Baltimore Museum of Art

Bee Report

Five of our hives made it through deep winter and are still alive, which is a lot better than last winter when we lost all of them and had to completely repopulate our little apiary. Currently, we have six Langstroth boxes on our property and an additional two over at Oak Spring Farm. The three that didn’t make it are on our property.

The two at Lisa’s are super strong. They started from a swarm that Craig caught last year. Swarms are always hardy and healthy, so they make excellent hive starters. Last summer the Oak Spring hive grew so big, it split, and Craig caught the second swarm and built a new box for it. Along with the fact that the two Oak Spring hives started from natural, robust swarms, they also get to live on an organic farm with no threat of pesticides and a nice, diverse mix of flora and fauna. No wonder they’re healthy!! 😀

We ordered three new nucleus hives from Central Maryland Beekeepers Association to replace the ones on our property that we lost. I want to keep better track of our hives this year (to better understand the factors that influence their health), so I bought my first bee suit. I plan to tag along with Craig on some of his hive inspections and possibly help with some of the lighter beekeeping duties. I’ll keep everyone posted…

**Please keep up your prayers and positive thoughts for our little bees.** **They’re not quite out of winter danger yet!**

Other Fun Stuff

Chesapeake Agricultural Innovation Center’s Business Solutions for Value-Added Producers Program

Last month, I attended this two-week long virtual workshop series hosted by Emiliano Espinosa, CAIC Program Director. Instructors included Janna Howley from Grow & Fortify, Brian Brown from Southeast Rural Community Assistance Project, and Kim Bryden and Kathleen Overman, both from Curate. Learned LOTS of great info, but one of the best things was also connecting with other small value-added food producers in the region.

Gotta give shout outs to two participants who really went above and beyond in sharing tips and advice with me: Jasmin Sellers, owner of Naranti Natural Foods (“The world’s greatest granola”) and Eric Malcolm, owner of Backyard Apiaries. Jasmin’s granola can be ordered online and comes in small snack packs that are the perfect size for pockets, backpacks, and bike bags. Eric is in Montgomery County – if you live there and need beekeeping services, he’s the guy to call!!

Maple Syrup

When the daytime temp is in the 40s and the nighttime temp is below freezing, it’s maple syrup time!!

We don’t have enough maple trees to collect enough sap to sell syrup, but it’s a fun family project. We tapped more trees this year, so Craig was able to boil enough sap to make a few extra jars for friends and neighbors, which was terrific! It’s always good to share nature’s gifts!! 🙂

Our two favorite ways to use maple syrup are also our two favorite ways to use honey – in tea and oatmeal. I finally mastered the art of frothing milk this winter, so my homemade chai tea is better than ever! Depending on my mood, I sweeten it with either honey or maple syrup.

Flowers & Seeds

Grow lights have been set up in our basement and some of our first seeds have been planted – a handful of veggies (eggplant, peppers, and tomatoes), Johnny’s “Brush Strokes” (a beautiful edible flower we grew last year), and some Lemon Mint (a.k.a. Bee Balm) from Seed Savers Exchange.

I’m not growing anything too different flower-wise this year. Still planting the Benary’s Giant and Queen Series zinnias, and dahlias from seeds instead of tubers. Eventually, I want to try to take on tubers, but not this year. I ordered the “Bee’s Choice” dahlia mix from Floret Farm, which my bees will hopefully love!

Going right into the ground later this year is “Bee’s Friend” (Phacelia tanacetifolia), a bunch of sunflowers (for the bees), and four different cucumber varieties (for us). I’m also going to try to get a patch of Black-Eyed Susans to take root permanently in my perennial garden.

Books

Winter is a great time to catch up on reading! One of my New Year’s resolutions was to read more. Below are a few books from my 2022 TBR list.

Bicycling with Butterflies: Summer of 2019, I biked over 750 miles. Part of my inspiration came from reading Juliana Buhring’s This Road I Ride, which was her story about being the first woman to circumnavigate the world on a bike. Sara Dykman’s new book is about her 10,201-mile, two-wheeled journey following the monarch migration. I’d love to set a new biking record for Summer 2022 – but I also have a lot of plans for Windtree Bee – so we’ll see how many miles I can bike this summer while also selling honey, jam, and flowers.

Discovering Dahlias: Erin Benzakein’s latest… because someday I’ll tackle tubers!

The Joy of Weeds: I hate weeding my garden, but love weeds in my yard – ha! (Things only a beekeeper would say.) Craig and I are slowly turning our green grass lawn into a charming white-clover-and-dandelion-filled space.

For the Love of Pawpaws: Did you know Pawpaws are native to eastern North America? Honeybees could care less about them, which makes sense since honeybees aren’t native to North America. But I love the idea of growing a fruit tree that is native to this area.

The Lost Spells: Gorgeous artwork and beautiful poetry combine in one little powerful book that is small enough to carry with you on a bike or hike. Read out loud for maximum prayerful effect.

From Coast & Cove: an illustrated journal of four seasons on the English coast by botanical artist Anna Koska. Wish it was about the Chesapeake Bay but I’m sure it will still be amazing!

Windswept: Walking the Paths of Trailblazing Women: Finished this last month. Terrific! Will post review soon.

Baltimore Museum of Art

My younger daughter wanted to celebrate her 18th birthday with a trip to the BMA, so we spent a day in late January wandering around the galleries and exhibition halls. Three of my favorite pieces/exhibits were:

Rosa Bonheur’s Sheep by the Sea: a bucolic oil painting of a group of woolly ewes and a lamb chilling somewhere in the Scottish Highlands.

Thaddeus Mosley’s Forest: a group of walnut sculptures made from felled trees gathered near Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

Spencer Finch’s Moon Dust: a light installation that replicates the chemical composition of the moon dust brought back from NASA’s 1972 Apollo mission.