We've actually taken a week to re-vamp our lives since our two "at home" college students have a week off this week.
It's unusually warm here these last weeks of solar winter. The trees are budding, the snowdrops are up, the crocus is coming.
I am imagining that our bees are finding pollen if they survived the winter.
It hasn't been easy to have them 25 miles away. It's a production to visit and check on them for my husband. Far easier it was to just "run outside" and see if there was life in the hives.
Because of the late summer drought last year we had no honey to harvest. It is questionable if the bees had enough to get through the winter, mild as it was.
Bees must maintain a temperature in the 90's year round to survive, and in order to do that on cold days they must have adequate supply of their energy food: honey. Sometimes the hive eats its way into a corner and the rest of the honey may be opposite from where the queen cluster moves.
They are in trouble then. Bees don't move all that quickly in their hive-mode. They can starve before they get to their supply.
But most of the time bees do what bees do. They manage or die as the fate of weather and circumstance dictates.
Believe it or not, this time of year is particularly critical in bee management. If it is warmish, the hive starts producing young bees, and re-generation activity is pretty intense. Sometimes the bees are simply too strung out with baby bee care and living to manage a late winter cold snap, and the whole hive perishes.
Beekeepers can help a little with sugar syrups and pollen patties, but sometimes it isn't enough. It really borders on miraculous when a hive makes it through a Minnesota winter!
Besides spring(ish) cleaning, we've all been reading, playing new music, dog-sitting (Daisy is here for a week whilst her masters and mistress gallivant in England!) and trying out some new recipes. (One was good, one was REALLY bad)
I'm unmotivated to study for my securities exam, so I'd better start cracking the whip on myself before long.
I ran out of fuel. I'm sort of far from my honey supply right now, apparently.
Other fun news: my organ loving son closed a deal on an old church organ (electric, of course) with full pedals. He found it at a particularly interesting tag sale. I guess we'll be doing a little hauling over the next few days. The deal was so good, but it only stands until Friday---so we have to hop to it on getting it!
I read "Harbinger" by Jonathan Cahn today. It's a quick read, and the story isn't all that great, but the subject matter is worth the time to take a look. I am always interested in matters spiritual (wait, you knew that...?:)) and the book is right up that street. Interesting ideas and coincidences from the last 10 years. Believe in it or not, it gives pause for wonder.
It's unusually warm here these last weeks of solar winter. The trees are budding, the snowdrops are up, the crocus is coming.
I am imagining that our bees are finding pollen if they survived the winter.
It hasn't been easy to have them 25 miles away. It's a production to visit and check on them for my husband. Far easier it was to just "run outside" and see if there was life in the hives.
Because of the late summer drought last year we had no honey to harvest. It is questionable if the bees had enough to get through the winter, mild as it was.
Bees must maintain a temperature in the 90's year round to survive, and in order to do that on cold days they must have adequate supply of their energy food: honey. Sometimes the hive eats its way into a corner and the rest of the honey may be opposite from where the queen cluster moves.
They are in trouble then. Bees don't move all that quickly in their hive-mode. They can starve before they get to their supply.
But most of the time bees do what bees do. They manage or die as the fate of weather and circumstance dictates.
Believe it or not, this time of year is particularly critical in bee management. If it is warmish, the hive starts producing young bees, and re-generation activity is pretty intense. Sometimes the bees are simply too strung out with baby bee care and living to manage a late winter cold snap, and the whole hive perishes.
Beekeepers can help a little with sugar syrups and pollen patties, but sometimes it isn't enough. It really borders on miraculous when a hive makes it through a Minnesota winter!
Besides spring(ish) cleaning, we've all been reading, playing new music, dog-sitting (Daisy is here for a week whilst her masters and mistress gallivant in England!) and trying out some new recipes. (One was good, one was REALLY bad)
I'm unmotivated to study for my securities exam, so I'd better start cracking the whip on myself before long.
I ran out of fuel. I'm sort of far from my honey supply right now, apparently.
Other fun news: my organ loving son closed a deal on an old church organ (electric, of course) with full pedals. He found it at a particularly interesting tag sale. I guess we'll be doing a little hauling over the next few days. The deal was so good, but it only stands until Friday---so we have to hop to it on getting it!
I read "Harbinger" by Jonathan Cahn today. It's a quick read, and the story isn't all that great, but the subject matter is worth the time to take a look. I am always interested in matters spiritual (wait, you knew that...?:)) and the book is right up that street. Interesting ideas and coincidences from the last 10 years. Believe in it or not, it gives pause for wonder.
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