Seasons Changing

I realize that I think of updating this blog much more often than I do.  The beekeeping seasons are full of decisions, notes, and moments I would like to remember, but time just passes so quickly and the days are full.  This post has been something I have been putting off, though.  

In late July, we lost Lee, who I called, "Mr. T," here on the blog. He was a friendly martial artist and retired correctional officer, a veteran, a naturalist and musician. He had been a friend to our family for over 30 years. He had a very short battle with cancer.

Lee was the reason that we started beekeeping instead of letting it remain a daydream. Our bees have been kept on his land and he was one of their biggest cheerleaders.

The last time I saw him, he brought us cold glasses of water while we were doing an inspection in the summer heat. I told him I wanted to update the blog again (since he was one of the handful of people who really read this), but that I wasn't sure I should, being that there was more serious news going on in the world. He smiled and said it would be a "good distraction." The months since have been filled with further difficulty in the world, the air has turned frigid, and here I am contemplating an update again. One comfort of beekeeping, though, is that those little honey bees just keep going.

Losing Lee so quickly made the end of our beekeeping season far different from any year we have had. We wrapped up our time having his bees on his land, which meant closing that beautiful chapter in our lives. The last inspections had me trying to memorize each moment and object. The drive through the country, the farm fields through each step of their growth and harvest, the paving stones on the curved walk to the hives, the plumes from the smoker in front of the bee yard, the hammock for the kids to swing in, the treeline bordering his driveway, that one aspen tree with its leaves always quaking.

Our last photo there - the kids standing where the hives were. Next year, we will have a new place for them to stand.

For the first time, our split worked really well.  We are happy to have finally done this successfully and we have three hives now.  We pulled all our honey this year, earlier than usual, and we fed the bees as much as they could take so they would have time to fill up their stores of winter food (more honey). We placed them all together to "hunker down" for winter and beekeeping expert, Mr. Fisher, let us use his equipment to treat the bees for mites. 

We are hoping all these steps will give the bees a good chance for making it all the way through winter. 

Many people ask if bees hibernate: they do not.  From the outside of the hive, it looks still and quiet.  Inside, the bees make a cluster and use all their time to shiver to keep the queen warm. During this time of year, the bees aren't at a big risk.  We just focus now on keeping them dry and we will likely wrap the hives once our central Minnesota winter really kicks in.

Speaking of winter kicking in, here are the same hives, on the same day, a few hours later:

This leads to the next question: do we hibernate? Yes and no. We have yet to extract our honey since gardening and fishing wrapped up and canning and hunting started. Still, we have already raked leaves, shoveled snow, and raked leaves again. Yes, in that order. There is plenty to keep us busy around here. 

We embrace the quiet and togetherness that the winter season ahead brings, and my hope is that you all can find comfort during such a difficult time. We find hope in Christ and our hope of one day being in God's arms, strength in holding each other up, and beauty in the changing seasons around us.  Time keeps passing, children are growing, and we are starting to talk about our beekeeping in terms of, "next year..."