Buzzing Into Sping

One of our bees with her pouches full of pollen

We are starting our second season with the bees. We have two hives we bought last year. Hive #1 is in great shape. It was a new hive that was started from a package of bees by a gentleman in Missouri. It has a nice queen and is packed full of bees this spring. They are really nice to work with, as far as temperament goes. Hive #2 is a different story. It is a weaker hive with an older queen. It would be considered a "hot" hive, with bees that sting you for the fun of it. I might be exaggerating a little, but my husband can testify to the difficulty of working with this set of bees. Temperament comes from the queen, so I am hoping to re-queen that hive in May.

Hive #1 is doing so well that we are splitting it. We are expecting our a new queen any day. We have set up a third hive and will take our new queen and transfer two frames of baby bees from hive #1. In a few days she will start laying and establish a new colony of bees. This is our first time to try this but I am hoping that everything goes smoothly.

Other spring happenings:  The garden has been planted. We doubled our space from last year and I am really happy with the layout. I hope we have lots of extra produce to can and eat next winter. As many green beans as our family eats, I think we could save a ton of money. We are also getting some fruit trees this spring. I would like an apple tree and a plum tree (or two). I think that would be a great start for an orchard. We can always add trees down the road if we would like more variety (like peach, cherry, apricot...I am getting hungry just thinking about it!). I would love to add a raised bed and start some asparagus. We will have to see but I am afraid it might have to wait until next year.