 70 degrees Farenheit!
We installed the bees closer to sunset today and we will definitely do that again since the bees were ready to settle in for the night. I've never seen such nice groups of attendants on the queen cages before:
Besides getting the bees into their places, we are remembering to be hopeful for the season ahead. This "new normal" that people keep talking about certainly doesn't feel normal, but we are taking the chance to be purposeful about what kind of "normal" we'd like to carve out as we move forward. Beekeeping is included.
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