HOW (NOT) TO TRANSPORT BEES.
I often find myself walking outside to our front porch, standing there and looking out at the farm, not knowing where to begin. Moving is always difficult….moving a farm is another thing entirely. Our plan so far has been to simply move one small load at a time, making sure we never drive in the direction of the new farm without a full truck, in hopes of lessening the prospect of one enormous move at the end. One of the more stressful things we knew eventually had to be moved was the beehives – so we decided to just go ahead and get it over with this week.Well.Everything went well in terms of the transport. We sealed up the hives and moved them all in one night. I waited til dark (when all of the bees were inside the hive) to seal up the hive openings with some wire mesh, cloth, and duct tape. I also wrapped a ratchet strap around the entire hive to keep it nice and snug. We then made quick work of the three-hour drive and easily got the hives set up in their new spot, placing them on cinder blocks.At this point, well past midnight, I debated opening up the hives or waiting til morning. There was a scattering of bees that had escaped bumbling around, and I could hear many more very shaken and angry bees inside the hives. I didn’t exacly feel like further bothering them, but I knew they were hot and bothered and cramped. Just go ahead and get it over with sounded good to me.I pulled out the cloth from one hive entrance and let loose quite a ferocious tumble of bees. Retreating quickly to let them calm down. Returning to second hive,I peeled back a corner of the duct tape and grabbed the cloth that was plugging the entrance and started to slowly pull. The swell of sound told me that a LOT of bees were going to quickly pour out of there, so I decided to rip it like a BandAid.WELL.The duct tape held tight, and so instead of the cloth pulling out of the entrance, I essentially PULLED OVER THE ENTIRE BEEHIVE. I saw it tumbling towards me and did not for even a second stick around to see what was going to happen. I retreated inside and it was too dark to see from the window, but picturing the chaos that I had just unleashed – I knew there wasn’t much to be done at that point. I went to bed, frustrated at myself and unable to sleep.I got about around four and told Jesse that if by any miracle the hive was still intact and not in fact broken up into its separate parts, maybe we could set it back up while it was cool and still dark and the bees were calmed down after their eventful night. I walked outside and turned on my headlamp. My first thought was that somehow everything was fine – the hive was sitting there, right next to the other hive, completely fine! A miracle! But OH WAIT. Nope. It was actually sitting there completely flipped upside down. Covered in bees, the entrance was now open and the bottom of the hive (now on the top) had been jostled enough to create another opening. But, it was quite cold and the bees seemed very calm. Jesse came out and we used the BLESSED ratchet strap that was still attached (and was the only reason the hive was still all in one piece) to slowly tip the hive onto its side. We then lifted it back onto the cinder blocks and…..everything was totally fine. We had a few bees crawling on us when we came inside but we never even got stung.ADVENTURES! This is always how I feel about the bees. While this was perhaps my most dramatic bee experience to date, every time I work with the bees I feel like I learn something new. Whether I am examining the hives, harvesting honey, catching a swarm, watching bees in the garden, or even when I’ve lost a hive for one reason or another….I am still just as fascinated as I was the first time I fell in love with beekeeping. I am always learning something new.Latest lesson in beekeeping: don’t yank the duct tape.- Hannah.
BACK AND FORTH.
We have been living in a very strange in-between time lately, one of my least favorite places to be. I find it so difficult to stay “present” when I know what is just around the corner. And so now, as the fall season is upon us and the garden is bursting with greens and cauliflower and carrots and is basically just hanging out, ready to be harvested, Jesse and I spend a lot of our time pacing around not knowing what to do. There is no weeding to be done, not much cultivating, harvest is short and sweet. We suddenly have a lot more free time, and SO many projects we want to be working on at the new farm, and yet we are still grounded HERE. And so we have been going back and forth as we are able to, getting the garlic patch ready, slowly moving things with each trip back in hopes of avoiding a giant move all at the end, taking soil tests and meeting with the FSA office about grants - all the while trying not to rush forward too fast and to enjoy our time here while we still have it.
These photos are from the new place, when Jesse mowed the garlic patch and then covered it with large, black plastic tarps to kill the grass and encourage microbial life.How do you guys stay present during the in-between times?
- Hannah.
VIDEO: MIND, BODY, AND SOIL.
So I made a video. It's a bit of an experiment––making videos––so I will take any and all suggestions on how I can make it better. The goal is to be able to make videos like this that are fun (hopefully fun) but that are efficient––finding time to make videos is not easy. So anyway, let us know what you think. Got tips or pointers (besides to spell the word "guarantee" correctly the first time)? I'd love to hear them!-Jesse.