Bees survived the winter

Here's what my hive looked like yesterday, March 9th, 2013. Bees were flying all around, even out to the back of the house.  Temperatures were in the 50's. 

I will leave the black tar paper on the hive for about another month.  Today I will also take off the Christmas wreath.  It's looking somewhat out of season! :)

I spent a good part of the day yesterday working in the greenhouse, getting it reorganized and cleaned up. While I was in there, I also planted some Kale and Cilantro.

Inside, I moved the parsley and lettuce that I had growing in the basement out to the porch.  I may need to move them in periodically over the next month, but hopefully they will be fine on the porch until they, too, move into the greenhouse.  I have eaten fresh lettuce and herbs for most of the winter.

 Of course, my electric bill doubled this year because of the grow light and because of a new air exchange system I had installed in November. Between the two items, my latest bill showed usage was double over last year! I don't like that part but I did like having the fresh lettuce.

Bluebirds are here

Bluebirds on tree

 I've been watching these beautiful bluebirds come to my feeder.  They are so colorful and pretty.  When I went outside to take these photos, they naturally took off and were watching me from the tree out front.

I'm so happy to see bluebirds in the area. I know they were hard to find for quite some time.  Now I want to build a bluebird house, or a few of them, to put up around the yard because I'd like these guys to stick around!

A family of bluebirds waiting for me to go inside again before going back to my feeder.

Spring is in the air

Today is March 1st, 2013 and I just finished painting a new beehive.  It'll be my second hive that I hope to populate with bees from last year...and not need to buy any bees at all this year.

I have been told that beehives should be painted light colors and my last one was white.  But I know a beekeeper who has his painted black and he seemed to be doing very well with his bees so I decided to not paint mine white this time.  I painted it dark blue, the same color as my exterior doors to the house and shed. I like this hive because it has a gabled top cover with copper so it'll look pretty as well as be functional for the bees.  I'll let you all know how the color works out.  I bet it's ok but we'll see. So here's the hive, missing the bottom board (where bees enter and leave). I have since added that, nicely painted blue as well.

New hive for 2013

Yesterday was in the 40's so I decided to go check on the bees even though none were outside.  I guess it needs to be in the 50's before they venture out.

But I had done a foolish thing a few weeks ago when I added more fondant to the hive.  I had put the fondant onto a paper plate but turned the plate over, thinking the bees would get to it easier.  However, the fondant melted down into the hive over the frames.  I see it killed a few bees that got caught in the melting fondant.  I was very worried I had killed all the bees by this because I hadn't seen any outside since.  Or course, it's been cold so that's the real reason I hadn't seen them out.  So I looked deep into the hive and heard buzzing and saw bees down there so I have not killed them.

In another month they'll be out flying with warmer days to come.  I can't wait for spring to arrive.  I have some plans for more pathways, using up my wood chips.  And I want to finish cleaning out the area I started in the fall where eventually I want to plant a cut flower garden.  I also want to till up some ground down near the lower pond. There I will plant native plantings that the bees will love.

I am also thinking of lining that lower pond too.  But it will also need a pump to keep the water circulating. But it would be very pretty to have that pond as part of the landscape. I'll think more about this.  When it rains, that pond fills up and looks so pretty.  I would then need to bring in a lot of stone to trim around it or use all the rock walls around my property, which I'd rather leave alone.  So I'd buy stone and then use it to trim the pond.

Winter thoughts bring spring work! 

I've begun selling beeswax skep candles!  It's a fun wintertime hobby and I made enough to sell a few on Ebay. I also made come hand-dipped tapers from beeswax which I'm selling. Especially the skep candles burn for a long time and have such a nice scent.

No, the beeswax isn't all my own.  I bought some as well. But some of it came from my hive.

After the Blizzard of 2013

How beautiful it is after a storm.  We got about 18 inches of snow last night so in between shoveling, and shoveling, and shoveling, I took a few photographs as shown below. 

I also trudged over to the beehive to make sure the snow wasn't covering the entrance to the hive and it was all clear.  I will probably shovel a little to open up the area more but think that the snow will help insulate them.

Until yesterday, this table was empty. I wish I could find the yardstick but think it's about 18 inches high

Last year, I built this birdhouse and attached it to the remains of a tree. It makes a nice winter visual.

This shoveling was the first step in getting the cars mobile again

Shrub is focal point on front lawn, at least at this time of year.  It was prettier before last year's plow woman plowed right into it.  Now it's slightly lopsided.

Woodshed as see from front porch. It's since been shoveled out

Checking on bees in mid January

Yesterday, January 10th, brought warmth and sunshine so I put on my boots and walked over to the beehive to see if there was any activity.  There was.  Bees were flying about, and seemed like they were looking for food...doing what they always do.

But unfortunately, I also saw a lot of dead bees lying in the snow away from the hive...like the bees flew out but never made it back to the hive.  In doing some reading, I learned that this is normal and that if I see bees at all, that's a good thing because they are still alive in the hive.  At least some of them are.

It doesn't look like there are any surviving bees in my little nuc on the left.  I will be surprised if there are any that  make it so if not, I'll need to start another in the spring, hoping that I have enough in the big hive to start another one.  I think it's just too small and they couldn't get warm enough in this Vermont climate.  If I try another Nuc in the future, I may keep them in the greenhouse where they can be warmer.  I was told, however, that the fluctuating temperature might be too much for them. Not sure but the cold getting to them in a small hive doesn't seem to have worked.

Bees getting some fresh air in January

Happy bees venturing outside

Bee in the snow...taking a drink?

Bee looking for nectar or pollen, fruitlessly

 The next day was still warmer, for January in New England, so I went into the larger hive and added some fondant to begin feeding the bees.  I'm told that they begin to get ready for spring during January and begin eating more.  So this supply of fondant should carry them over until the next warm day when I can open the hive to check on them.

It's funny how one begins to worry about them when they've been surviving on their own for thousands of years...well, at least until man began using pesticides.

Bee hives dressed for winter in December

Today is mid-December...the 15th.  I checked on the bees yesterday, preparing to give them more fondant.  But the fondant I gave them before is not all gone yet so I think they have another few weeks before they need more.

I also took out the electric fence yesterday and put it in the basement for the winter. I sure hope there are no more bear out there foraging.  In some ways, I wish I had a fence that could stay up all year so that I didn't have to worry about it.  But so far, they are save.  I actually didn't have the battery hooked up for over a week and nothing bad happened.  I didn't dare wait much longer because I was afraid the ground would freeze and I wouldn't be able to get the posts out.

Beehives in mid-December 2012

In the beehive on the right, the bees are at the very bottom...I'm told they are clustered in a little ball.  I saw zero activity so I removed a few frames and put my ear right down into the hive to see if I could hear any activity down there.  Thankfully I did...at least in the big hive.  I'm not as sure about the small hive.  We'll see if that survives the winter.  I'm tempted to put the little one in my greenhouse for the winter where I think it would have a better chance but will see how this winter goes and learn from the experience.

Yard chores during mild December

The conditions were right yesterday, December 9th, to get outside and do work typically saved for spring cleanup. That's because in mid December, it's usually too cold for "spring cleanup".  But yesterday was a mild 50 degrees here in Southern Vermont so I took advantage of it. I began cleaning out an area of my yard that had a lot of downed branches and a few small scraggly trees that fell during excavation and storms.

Here's what the area looked like before the cleanup

Here's the area after cleanup

I burned brush for hours.  This particular area looked especially ugly because it was loaded with the brown, dry remains of ferns.  A metal rake soon had them pulled out and what a difference it made to the area.  I just cleaned out the dead wood and raked up the dead ferns.  Naturally I pulled out rogue wild raspberry or blackberry plants and there was and still is a lot of poison ivy in the area.  I pulled up a lot of it but there plenty more. That's a job I will tackle another day.

I have a lot of Japanese barberry, an invasive plant.  I pulled some of it out earlier this year and am cutting down more in this cleanup. It will be difficult to keep up with unless my neighbor also removes it from his land but I will try my best to keep it at bay on mine.

I may not get another chance this year to work in the yard like it was spring.  I really had the best time..it was so nice to just spend the day outside.

I have plans for the area I'm cleaning out.  It is at the top of my driveway and is really the first thing I see driving up.  I'd like it to be attractive.  I want to move a beehive into that area with some herbs planted around it and line the driveway with lilies or other hardy plants.

Also, there is a lot of shade between the parking area and the area where the beehive will go.  A pathway through the wooded area with shade-loving plants tucked here and there would be lovely.  I'd like to begin that project in the spring.  It would be fun to use just native plants that are sure to thrive. I can't wait for seed catalogs to arrive so I can begin growing plants for this area. Perhaps I can find other native plants from the area and transplant into this area as well. 

It's all part of the fun.