Our Bees Are Here Early!

We got our 2 bee packages early!  I picked them up after work today and then Jeff and I installed them using the lights of my car :)  Everything went well, we followed our own tutorial video made our first year (Youtube video on installing bees our first year).  Today I was emailing with my girlfriend and she said, "Thank you for the honey, my face is so smooth".  I thought, 'what a weird thing to say'....  So I wrote her and said, you put it in your tea, NOT on your face!  And she said that you do both.  Once a week she used a brush and applies a thin layer of my honey to her face.  She lets it stay on for 20 minutes and then rinses with warm water.  She says her face is as smooth as a babies bottom!  I was going to post a link to a site that describes this but there are a million and they are all generally the same.  The antibacterial effects of honey as well as the anti-inflammatory properties make it the best facemask!  There is even postings that it cured bad acne!  Oh, what I would have loved to know as a teenager!  haha!

At first we put 2 full hive bodies together.  Once we watched our video we remembered that we only want one hive body to start...

This is a drone comb that I don't need yet.  It is used to encourage the queen to lay drone (male) eggs here.  The mites then attach to the larvae.  I take this whole thing and freeze it killing all the bees (no offense guys, but we don't need male bees) and the excess mites which is a natural way to keep the mite population under control.  Another thing we do is dusting the hive and bees with powdered sugar to get the mites to fall off and go to the ground where they die.

I love bees, I know its crazy!  This whole project started not so much for the honey as my desire to see them all enjoying the garden in the morning.  My favorite thing about having a huge garden was spending the morning with them while harvesting dinner.

We are trying to pick the best comb for the starter body and I needed one with space for my queen who comes in a small package where she lives until the sugar plug is eaten and she is released to her new loving community.  If she gets out early, the loving community may actually kill her!  Scary times!

Jeff is filling the feeder with sugar water.  5 pounds of sugar with 1/2 gallon of water to make a yummy spring syrup!

Shaking the sugar syrup!

Somehow I lost the inside of my cap so I had to keep pushing it up my head.  You have to wear a face mask because getting stung on the face causes enough swelling to make it hard to see!

Taking out the queen and her helpers!

Taping the queen's cage to the comb.

We are about to dump the first 10,000 bees into the hive - then the darn battery on the phone wore out!  OH well!  Goodbye!

Harvesting Honey!

My friend Jeff was kind enough to not only help me with the honey, but also stopping to pose for these pictures!  We had one heck of a time.  Definately not a good idea to pick a nice sunny warm day to harvest.  The bees went with us everywhere and we had quite an adventure.  I ended up processing 53 pounds of honey!  All loved ones, be ready to get honey for EVERY holiday this year AND next!

The bees are back!!!!!!

I installed 2 new bee colonies tonight (thanks, Stuart!). Everything went well although on my own I didn't get any video or pics. They were pretty tame after the 45 minute ride home and didn't get too fussy.  The weather helped because it is cold and wet and they prefered to stay in their new homes rather than hang out to sting me.

The turkeys are doing well and growing feathers fast.  They are the funniest animals to watch.  Last night we took half of thier space back because we caught them huddling in the wrong corner - they will die without the heat lamp.  Tonight they were happy and full of fight as I changed their newspaper and checked thier food and water.

John picked some new goat soap up at Oak Leaf Dairy after closing the store - it makes the house smell like a slice of heaven. What a way to start your morning; with awesome smelling soaps that love your skin as much as you do!

Be well!

Harvesting!!!!!!!!!!

We spent the day harvesting wool from the bunnies and honey from the bees (not at the same time, that would bee messy)!  We had a very busy and productive day.  John got the largest pumpkins I have ever seen from a farm in Woodstock, CT.  There are plenty of beautiful mums bursting with blossoms.  I love the fall, and I hope to love it even more when this honey my bees made in my own backyard TACKLES my allergies!

LOCAL WOODWORKER MAKING BEEKEEPING WOODENWARE!!!!!

Last week I made a great new friend - Anthony Trani who builds woodenware for beekeeping right here in Coventry!!!! If you are a beekeeper support your local artists. You can contact Anthony by email at oldschoohouse@gmail.com

Bee Installation videos on youtube!

I put videos of the bee installation on youtube for your viewing pleasure!  It was so exciting, I wish I had more to do!  Tonight we will remove the top layer and thier cage.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eOt9cozdm4M

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mzP3iY_qMwM
 
If you are in the area and interested in beekeeping the Connecticut Eastern Beekeeping Association teaches 4 classes at UConn annually that are fantastic. Then they have meetings throughout the year that help you to manage your hives. Also, if you take the class you get free shipping on your hives which saves you more money than the course costs. win win!
The site for the CT Eastern Bee Association is http://vvv.caes.state.ct.us/BeeInformation/BeeFormsandInformation/beeassoc.htm#Eastern%20Connecticut%20Beekeepers%20Association. Adam Fuller is the president of the eastern CT beekeepers association, his site is www.azapiaries.com. They have meetings every month so you could even join now!

Candles!!!

We now have candles at the Connecticut Country Store. Enjoy wonderful hand poured scents from Candles by Laura or the scent of beeswax from AZ apiaries. My favorite scent is Vegetable Garden which sounds strange, but smells like heaven!

Speaking of bees, my shipment of 2 colonies will be delayed one week which is wonderful because Jeff was going to miss out and now he'll be home for their introduction to their new home!

Additionally, I will be working with Tad to raise meat birds this year.  They are for us, we won't be selling them in the store.  It will be a difficult learning experience for me and I'm a little nervous.  I might end up a vegetarian.  It is part of my attempts at eating more consciously.  Last year was fishing.  I will let you know how this lesson goes.  They arrive in June.

Meanwhile I've gotten a lot of great responses on Tad's Chickondos (chicken condo).  The chickondo makes raising birds for eggs a snap and helps you fertilize your grass while ridding your area of nasty ticks!  AND it is easy to clean and maintain, it looks nice in any yard AND it is easy to get the eggs without chicken poo incidents - if you've raised chickens, you know what that means!

Be well!

Bee's Hives Arrived!

The bee's hives arrived today in many many many pieces; so this is why it cost so much to get the kit already assembled!  We are hoping to get more put together this weekend.  Susan and Jeff came over to help!  Bees will arrive April 27th!  We can't wait!

Beekeeping

My last beekeeping class is tonight!  I'm so excited to start in April.  Tonight we are learning about pests and disease which should be interesting.  These can make or break your colony:  managing pests and controling disease spread can mean the difference from going year to year with success or starting over every spring!  This picture is the fall in my back yard.  I LOVE growing giant sunflowers.  Every year I've harvested seeds and baked them, but that's not the real reason, I grow them because they are beautiful and huge and the bees love to visit!

We spent last weekend doing a little ice fishing, making a little beer, and working on the business!  Great weekend, even better friends, and even more fun!  We caught 4 bass and 2 perch!  Well, 'they caught' is more appropriate.  My niece Hunter and I watched, complained about cold toes and went to get more coffee and snacks :)  It was a great time and I would do it again, but with electric socks and a bigger mug!  The rest of the week we spent making connections, finding vendors, sending out applications, ordering materials, building shelving, cleaning pots, making paper bricks, and learning more about keeping bees!  We have been busy and we are both exhausted, but so happy to do it.  We sleep soundly in our exhaustion with smiles on our faces :)  This weekend we are having dinner at my parent's house with a few families who run thier own farms and we are so thrilled to be able to meet them and learn more about what we are getting into and how we can help our local farmers!  We will plant some seeds, set some lights, dampen some torn newspaper for next weeks bricks, bake and clean food for the week, and maybe, just maybe John will have a few minutes of football!  Another wonderful event is having my aunts and uncles down from NH and up from NJ at my parents house Saturday afternoon.  There is nothing more important than family and friends!  I'm hoping to soon have pictures to post of our 2 new additions to the family - Willow and Violet - they are 2 female angora bunnies that will be born this month.  I also will be posting pics of Jeff and I attempting to make our bee homes for our two colonies coming on April 27th.  The beekeeping classes are going great and I highly recommend them to anyone thinking of raising bees.  There are so many things you can't learn from a book and it is wonderful to also meet so many people with similar interests.  Well, that's all for now, time to cuddle in front of a movie and get some Z's for the weekend ahead!  Be well!

Beekeeping!

Had a great time at my beekeeping class!  We learned about the honeybee colonies.  The queen, the worker bees, and the drones.  We learned about the different plants they like and the best locations for them.  And most importantly, we learn how to keep from upsetting our nieghbors with our new found friends!!!!  There is a great site at http://www.backyardbeekeepers.com/.  I have 3 more classes :)

January 27, 2010

I had a great time spinning wool with Susan tonight while we watched "The Secret Life of Bees". I cried like a baby. I also had the chance to make a few loaves of Irish brown bread - yum!  Tomorrow I learn about beekeeping - I AM SO EXCITED! Today John looked at tractors, ordered seeds for the greenhouse and ordered potting soil. He worked on the shelves in our basement (our temporary greenhouse), put the displays in the store with Tad, and he's going to pick up the potting soil tomorrow. He also finished painting the baseboard trim in the store! Another couple coats on the countertop and the showroom is almost ready! All of the support from family and friends and new acquaintances has been tremendous, we are truly blessed! Be well!