Sept. 16 - Checking the hive

I was pleased yesterday when I went into my hive.  It looks like I will have some honey after all.  One of the supers has several frames of honey so I moved that one to the top and the fairly empty super under it so they can begin to work on that one.  I doubt they'll have time to do much with the lower super given it's mid-September, but maybe they will if we have a warm autumn.

Meanwhile I decided to feed them again because I want them to have enough honey and food to last the winter.  Later on in the year, I'll swap out the syrup with fondant, like I did last year.  That seemed to help winter them over...at least that's my hope.

First ever peach crop(s)

In Maine I planted a peach tree several years ago.  When the house was rented, the tenants hoped for a peach crop a few years ago but the tiny peaches that were there when they began their tenancy disappeared within a few weeks and they got nothing.  The following year, there were no peaches at all.

Sometime within those two years, I did some pruning on that tree.  This year, when the tenants left, I saw that the tree was loaded with peaches and fully expected them to disappear from one weekend to the next when I went there.  I would check them each week.  Each week they got bigger and the trees branches weighted to the point I thought they'd break.  In fact, I propped some up because they definitely were going to break if I didn't.

In the end, I harvested a box of peaches...hundreds.  My neighbors also came and took what they wanted.  An unbelievable peach year!

And in Vermont, I planted a tree two years ago and got about 20 peaches from that tree this year. 

What was best about these peaches other than the quantity is that no pesticides were used on any of them.  I didn't find any insects on the peaches.  On the outside of a few of them was some black spots that looked like mildew or something like that but they get peeled off during preparation so that was no problem at all.  I'd rather that than pesticides.

Peach tree in July...wish I'd have taken a shot at the end of August to see how it weighted down with peaches.  Here I was really focusing on those beautiful orange flowers!

Preparing for fall - It's not all about me and my honey

I have to remember that the bees serve a much bigger purpose than supplying me with honey! With their help, we have better crops.  Without the pollinators like honey bees, we'd have no crops at all.  Just think about our food source or lack of food without the bees.

So when I start to be sad that I will probably not have honey this year, or so little, it's not worth mentioning, I just need to keep telling myself that if I can keep them alive all winter and keep the hives producing bees, I am still doing good.

Actually, I'm enabling them to do some good or perhaps they are enabling me to feel useful!

I have located some free bales of hay that will be used, like last year, to surround the hives for the winter.  I used them, if you have been reading that long, on three sides of the hive and a piece of plywood on the top.  I also wrapped the entire hive, except for the entrance, with roofing paper.

 In this image  above, I had started a small hive (nuc) that you see on the left in the fall.  That didn't work out.  It was too small to winter over...just not enough space and brood for them to keep warm, I think.  So I won't do that again and will wait until the end of May to start a nuc next year.  I can't wait to have two hives.  As you know, patience isn't be strong suit!  But I learned my lesson this past spring when I started a nuc too early.  Next year, I intend to do it right!

Today I will go into the hive and see how things are going.  It's also time to put on the mouse guard because the mice will be looking for a warm place and I sure don't want it to be in the hive.  Just add this to the entrance of the hive to keep out mice but allow the bees to come and go as they please.

Bees and bear - a near miss I think

Today I traveled 140 miles each way to pick peaches off my tree in another state.  She's crazy, you might say.  But in my defense, I planted that tree about 7 years ago.  This is the first year I've had this kind of crop.  In fact, it could be argued that this was my first crop.  And what a crop it was.  The branches of the tree aren't that big yet so thankfully they were flexible.  Because they were bent to the ground, laden with fruit.  I was so afraid that the chipmunks, birds and other wild beasts would get the peaches before I could get back there and afraid they'd get overly ripe too.  Anyway I came home with a large box of peaches that I now need to prepare.  I also left some for my neighbor up there as well as my ex tenants.

I will freeze them because I have a large freezer and it's easy to do.  Then, over the winter, I can make crisps, pie, cobbler and whatever recipes I can find that could use their wonderful flavor.  My daughter wants to add them to her smoothies too and that will be delicious.  What fun it is in the fall, getting the harvest in and "putting it up".

But I digress from the subject of this post.

My office is on the second story of my house with a bathroom off that. The bathroom has a nice sized window looking out at the back yard.  I happened to be looking out the window just after returning home with my peaches and saw a black bear at the edge of my lawn!

I still hadn't unpacked the car where my camera was so I just stepped out on the porch corner to see where it was.  It was to the side of my shed...to the right...between that and the fence around the beehives.  He stopped  and was looking around and then spotted me.  I asked him what his plans were and he turned and ran up the hill behind the house.  I am sure that if I hadn't gone out, he would have gone toward that fence.  I sort of wish I had watched it all play out but I was too afraid of losing my bees!

Now is the time, I think, when the bears are out trying to find as much food as possible to fatten up for the winter.  I was very glad that I had changed the batteries on my electric fence so that if our bear friend did touch it, he or she would be happy to find food elsewhere.  At least that's my hope!
 
I sure am glad I didn't try to have hives without that fence or I'd have been doomed...no doubt about it in my mind.