Monday Morning in the Bee Yard

Want a daily adventure with sweet rewards? Become a beekeeper. My husband and I have had an apiary at Camp Kreitzer for about fifteen years. We've gone up and down from one season to the next with our current seven hives the most ever. At least four are queen right. The others are hopefully raising queens following our splits a month ago.We plan to give away one hive this season, perhaps two, to a family that wants to become beekeepers.

We Captured a Swarm! Wouldn't it Be Wonderful If We Could Capture Souls Like That?

I love being a beekeeper and I love all the saints who appreciate the bees and use them in their teaching. St. Francis de Sales mentions bees often in his sermons. Many other saints did too, e.g., Thomas Aquinas. 

I thought of that today when I went out to check our swarm trap and saw that we had, indeed, captured a swarm. It's been up about a month since I set it up and we didn't think it was going to be successful. Surprise! Today, after I got back from visiting my sister in Maryland, I went out to check, and the opening was covered with bees. To make the trap I used a bucket and put honey wax and some lemon oil in it and a little propolis. My husband cut a hole in the side for the entrance.  Yippee! We captured a swarm. 

What next? We put a frame of brood, some honey, and some pollen in a hive box and turned the swarm trap bucket upside down over the top entry after covering the entry hole. The bees have no place to go except into the hive box. Now we wait until evening and hopefully all the girls will have gone down and set up their new home. We'll leave them alone for a week or so and then see if the queen is laying.

Time Out for a Sweet Reminder -- Rejoice and Bee Happy!

Jesus ran out of his shoes seeking
consolation from Mary as He
saw the instruments of the passion.

St. Paul tells us to "Rejoice in the Lord always." So even in these troubled times, we can turn our minds and hearts to Jesus and rejoice in His love for us. And what a great God who gives us a tender Mother to whom we can always run for consolation, just like Jesus did! 

Being the first day of spring, my thoughts are engaged with Spring "work." Among the most exciting projects to me is going to the bee yard and checking on the girls.

All three hives made it through the winter and we expect to multiply three into six. We did our first inspection about two weeks ago and all was well in the three little kingdoms which are filled with busy bees already bringing in pollen and nectar. You can read about it if you're interested at my grandma blog.

We've been beekeeping now for eight years and it's been quite an adventure. We expanded to six hives at one point and were knocked back by a bear visitation during holy week which forced us to spend Holy Thursday putting up an electric fence. Once a bear finds the "candy store," he'll always be back for more. So up went the fence. 

Sunday Meditation: Time Out for a Beekeeping Commercial!

I think I need a bumper sticker. "If you like honey, thank a bee and her keeper."

Getting the bees ready for the winter!

A Vermont honey bee collects nectar from asters.

I love being a beekeeper! And I love the saints who talk about bees. Did you ever notice how often St. Francis de Sales mentions bees?

He must have had hives or at least visited with those who did. He's not a patron saint of beekeepers, but how often he used the busy bee as a model for the spiritual life. And so I thought of him today when we were working on our hives and admiring the busy girls bringing in colorful pollen: bright yellow and orange.

If you want to see what we were doing today, you can visit my grandma blog, The View from Camp Kreitzer.

Camp Kreitzer's Apiary is in the Shenandoah County News

We're doing our part for the environment. Honeybees are a major pollinator of crops, not to mention flowers.

 Check out the article in the Mountain Courier here. And be nice to honeybees. Don't put chemicals on your law. Dandelions and white clover are big sources of nectar for honeybees. Besides, they're wildflowers and beautiful. And all those chemicals aren't good for you either! They run off into the water supply. Spend all that lawn service money on the kids and grandkids!

Beekeeping Adventures: Captured Our First Swarm Today!

We are feeling proud of ourselves tonight even if we didn't exactly look like pro beekeepers as we muddled through capturing a swarm. But it all worked out and we now have an additional colony in our bear-protected bee yard. If you're interested in beekeeping at all, check it out. 

Evidence Mounts that Neonicotinoids are Killing Honeybees

Neonicotinoid Pesticides Cause Harm to Honey Bees

As a beekeeper, I'm really concerned about this. You should be too. Honeybees aren't the only pollinator but some crops, like almonds, are almost 100% dependent on honeybees. So if you care about the food you eat, you need to care about honeybees.

I'm especially grateful for the sleep help honey offers to insomniacs like me. I didn't mean to be an experiment, but I am. 

Want to live in the Land of Milk and Honey?

Become a Bee keeper. 

The Beekeepers' Lament

My husband and I are beekeepers. We have three hives of Russian bees. Last year, our first year in fact, we expected to get no honey from our two hives because the bees had so much work to do. You put wooden frames in the bee boxes (called supers) filled with wax foundation that is like a blueprint. The bees "draw out" the cells on the foundation with wax and use them to store nectar and pollen and for the nest cells for the bee brood.  Check it out on the right.

Last year one of our hives surprised us by working so hard that we were able to harvest twenty pounds of honey, a real coup for our first year. This year, we were able to divide our hives and get a third "nucleus hive" and expected we would easily harvest 80 pounds of honey since the frames were mostly drawn and ready to be filled. 

A Russian bee on our marigolds with a full pollen pocket

Well, today is the group honey harvest and we checked out our three hives yesterday. A frame needs to be 90% filled with capped honey in order to harvest. (The bees cap the honey with wax when it's the right moisture content. It prevents the honey from fermenting after it's harvested.) Yikes! Not one frame of 90% capped honey. Lots of nectar, lots of brood, but no honey ready for harvesting. I am complaining today to the patrons of beekeepers, St. Ambrose and St. Valentine. They helped us earlier in the season when we were having queen problems. Maybe they will get in the hives and give those bees a pep talk. We still hope to get a little honey before the end of the summer, but it isn't looking good. My husband says Putin probably sent a message to all the Russian bees to go on strike in retaliation for sanctions against Russia.

Maybe next year we'll add some Italian bees to our bee yard. Hmmm...I wonder if a little opera would help. La Traviata for the Italians; Boris Godunov for the Russians.

Grandchildren and Getting Up Close and Personal to God's World

And what a blessing to combine them both. Anybody who's been reading my blogs for long knows that Larry and I are novice beekeepers and loving it! So if you want to see what Springtime is bringing in the way of our love of our grandkids and our love for nature, check it out here. You can admire our girls -- we have a cast of thousands!