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| 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.
