Wednesday, June 27, 2018

Don't Worry, Bee Happy



Bees. I love them. But it wasn't always that way.

When Keith first wanted to keep some on our farm decades ago, I (this is so embarrassing) said NOPE. I'd seen too many killer bee movies. So he kept a hive on a friends farm and they split the honey.

He wore me down though, and I eventually gave in to having a hive way in the back behind the barn on our old farm. See no evil etc...

Over the years the hive mysteriously got closer to our home-strong little buggers, who knew they had that kind of upper thorax strength? 

When we moved here to The Poor Farm, Keith located our two bee hives in the center of our property (in a grove of protective trees) and I learned to work around them. I am now the one who makes sure they have lots of water in the kitchen garden bird baths. I also planted masses of colorful annuals this year so they would have a steady supply of nectar.







Two weeks ago Keith finally talked me into a bee suit and I was hooked! Absolutely fascinated with those industrious creatures, all B Movie bee drama left my goofy head. 

Our granddaughter Allana, now fourteen, has always loved the bees and starting working them with Keith when she was five. She especially likes talking to them while they are hanging out at their water hole. It's really not all that surprising the way she gets up close and personal with them-she also has a pet rat!





Recently her ten year old brother Wesley expressed an interest and this morning both of our older GK's came out to check hive status with their Papa. 





Afterwards I made them all a well-deserved meal of pancakes (made from our milk and eggs) plus sausage and bacon (thank you hogs). The three bee charmers reported the hives were doing very well, we had a strong queen bee presence, and we'll need to harvest honey soon! 






22 comments:

  1. I love bees, too. We have no hives, but I see plenty of them in my flowers. I've never been stung in all these years. Our local bee people ended up closing up their honey store and moving away due to losing so many of their bees after farmers sprayed their crops at a bad time for the bees. It's a shame. -Jenn

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. There have been many bee losses in our rea for the same reason. Our hives are several hundred feet away from neighboring fields and we let vegetation grow high all around them. It helps filter the poisons that drift our way at times.

      Delete
  2. Donna, good for you! It is so hard not to love bees. I plan to try again someday myself.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. They have become as much of our "livestock" as the cattle and hogs. I especially love how self-cleaning they are!

      Delete
  3. I've only been stung once, and that was decades ago on Honolulu beach, when I stepped on one, oddly enough. Congrats on getting over a fear!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. My other fear is electric fence. HATE IT. Hate being shocked. But with my patient husband I've learned to with with it too. Now, put me a field of wild, bucking, running horses and it's pure delight for me.

      Delete
  4. I shared your fear Donna, as a young girl I was stung over and over by wasps, and though not the same, my fear of anything buzzing stayed with me. Nowadays, not so much, we have learned to co-exist, and I have come to understand the importance and necessity of bees in our environment.
    Well done Allana, she's a trooper :)
    ~Jo

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Bravo for you! I was never badly stung as a youngster so really no basis for my fear. But for you to be able to tolerate them at all is amazing. Well done.

      Delete
  5. Love bees :) Since moving here we have not been able to have them on our property due to nearby spraying - we were having total losses each summer and weren't willing to risk more. It was heartbreaking. So they're now on my parents property.
    Our family has heavy winter losses each year but we've talked to the State inspector repeatedly and unfortunately heavy winter losses are the norm in our part of the world. Hope things are easier at your place.
    In ten years we've only had one NASTY hive, from a swarm caught locally. Other than that having bees is almost like have a box with thousands of tiny hamsters or something, the girls are like "hey, it's just you again" and rarely even need smoked.
    Now I miss my bees :(

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. We are on the brink of a real disaster is this country with so many not understanding their vital importance. Adulterated honey from China is so cheap (and worthless) so why bother? Glad you still have access to them at your parents house at least

      Delete
  6. When living in VA, we had a wildflower meadow in the back yard when Pat (Granville) decided to till a large area and sow wildflower seeds. For the first couple of years we had a great time watching various butterflies and bees in the flowers. Then weeds started overpowering flowers, so in time, the flowers were tilled over and grass seed put in again. We also had a row of sunflowers which the bees especially enjoyed. I have a fear of wasps but was able to "pet" a sleeping bee. Nice that you will soon have your own honey...very sweet indeed!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Flower gardening does take time as weeds are always lurking in the shadows. I've planted many more varieties of sunflowers myself this year and the bees spend lots of time with them.

      Delete
  7. What a change of heart, D. They just buzzed their way, through your steel fortress, lol. Piercing, no? Glad you found much joy from their presence in your yard, and now it brings the grandchildren into the fold too. Sweet. But not I've got that song stuck in my head, from the Bee Movie..."Sugar. Oh, hunny-hunny. You are my candy Giiiirl, and you've got me, wanting you."

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I sang that song over and over when the Archies first released it in the 70's! Ahead of their time those goofballs were.

      Delete
    2. Apparently the song came out in 1969. Like I feared, I'm older than I thought.

      Delete
  8. I am so glad you finally discovered the wonder of bees! I was really nervous the first few times I worked mine, but now I love them.

    My hives are on a property surrounded by commercial fields (the closest is only 15 feet away), but the man who sprays that particular farm is really awesome about giving me a heads up when he's coming in to spray, and he reads off any information about effects on pollinators in the literature. I haven't had any losses yet, fingers crossed.

    My parents are curious about the bees, but they won't even come to the windows to watch when I work them :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. You're so fortunate to have such a good neighbor famer! He's probably a closet homesteader himself.

      Delete
  9. I would loved to have kept Bees, but it never happened. With all the Chestnut trees in flower recently, the Bee hives were brought in by the dozen (Chestnut makes bitter dark honey). The people provide no water for them, so they all make directly for our pool. We've both been stung, and have been cursing them; not their fault of course, but their owners. The hives will stay until the Sunflower crops are done.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. What?! No water for their bees. I want names. I'll hop a plane and set them straight, take water from them for awhile so they have to lurk at your poolside. Then you can swat at them! The chestnut tree honey intrigues me. Could it be used in baking or mead making?

      Delete
    2. It has a dark bitter flavour. I actually quite like it, but most don't. It's very dark brown.

      Delete
  10. Great post to share. We had (have) hives. Lost three in a row though. Now I haven't posted this on our blog yet but apparently one of the hives I left alone has captures a wild swarm. And they are VERY aggressive. Even with my best bee suit you can buy, I'm nervous to check them out up close. Now I've stopped mowing around the area because they look like they will swarm when I start getting within 20 feet. The grass is growing up.

    So now I ask the question in my comment, how do you all control the grass around the hives? Or do you just have them in an area where grass doesn't grow much? I don't know what to do about the grass and of course now how to handle a wild swarm I don't know anything about.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Well...we don't mow much around here. I'm going to blog about that soon, so around the bees the grass is high. We walk up to the hives often enough that we've worn a narrow path to them. They are also surrounded by a small grove of trees. Aggressive bees can be so for many reasons. They don't like to be bothered on cloudy days and pesticide use (in the fields around them or on your own property) can agitate them. Excessive mechanical noise can anger them as well, anything that is a threat to their hives. Keith always brings his smoker to calm them a bit before messing with the hives but doesn't always need to use it. Contact your local County Extension office and they might have someone on staff or know of someone who'll come to your place and offer help/advice. Good luck!

      Delete

Comments are good, as long as you're a real person and not some goof telling me how you were cured of hepatitis by snorting a pulverized neon blue crayon. Your comments don't even have to agree with my viewpoint, I love a good discussion, but civility does matter.