Black Wraps are Warm

It feels weird thinking that the bee season is done.  After being so incredibly busy balancing job and house (I don't think I did any housework all summer) and our growing hives now I'll have time to do something other than bees.

Well, you know me, whatever I do it'll have something to do with bees!

A few days ago I fitted the hives with entrance reducers (once the Formic Acid treatments were done).  Yesterday and today I put wraps on the hives and removed my hive top feeders.

Our temperatures are dropping at night to -2 degrees so it's certainly time to do it.

For the first time I found bees were landing on me--seeking heat.  I'd not experienced that before.  As always I warmed cold bees up with my hands until they could fly again.

One hive feeder was full of bees.  It was really late afternoon and it was cold.  I shook the bees out of the feeder and all they did was land on the porch in a stupor.  It would be dark soon and I knew they'd die.

So I took them home.  I put them in a pail with a lid.  I gave them some honey and left the pail on the kitchen counter.  It wasn't long until I could hear them moving around--the warmth of the house brought them back to life.

In the morning they were all clustered on the paper towel in the bottom of the pail.  I returned them to the yard.

[Photo - warming up some cold bees]

It was funny watching them go in their hive.  Bees came outside to see them and it was like they had a big party.  I'm sure those returned bees had a story to tell about their big adventure.

The sun came out today and it was warmer which helped as I finished wrapping.  I noticed how much heat those black plastic wraps can generate for a hive.

The plastic gets really warm and it's pleasant to touch on a cold day.  I'm sure the bees are feeling much warmer now.  Like bugs snug in a rug.

A Little Snack

A calmer moment.  Actually it was a beekeeper's day off.  I spent the day at a friend's alpaca farm in Thorndale, Ontario.

After my visit I planned to head to the bee yard.

When I went to my truck I saw that some honey bees found my sugar water jugs.  I've been using orange juice jugs lately.

My friend said a neighbour down the road has kept bees for years and years.

I noticed his bees were pretty friendly and I fed a couple with sugar water droplets.  [Photo - see the tongue at full extension while she slurps up a sugar droplet].

I enjoy these quiet moments, the beekeeper and the bee.  I hope you do too.

In the Zone

My big dream is to educate people, especially children.

So when I get any chance to talk to families about honey bees I pretty much feel like I'm in the zone.  That's when at the end of the day I may be physically tired but mentally I feel energized.

Fall of the Farm at Pioneer Village over the long weekend was just that kind of an opportunity.

Every time I see a child less afraid of bees or parents with a deeper understanding of them I feel I've done my job.

Then there's the Marketing Manager (Dad).

He had another occupation which he retired from years ago as a teacher/principal but what I've always known is that he has the heart of a salesman--and the gift of gab.  That's why he loves being in charge of our honey sales.  He can network and chat with lots of people.

So all weekend he was in his niche telling people about bees and doing the honey talk.  He proudly told people how he does the extraction and bottling of the honey.

Here he is so busy tabulating his sales that he didn't realize I'd been talking to him.  He didn't know I took this picture either.

The weather was phenomenal.  We had 3 days of 25 degree Celsius weather.  Blue cloudless skies greeted us each day.

The leaves on our trees are turning into reds, oranges and yellows and are breathtaking.  This photo is Fanshawe Lake.

As the season of beekeeping winds down I look forward to some down time.  But I know I'll miss seeing the bees so much, especially when the snow comes.

I do have a list of winter projects though.  I'll tell you about those another time.

Oh and our honey sales?  They were great.

Celebrate Fall on the Farm

The weather is much too perfect this weekend to stay indoors.

If you're in or around London, Ontario this (Canadian) Thanksgiving weekend, 8 to 10 Oct, why not come out to Pioneer Village.

They're holding a Fall on the Farm weekend with hay rides and pioneering demonstrations such as weaving, ploughing and of course Beekeeping!

The Marketing Manager (Dad) was at full throttle today with 'his' display of honey.

He did let me have a couple tables for showing off bee equipment.

Of course I love talking to people about bees and answering questions.  We even brought bee gear for the kids to dress up in.

I don't have an observation hive this time out but I did photograph my bees, print it in colour and taped it into a super frame.

When held up for photographs it looks like a frame of real bees.  This is popular with moms and dads who usually have a camera with them.

And of course we're selling our honey.

What is that Smell???

I am guilty of wearing my footwear without socks.  It makes my shoes and my feet smell.  I'm also guilty of grabbing the first pair of socks I can find and often they're on the floor--yesterday's socks.

So wearing the same socks on day two I guess you can imagine how embarrassed I was when I went to a meeting at a friend's house where we were expected to remove our shoes.  Yikes!  I do have painful feet and don't go without footwear so I convinced her to let me keep them on.  It wouldn't be good to have people passing out all over the place.

By now you're wondering what my stinky feet have to do with bees.  Well, a lot actually.  Let me explain.

This summer was quite hot with many very humid days (London, Ontario is in the Great Lakes area which bring moist air).  Many days were 40 degrees Celcius and our city even set up cooling shelters for citizens.

The bees of course were busy ventilating and keeping cool.  As mid August came I noticed a smell in the bee yard.  As the month progressed and the warm weather continued the smell grew stronger and stronger.

And it smelled just like my feet after wearing socks for two days.

I was removing honey supers and I remember thinking, these hives need to have their lids removed to air them out, just like my feet.

Yes I did wonder what the smell was.  I knew it was a bacteria smell.  Was it because the hives needed airing?  My hives have keyhole entrances at the top and the bottom entrances were fully open.  Was it something really bad like a disease?  Was this AFB (American Foulbrood)?  I had read that it had a bad smell too.

I realized I needed to ask an experienced beekeeper what AFB smelled like.

Recently while meeting with some fellow beekeepers I was busy talking but two words got my attention and my ears perked right up:  Stinky Socks.

Uh oh.  Could he smell my feet?  I asked him to repeat what he'd said.  "The bee yard smells like stinky socks this time of year," he said.  "It's the Goldenrod."

I had the AHA moment then and my mind flashed back to the Introductory Beekeepers' Course.  I had heard this before but had forgotten.  The instructors mentioned how the fall goldenrod honey tasted fabulous but you had to suffer the smell of it.

I was relieved.  I don't know what made me more happy, knowing they weren't commenting on my feet or that my yard didn't have AFB.

Carlo the Beekeeper

I met Carlo De Marco two years ago when he began attending our local bee club meetings. He had an uncle in Italy that was a beekeeper. He was feeling a strong pull that many do when they reach their middle age--an urge to connect with their roots and their heritage.

My beekeeper friend Janice and I did a road trip With Carlo earlier this summer to our favourite beekeeping supply store. We helped him load up with all the first time beekeeping equipment. Hive parts, bottom boards, veils, helmets, etc. He bought one hive to start and planned to put it on his property.

John, the owner at Oxford Honey & Supply was there to answer a gazillion questions (he does it so patiently). Then we were invited to go outside and watch while he worked on checking his nuc boxes. There were about 30 small boxes lined up outside. John pulled frames and we observed queens and looked over brood.

The next thing I new I got stung right on my upper arm. I complained about how I got stung when all I did was stand there innocently. Then Carlo commented that he'd been stung too, right between the eyes.

I was shocked. I asked him if he was okay and he said he was. He sure looked fine - no swelling and no redness at all. Now if there's any sign that you're suited to being a beekeeper I'd say that was it. Even later when I talked to him he said he never got swelling at all.  Janice and I were jealous. We'd been getting stung and swelling up with itchy red patches.

On the drive home we talked about bees. We also chatted about our interest in the skills and trades of bygone days such as cheese making, sausage making, etc. Carlo told us about his family and relatives in Italy and the uncle that kept bees.

It was his uncle's influence that had captured Carlo's imagination and put him on the path to becoming a beekeeper.

And now sadly I must report that on 21 August 2011, Carlo, at age 51, died suddenly from a heart attack. I send my dearest condolences to his family. He will be greatly missed.  Carlo was close with his family and spoke of them with love and admiration.

I am glad I had an opportunity to meet him. There are few people willing to talk about bees for hours but Carlo well understood how beekeepers become obsessed about bees.

Carlo's back yard will hear the buzz of bees. His oldest son has decided to follow in his father's footsteps and become a beekeeper. It would appear the apple does not fall too far from the tree. And we all know who pollinates those blossoms.

Carlo would like that.

The Marketing Monster is at it Again

On Thanksgiving weekend, I booked myself to attend our local Pioneer Village's "Fall on the Farm" event.

The focus is on historic agriculture and of course bees are a perfect fit.  This year I don't have an observation hive but next year I will probably take a frame or two of bees to show the public.

The organizer has told me I'll have a table at the general store and if it rains I can go inside.

Then she said we could sell our honey and gave me the contact person to discuss the details.

So, I gave the info to the Marketing Manager, Dad, since that's his area. [Photo of Dad lifting a 75 lb pail of honey, but I did help].

[See the jars on the counter?  We're saving all our jars.  We put the honey for our use in them].

A few days later Dad called me.  Yes we could sell our honey and he'd have to be there very early in the morning, not mid morning like I had arranged.

I said he didn't have to go.  I could sell the honey.  Not so, he said, because he's the Marketing Manager and it's his job.

I said I'd be taking beekeeping equipment to put on the table.  Oh no, I can't do that.  He needs the table for the honey.  I said we're to share the table.  He said he'd bring his own table and if it rained he could go inside the general store.

I think that means I get to stay outside and get wet.