June 8, 2013

Week 5 - Bee Inspection

as each saturday approaches, we read in our books what should be expected, this week

it is possible to have the bottom brood box at 70%+ full and then adding

another one on top would be necessary....keep reading....

great picture of busy BEEs in my hive....plenty of larva (capped and not capped)

here is the QUEEN Bee in my hive....notice how on the WORKER Bees

in the picture that their wings are just about as long as their body, but on the

QUEEN, her abdomen is so long her wings only go part of the way down

...she also has that black ball on her back.

here is Ross' hive.....this is a great shot of Burr Comb that the Bees create,

I have to use my hive tool to break it apart...if you look in the lower right

part of this picture you can see honey coming out of the comb and the

Bees are taking a drink.....

here is a closer look....isn't that just AMAZING!!!

here is the QUEEN Bee in Ross' hive....Looking good!!!!

Ross' hive was at 70% (meaning that the Bees had created

comb on at least 7 of the 10 frames) so I got to add another

Brood Box to the top...this has 10 more frames in it....as more

Bees are being born each week, they need more space....my hive

wasn't ready, but it was exciting to add one to Ross'.

hopefully next week we can add another brood box to mine...

we are having a Blast working with the Bees each week...in

all the chaos with thousands of Bees buzzing around it is

Amazingly relaxing....I wear my suit each week and no stings yet!!!

Pleasant Dreams!!!

June 2, 2013

had a WONDERFUL day at church today......take a listen

to Pastor Bob's message..... www.h-hcc.org

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Ross completed the flower box on the outside of my greenhouse...

it came out even better that I expected!!!  Well Done Honey!!!

front view

back view



side view

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had the family over for homemade pizza and then off to boat

for a chilly spin around the lake.

Pleasant Dreams!!!

June 1, 2013

Week 4 - Bee Inspection

Let me first say......WOW!!!!

we knew that babies would be born during this past week, but I didn't

realize how many that would be ....the frames were packed with Bees

....here is some lifespan info.....

* every 21 days (3 weeks) Workers Bees are born

* they live to be about 6 week old during PEAK time

* during off peak (winter) they can live up to 4 - 8 months

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when we do an inspection, we are looking for several things...

the Queen Bee herself, eggs (the little rice looking stuff), larva, burr

comb that needs to be removed and propolis

during this inspection.....we saw the Queen in my hive, but didn't see her

in Ross' hive..... we saw eggs in both, which is great...because that means

the queen was present within the last day or two.....we saw larva of all stages

in both hives as well.....so far so good......next week we add another brood box.

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this is a great shot of 3 Bees coming to life....breaking through the cap...

2 up at the top of the picture, and one down 3 rows and over to the right a bit....

this picture also shows larva in different sizes...so another batch of babies is

 ready to be capped....woohoo!!!

another shot of a bunch of larva in different stages

here is another shot of a baby bee emerging from the capped cell,

down a row and over to the right is another one just started the process

this is a great picture of a working frame.....the brown part is where

the bees have already been born.....new eggs are already placed in these

cells...the rest of the bees are busy doing their job.....gotta love everybody

working together!!!

this is from Ross' hive.....you can see the eggs (rice like) laid

by the Queen...there is also a bunch of stages of larva

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it was quite exciting to be amongst that many bees

this morning....we were all suited up so no stings again....honestly

once you get back to the hives, we are concentrating on what we need to do with

as little disruption to the bees that you don't have time to FREAK OUT!!!

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Pleasant Dreams!!!

May 31, 2013

it has been a tough year for the garden...with the spring being so cold, 

 the plants have not grown as tall as they need to be....

sooooo.....just part of the garden is in.....

carrot & green bean seeds planted along the fence in the middle



tomato are planted and string line setup to cut the matting

for the pepper plants, but they are not big enough yet

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Ross smoked some beef & salmon jerky.....

he coated the beef in a marinade for 24 hours

then lined it up on the smoker grates

wish you could smell this....AMAZING!!!

beef sticks

salmon sticks

salmon planks

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we were shopping in town this afternoon, as we got close to

the animal shelter...i asked Ross to pull in.....15 minutes later...

JOY was in the van and ready to head to the farm....

we are very excited to have her!!!

she is adjusting to the other dogs and life on the farm quite well!!!

Pleasant Dreams!!!

May 30, 2013

this is my Great Grandpa Berts financial diary pages for May 1913....

what they sold or earned for income:
53 lbs of butter = $16.74

200 dozen eggs = $42.16

18 bushel potatoes = $7.85

berry plants = $.60

rubbers = $.50

so $67.85 came in

what they purchased or paid:
groceries (not specific) = $6.60

  feed  = $8.78

baker = $.50

berry plants = $4.00

labor = $3.30

Bangor trip - Mrs. = $3.41

Dentist - Mrs. = $4.50

mower = $7.15

egg cartons  = $.85

nails = $.65

dress & dress supplies = $3.75

sun bonnet = $.35

tithing= $1.00

posts = $2.40

road tax = $11.40

wire= $11.90

shades = $.90

so $71.44 went out

some interesting things.....

• lots of money spent on Alice again, a trip to Bangor, dress, bonnet, going to the dentist...my grandpa would have been 11 months old by now...so maybe this was his first visit away from the farm.
• road tax...$11.40 seems really high to me for the early 1900's
• wire....$11.90...he must have wired in some sort of area for animals
• no salary this month...so clearly in May they were already out of school

Pleasant Dreams!!!

May 29, 2013

Bee Inspection....Week 3

we started with my hive....you pull out the frames on the ends first and

inspect them.....I had activity on 6 of the 10 frames.....that is EXCELLENT

progress for 3 weeks....

the Queen is busy...on this frame, you can see Larva before they

are capped....

this is a great picture of several stages ....from the egg (looks like a

piece of rice) to Larva of different sizes....then the workers will

cap the hole.....zoom in and take a good look...

on this one....you can see the Queen...right in the middle of the picture

this is Hive 2 - Ross' hive....you can see the Burr Comb connecting

the frames....we remove that with each inspection

at 21 days new worker bees are born....if you look closely at the bottom

center of this picture and top left....there are bees coming out of the holes...

just AMAZING!!!

center of the picture is the Queen in Hive 2



last week I misspoke about PROPOLIS....I misunderstood it

to be another name for the BURR COMB that was connecting the frames,

but it is what is on the side of the frame in this picture...it is a sticky substance

that has HUGE medicinal benefits.

Pleasant Dreams!!!

May 25, 2013

Happy Memorial Day Weekend!!!!

Our annual tradition for this weekend is to prepare the garden....

looking West.....

looking East...

took off the old landscape cloth, and pulled the big weeds...

next step.....rototiller...3 times per side



Ross did the hard work....I just did the last time on this side...

then a quick roll to flatten it down...

laying down the new landscape cloth...the North side 

will have lettuce, broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage, watermelon, cantaloupe, honeydew

 and cucumbers and all the rest corn...

we measure and stretch out string so the rows are even

and then I plant each kernel of corn....almost 400....

will LOVE putting up a bunch of corn this fall!

tomorrow we work on the other side.....

Pleasant Dreams!!!