Me Bees in the Garden

Charles Phillips, a retired Extension Agent, delivered 2 "nucs" of bees to my house. It was my job to transfer the bees to one of my boxes and return Charles' empty boxes to him. I asked beekeeper Deborah Sasser of Sasserfrass Hill Bee Farm to assist me tonight as I've never made this switch before.

We began without smoking the bees which calms them, but after 4 stings, we decided to crank up the smoker! Deborah and I were able to complete the transfer of home bees to their new box, and I was given a list of items to prepare for honey production. 

They got me!

An exciting evening for me as I learn about these funny little insects who stung the hell out of my inner thighs...I'll be making a trip to Aiken, SC for the whole "bee-get-up"...soon!
See you.
ML

Bees Part 2

Long live the QUEEN!

The story continues as we have completed hive

installation in both gardens...home and farm.

It is an interesting story, but here is the short version.

Catch me with a glass of wine and I'll lay out the

whole adventure.

We accidentally smashed the "cage" holding one of the

queens, thought we were sunk. Dr. Middlebrooks

(bee mentor) shows up to "hive the bees" and who is

hanging on to the outside of the bee package? Yep,

MIA QUEEN!

Great time learning about the bees. Read all you want, but

there is nothing like doing it yourself!

Here was our fun evening with Mentor Middlebrooks!

Dr.M is holding the "package" of 10K bees...

so calm! They were place into their new English

Garden Hive.

This is the Queen who never left!

The bees were thirsty and took sips

of our sweat...

Blessings from the Garden.

ML

BEES!

BEES

We've been experimenting with honeybees at the

farm for about 2 years. The goal was to enhance

pollination of the pumpkins with the added perk

of local honey.

For some reason, our bees abandoned us last summer

and so it's rinse, lather and REPEAT until you get it right!

Gizmo and I road tripped to Claxton, GA today (yes, home of famous

Claxton fruit cakes) to Wilbanks Apiaries where they "grow"

millions of honey bees and ship all over the country.

http://www.gpb.org/georgiabackroads/evans

Came home with 12 pounds of bees, that's fourty thousand

divided into 4 "packages" of 10K each. I was the "pick up"

gal for Dr Middlebrooks, a local beekeeper. He is our mentor,

and a very patient soul at that!

Dr.Middlebrooks gets 20 grand & I get

20 grand. (first photo-the queen & I have an understanding)

The bees come in wood "packages"

covered in wire screen. Thank goodness they are contained because

they don't sound too happy!

On the porch for safe keeping for a couple of days.

We'll have a new hive at the farm & one at home!

You guys be good and stay right there!

Will post about the transfer to new hives asap.

Blessings from the Garden.

ML

Hey Honey...

Hagler Honey...

Yes, that's my hubby, but he is holding

the Hagler Honey!

What a process for a couple of novice

beekeepers! We have enough honey for

the next 10 years! Will share, though.

Dr Middlebrooks, our pediatrician and

local Master Beekeeper, says that the

sting of bees helps with arthritis pain.

He sells his honey in his pediatric office.

There are reports that bee venom is being

used for other ailments such as asthma, multiple

sclerosis, high blood pressure and PMS...

You'll need to discuss that with your doctor, though!

Local honey is best to consume when

trying to boost your immune system/decrease

allergy symptoms. If you are

a "highly allergic" person, start by consuming

a tiny amount of local honey just to be sure

you will not have a reaction.

Toasted pound cake drizzled with Hagler Honey

was dessert last nite...

Blessings from the Garden

ML

The Bees are Buzzin'!

hello all!

prepared the fields for pumpkins, and weeded the flower field this weekend in at Hagler Farm, Burke Co.!

took a couple of shots of the honey bees that Dr. Tracy Middlebrooks set up for us last year. he added another level last week to their "highrise"! it looks like we are set for some honey and great pumpkin pollination!

Robert plowed the pumpkin field and the remainder of the flower/experimental field for the last time. They are both ready for planting. Pumpkin seeds will go in this week! Have a very small patch of flowers coming up. Waiting for a sizeable package from Johnny's Select Seed to arrive today...
Flower/experimental field (left)
patch of bright green to right of field is my small bed of flowers and weeds!

Pumpkin Patch (right)