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| Check out that pollen...December 25, 2015! Temps in the 70's. |
Sunday, December 27, 2015
Merry Warm Christmas and Happy New Year!
Unseasonably warm weather this month and over the holidays has sent the bees from the hive. They are out and about and returning to the hive with the bees knees loaded with pollen. Hope this is a good sign and the weather doesn't turn too cold too quickly.
Wednesday, November 11, 2015
November 11, 2015
It's warm and sunny outside...bees are busy! Still picking sweet one hundreds and a green pepper every now and then. Lettuce looks good. Turkey day is right around the corner
Sunday, October 11, 2015
Growing A Greener World...How I Stumbled on this Unbelievable Garden and the Gardener
- Sunday, October 4, 2014
- Rainy and Windy
- Fuquay Varina, NC
- Garden Conservency Open Days Event
Lucky me, I got to meet Brie Arthur, a Foodscaping and Landscape Design Corespondent for the PBS series, Growing A Greener World where some of the episodes are filmed on her property. Check out the link and see the pictures below. What a wonderful find and she even has a hubby who blows glass as a hobby on their property...it's everywhere!
Moving Day!
With sunny skies and warm temps we moved one of two hives to a new home away from the potential rainy waters that sometimes stand still on the lower part of the yard. We realized two Thursdays ago that one of our hives was empty...don't know where this family went but they are gone without so much as a "See ya later!" Grrrrr, we hate when this happens and we don't know why.
Enough said...two hives strong today and both look good in terms of honey stores and lack of hive beetles. As usual, our fingers remained crossed that we will usher in spring of 2016 with the same two hives healthy and ready to fill their hives with honey.
A finished baby quilt for a set of twins...trying to get better at this "quilting thing!" 
Enough said...two hives strong today and both look good in terms of honey stores and lack of hive beetles. As usual, our fingers remained crossed that we will usher in spring of 2016 with the same two hives healthy and ready to fill their hives with honey.
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| More brood than I expected to see in October but I won't complain. More bees means they will need plenty of honey and pollen to feed their young. |
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| Always faithful and helpful...my beeyard side kick! He's smokin hot! |
A finished baby quilt for a set of twins...trying to get better at this "quilting thing!" 
Sunday, August 16, 2015
Yellow Jackets make me say things like @#&!
Yellow Jackets...underground. Upset a nest by mistake and run...What can I say? That hurt!
Can Yellow Jackets Sting?
Yellow jackets have a stinger at the end of their abdomen. Unlike honey bees, a yellow jacket's stinger doesn't usually come out when stinging, allowing it to sting several times. As a result, disturbing a yellow jacket nest can be very dangerous! Some people are allergic to the venom in a yellow jacket sting and should seek medical help immediately.
Where do Yellow Jackets live?
Different species of yellow jackets are found throughout the world. In North America the European Yellow Jacket (German Wasp), the Eastern Yellow Jacket, and the Southern Yellow Jacket are very common. Yellow jackets live in hives or nests of large colonies. Depending on the species, nests will either be underground or in somewhat protected areas like a hollowed out tree or an attic in a building. They build their nests in layers of six-sided cells out of wood they have chewed up into a pulp. When dry, this pulp becomes a paper-like substance.
A colony of yellow jackets is made up of workers and the queen. The queen stays in the nest and lays eggs. The worker's job is to protect the queen, build the nest, and retrieve food for the queen and larvae. Nests grow over time to around the size of a soccer ball and can house 4,000 to 5,000 yellow jackets. Nests are usually lived in for one season as the colony dies off in the winter.
Can Yellow Jackets Sting?
Yellow jackets have a stinger at the end of their abdomen. Unlike honey bees, a yellow jacket's stinger doesn't usually come out when stinging, allowing it to sting several times. As a result, disturbing a yellow jacket nest can be very dangerous! Some people are allergic to the venom in a yellow jacket sting and should seek medical help immediately.
Where do Yellow Jackets live?
Different species of yellow jackets are found throughout the world. In North America the European Yellow Jacket (German Wasp), the Eastern Yellow Jacket, and the Southern Yellow Jacket are very common. Yellow jackets live in hives or nests of large colonies. Depending on the species, nests will either be underground or in somewhat protected areas like a hollowed out tree or an attic in a building. They build their nests in layers of six-sided cells out of wood they have chewed up into a pulp. When dry, this pulp becomes a paper-like substance.
A colony of yellow jackets is made up of workers and the queen. The queen stays in the nest and lays eggs. The worker's job is to protect the queen, build the nest, and retrieve food for the queen and larvae. Nests grow over time to around the size of a soccer ball and can house 4,000 to 5,000 yellow jackets. Nests are usually lived in for one season as the colony dies off in the winter.
Hive You Bee Doing!
In and out of all three hives this afternoon. We've been feeding on and off for the last three weeks when we realized the hot hot weather left the bees thirsty and their honey stores depleated. All three hives look good. We saw two of three queens and a good amount of brood in each box. So far so good! As we getter closer to the fall, we will check and make sure the bees stay strong to make it through the winter. Fingers always crossed!
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| Can you spot the queen? She's not marked! |
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| Sometimes you just have to "lean out" and eat a donut. So good! |
Tuesday, July 7, 2015
Add another box and grow the hive...or so we hope!
Added a second hive body to our third hive this afternoon. The bees look healthy...no signs of any pests in or around the hive. Fingers remained crossed!  |
| Grapes on the way...looks like we will have a good crop. |
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| A quick trip to the farm on July 4 to pick blueberries...all is well! |
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| Miss Sassy... |
Sunday, June 14, 2015
Honey, Brood, a Queen & Mr. Zach the Birthday King!
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| Honey! |
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| Notice the tiny white eggs in the bottom of the comb...the QUEEN just laid these...time for the nurse bees to add the royal jelly. |
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| Long Live the QUEEN! |
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| Happy Birthday Big Guy! |
Hot Stuff! June 14, 2015
Another hot and sultry day in the apiary but the bees are able to keep their hives at a constant temperature year round. That's pretty amazing, right? Wish Mr. Dave "BUZZ-BEE" would do the same in our humble abode! Ha!
All three hives are looking good. We added a honey super to the strongest last week and a second brood box to hive number two. We saw the Queen had moved up and looked to be doing some work so that's great. Box number three is still only one box strong but the bees seems to be taking to their majesty just fine at the start of week three of her reign. Our goal is to have three strong hives going into the fall/winter so we don't plan on taking any honey this year.
All three hives are looking good. We added a honey super to the strongest last week and a second brood box to hive number two. We saw the Queen had moved up and looked to be doing some work so that's great. Box number three is still only one box strong but the bees seems to be taking to their majesty just fine at the start of week three of her reign. Our goal is to have three strong hives going into the fall/winter so we don't plan on taking any honey this year.
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| Lots of beautiful brood. Baby bees here we come! |
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| Building out the comb. Notice how bright and light it looks. |
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Not sure about this fellow, but thought he was interesting. Have never seen a bug like this before in the garden.
Dragon Flies...male and female
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Wednesday, May 13, 2015
It's a Jungle Out There! May 13, 2015 In the Garden
Spring has sprung and our turtle is back! All is good!
In the apiary we created a nuc from the healthy hive last Saturday and hope to check in and see what the bees have been busy doing later next week. In the meantime, we'll keep an eye on hives two and three and keep our fingers crossed that they will continue to multiply.
In the apiary we created a nuc from the healthy hive last Saturday and hope to check in and see what the bees have been busy doing later next week. In the meantime, we'll keep an eye on hives two and three and keep our fingers crossed that they will continue to multiply.
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