welcoming summer

It sure does feel like mid summer is approaching.  Our weekend was full of the signals of her arrival.

Bags full of sweet red clover, now drying in the attic, getting ready to sweeten our cups of winter tea.

Swallowtail and bumblebee join us in the gardens.

We make our father’s day trip to the Old Tool Shed in Genoa, where papa feasts his eyes on a myriad of hand tools (and leaves with just a few).

We follow the river north to grampy’s where we celebrate (always) with fire and water and a grilling on the deck.

We check out something new, and join nonnie at the end of her chalked poem on the street.

We return home to brimming gardens, a hive of new bees, and dusty little feet not hitting the sheets til well after 9 o’clock.

Yes, I do believe she is here.

sadly sweet

Last week we confirmed what we were beginning to fear: that our hive of bees had not make it through the winter.  When we opened it up we found two dead balls of bees in separate parts of the hive.  We called up the folks we bought the bees from, just to see if they had any ideas.  They thought it was likely that the bees separated from their big massive ball during a warm spell and then a quick cold snap found them unable to get back into one large mass big enough to keep them all warm.  We may never really know what happened.  It’s sad and hard not to feel like we made mistakes, as beginner beekeepers, that brought on their demise.  It’s been some consolation talking to other more seasoned keepers who have also lost hives this winter.  It’s been a rough go for bees these past few years. We’re determined to try again.

There was still lots of honey in the hive, so we decided that at least that would not go to waste.  We’d harvest what we could and leave the rest for this year’s new crop of bees to clean up and put to use.  We use a kind of top bar hive which allows the bees to build their own combs, which means we can’t pull nice neat frames from the hive for easy extraction.  Instead the comb ends up in large pieces which we then crush and strain.  We don’t heat the honey (except near the wood stove) so it remains in its truest, healthiest raw form.

Our staining/draining system has plenty of room for improvement (when we discovered the honey we quickly read up on how to harvest it and made due with tools from around the house).

 Left over wax we’ll give back to the bees for cleaning

In the end we yielded 6 quarts of beautiful, tasty honey.  Our thanks go out to those busy creatures for all this sweetness, with many hopes that we can sustain a hive in the years to come.

around the farm

 I had intentions to write about other things tonight, but then 61 photos showed up on my camera from the weekend and proved to me that it was full enough.  So, a look around.

 Teamwork in raincoats.  We had to get out in it, wish it had lasted a little longer.

 Farmgirl style.

 The homegrown wheat project continues.  Threshing and winnowing experiments this weekend.  Further adjustments necessary.

Wishing you a wonderful week.

and more adventures in farming

Andy and I have this little joke (at least I think it’s a joke) about how we like to try at least one new farming venture every year.  I consider this a joke because, really, at some point it just gets ridiculous, right?  First there was this, then this, this, and this.  And now this-bees!  When he first brought it up, I laughed a little nervous laugh.  Really, you want bees?  Too?  But he was serious.  And since I come with a little bit of background- my dad kept bees (about 25 hives) the whole time I was growing up, I kind of got swept up in it too.  How could you not?  These little wonders, with their hive full of cooperation and organization and loyalty and hard work.  And honey.  Kind of amazing.

So for Father’s Day Andy got some bee keeping gear from Lapps Bee Supply, and a hive.  A full working, ready to go, active hive from the good folks at Wild Comb Apiary, right over the hill in Westby.  He picked the hive up in the back of our Toyota.  Jordan, the beekeeper, had stuffed the entrance with a bit of grass.  You know, just to keep the 3,000+ bees in the box for the car ride home!  We know that bees are usually docile, especially as the sun goes down (as it was when we unloaded the box). However, Jordan told us he breeds a northern variety of bees that are winter hearty, and thus have a bit of fight in them (as they would need to roll through a Wisconsin winter).  So, since Andy had all that fun new gear, he suited up and unloaded.  I did not, but figured they wouldn’t have much against the photographer.

We lifted the lid and watched in amazement as these beautiful little ladies piled out and around the 6 frames already heavy with honey.  We replaced the lid and sat back for a bit.  Within minutes they were taking flights in and out of the box, checking out their new surroundings, heading for the pasture full of white and purple clover.  It feels like another great addition to this farming adventure.  We sure hope they’ll like it here.