Adventures in Beekeeping

Besides packing all of our belongings and moving them into storage, I have been busy getting ready for this year's beekeeping.

We have had beehives at our farm for the past 3 years, but I have only sporadically helped with tending them. This Spring, I will take over the position of full time beekeeper. I have ordered 5 more hives and 5 colonies of bees to fill these hives.

So, I thought, since I will not be able to sew this summer, I can do some other outdoor crafts instead. I am going to paint my hives white and then get out the craft paints and do a bit of folk art painting on the hives...just to pretty them up! I am also in search of wooden finials to use as decor on the rooftops of the hives. I have ordered English Garden Hives like pictured below (not my picture). They come in unpainted wood. I love what this person did with theirs......

Beekeeping encompasses many activities....construction of the hive body and frames, feeding the bees in the spring, adding supers (boxes for honey) as needed, harvesting honey...and then bottling and selling, making beeswax candles and finally getting the beehives winterized. It does not require a lot of time, though. For the most part, the bees take care of themselves.