We picked up and installed two packages of bees yesterday. Some of you might recall we started bees last spring but tragically, we lost our queen so this year is a do-over and we decided to double down and start two hives instead of one…to make up for lost time, I guess. These little fuzzy buzzers are such clever little miracles. They literally make the world go round. We (humanity) can’t do without them. It’s an honor and a privilege for us to host these critters under the canopy of our orchards here at the farm and to serve our neighbors and community by tending bees. That’s the thing about bee keeping, it’s bigger than collecting jars of honey at the end of the year, much bigger.
Buy local honey and hug your bee keepers as often as you can! They’re doing such special, important work and your appreciation will be appreciated!
Yay bees! My husband and I look forward to seeing the honeybees! They help everything grow!
The bees are EVERYTHING!!!!!! It makes me so glad to see them going about their work.
local honey is so much better, eh? it’s like you can CHEW it, like it’s an actual food, so much more substance than the commercial sorts.
so very much hoping all goes well with these hives!!
xx
It’s so true. I just bought a jar of honey the other day and it’s my after dinner treat…a spoonful of the stuff and I just kind of lick it like it’s a lollipop until it’s gone! HA HA HA!!!!!
This is such a working farm…the real deal…very nice, makes your life even more interesting, always…I grow bee friendly plants here, love to see them around, very healthy. I also loved the post of last week.
It is a working farm. It’s not a huge commercial farm. We don’t have that kind of acreage. But the space we do have is very productive and our hay crop generates a portion of our yearly income so I call this place of ours a FARM and not an acreage because it’s land that is being worked.
My mother corrected me when we told her we bought this place. She told me we had an acreage and not a farm. But she grew up on a couple thousand acre wheat farm in Saskatchewan and most Saskatchewanians don’t consider a farm a farm unless it’s a few FULL SECTIONS of land. In point of fact, my grandmother, who spent all of her life wheat farming with my late grandfather, poo-poo’ed our small working farm because to her, unless it’s commercial, it’s not a farm.
We have a small, working farm that is rooted in niche market small crops which are grown with organic and biodynamic practices (though we are not certified organic). This little space of ours is what farms are meant to be. We grow enough for ourselves and what we have left over will go to market and to our local neighbors and community. We are good for the earth and good for our community. And we are having so much fun, despite working all hours, all the time!!! We’re just getting started here, slowly putting all our infrastructure into place and figuring out what works and what doesn’t work, but someday this place will be in full bloom and it will be awe inspiring!!!
XXX
Yes, that’s what a meant by “a real working farm” I am French from France, so land is not like in Saskatchewan (or else North America or Argentina where I have family and there…acres…..wow….) so I know it is a farm!!
24h a day for this is not enough…you need 30 hours a day (in Summer)!!!!! Your way of life has got bigger not in size or material matters but grown in beauty, and I hope that opens the door to “modern farming” no need of thousands of acres that you will finally, may be, pay in 60 years!!! This is the real deal now=days!!!! Good luck!
bees are life! i dream of the day when i have my own space (currently living in a rental condo) to garden, keep bees, and have my own chickens!
Dream big, girl! That’s how you begin.
XX
Jeeze Louise there is nothing you guys can’t do!
Jeeze Louise! There is nothing you guys can’t do! I love it that you are doing bees.
I was taught that local honey can help build immunity to local allergens. We have wonderful lavender farmers that make lavender honey which is a weakness for me. I always buy local honey.
We got our first give last year and afterb6 weeks they swarmed! We couldn’t catch them because of where they went but the queen that was left behind built a beautiful community. This year we watched and waited and sure enough they swarmed again. Only this time it was on our neighbor’s fence so my husband was able to capture them and start a second hove. It is such an amazing experience and our children are so excited to see what we can do. I’m so glad to hear you’ve gotten your hives! You will love them!
What a special thing to be able to do, to provide for the bees and, in turn, the earth.