Beekeeping

Reduce, Reuse, Wrap (in Beeswax!) 5

dakota pharmgirlMarch 20, 2021March 20, 20215 Comments

It's been a continuing journey to reduce our family's waste footprint over the years - at times really difficult making that choice of consciousness over convenience - particularly with a large family.

We've tried to be aware of our food choices and their impact on water (see What's Your Water Footprint?), our health and beauty choices and their impact on plastics and packaging (switching to bar soaps, shampoos, conditioners), as well as household items like Ziploc bags, cleaners, and laundry detergent (switching to silicone bags and eco laundry sheets).

We're by no means close to model eco-citizens but we keep slowly plugging away at it, hoping to keep lowering our impact.

Honest Honey 4

dakota pharmgirlOctober 11, 2020June 22, 20224 Comments

As my summer beekeeping season comes to a close, I've processed the last honey harvest and will soon prep the bee hives for their winter break. I've left them enough of their own supply to feed themselves through the winter months and will soon wrap the hives to provide protection from cold winds and snow. And then cross fingers the girls will stay safe, healthy, and happy for a well-earned winter rest!

Similar to last year, one hive was really banging while the other just tried to get up to speed. But with close to a total of 170 pounds from primarily just the one hive, I'm not sure I'm ready for 2 hives at full production! Harvesting frames of honey in June, July, and August gave me 3 different color and flavor varieties due to the abundance of different nectar sources in my area. For fun, I've posted some honey harvest videos at the end of this post.

Swarm Story 2

dakota pharmgirlJune 2, 2019September 6, 20202 Comments

Credit: https://carolinahoneybees.com/honey-bee-swarm-prevention/

Isn't it funny how something so common and naturally occurring can happen every Spring across the whole country without you knowing a thing about it and then suddenly, once it happens in your own backyard, you wonder how you possibly could not have seen it before?

Bee swarms. They're quite common this time of year and clumps of bees might be found on signposts or fences, backyard trees, or even patio furniture. How could I not know anything about this fascinating and amazing natural event before now? And....importantly.....know they're nothing to fear and something to behold. Really. More on the fear thing later.

Honey Harvest! 3

dakota pharmgirlAugust 26, 2018September 6, 20203 Comments

As a first-year beekeeper, it was definitely not an expectation to be able to harvest any honey, so it was thrilling to discover I would be able to pull off a few frames this month and still have plenty to leave for the bees to get thru winter.

In this post, I'm going to share the fun of this harvest with multiple videos capturing the process of getting to the good stuff!

Just to put honey production in perspective before I get to the videos, on average each full medium frame of capped honey (like in the picture above) weighs about 5 pounds total. To translate that into bee activity, it's estimated to take 556 foraging bees visiting 2 million flowers to make just 1 pound of honey, and one honey bee produces about 1/12^th of a teaspoon of honey in her lifetime. It gives you such an appreciation for the amount of collective work those ladies do, right?

...continue reading "Honey Harvest!"

Backyard Beginner Beekeeper, Part 2

dakota pharmgirlMay 25, 2018September 6, 2020Leave a comment

Hiya everybody. Hopefully you stuck with me after reading Backyard Beginner Beekeeper, Part 1 to find out how you really actually shake bees into a new hive!

But before I get to the exciting action, I thought I would talk a little bit about getting started.

Bee Prepared

As a first step, I started in January taking a monthly beekeeping class. Most classes start near the beginning of the year to get you ready to get your bees in April/May. The one I went to is the Montgomery County Beekeepers Association of PA beginning beekeeping class held in the 4-H building classrooms. I was shocked at my first class (thinking there might be 5 or 10 people there) to find the class was close to 100 people!

Beginner beekeeper classes are extremely valuable, providing just the information you need in stages to gather equipment and knowledge in preparation for your hive and to then learn how to keep your hive healthy.

The class is really a one-stop shop for learning the basics, understanding the science of beekeeping, how to find good sources of information and equipment, getting access to experts and long-timers, creating camaraderie with fellow newbies, and staying connected to the State association to keep up on what's relevant to your region.

...continue reading "Backyard Beginner Beekeeper, Part 2"

Backyard Beginner Beekeeper, Part 1 5

dakota pharmgirlMay 25, 2018September 6, 20205 Comments

The happiness of the bee
and the dolphin is to exist.
For man, it is to know that
and to wonder at it.
-Jacques Yves Coustea

Well first off, who doesn't love Jacques Coustea? (for the younger crowd who might not know him, he was the oceanic 'Steve Irwin' of his time with a lot less dumb danger thrown in).

In addition to watching his television documentaries, my parents had this fantastic hardcover reference book set called The Ocean World of Jacques Coustea....I remember spending hours pouring over pictures and text in wonder of the amazing diversity of sea life (it was pretty exotic stuff for a land-locked Dakotan).

...continue reading "Backyard Beginner Beekeeper, Part 1"