First Interaction
July 24th, 2008
Today I opened and manipulated my first hive! It was most exciting, though a tad hot and nerve wracking. I arrived at my parents at approximately 5:30PM to be greeted by very active bees, busily coming and going as if they’d never been moved. I suited up, lit my smoker and set out to move the hive to a screened bottom board for better ventilation, ease of cleaning, and to help combat Varroa mites. After nimbly separating the propolis-glued boxes I lifted them off one by one until I was left with only the bottom board. Then I quickly swapped boards and put the hives back together. I couldn’t resist pulling out a frame to show my mother honey, as can be seen in the picture.
Tags: Bees, First inspection, screened bottom board, smoker
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The Bees Are Home
July 23rd, 2008
We picked them up in SE Portland and relocated them in Beaverton. Their new home is quite splendid!
My father toiled for two days building the gate, leveling the ground and setting up the concrete blocks:
My dear friends, Brandon, Amelia and Sawyer stopped by to help:
Admiring the hive:
The hive as it rests tonight:
Simba, my parent’s dog, is inquisitive:
Jill and I wonder if there are really bees in there:
Drinking accompanies all hive celebrations:
Tomorrow I will move them to a screened bottom board and give them their new telescoping cover!
Tags: Beaverton, hive arrives, Moving hive, portland
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Bee-Day
July 23rd, 2008
“Bee-day,” Jill calls it. And I like it. Tonight at dusk we head to SE Portland where I will pick up the hive on the right:
I will cover the entrance with size 8 screen, staple the hive bodies together and then strap them down so that my bees are snug as a bug! At that point we’ll heave the monstrous contraption into the back of my parent’s truck and take it to their house. My parents have cleared out a nice, flat area and arranged a number of concrete blocks to give the hive stability and some height from the ground. This protects from nuisances such as skunks and dogs.
Once it’s home I’ll remove the screen, staples and straps and place some leaves in front of the entrance to ensure that the bees take notice of a change in their location. This keeps them from rushing out of the hive and realizing later that they don’t know where they are.
More pictures will follow!
Matt
Tags: Beaverton, Bees, First hive, New Hive
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The impending bees.
July 22nd, 2008
I have never seen Matt as excited as he has been today upon purchasing our first hive from a man with a dog named ‘Buddha.’ Tomorrow we go pick it up and place it in his parent’s yard. Here he is with his bee suit and smoker. You can’t tell, but he is beaming under his mask. He has been walking all over the house puffing at things with his smoker.
I’m really excited for the bees tomorrow!!
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It’s Beginning
July 22nd, 2008
Today I pay for my first hive and tomorrow evening I pick it up! This afternoon I’ll be purchasing my equipment in preparation for the inaugural Reed’s Bees hive at the Reed compound in Beaverton.
I’ll keep you posted!
Matt
Tags: Beehive, First hive, portland
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Silence of the Bees
July 8th, 2008
I was most distraught last month when I missed the re-play of PBS’s documentary entitled, “Silence of the Bees.” Thankfully they have made the full version available on their website! Silence of the Bees
The past couple weeks I have been further considering the idea of embarking upon a bee-friendly non-profit that will focus on local, sustainable beekeeping. I am investigating the benefits and drawbacks of such an endeavor and hope to come to a decision soon!
My family continues to be supportive of my bee fascination, and my aunt has been promoting Reed’s Bees to the point that I have more “clients” than I know what to do with! I am excited and confident that I can come up with a copacetic way to raise the necessary funds to start 20+ hives next spring. I’ve still got more than 8 months!
Lastly, in addition to reading “Bees in America,” I have been browsing some of the articles on www.biobee.com regarding biodynamic beekeeping, natural cell sizes and Abbé Warré’s treatise on beekeeping. They can be found here: http://www.biobees.com/forum/downloads.html
Tags: Beekeeping, biobee.com, Non-profit, silence of the bees
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June 29th, 2008
A note from Jill:
Happy Summer, to those of you in the Northern Hemisphere!
Last week Matt and I attended a bee keeping class at Ruhl Bee Supply which was informative, but honestly not much information that Matt hadn’t come across already, which was both reassuring and surprising. What most surprised me was how many people in attendance already had working hives of their own, but little knowledge about practicalities of keeping and hive management.
I think the realizataion that he really has the fundamentals down and has done more than enough research has left Matt feeling disappointed that he doesn’t have bees for this season, though I pointed out it would have been a difficult first season with the April weather (extreme warm up to extreme cold within 5 days). Still, he is wanting to see if he can buy a hive or two now, though I wonder what kind of condition they would be in if someone is selling them in high Summer?
He is now focusing his research on different philosophies of beekeeping and I am starting to consider new hive shapes and ideas for the industry. The typical square, house shaped hive makes sense, but it is cumbersome, heavy and unwieldy and I have to believe that within the last 150 years there has to be some better material or learning which has come about to allow for further options and choices beyond the standard. Once we are hands-on it will be easier to determine what is possible.
Tags: Bee Classes, Bee Hives, Bees
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What Do Bees Have to Do With Ice Cream?
June 29th, 2008
“NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) — Haagen-Dazs is warning that a creature as small as a honeybee could become a big problem for the premium ice cream maker’s business.
At issue are the disappearing bee colonies in the United States, a situation that continues to mystify scientists and frighten foodmakers.
That’s because, according to Haagen-Dazs, one-third of the U.S. food supply - including a variety of fruits, vegetables and even nuts - depends on pollination from bees.”
Read the rest of this story here
Tags: Bees, Disappearance, Ice Cream
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Absurdity
June 25th, 2008
It seems that corruption even affects beekeeping organizations. Take, for example, the endorsement of a pesticide by the British Beekeepers’ Association that is known to be harmful to bees:
Is the BBKA too close to Bayer? from Gord Campbell on Vimeo.
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Books and Business
June 21st, 2008
I recently finished reading “Keeping Bees and Making Honey” and “Backyard Beekeeper” and found them both to be good resources. Each of them, while covering most of the same topics, had a few bits of insight that filled in more gaps in my bees knowledge. I recommend they be read in succession!
Since finishing the aforementioned books I was compelled to purchase a new gem of bee literature: “Bees in America. How the Honey Bee Shaped a Nation” by Tammy Horn. I’ve only read a few chapters but so far it has been fantastic! She begins by discussing the arrival of the honey bee (Apis mellifera) to America with the Europeans around 1620 and the prominence of bee lingo in the every day language of all walks of life. From there she discusses the importance of honey to the Europeans, the various methods used by different European cultures, the spread of the honey bee south and westward and the distrust by the Native Americans of the white man and his strange flies.
In addition to reading great books and furthering my knowledge of this fascinating creature, I have been working on another project. Early on in this blog I mentioned that I wanted to create a thorough bee resource that covers all areas of bee-related topics. The past couple weeks I’ve been creating another page that will (hopefully) become the main resource for all be information! As soon as it’s ready for public view I’ll be sure to show it to you!
Tags: bee history, Bees, bees in america
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