Yesterday was the culmination of something that has been a LONG time in the making! We are NOW, for real and for true, beekeepers.
We placed a. hold on two nucs at the first of the year and have been eagerly waiting for the bees to come in. Shannon even took part in a class to learn more hands on than we had been reading! I have been reading about bees for years, but he has just now started in earnest since I got him a book for Christmas. He had told me a long time ago, “Chas… if we get into this homesteading lifestyle like you want, I want bees.” I was wholeheartedly in agreement, because not only is honey amazing, but I want bees for our garden! Pollination is so important! And hopefully we can do a good job and grow good hives around these parts.
Being a brand new keeper of bees, I had NO idea how they would be transported, so I asked the guy if I could drive my little SUV and he told me as long as I didn’t mind riding with them. I’m not scared of bees… but I’m not all that fond of pain either, so I didn’t want to be stung if I could help it. HA
They rode just fine in the back of my “farm truck” (I jokingly call my little car that because I haul everything in it and it’s never clean). There was also a beautiful little fig tree at the farm store and I grabbed me one of them. I really wish I had gotten the other… Figs are some of my favorite fruits! YUM!
And fig and goat cheese… and HONEY? All we are doing coming together in a beautiful bite eventually! WORTH IT!!!! 😉
DAANNNNGGGGGGG…..
Shannon was at work when I went to get them, so I set the hives up myself and got the boxes of bees set beside the hives. The first step is to pull that strip of black tape off the front and allow the bees to acclimate to the environment and find their new hive home.
I opened the first one slightly slowly… and those bees flew out like lightening. I just knew I was going to get stung because I didn’t suit up. I ran and opened the other and then took off. HA. I don’t run a lot… but I ran then!
They poured out of the boxes!
Shannon came home after work and suited up to get the frames transferred.
Bees. are. amazing…
I mean, seriously. amazing!
I wanted to get pictures of him doing the transferring, but again, I wasn’t suited up. I needed to milk, but I was so interested I couldn’t hardly stay away.
I kept inching closer and closer.
I think he really enjoyed the process and I loved watching him work.
So hey… now we have bees!!!
I’ll keep you updated on how it goes!
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