The Bees Came Back

 

We're keeping bees again after a long time off.  Work and life just made it too hard to keep bees for a while. Then, this spring, a swarm landed in some old equipment we had and suddenly we were beekeepers again.  The equipment was in a horrible state with wax moth, mold, and mouse damage but the bees cleaned it up. It was shocking, really. 

It was like they bought a fixer upper and really went to town, all marble countertops and prosumer appliances. I'd have never put bees on that equipment in a million years. Still, with some help, they thrived.  I've never seen such good bees.  The docile, not prone to fight, the queen lays in a really nice pattern. 

I should have paid more attention to them in the drought but they came late, being a swarm, and I had to move them to a friend's property for a bit.  Out of sight out of mind as they say. Still they soldiered on and look like one of the best colonies I've seen. 

I was lucky enough to keep bees with Ross Conrad in Vermont this summer for a day.  I learned quite a few things about mite treatment and where it's come since we stopped.  Ross was just also a fantastic bee keeper, so smooth and efficient.  Keeping with him really lit the fire again. You wouldn't think beekeeping could be like athletics or dance but it is.  When you see someone really good at anything it's just graceful. 

Anyway, these bees seem to be in great health.  I enjoy them roaring away in the evenings with that stinky sock smell that only comes from goldenrod nectar. They seem to me like one of the strongest hives in September I can recall. Maybe I'm just misty eyed about them.  

Next year we'll be a real apiary again, with a few hives at least. And these bees, yes, they really do roar at night. 

Strong Bees in July.

This is what the landing board of a strong hive looks like in July.   These bees were split in mid June by the Taranov method and are now undergoing treatment for mites.   Were using a treatment certified organic in New Zealand as there is not certification for organic aracnoides in bees anyplace else in the world but this may be our last chemical treatment of any type as we're moving to a heat based treatment. Mites die at 104 degrees and bees and larvae at 126.  Anyhow these bees look very strong, the aroma of honey is in the air.  They're flying purposefully and are docile. Their daughter colony is doing wonderfully in Florence.  It's all you could ask of a hive.  

Frame repair

Here's a great example of recycling.  The bees did a super job of rehabbing old comb.  What a difference two months makes! The work on this frame of honey represents about 300,000 miles of bee flight. 

New Hive Bodies (where the bees live) and supers (where they store honey) painted and ready for the bee yard! 

We're Back!

Northampton Honey took a little time off.  When we started the business it was because we both loved beekeeping.  Priscilla worked half time and Adam 22 hours a week. At our peak we had 30 beehives. 

As both of our jobs became more demanding and full time beekeeping just became more work. We made honey but we sort of fell out of love with the bee yard. 

Now, a shocking six years, later we're keeping bees again because we love to. Nobody follows the season like a beekeeper, except perhaps a farmer. To love bees is to love flowers and to know how much rain you've had or how many good flying days the bee have had recently. 

We now have 2 or 4 hives depending on how you look at it.  These are heavily managed hives that put the health of bees before anything. 

Now when we light a smoker and pick up a hive tool and walk to the bees it's with joy again.   The good news is the bees look better than ever.  We should have honey later this year. 

Northampton honey took a little nap and woke up happy. 

New jars celebrate rail's return to Northampton

It's been a really long time since we've posted to this blog! We're getting ready to release our 2014 summer harvest, finally. Since both Priscilla and I are so excited about the return of rail to Northampton and because I, Adam, serve on the Northampton Rail Committee  we've decided to release our harvest in jars commemorative of the return of rail service.

In years past our jars have been stenciled with either 01060 or 01062 (the zip codes of our bee yards) but this year since rail returned to Northampton December 29th we've decided to stenciled NHT--the name of our new rail stop.

It's still the same honey and it still comes from our hives situated either in downtown Northampton or near the old State Hospital.

We hope to have jars at River Valley Market around the new year.

UPDATE: Looks like we'll be bringing the honey to market over the MLK weekend...

Honey Harvest June 9 and 10!

We've had a crazy spring with warm weather starting in March and then cool rain after the warm snap.  I didn't really quite know what to make of it all but I guess the bees did. We have hives heavy with honey already and will do a small but significant harvest this coming weekend.

The honey will be somewhat unusual as normally we'd not harvest until at least July, when clover and basswood would be present and contributing factors in the honey. The honey we take in this weekend will really be spring honey with fruit tree blossom and dandelion being important nectar providers to it.

Expect honey at River Valley Market in a week or two. It'll be a special but small run of unique honey, only from an oddball year like this.