Craig and I are hosting another Beekeeping 101 program Saturday, September 5th, at Norrisville Library. It will be similar to previous beekeeping workshops we’ve given. Craig will tell you everything you need to know to get started with backyard beekeeping. If the weather is nice, we’ll host it in the outdoor pavilion. It’s covered and shady and has picnic tables for seating. If the weather isn’t nice, we’ll do it in the library meeting room. Starts at 2:00 p.m. More info below and here. We’re going to bring an observation hive, so everyone can spot the queen and see the bees safely up close. We’ll also bring some equipment and a Langstroth hive. Hope to see you there!
Humans have been keeping bees for thousands of years — and you can too! Experienced beekeeper Craig McCullough covers the basics of backyard beekeeping, including equipment, best practices, honeybee anatomy, and honey extraction. Enjoy a hands-on Langstroth hive demonstration, an observation hive with live bees, and a Q&A session. Weather permitting, the program will be held outside at the pavilion.
A rainy Sunday seems like a good day to reach out to everyone with an update for this season. Below the first couple pics is info on where we’ll be selling this year, some new things we’ll be offering, and news about our bees, hives, and honey. Opening Day for our regular market is next Saturday, May 10th. Hope to see you there!
We only sell raw, unadulterated wildflower honey. We don’t add anything to it and, since our apiary is small, we have no idea which flowers or plants our bees are getting their nectar from. So, each small home-harvested batch is unique. Its taste and color are always slightly different from the last batch we harvested.
All raw, unadulterated honey will naturally crystallize over time. This means it slowly transitions from a liquid state to a semi-solid state. This does not mean it is bad. Raw, unadulterated honey that is properly stored is shelf stable for an indefinite period of time. It never spoils!
If your honey crystalizes, but you need it to be liquid again, just gently heat it in a double boiler. Or heat some water, take it off the stove, make sure it is well below boiling temp, and set your honey jar in it for a few minutes. Do not microwave your honey! It will destroy all of its natural goodness.
If you use your honey for toast, tea, or oatmeal, you could just use it in its crystalized form. Scoop it out with a knife the way you would peanut butter. Some people even prefer crystalized honey because it is less messy.
We’ll have at least three different honey choices for you at our table this season: crystalized honey, Windtree Valley Honey, and Apple Valley honey. Technically, they are all the same honey (raw, unadulterated honey), but they’re all different batches, so they have different characteristics.
The Windtree Valley honey was harvested from bees who foraged in Windtree Valley and the Apple Valley honey was harvested from bees who foraged in… yes, you guessed it, Apple Valley, which is a neighborhood about a mile from us. The Apple Valley honey has a darker color and a more robust flavor.
Each raw wildflower honey batch has a different color and taste, depending on where the bees forage for nectar.
Jam & Jelly
Strawberry Agave Jam – a chunky jam sweetened with agave. If you like your jam with bits of fruit and sweetened with something other than sugar, this is the jam for you.
Blueberry Lavender Jam – a smooth jam sweetened with honey and flavored with a pinch of dried lavender flowers (the kind you make tea with). Turned out beautifully – looks pretty and tastes great!
Rhubarb Hibiscus Jam – I adore rhubarb! Someday, I’d like to grow it, but for now I have to resort to calling all the stores in my area every spring to check if it’s in. Picked up a couple pounds of it down at Mom’s organic market. This recipe is lightly flavored with hibiscus tea. A gorgeous sweet tart jam I’ll only be offering once. When it’s gone, it’s gone!
Pomegranate Jelly: Pomegranates symbolize the cycle of life, rebirth, and abundance – so I thought this jelly would be perfect for spring. Made with fresh pressed, 100% organic pomegranate juice.
Mimosa Jelly: No alcohol in this jam. It’s made with fresh squeezed orange juice and reminds me of Spring & Summer Sunday brunches.
Chunky Strawberry Agave Jam
Blueberry Lavender Jam
Home-Stitched Aprons
Each one of these is a work of art. Home-sewn by my daughter, she used all sorts of repurposed fabric: freshly laundered men’s button down shirts, vintage tablecloths, old lace, second-hand scraps, and a bunch of bee-themed fabric she bought at a Joann Fabrics going-out-of-business sale (RIP – we’ll miss that store!). You could use the half aprons for cooking or gardening.
Cut Flowers
Later this summer, I’ll hopefully have some zinnias and dahlias to offer. I ordered a few dahlia seedlings from Burpee and hope to level up my gardening skills this year by learning how to collect and store dahlia tubers. Fingers crossed this small project will be successful.
Dahlia seedlingsZinnia seedlings
How are the bees??
Better than expected after that crazy winter we had. I’d been complaining for years that Maryland never gets a winter anymore (I love all four seasons). But this year, we did! It wasn’t endless months of blizzards, but there were a lot of really, really cold days and a lot of extreme temperature swings, which aren’t good for the bees. But most of the hives made it!!
And Craig has once again been able to repopulate our apiary with naturally occurring, spring-caught swarms. Due to the generosity of another local beekeeper, our own bees, and Mother Nature, our apiary is looking good! Touch wood that our bees’ good luck continues.
Apiary pre-swarmCraig getting ready to knock the bees off the branch into the temporary box.The bees will all eventually follow the queen into the box – even the ones resting on the top of the ladder.Three bee balls but only one swarm. The queen is probably somewhere inside the biggest bee ball, the one on the right. The third bee ball is up high on the left. It’s smaller than the other two.
Bonus Spring Pics
Beachcombing at Calvert Beach – my daughter who made the aprons
“The Old Woman and the Bay” – hahaha (me looking out over the Chesapeake)
Calvert Beach – we didn’t find any shark teeth but did find some fossilized shells, coral, barnacles, turtle shell pieces, and a possible ancient arrowhead??
Oak Spring Farm
Oak Spring Farm
Oak Spring Farm
This hive box needs a new tenant
This Oak Spring hive made it through winter!
Magnolia – one of our neighbor’s grandchildren is named after this tree!
Cherry trees – one of the best signs of spring
Forsythia – we’re thinking of adding more even though the bees are indifferent to it
More gorgeous cherry trees
Spoiled rotten!!
Thanks so much for sticking with us through the winter! Hope to see everyone at Opening Day for Hereford Farm Market on May 10th!! Come and buy something for Mom! Happy Spring, all!
We’re kicking off the season tomorrow at Dejon Vineyard. They’re hosting an Earth Day event with BBQ, corn hole, and lots of wine! There will be cute, friendly farm animals, live music, and we’ll have honey!
Craig and I bottled about 80 pounds of spring harvested honey this week and it tastes amazing!! We’ll also have some Windtree Bee t-shirts and can answer any questions you might have from “What should you do if you see bees swarm in your yard?” to “How do you start beekeeping in Baltimore County?” No admission fee for the event but bring your own camp chairs if you want to sit outside. Hope to see you there!
What else have we been up to?
The American Museum of Natural History
This spring, I visited the AMNH near Central Park in NYC. It’s a huge museum! I limited myself to only the insect-related exhibits and I still didn’t see everything. (I forgot to reserve tix for the “What’s in a Name?” exhibit, a collection of rare books, entomological illustrations, Warhol art, and the “surreptitiously displayed” “whimsical” Withus oragainstus longhorn beetle. Sounds intriguing – a must for next time!)
The Solomon Family Insectarium – really neat! There’s a huge honeycomb exhibit, lots of info on honeybees, other bee species, and all sorts of interesting insects + a ginormous leafcutter ant farm.
“Extinct & Endangered” – Levon Biss’ macrophotography, which is best appreciated up close and in person.
We were lucky enough to be able to travel to Erie, PA to see the total eclipse. Craig planned our trip nearly a year ago. We were worried we wouldn’t see much because of the cloud cover, but the clouds cleared enough at just the right time for us to see the totality and immerse ourselves in one of the most outstanding natural science moments of 2024.
Until this month, I had only ever seen a partial eclipse. The Totality was everything they said it would be – incredible!! Such a neat experience. Witnessed flocks of circling birds beforehand, felt the temp drop during the event (so much so that I had to put my jacket on), and was able to see Baily’s beads, solar prominences, and the stellar corona. Hard to capture with words how extraordinary those three and a half minutes were!
Lots of hiking, a bit of beachcombing, and prayers for our bees…
Unfortunately, our prayers turned out to be last rites because most of our bees did not survive winter. It’s always sad but not uncommon. We’re constantly trying to up their odds of winter survival. Beekeeping is both an art and a science… and a little bit of faith.
Queen Rebecca (a.k.a. Boudica II) survived! She is the sole queen to make it through winter. Her line continues to be robust and strong. Long live the Boudicas!! 😀
Cape May, NJBoudica II’s hive is in the lower rightCraig & JillGunpowder FallsParkton, MDWindtree Valley
We’ve also been catching swarms, jarring honey, and getting ready for the 2024 Season!
I’ll update everyone on the new bees and the Hereford Farmers Market soon. In the meantime, hope everyone’s spring is going well and that we will see you soon! Maybe tomorrow at Dejon Vineyard?
This weekend, we’ll be at the Hereford Fall Fest. We’ve been vendors there for years and it’s always a great event. Weather should be typical fall weather here – cloudy and a bit windy. Bring your muck boots and a giant backpack for all the stuff you’re gonna buy! 😉
We’ll have:
Pumpkin Pie Spiced Applesauce – a favorite that was very popular last fall. This year’s batch was made with SweeTango and Cortland apples. I like to use at least two different varieties because I think it gives the applesauce a better flavor. (But, honestly, what isn’t good with cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, allspice, and cloves added to it?) Even if you’ve had your fill of PPS drinks, no one ever gets sick of PPS applesauce!!
Caramel Apple Coffee Jam – for coffee lovers! Delicious all year long, but especially in the fall and winter. I simmer the apples in espresso before turning them into jam. The caramel flavor comes from the brown sugar I add to sweeten it. This jam is perfect for a Pumpkin-Shaped Baked Brie Puff Pastry.
PUMPKIN-SHAPED BRIE & JAM PUFF PASTRY
We’re also bringing:
Honey – the last of our 2023 harvest. We only have a couple dozen jars left. You know the deal, when they’re gone, they’re gone! Stock up on local, raw, minimally filtered, unprocessed, pure honey for your winter tea, oatmeal, toast, etc. It never goes bad. (Ever.) If it crystalizes, just gently heat it (do not boil) to bring it back to liquid form.
Summer jams – SALE! – I have a dozen or so “summer cocktail” jams that I’ll be selling at a discount. They’ll be shelf stable through the winter, so use them for thumbprint cookies come January when you need a sugar boost!
Windtree Bee Merch – SALE! – I’ll also be selling our #SupportLocalRoyalty bedazzled t-shirts at a discount. They are adorable and make great gifts!
Our Market Season is Wrapping Up
We really enjoyed selling at the Hereford Farm Market this year! We missed a lot of HFM weekends in September and early October due to various conflicts and commitments. After Fall Fest, however, we plan to return to HFM for Halloween weekend (Oct 28th).
What have we been up to?
Last days at the Butterfly HouseThinking about buying more milkweed for next yearAdmiring these Spicebush Swallowtail CaterpillarsDiscovering a Painted Lady in our Frankenstein Garden…Helping out at Ladew Gardens’ Garden GlowGetting excited for Halloween!Watching Tugg retrieve his bumper from the Big Gunpowder FallsHiking the Gunpowder Falls South TrailChecking on the Wye Oak descendant we planted at Redeemer Lutheran Church 15+ years agoBuying this ginormous straw bale…to winterize these teeny tiny strawberry bedsGetting ready to cheer for our favorite college football team…at Penn State’s White Out GameLamenting our empty garden
Other fun pics of insects…
Three of our beautiful hivesOur honeybees enjoying their bee barBeehive at NYC’s Church of the Holy ApostlesPraying Mantis PumpkinPraying Mantis I rescued from the Butterfly House anteroom
See you this weekend at Hereford Fall Fest!
Rosie Posie’s Handknit PumpkinsWindtree Bee’s Local Honey
We’ll be back at the Hereford Farm Market tomorrow with two new jam batches (although both are old favorites):
Berry jam – a top seller! Raspberry, strawberry, blackberry & blueberry all mixed together in one delicious all-season, year-round jam; and
Caramel Apple Coffee Jam – perfect for coffee lovers! Awesome on homemade cinnamon rolls or on ice cream (try it with butter pecan or salted caramel because plain vanilla can be boring) +
Honey! The last of the 2023 harvest… stock up for winter. Honey NEVER goes bad!
Mixed Berry Jama.k.a. Breakfast Berry Jam, a.k.a. delicious!Caramel Apple Coffee JamApples, allspice, brown sugar, and a hint of espresso – who could resist this jam??
Where have we been?
End of summer means kids heading back to college. We spent the last two weekends in State College and NYC. While we were in Happy Valley we were able to hike Mount Nittany and tour Penn State’s Arboretum. Both were a lot of fun! The last time Craig and I hiked Mount Nittany we were students there ourselves… so it’s been awhile!!
Craig and me at the Mike Lynch Overlook. The first part of the trail is a 600 feet elevation gain over a half mile or so. That’s Beaver Stadium in the background!
We finished off our hike with a stop at Happy Valley Vineyard. Got a flight and then a glass of their yummy Blue Luna blueberry wine. The arboretum keeps getting bigger and better every time we visit. They’ve added a honeybee observation hive, other free standing Langstroth hives, bee hotels for the solitary species, and tons and tons of flowering plants (including some people might consider weeds). It was all beautifully done and the bees — and us — were loving it!
Hope to see you at the market tomorrow! You can find us at the “Hats & Honey” table near the musician’s tent. The Hereford Farm Market is at Hereford High School from 9:00 a.m. to noon on Saturdays. Best wishes for a beautiful Labor Day weekend!
Our second and last honey harvest for 2023 is ready for sale!! We jarred and labeled it and are bringing them to the Hereford Farm Market tomorrow. When they’re gone, they’re gone and we always sell out — so if you want honey, don’t wait to buy! We’ll also have cut flowers, seasonal jams, and homemade grape jelly for the kids and Orioles.
Candied Jalapenos, a.k.a. Cowboy Candy
This summer, we planted more flowers than vegetables, but we still had a lot of tomatoes, peppers, and eggplant. We’ve been eating tons of eggplant parm, tomato and mozz, and stuffed peppers. But we had soooooo many jalapenos, we wanted to make something new. Craig found The Pioneer Woman’s recipe for Cowboy Candy and we made it last Sunday, just before our Pittsburgh beekeeper buds arrived for a visit.
JalapenosCowboy CandySpicy Simple Syrup: use for spicy margaritas or Bloody Marys.Use candied jalapenos on burgers, hot dogs, cream cheese & crackers, or as a substitute for pepper jelly.
Queen Scarlett has left the building!
Our observation hive is no longer in residence at the Windtree Bee nuc yard. This is a good thing. We always knew our time with Queen Scarlett was going to be brief. The observation hive box isn’t something a hive can overwinter in. And, believe it or not, most beekeepers are already starting to think about winter. (Craig started treating our hives for varroa as soon as we finished harvesting the last batch of 2023 honey.)
We were going to give celebrity Queen Scarlett and her now experienced retinue to a local beekeeper for overwintering, but when our Pittsburgh beekeeper friends arrived last Sunday, it seemed like fate. They are both biology teachers and are working to have their beautiful two-acre property Audubon Certified. They had room for an extra hive, so we thought, PERFECT!! We bundled them up for travel in an extra-large mesh laundry bag and sent them west. Everyone arrived safely! They’ll be transferred to a Langstroth hive box that can be winterized later this week.
Kids, don’t try this at home! The observation hive bundled for a car’s backseat.Queen Scarlett and the 2023 Observation Hive at their new home in western Pennsylvania.
Hope everyone else had a nice week and stayed safe during the crazy storm we had. We had minimal damage – a leaky window, one downed tree limb, and an evening of candlelight reading due to the power outage. The weather looks great for tomorrow though, so stop by the market and see us! We’ll be at the “Hats & Honey” table near the musician’s tent.
After a three week hiatus, we’ll be back at the Hereford Farm Market tomorrow! We’re bringing: Mimosa Jelly, Pina Colada Jam, Black Cherry Preserves, Maple Strawberry Jam, and our Chai Tea loose-leaf blends. The market is on Saturdays from 9:00 a.m. to noon at Hereford High School.
Honey Update
We’re currently out of honey but will be offering a second harvest soon. Craig pulled a bunch of supers off the hives, so now we just have to centrifuge the frames, filter the honey, jar and label it. We’ll probably have it ready for sale in 3-4 weeks. I’ll definitely let everyone know when it’s available again. End-of-summer honey is always delicious!!
Another Use for Our Chai Tea?
My younger daughter, Ellie, is a Fashion Design student at the Fashion Institute of Technology. She wanted to experiment with natural fabric dyes, so earlier this week we spent one morning testing tea blends, including chai, to see which worked best.
Ladew Gardens Butterfly House
The Butterfly House at Ladew Gardens is open! It’s early in the season for butterflies, but the interns have caught a half-dozen or so beautiful, native butterfly species. One of the neat things about Ladew’s Butterfly House is that you can see all four stages of a butterfly’s life cycle: egg, caterpillar, chrysalis, and butterfly. The docents there — including me! 🙂 — will happily show you which species are in the house on the day you visit and point out where all the life is happening inside.
Great Spangled Fritillary
Our Garden
Absolutely overgrown with weeds! I made the mistake of not weeding before vacation and — wow!!! — came back to monstrous growth. (I know, I know… I should not be surprised; this is what happens when you let a garden run amok.) There are more weeds than flowers in there right now, so I spent a lot of time this week trying to restore order. It’s an ongoing project.
One silver lining is that the pollinators don’t care about the weeds. In fact, they’re thriving amongst the chaos. Because of that, I’m being selective about what I yank out. A bunch of mint and three ginormous yellow sweet clover plants sprouted up in the middle of our white clover walkway. I left them. The yellow sweet clover is always covered in different types of bees, but was quickly growing to overtake the entire middle of my garden. I gathered up all of the overflowing branches/vines/tendrils and gently staked them.
My messy garden — I’m sharing this in solidarity with other lawless gardeners who color outside the lines. Pollinators are perfectly happy in an imperfect garden!
Zinnias! Hope to have more of these soon…
See you tomorrow at HFM! Look for us at the “Hats & Honey” table!!
This Saturday, June 3rd, we’re bringing an observation hive to the market.
What’s an observation hive?
It’s a specially made hive box that allows a queen and her attendant bees to be transported safely to an event, so that people can see what the bees look like up close. Everyone (especially kids) have a great time looking for the queen. The observation hive is sealed, so air can get in but bees can’t get out. There are two clear panels on either side of the top that give observers a chance to see what’s going on in the hive.
If observation hives are so neat, why don’t you bring one every week?
Moving a queen and her attendants from their regular hive box (the Langstroth box where they live year round) into a temporary observation hive is stressful to both the queen and the hive. In the past, we occasionally did it, because bringing live bees to an event always leads to some great interactions and discussions. But, because it was stressful for our bees, it was also stressful for us. Good news though! One of our beekeeper friends recently caught a swarm and loaned it to us for this summer. It’ll live in the observation hive until early fall and then we’ll return it, so that it can overwinter at our friend’s house in a winterized Langstroth box.
We’re excited to have an extra queen and hive just for observation purposes! Since this queen is going to be a celebrity, I’m naming her Scarlett after Scarlett Johansen, who dabbled in beekeeping. (This was a quick pick name – want something different? Stop by our table and you can suggest a different one!)
What else are we bringing to the market?
Honey! We have about two dozen jars left and then we’ll be out until we harvest again at the end of the summer.
Honey-sweetened strawberry jam: I’m excited about this batch because it was made with strawberries we grew and honey we harvested – neat, right? Because my strawberry patch is small, I supplemented it with some of Krista’s awesome berries. Foggy Bottom Berry Farm grows different varieties than we do, so the mix is delicious!
I also have a few jars left of my Spring Honey Rhubarb Jam and Chai Tea Blends (both caffeinated Assam and decaf Rooibos).
Windtree Bee Strawberries!Foggy Bottom Berry FarmMe, celebrating my first strawberry harvest
It’s biking season!
Since there was no market last weekend, Craig and I took a trip to Pittsburgh to visit Beekeeper Rebecca (Rebecca, a.k.a. Boudica II’s namesake). On Saturday, we hiked in McConnells Mill State Park. We toured the mill and then walked down to Eckert Bridge and back. It was a pretty hike and relatively easy. There are some other intriguing places like Hells Hollow and Breakneck Falls that we might explore next time.
McConnells MillDandelion Kindness RockGorgeous woodsSlippery Rock Creek1874 Covered Bridge
On Sunday, we biked the ‘Burgh’s streets, bridges, and one tunnel during the city’s Open Streets.
If you’ve never been to Pittsburgh, you need to visit! It’s beautiful, has great food, Point State Park at Three Rivers, inclines, and tons of bridges and tunnels. A very fun weekend getaway / road trip destination!
Allegheny RiverAndy Warhol BridgeThree Rivers & The Point
That’s it for this week! I wish you happy hiking, biking, gardening, beekeeping, or whatever else you do that makes you happy. Craig, new Queen Scarlett, and I hope to see you this Saturday!
Hereford Farm Market at Hereford High School, 17301 York Road, from 9:00 a.m. to noon. Saturday, June 3, 2023. Lots of parking! Easy to get to! Easy to walk around! Look for us at the “Hats & Honey” table.
Tomorrow is World Bee Day, a global celebration of the importance of bees, beekeeping, and pollinator-friendly gardening, lawn, and ag practices. The date was chosen because it’s the birthday of Anton Jansa, a Slovenian pioneer of modern apiculture. Historically, honeybees have been kept in many different shaped containers. The two most of you would recognize is the bee skep (the woven upside-down basket) and the Langstroth box, which is the type we use. The Jansa hive boxes can be arranged in rows and stacks. Many of the front panels are hand-painted with nature scenes because Jansa was also a painter.
Mandi has a cute collection of animal/avian sweatshirts — foxes, birds, and now bees! The new bee sweatshirt will be available to buy tomorrow. I’m bringing wildflower honey, rhubarb and berry jams, loose leaf chai tea blends, and peanut butter banana granola. I’m also bringing our queen bee t-shirts and my remaining seed bombs. THIS IS THE LAST WEEK I’LL BE SELLING SEED BOMBS!
Rosie Posie’s new bee sweatshirt
Is there a better way to celebrate World Bee Day than to buy some of our bee-themed merch and wear it proudly?!
Modified “Mo Mow May”
It’s a coincidence that World Bee Day is celebrated during the month of No Mow May, but it also makes perfect sense since the purpose of each event aligns almost magically. No Mow May encourages people to leave their lawns in a wild state so that pollinators can have access to food during the crucial early spring when they’re active and hungry, but when many flowers haven’t yet had a chance to bloom.
A perfectly manicured lawn is like a desert to honeybees and other pollinators. Honestly, I don’t even think all-green lawns look good. To me, they look unnatural. Regarding No Mow May, I understand if you are a bit reluctant to participate. Afterall, not mowing your lawn for an entire month can lead to some pretty tall grass where we live. There could be lots of reasons you’re hesitant about participating: you have young kids who need to play outside, you’re understandably concerned about ticks, you have neighbors who would complain, etc. I get it. I’d rather people participate halfway (which is what we’re doing) than not at all.
Our front lawn — very bee friendly!
If you can’t go an entire month without mowing, consider these alternatives:
Mow less. Instead of mowing every week, maybe just mow 1-2 times a month during April and May.
Set your mower at the highest setting.
Don’t use pesticides or herbicides on your lawn!
Intentionally plant clover. We sprinkle clover seed (not grass seed) in every bare patch. This gives our yard a beautiful cottagecore look.
Make as many wishes as you can! Encourage dandelions to grow in your lawn. Then have fun picking them and making wishes as you spread more dandelion seeds around your lawn.
No Mow May Bonus – Dandelion Harvest
Did you know that dandelions are edible? They were once a beloved flower and medicinal botanical. Most people think of them as weeds, but they’re an herb. If you participate in No Mow May (or a modified version of No Mow May) you can harvest your dandelions and make all sorts of delicious things out of them. I plan to make Dandelion Honey (a.k.a. Dandelion Syrup). If you harvest your dandelions, let me know what you make! 🙂
Quick Strawberry Update
Our little strawberry beds are looking great! I couldn’t believe that we had to once again cover them the other night. I’d been lamenting that I haven’t yet had a chance to get my zinnia seedlings in the ground, but this past Wednesday I was glad for my delay because it was less for us to cover that night. Hopefully, that will be the last spring frost warning for 2023!
Strawberries look terrific!Beehives after a spring rainZinnia seedlings hardening up in the wind and sun
We’ll be at the Hereford Farm Market tomorrow, May 20th, from 9:00 a.m. to noon at the Hereford High School. There’s no market on Memorial Day weekend, so our next market after tomorrow will be June 3rd. Look for us at the “Hats & Honey” table. Hope to see you there!
For those of you who love my “Bee Reports” — here’s the first of this season! Three of our queens and their hives successfully overwintered. We caught some swarms, split one of our hives, and bought some new nucs, so our hive boxes are once again full of buzzing bees. Below are my notes on the queens and hives who survived and the new ones we’ve adopted since I last posted an update.
#1 – Boudica III
Boudica III survived winter. Her genes are mean and supreme. She is the descendant of the original Boudica, who was also a strong queen. (Boudica I swarmed in the spring of 2022. She was lightning fast, and we were unable to catch her. Her and her feral descendants are hopefully off populating new wild and woolly Hereford hives.)
#2 – Elizabeth II
Also survived winter. Her hive hums along. Never the most bustling hive but a solid player in the honey production game.
#3 – Argine (a.k.a. the Queen of Clubs)
A new queen, taking over for Cleopatra, who unfortunately didn’t make it.
#4 – Deborah
Three cheers for you if you already knew that Deborah means “bee.” Deborah is also an alternative name for the medieval Irish saint, St Gobnait, who battled brigands by sending bees after them. She was the original Bee Whisperer. Deborah is taking up residence in Pandora’s old hive box.
#5 – Dottie
Most of my queens are named after strong women. I’ve been reading Geena Davis’ memoir, DYING OF POLITENESS, the tale of her “journey to badassery” for my book club. Debated naming this queen Geena but decided to go with one of her most iconic roles, Dottie from A LEAGUE OF THEIR OWN. She is in Aethelflaed the Undead’s hive box. Losing Aethelflaed was a bummer but with her history, her spirit might live on and she will embolden Dottie to become a super-producer.
#6 – Dahlia
Maybe I was stuck on “D” or maybe I just adore dahlias? The mildly named Dahlia supplants Buffy the Varroa Mite Slayer. She has some big shoes to fill!
#7 – Rebecca (a.k.a. Boudica II)
Elphaba, the queen whose name we crowd-source on Instagram, didn’t make it. Ugh. Losing hives is always hard – maybe more so when I name them? I’m sure other beekeepers think I’m bonkers. The Boudica line has strong swarm genes. Rebecca reigns over our most recently caught swarm. She swarmed (for the second time, see below) on my bestie and fellow beekeeper Rebecca’s bday and we put her in Elphaba’s old hive box.
Clover’s hive box was first occupied by Tempest, who was a fantastic queen. But we lost her last summer. When Boudica II first swarmed, we caught her and took her to Lisa’s. She hung out there, successfully overwintered, and then swarmed again (because the Boudicas are overachievers). We caught her again, brought her back home to the Windtree Bee yard, and renamed her Rebecca to avoid confusion. Her Oak Spring Farm progeny is now named Clover, after one of honeybees’ favorite foods.
#9 – Meadow (a.k.a. Boudica V)
When we lost Gaia, the former queen of this box, Craig took some queen cells and nurse bees from box #8 and put them in this empty hive box. We’ve had mixed luck with “splits” (that’s what it’s called when beekeepers create a new hive that way), but this one was successful. I decided not to pressure the new queen with unrealistic expectations, so I named her after a small, beautiful place, instead of an entire belief system and the personification of the Earth itself. While I don’t think Gaia’s name had anything to do with her undoing (it was hive beetles), Meadow’s probably more chill knowing she doesn’t have the weight of the world riding on her shoulders.
Honorable Mention – Frankenstein
Frank is a garden, not a queen bee. Our bee yard is a rough square to one side of our house. Along the road is a split rail fence with cherry trees and pines. There’s an old shed in the corner and then a row of forsythia that we planted in memory of my mom. (She loved those flowering yellow spring bushes!) Then we’ve got a line of beehives hidden amongst some arborvitae. The last edge of the bee yard is bounded by our house and a little garden where we used to have only wildflowers. Every year it was an utter mess, but I loved it – and so did the bees and the butterflies.
We’ve lived in our house for nearly twenty years. Over that time, we’ve received lots of beautiful plants, bulb flowers, herb bushels, etc. None of them ever match anything else in our yard, so we plant all our cute little orphans in the Frankenstein Garden. Honestly, it’s one of our favorite parts of the yard. We installed some bird feeders and a bird bath, which the bees use more than the birds. It’s a work-in-progress, but also perfect just the way it is. 🙂
