Bee Fashionable

Are you wearing the latest trend?

In case you didn't know, it's honey bees. And you wear them as a beard.

This fashion doesn't discriminate and both men and women can participate.

The bees certainly don't seem to notice the difference.

Here's Dad pictured with Albert, this year's winner. He's wearing 5.2 lbs of bees.

The beard wearing participants all state how important it is to have a good "bee groomer".

You need someone who is skilled at handling bees. I'm thinking a Bee Whisperer would be handy to have around for this.

The groomer applies the bees, removes any stinging bees or stingers if there are any. They shook frames of bees onto newspaper and then poured the bees onto the volunteers.

At first they'd cup their hands to hold the bees but gradually the bees would smell their queen--tied with fishing line around the neck of each volunteer. Then they'd move up to cluster around her.

This bee covered gentleman is Tibby, the runner up and people's choice award winner.

I can't believe how calm and relaxed he was wearing bees over his entire head. He had 4.4 lbs of bees on his head and shoulders and hands.


Most of the time he couldn't even see until his 'bee groomer' got out a credit card to sweep the bees off his eyes.

I love the historic buildings at Clovermead and especially the historic beekeeping equipment.

Here's a photo of a bee skep, with bees inside. I leaned in close and could see the bottoms of their honeycombs.

It's been set on the other side of a window. How clever.

Both the hive and skep are placed so that everyone can relax and get up really close without fear of the bees.

This hive sites outside a window where the public can view the bees come and go up close.

The bee gum tree is awesome.

It sits inside a small courtyard that has a screened walkway all the way around. Visitors can watch bee hives be opened and bees displayed and watch bees come and go from the hive or bee gum behind the safety of the screening.

Girls aren't to be left behind when it comes to bees.

Christie Hiemstra (she and her husband Chris own Clovermead) wore a bee beard for the first time. She was wearing 2.4 lbs of bees - pictured below.

Another beekeeper named Chris was wearing a nicely shaped beard of 1.4 lbs. of bees.

I hope to try the beard one day myself.... next year.

Dad was not to be left out of the action and he helped record the bee beard weights and informed everyone that he was a new beekeeper.

He also participated in a smoker lighting contest.

He actually got his smoker lit first but ended up in second place behind another gentleman who took longer but had a lot more smoke coming from his smoker.

(Dad and I don't really use smoke much with our bees - we don't need it. But we do light the smoker every time just in case though).

I was not to be left out of the competition and I participated in a race to hammer a hive together.

I finished first but unfortunately fell to second place when another person had their box more square than mine.

(I'll remember that for next year to include quality along with my speed).



A fun time was had by all. The bees were most cooperative, along with the weather.

It was very hot with temperatures around 30 and a humidex of around 40 degrees Celsius.

Thankfully, they had a misting system set up that you could stand under and be cooled off by. It worked just like the mist at Niagara Falls and it was very refreshing.

Other competition in the Olympics was comb crushing, a hive tool toss at balloons, a race to put on a beekeeping outfit, and bee catching.

Participants for the first round were beekeepers and then the public got to volunteer to have a try at it too.

The children kept themselves very busy with the go-carts, flying fox, sand pit, hay bales, etc.

Here's a video of the second place runner up hitting the bee fashion runway....

Robbing the Bees

It was time. Time to rob the bees of their extra honey.

An offer came to extract my honey at Clovermead on Saturday and because I don't have an extractor and they did, I couldn't say no to this great opportunity.

Dad and I headed out to the bee yard on Friday. I had just requeened Hive #1 which was under a no peeking, no disturbing law so I was in a bit of a quandary about whether it would be wise to sneak off a honey super.

I did it in stealth mode. No smoke, pop the outer cover. Peel the cloth inner covering as noiselessly as possible... yeah right!

The bees' propolis had it glued down and it cracked as I pulled it off each frame. I ended up doing the bandaid thing and taking it off with one quick swipe.

I slipped off their super and set it aside. Then I put the cloth and outer cover back on. That part done was done.

The bees still had the yellow super with frames if they felt inclined to build foundation and store nectar. If not, no worries because I'd save it for them for next year.

Under that super was another super, the pink one which is all honey, capped and very heavy. That's for them for the winter. And finally is the bigger box, the white deep which they will also fill with honey.

Hopefully the queen is in that deep laying eggs as I write this. I think of Queen Elizabeth a lot. I hope the bees have licked all the candy out of her cage so she can be free to lay.

I hope too they've accepted her as their hive mother. Time will tell. I will not snoop down that far into the hive until the week is up. Bad enough that I stole a box of honey.

Hive #2's honey super was not as heavy as Hive #1's. It's not a competition at all but I believe Hive 2 lost their queen before Hive 1 and struggled more to catch up. Isn't it funny because originally Hive 1 was behind Hive 2 in production such as comb building, nectar and pollen gathering.

They had more brood and their boxes got heavier faster. They also had a lot more activity outside on their porch than Hive 1. Yet Hive 1 seems to have surpassed Hive 2. They had much more honey capped and ready to go. They didn't do so bad after all, except for losing their queen and having to make another one. And then she died. What an experience this has been!

Almost all of the frames in Hive 2 were not ready for extraction. They had honey but the bees hadn't finished capping it yet. On some frames the honey was capped on one side but not the other.

Because all the books and training said not to extract uncapped honey, I took these frames and put them in the yellow super. Then I removed the undrawn frames from the yellow super since they didn't appear to need them. (Henry advised later that I probably could have extracted the uncapped frames because of our run of hot dry weather lately).

I hope over the next couple weeks the bees look to cap the rest of that honey.

So, I ended up with one box of 6 frames of capped honey to extract.

No complaints. This was after all the first year for these bees (starting from nucs) and we've had one of the worst summers for rain in our history.

The invite for Clovermead was made more special because it was their Harvest Day. Every Saturday in September they have multiple events going on which visitors can watch or participate in. There's candle making, honey extraction and a bee beard. This in addition to their regular features which are farm animals, hay rides, go-carts and the bee train.

They had a really nice 2 frame electric extractor. It was only about 6" wide and was square built. I'd never seen one like this before but it was NICE.

Chris Heimstra started off by trimming cappings on a couple frames and putting them in the extractor --all this in front of a bus load of people out on a day trip to Clovermead. They were lined up in rows and watching with great curiousity.

Throughout the process Chris shared info about bees and honey and fielded questions from the crowd.

Then it was my turn! He handed over the microphone and the hot knife.

There's nothing like jumping in and doing something for the first time in front of a large audience AND sharing interesting bee facts and fielding questions at the same time. I loved it!

We told the group I'd never done extracting before and I asked them to tell me what I'm doing wrong :)

After all 6 frames had run through the extractor I ended up with a small pail of honey. Sorry no photos of me in action. The paparazzi (Mom) wasn't present on this trip and Dad was too busy telling me, in front of the crowd, that I wasn't doing it right to get out the camera for some photos.

I've put the honey through the double strainer to filter out the bees' knees (and other misc bee parts and comb that were in it) and now I'll let it sit for a few days so that the bubbles will rise up and dissipate.

Meanwhile the comb cappings are sitting in another filter, slowly dripping into a container. Then that honey will be added to the main amount.

I can't wait to explore candle making as well as making lip and foot balms.

This photo at left is of Tom the turkey who danced and wagged his tail feathers to get my attention. He was certain that the whole day's event shouldn't be only about honey bees so I felt compelled to take his photo.

There was a lovely pot bellied pig too, but I was too busy feeding him bits of corn and forgot to take a photo.

My honey is very light coloured and Henry told me all their honey has comb out pretty light as well, in fact the lightest it's ever been.

I've got a big sweet high going at the moment. I've been eating spoonfuls of it all evening and eating the comb cappings too. Yum! Who needs caffeine when there's honey available!

Somehow though, honey from your very own bee yard seems to taste much sweeter than honey from anywhere else :)

Bee Beard Competition at Clovermead Apiary

The air was literally a-buzz with bees and excitement.

The day of the bee Olympics held annually at Clovermead Apiary had finally come.

(How's that for girl power? Melanie wins the bee beard competition!!!)

Originally scheduled for July, the weather was so wet with rain this year that it was rescheduled to the end of August.

Even then the forecast threatened rain but it seemed the good wishes and prayers of everyone were answered and the sun came out and stayed the whole time.

Most of my family attended along with me which was really nice. They may not share my obsession every day but they've been patient to listen to me go on and on and on about bees.

I volunteered that day answering bee related questions in the Train Station building which is where the 24 frame observation hive was housed.

Thousands of bees were on display and could be seen coming and going through large clear pvc piping at the back of the hive.

They also had a regular hive set up inside with a tube going to the outside. This hive had a plexi-glass top and cutouts on the sides with plexi-glass inserted so that observers could see what a real Langstroth hive set up looks like.

The entire room is set up with antique beekeeping equipment and posters about the life cycle of bees.

This to accommodate it's visitors and bus loads of children that come to visit the apiary during the school year.

Clovermead is set up with education in mind and also some fun things for the kids. There's a few animals in pens, chickens, turkeys, rabbits, a pig and some goats. The goats have a high walkway which they climb with enthusiasm.

The reason is because there's a little pail at the bottom on a pulley and for .25 cents, kids can get a handful of corn from a gumball machine which they can put in the pail and then send it up to the top of the bridge to the goat.

The goats are certainly not afraid of heights!

It was fun to watch. They also have tractor rides and go-carts.

The Olympics involved a Hive Tool Toss, Fastest Smoker Lighter, Quickest to put on a Bee Suit, The most Honey Hand Squeezed from Comb and finally the Best Bee Beard.

Last year, I participated in the comb squeezing and placed second. This year I opted to work around the crowd between events, letting children try on the beekeeper veil and hat.

The last competition of the day was the bee beard. The bee beard wearers and their "groomers" were enclosed inside screened in areas along with a hive of bees.

The groomers were given 20 minutes in which they shook frames of bees into newspaper which they then poured onto their waiting wearers.

The wearers had queen cages tied with fishing line hung under their chins. Her pheromones would do the job to keep the bees close to her.

The wearers would cup their arms to hold the bees in place when they were poured.

Spectators could walk safely and comfortably around all four sides of each enclosure to watch the whole process.

The competitors were weighed before the beard and again after in order to determine how many bees they were wearing.

The beards took on many shapes, some long and flat and others bumpy. One beard looked like a Pharaoh's goatee (in the shape of the queen cage hanging under the chin).

The winner was Melanie (who works for the Ontario Bee Association) and second place went to Dan, a local beekeeper.

Each competitor walked a straw bale platform to music to show off their beards to the crowd.

Melanie got the trophy and Dan got second place as the audience pick but that was mostly for the way he danced down the bale platform.

Melanie said she got a few stings and seeing their faces afterward they were none the worse for wear.

It was a fun afternoon and we made sure to finish up in the gift shop where we could buy all kinds of bee products and gifts.

Here's a link to video from the event done by a local news station: http://video.lfpress.ca/video/featured/london-and-region/5828787001/local-beekeepers-wear-beards-made-of-honey-bees/36143756001

Maybe one year I can wear the beard....

Clovermead Apiaries' Bee Beard Competition

Some events you attend alone. Others you know are going to be interesting and educational.

So when Clovermead Apiaries was having their annual Bee Beard Competition last summer (2008) I booked the family to attend.

After all, we all love honey and we came from grandparents who were involved in farming and agriculture so I knew most of us would appreciate a trip to the country.

The family had listened patiently to many of my bee facts and tidbits. They'd even read my book and given me feedback. So I felt it was their due to have a trip to Clovermead.

Henry and Anne Heimstra started Clovermead (http://www.clovermead.com) many years ago and they still enjoy active participation today. Their son Chris and his wife have taken over the daily operations.

The Heimstra's have an awesome set-up created to educate individuals, groups or bus loads of people about bees and beekeeping.

They have a few animals in pens too and some sport related interactive areas for the teenagers.

There's several heritage buildings to enjoy along a boardwalk. My favourite room was the historic beekeeping room. In that building I could look over the tools of the trade from times past and the piece de la resistance is the largest observation hive in Canada. This hive must have about 40 to 50 frames of bees.

They also have a regular size deep hive box with a plexiglass top. I took a couple photos and I think I actually got a photo of the queen although I didn't see her sitting there when I took the photo--I don't see attendant bees around her so I'm not sure if it is the queen.

Outside was a netted area with hives so you could safely walk around it on a boardwalk but also get some closeups of the bees. There's even a large hollow tree stump with a hive inside.

The kids enjoyed seeing the sheep, goats and hens and pigs. There was even a peacock. Then they discovered the hay bale climbing and paint ball and I lost track of them.

Of course, there were bee related Olympics. Various beekeepers competed in a hive tool toss and speed agility with dressing in a bee suit the fastest, lighting a smoker and collecting bees.

I got to compete too (the family failed to take photos) in the honey comb squeezing contest. The goal was to squeeze the most honey from a comb the old fashioned way.

I did resist for a bit licking all that honey off my hands. I placed second and a photo was taken by a reporter in one of the small town newspapers.

The highlight though was the bee beard competition.

The beekeeping volunteers stood inside screened areas while the bees were gently poured on them by a bee wrangler.

Unfortunately a little rain storm blew in which disrupted things temporarily and the bees weren't super happy with the weather.

There was a really good crowd out for the event and none of us left when it rained - we just went inside to wait it out.

Once covered in bees, the competitors were weighed to determine who was carrying the most bees. Paul Kelly from Guelph University placed first and Allison Skinner from the Ontario Bee Association Tech Team placed second, I can't recall the name of the gentleman who placed third, except that he was a beekeeper.

We all bought honey and honey comb in the shop and I got some candles too. I just love the smell of beeswax candles. They really add a special ambiance to any event that paraffin candles just can't compare with.

On the way home in the car I asked the teenagers what they thought of the day. Being teenagers they agreed to come, but mostly because their Mom and I were telling them they had to go.

On the drive up to Clovermead, Codie had been worrying about bees, saying he didn't like bees and he didn't want to get stung. He was pretty concerned (one of the main reasons why I wanted the whole family to have this experience).

He imagined all kinds of events involving terrible bee stings. Of course, none of his fears were realized and people found they could stand right next to the competitors covered in bees and the bees didn't care.

I asked the kids if they had been afraid of the bees that day at all. The replies were a resounding "No!" It did really help Codie to overcome his fear of bees.

I asked Codie to comment on what he thought of Clovermead and he said, "That place kicks ass!" That, coming from a teenager, is a great compliment.

Everyone wants to attend this event again in 2009. Maybe one day I'll be the one to wear the bee beard.