Lughnasa Waning Honey Extraction Moon Checked the honey supers this morning. On the two package colonies that I do not intend to overwinter, we have approximately four full honey supers. That is, we have for harvest the amount of honey they would have needed for the winter, close to 200 pounds. Figure that 40 pounds […]
Read the rest of this entry »Bee Diary: July 18 2011
Mid-Summer Waning Honey Flow Moon The six new honey supers did not prove necessary since I’m still two supers ahead of each colony, but it does look like colonies 2 & 3 have already stored a lot of honey, especially in the two supers that went on in place of the third hive box. In […]
Read the rest of this entry »To Bee, To Do
Mid-Summer Waning Honey Flow Moon Out to the bees in just a few minutes to slap on two more honey supers each, the six I finished varnishing yesterday while Mark put foundations in the frames. This will find six honey supers on colonies 2 & 3, while colony 1, the parent colony for next year’s […]
Read the rest of this entry »Sunday, Sunday
Mid-Summer Full Honey Flow Moon More fun with the alarm system. Back and forth with ADT. On the phone, pushing buttons. Still the chirping. Service call. Business meeting. Scheduling a Denver trip for sometime in September. Looking at buying some more mulch for the vegetable garden. Practice tai-chi. Sand and varnish for coat number three […]
Read the rest of this entry »Does It Play To or With Our Cult of Celebrity?
Mid-Summer Waxing Honey Flow Moon So. Attended a political meeting in the morning, came home, took a long nap, got up and put Helmsman varnish on the honey supers, six, then went up and watched some TV after a conversation with Mark and Kate. Today had one weird announcement. This statue of Marilyn Monroe in […]
Read the rest of this entry »Love Is Not Only For the Animal World
Mid-Summer Waxing Honey Flow Moon Kate’s put up ten jars of red currant jam and put together six honey supers. She’s a great ally in estate management with her skills. She keeps saying, “I’m surprised how much major surgery slows me down.” Oh? When I ate dinner at the Java yesterday, the waitress said, “That […]
Read the rest of this entry »Bee Diary: July, 2011
Mid-Summer Waxing Honey Flow Moon All three colonies now have honey supers. I put two on the parent colony for 2012 today after a full reversal of the three hive boxes. The other two colonies now have four honey supers on over two hive boxes, the management practice for them will let them die off […]
Read the rest of this entry »Still Alive.
Beltane Waxing Garlic Moon Oh, boy. I’ve not gone a day without a post in a long time. Yesterday went by so fast. Worked on Latin for a bit, but a brightening day pulled me outside. I plucked tulip detritus out of a bed where some tomato plants needed to go. These were full grown […]
Read the rest of this entry »Bee Diary: Memorial Day Weekend
Beltane Waning Last Frost Moon The bees. Today the second hive boxes went on each colony. This means that 70-80% of the frames in the bottom boxes have brood and pollen, requiring more space now for expansion of the growing number of bees. Without a second hive box the chance of swarming, increased by overcrowding, […]
Read the rest of this entry »Bee Diary: Honey Extraction
Lughnasa Waning Artemis Moon The honey extraction has begun. Kate and I assembled the extractor this morning. I am not at my best during the accomplishing of mechanical tasks and got a bit testy. Kate gave me some space; reengaged. Then I considered aligning myself with the flow of our day–instead of bucking it because […]
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