The Bees

Remember I said I was becoming an amateur bee keeper?  The bees are here!  I picked them up last week.  It was fun, something different for sure.  There is a lot more to bee keeping than just ordering 3 pounds of bees.  Who knew those little things were so complicated?  Feeder buckets, Pollen pellets, marshmallows.

Here they are...9 pounds of bees!  Each of those little boxes has 3 pounds of bees in there.  It was cool the day they came home, sunny and 40's.  I guess they stay huddled up like that to stay warm.  That's good when you're transporting them.

This is my friend, he is my expert instructor.  He's had bees for a few years so he is teaching me everything he knows and we'll learn the rest together.  He lost all of his bees over the winter so he replaced his when I got mine.  My bees are at his house, I guess they work better when there are 3 or 4 boxes.  I'm not really sure about all that, I just know it's better.  He also has a huge garden so there is a lot pollen around for them.  My dog wouldn't get along with the bees at my house either.

There they go...right into their new home.  We just took the little aluminum can out of the box they come in and got the queen out.  The queen comes in this little tiny screened in box with a plug in the bottom and you replace that plug with a marshmallow.  The bees eat on that marshmallow for a few days until they get through to the queen.  Then you put a feeder bucket in there with sugar water and a pollen pellet to get them through a few weeks until things start blooming, put the lid on and that's it.

Supposedly I should have honey in 3-4 months.  My Dad is getting bees this year too, I think he is bringing his home this weekend.  He is keeping them in the clover at the farm.  Someone said that will be really sweet honey.  Who knew!  The honey tastes different based on what kind of pollen they have.  I guess it makes sense, I just never really thought about it.

I'm always up for trying a new adventure or hobby.  And having fresh honey will give me a reason to try lots of new recipes!  Who knows, maybe it will turn into a business.  The husband always says he would love it if one of my hobbies actually earned money :)

 

 

 

 

 

 

What a long strange winter it's been...

Hello and welcome to March!  Wow, what a long winter it's been!  Anyone that has read my blog before knows that I HATE winter and anyone living in the Midwest knows that this was a bad one!  It's almost over and the truth is, this one really didn't bother me.  Say what?!?  Nope, it really didn't.  It was cold, really cold, but we had a lot of sunny days and I stayed busy so I guess that's what saved me.  As I'm typing this, there is a winter weather advisory in effect for tonight.  More snow!  Oh well, last year on spring break in Missouri it snowed a foot.  I guess if we can get through spring break without snow, we're off to a better start. 

So what's on the horizon for this summer?  Well, let's see...

Remember the pickling party from last summer?  I'm growing my own cucumbers this year and this just in, amateur bee keeper!  Yep, I'm getting a bee box and bees!  Lots of fresh honey (I hope).  I'm thinking of changing the direction of my blog, there are lots of different things I'm interested in, not just camping.  Any suggestions?

Camping of course!  The TEENAGER is still in the house so as usual his activities sort of dictate the schedule for the rest of the house.  I have a trip planned to the dunes (it's an annual destination now!), two long trips to Missouri (hoping for better weather this year).  Then there is a trip to Wisconsin and Michigan.  I've got a few bike rides thrown in the mix, hopefully an overnight trip or two for some fun mountain biking and a Halloween trip (boy #2 might be too old this year) Poof, that's the summer and fall!

In the meantime, Hustle up the Hancock is just a few weeks away.  That is loads of fun, hard but fun!  My goal is to shave a minute off my time from last year.  That's pretty ambitious and I've only practiced twice so far.  I still have plenty of time but I don't have my fast legs on just yet.  Lots of crazy teenager stuff going on the rest of the month and high school baseball season has started.  My first bike ride is April 28.  65 miles this time, new long distance record!  I'm not exactly sure how the weather will be, that's pretty early up here, as long as it's a bright sunny day, it should all work out.  I probably won't have time or decent enough weather to get outside much before then so I'm hoping my Hancock legs carry me through!

What a long, strange winter it's been...