We are getting bees!
Our friends donated their bee supplies to us
after they started to concentrate on goats
and a disastrous winter a couple years ago
that resulted in the loss of many bee colonies.
My husband's friend is a farrier but also raises bees
so he came out to inspect the equipment. We passed.
There is some cleaning to do, some painting and a
few repairs but what we have should do us fine.
My husband will clear out this area just below the garden
and set up the hives on blocks. We'll make sure to plant
some flower beds with bee favorites too.
The bees are ordered and we will drive up to Foley's Russian Bees
in Des Moines this April and bring back the bees. We also have
to order at least one suit, two veils and all the tools.
With any luck we will have successful hives and start making
candles, soaps and honey treats! I just read today on how to
make mead which is now thought to combat antibiotic resistance,
see the link here
What makes Honey Hunter's Elixir different from other types of modern mead drinks is that is uses all 13 beneficial honeybee lactic-acid bacteria and the wild yeasts from honey that normally ferment mead spontaneously.According to the team, commercial honey does not contain these bacteria. Since the honey and water mixture is sterilized before later adding industrial wine yeast, all other life in the honey, including wild yeast, is killed off.
7 comments:
Congratulations! I really enjoyed having them, but that was before all the modern problems with them.
That sounds so cool. I hope no one there is allergic to bee stings.
Oh that is fabulous! There might be a little envy coming from this direction:) Will be looking forward to seeing how it goes when you have them all set up & introduced. Keep good notes~ I might need advise in a year or two (realistically that's how long before we will be ready.)
We get quite a few bumblebees around our garden in the spring and summer, and last year I saw some mason bees (at least that's what I think they were) using a small hole in our front porch as a nest. Next year I will finish the bee house to see if they will stick around. - Margy
Margy, those sound like wood boring bees to me. You definitely don't want those around. They'll start making holes all over the place.
If you can make that work, it will be a huge asset. Honey and all the things you can make from it and from the byproducts like wax are good as gold.
Tell you husband I am talking to a fellow here who is also interested in getting a license. I think I would have more "stick to it" if I was working with someone on the project.
Hey Harry,
Great to hear it. Let me know if I can help an any way. The Tech license is pretty straightforward with a minimum of technical stuff. It's mostly geared towards giving you a basic understanding of the rules and some info on how radios work.
Be warned - this stuff is addictive!
73,
Tom
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