here's what's buzzing

Since my bees arrived and I hived them, time has flown by.  I meant to post sooner - but it just didn't happen.  They were supposed to come the third week of March - but were delayed.  The good thing is, the hives were all ready for them - and I didn't have to rush to set them up.  My husband helped me get the bee yard ready.  We created a weed free level base with just a touch of tilt forward to keep any water from flooding the bees.  I still plan on adding wood chips or crushed stone on the ground around the hives and (in my ideal plan) a cute little fence around the perimeter. 

My two hives: The Birds and The Bees.

On March 29th the arrived - and I drove up to my supplier's farm and picked them up.  I purchased two 3 pound packages of Italian honeybees with queens.  I know that many people prefer nucs - and I tried one in the past - from the New England area.  They were supposed to have been over-wintered - making them more hardy for my location of south eastern Pennsylvania.  Unfortunately, not only did they cost a good bit more than the southern packages, but they also came much later in the season.  For me, that was, what I believe to be their downfall - as they missed the majority of the pollen and nectar flow.  Despite feeding them, they never really built up enough supplies of honey to make it through their first winter here.  Bummer.

 After hiving the queens and the majority of the bees, I left the packages with the stragglers in front of each hive.

They find their way into their new homes via pheromones.  Amazing stuff.

Well, back to my two new packages.  Because the weather was cooperating with me (at least on that day), I was able to hive them the same day.  However, the temperatures dropped for about a week or so after this and I began to see lots and lots of dead bees all around the hives on the ground.  I became really worried that within only a few days, that I had lost both colonies.  The temperatures were so cool that I really didn't want to risk doing an inspection  - so all I could do was peek in the top cover when replenishing their sugar water.  I saw bees in both hives - but not many.

All I could do for the next few weeks was to keep feeding and hope for the best.  When the weather warmed up enough for a proper inspection, I was relieved to see the workers in both hives drawing comb and both queens laying eggs.  Hurrah!  After all the cold temperatures finally seemed to pass, the rains came.  The rain was my next road block.  It rained and rained and then rained some more.  It wasn't until Mother's Day, that I could get back into the hives to do another inspection.  All that rain wasn't helping the bees get out to forage either.  So, despite mother nature's challenges, I am happy to report that things are looking good... now just keeping my thoughts positive that it stays that way!

Unfortunately, I haven't figured out a way to take better close up pictures when inspecting my hives.  I need another set of hands!  Maybe in a few years this guy can do it!

My beekeeping apprentice.  Love him!

The Birds for the Bees

I finally built, painted and set up my new beehive.  Now all I need is bees.  They are due to arrive later this week - so I'm all set - and feeling hopeful and optimistic that this will be a GREAT year.

This is the beginning of my third year of beekeeping.  In my case, I'm not really sure I should say bee"keeping" - as I have yet to make it through a northeastern winter with the same colony.  Perhaps a better description of my bee yard is a bee hostel.  I give them a home and food (as needed) and, ideally, they share their honey with me. 

Because, in the past, I have only had used equipment - I felt the need to start fresh this year.  Perhaps it will bring me success.  Thankfully, I had some honey to sell to friends - so I was able to invest in some new hive boxes and frames.  I will be starting with two colonies this year - one in the newer of my two used hives and the other in my brand spanking new hive.  Both hives will have all new frames.

I am rather handy - but by no any means a woodworker - so I purchased my hives unassembled from Forest Hill Woodworking in Paradise, PA.  Not only was it a beautiful drive, but I must also say, Forest Hill Woodworking was a pleasure to deal with!   http://foresthillbeesupply.com/ 

Here is a little show and tell of my building and painting process.  I love creating things with my hands (even though I had lots of help with this one).  The process only made me more excited and determined to be successful with my new Italian honeybees.  I like to add a little something to each hive to make it special for me - and I'm pretty happy with my finished product.  I hope the bees like it as much as I do!

The hive kit I purchased included a hive stand, bottom board, entrance reducer, 2 deep boxes, 2 medium supers, an inner cover, and an outer cover - plus frames for each box.

The kit even included the nails.

The "puzzle" pieces waiting to be assembled.

Each corner was glued and nailed together.

1 down, 3 to go!

Assembled and ready to paint!

Painted with Glidden's Forsythia Bloom exterior paint.

Finished off with a beautiful blue bird stencil... hence the birds for the bees!

The Bees Knees

I believe that I mentioned in a past post that I am a beekeeper.  I still consider myself a novice despite the fact that 2016 is the beginning of my third year. I must admit that I am only now beginning to feel a little bit confident in my knowledge and skills.

I began with used equipment, a bunch of books, one beekeeping course, and dreams of all the honey I would harvest from my little army of bees (that would also work wonders in my garden).  I freely admit to being afraid of being stung; which, of course I have been.  It's really not that bad at all - nothing compared to a wasp. That is for certain!  In all honesty, the times I have been stung have been my own fault - by not being fully suited thinking I would be fine just taking a quick peek.  They showed me!

Beekeeping today is not for quitters.  With all the talk of colony collapse disorder, I am fairly certain that most people are aware of how difficult it is to get a colony of bees through the winter in the northern US - and truly, all over the world.  Sadly, I lost both of my colonies this winter.  I actually felt somewhat confident in the fall and early winter that at least one of my two hives would make it - especially in December when I saw them taking cleansing flights on unseasonably mild days.  I had left them plenty of honey and they appeared to be pest free.  Sadly I was wrong.  Two weeks ago, I opened both hives and found a bee ghost town.  There were virtually no signs of the tens of thousands of healthy bees that were there just a few short months ago.

Unfortunately, I am not the only one.  In fact, all of the other local beekeepers I have spoken to (many of whom have been keeping bees for decades) have also had huge losses.  It is becoming a regular process to start fresh every spring.

Despite the heartache of losing my bees, I am not ready to give up beekeeping.  On the contrary, it makes me more determined to succeed.  I truly think beekeeping is THE BEES KNEES.  Just about everything about beekeeping is magical to me.

Thankfully, I was left with close to 50 pounds of glorious honey that will enable me to start over.  I am investing in some brand new equipment and two new packages of bees.  If I didn't have this honey, I'd probably be done - as my husband isn't thrilled with spending a few hundred dollars every year to start over!

Here are some photos of my harvesting and bottling process.  I plan to share assembling, painting, and setting up my new hives in future posts, so keep watching!

Super frame filled with capped honey.

removing the wax capping

uncapped frames in the honey extractor

honey being spun out of the frames in my manual extractor

honey collecting in the bottom of the extractor

flowing from the extractor into the bucket with strainer to remove large pieces of wax

bottling into hive shaped jars

filling muth jars

The finished product: yummy raw and unfiltered honey!

Random Thoughts

I actually made time to sit down and write a blog post and guess what?  I am drawing a blank as to what to write about.  Is my mind full of its typical typhoon of thoughts and chores that I need to do?  Yes.  But for some reason none of the things in there seem to be interesting enough for me to share.  My head is in a February Funk: cold, gray, and muddy.

I have a pile of furniture waiting to be rejuvenated.  I have a garden that needs to be planned.  I have a half a dozen too many roosters that I need to re-home.  I have rooms that need to be repainted.  I have a kitchen remodel that needs to be designed.  I could go on and on, but frankly, it's overwhelming.

So, instead I will write about my random thoughts.  I've been very introspective lately.  Perhaps it's because I've spent my February doing a lot of reading - something I love - but haven't had much time for since becoming a mother.  One post on my son's school's family Facebook group changed that.  A brilliant mom suggested starting a book club and poof! I bought and devoured an excellent book.  It felt indulgent to treat myself to a big fat book when I could should have been doing a thousand other things.

The book was, All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr.  It was delicious.  It reinforced my belief that all of us humans have struggles to bear.  We all have hardships.  Some are much, much worse than others.  Some are obvious and some are invisible.  Some are our own fault and some are completely out of our control.  And despite all of the suffering and pain that life may hand us, there is ALWAYS something beautiful and joyful - be it small and simple or grand.  We just have to look for it.  We humans are incredibly resilient.  Many people go to hell and back - and live life to its fullest despite horrific experiences.

This isn't a book review.  I haven't even mentioned the topic or setting of this book, and I am not going to.  All I will say is that it made me appreciate all the things I have to be thankful for and not take for granted in my little life.  It made me hold my child a little closer, not be so harsh with others when they upset me, be more patient of the person ahead of me in the check out line, and makes me smile at strangers.

We all choose every single day with our thoughts and actions what kind of world we are creating for ourselves (and others around us) to live in.  I am choosing a kinder, gentler, peaceful and loving world.  I will strive to remember and practice this.

Snow Days

Growing up, snow days used to be the BEST.  Then adulthood came along with a job in a hospital and a 30 mile commute... and snow days? Not so fun anymore.  Next, came parenthood - and luckily for me no more job away from home that requires me to get there no matter the weather.  Therefore, snow days are fun again. Right? Ummmmm.... I though so, until this particular storm blizzard.

My job now is taking care of a family made up of 3 humans, a canine, a feline, 25 chickens and a few hives of honeybees.  This work doesn't give me a paycheck and, truth be told, very few "thank yous." Despite this, I am so very thankful to have such a big "family" to love and care for.  A little snow shouldn't be an issue.

The snow is beautiful here.  Looking out any window of my home I see a winter wonderland. Except for yesterday.  Yesterday all I could see was WHITE.  It snowed and snowed and snowed some more.  To top it off, the wind was brutal and created shoulder height snow drifts.  The highest drifts strategically located at all entry/exit ways to our home, including the chicken coop doors!

The view from the front of my house yesterday afternoon.

A drop of advice for anyone building a chicken coop in their yard: keep it closer to the house than you think you should - especially if you live in a cold, snowy region.

The path I shoveled to the chicken coop this morning.

Cheers to 2016

So, this new years eve was very low key for us.  We went out for a nice dinner at a local brew pub and headed home with our darling 5 year old son for a quiet night watching a movie.  I'm a little embarrassed to say that all 3 of us were sound asleep well before midnight. 

Is it sad that this is how we rang in 2016? I don't know.  I was with the ones I love in a safe, warm environment with a full tummy.  That is something I personally am thankful for.  The older I get, the more appreciative I am of the little things in life.  After all, it's all the little things put together that make up our journey here on Earth.

Speaking of little things, I have been home brewing kombucha for close to a year now - and really feel that I've gotten good at it. (Shout out to my friend Erica who gave me my first SCOBY to get started!)  I only brew about a gallon at a time - just for my own consumption; although, I have gotten my husband into drinking it a little bit when I remind him how good it is for him.  I have not really attempted to get my little one drinking it - maybe because I don't think he'll like it - OR - maybe because I don't want to share it just yet! ;)

toasting the new year with homemade pear & cranberry spiced kombucha

Many people are familiar with kombucha, but for those of you who aren't - here is one (of many) views.  I personally enjoy the process of making and flavoring this slightly effervescent drink and feel that is it doing good things for my health and well-being.  I know that there are differences of opinion about this beverage - so I make no claims of what it will do for you.  Interested?  Do your own research.  If you like what you learn, try some bottled from your local health food store or restaurant.  There are several commercial brands - with lots of different flavors.  In the greater Philadelphia area, there is even a local brand on tap in many trendy eateries.  If you try one flavor or brand and it doesn't do it for you, don't give up on it all together - the flavor possibilities are endless!

freshly bottled in the second fermentation to add fantastic flavors

 Much of the fun to me is trying new flavor combinations and the creating occasional goofy names.

 
Truth be told, I was a little nervous the first time I tried making home brewed kombucha.  I even had a small bottle explode in my kitchen! But now that I've gotten the hang of it, I enjoy the process almost as much as I enjoy drinking it.  Admittedly, I find myself craving a glass of it daily.  It's almost as fun as having a glass of champagne. Almost.

Have you tried kombucha?  What do you think of it?  Interested in making your own?  There is a TON of information online.  Have fun exploring!

Plate Rack Makeover

So I bought this large plate rack from another antique dealer back in August.  Since then, it has sat in my sun room in front of the French doors that we rarely use.  It sat acquiring piles of stuff for both my booth and for myself.  I planned on painting it and hanging it over a large buffet that is also patiently waiting for me to makeover... What was the delay?  Well, deciding what color to go for and, simply put, life.

Here are some before pictures: 

It was actually already painted quite nicely with tromp-l'oeil to make it appear to have raised panels.  It just wasn't right for my space. It would have blended in too much with our freshly painted walls in Sherwin William's Windfresh White.

During:

Being the fan of milk paint that I am, and a lover of most everything blue and white (hence my blue willow collection), I chose Miss Mustard Seed's Milk Paint in Artissimo and finished it with Hemp Oil to give it a subtle sheen finish over the distressing I did by hand to show some of the former colors.  Milk paint often looks quite flat and unappealing after application.  The magic happens after it drys, is distressed to your liking, and then sealed.  Sometimes it even crackles and chips on it's own.  In my case, it didn't - so I lightly sanded the areas I wanted to look old and worn.  I then finished with hemp oil to seal it.  As you can see, I had a little help!  I applied the oil with a brush, let it soak in, and then rubbed off the excess with old socks on both of my hands (and my little helper's hands too!)  I buffed to a subtle sheen with those old socks too!  The nice part of these products, is that they are totally natural and safe to use indoors - as there are no fumes.

The piles of stuff in my dining room have been put away! 

Here is the hanging process with my husband.  We used 2 L shaped brackets at each level into the studs.  Because it is going to be holding a fair amount of weight with dishes and other glass/pottery items, this was absolutely necessary. I first made a template of the rack.  As you can see, I ran out of white paper and had to resort to newspaper.  (Which I don't recommend as it made my hands black with ink and put spots on the the wall, that I had to wash off with soap and water on a soft sponge).

Please excuse the huge amount of clutter on top of the buffet.  This is stuff for my booth and future creations!

My personal stud finding the studs. ;)

We got to this point just in time for Thanksgiving!

And here is the finished project with my Italian terracotta rooster plates and lots of little Christmas decorations.  I still need to paint over the L brackets to match the wall and shelf - but I was just too excited to get it filled with some of my favorite things - that I couldn't wait!

Ready for Christmas.  Cheers!

I'm still waiting for the depression era buffet to tell me what she wants for her makeover.  She has gorgeous lines and great legs - but has a fair amount of damage to the veneer and finish.  I am 99% sure that I will keep at least her top in the original wood finish - but haven't decided on whether or not to paint the body or just refinish with a dark stain.  I would never destroy a valuable antique by changing it's finish - but this piece is not one.

I still have to get the little black shelf up that I showed you in my last post here.  I have a spot for it, but it's waiting patiently for me to hang.  Hold on, honey, I'm getting to you!