Such a nice day

Just thought I'd share a bit.

Had such a great day yesterday. My fiancee has taken up beekeeping as a hobby (which complements my brewing nicely I think, heh). I built a nice little fenced in enclosure for her hive to keep the curious dalmation who lets us live in her house away from the hive. built a fence and gate, then put in a bit of garden edging and planted wildflowers inside along the edges of the fence and around the base of the hive.

Spent the rest of the day sharpening and cleaning up tools (pruning shears, etc). She got home in the afternoon with her first colony of bees and put them in their new home. We went out this morning with our morning cups of coffee and watched them for a bit, they're fastiduous little creatures and had been busy all night gathering up the dead ones and tossing them out of the hive as well as sweeping all the dirt and such out. I had no idea bees were so anal about cleanliness. It was fascininating to watch them tug a dead bee out underneath the lip of the hive, then drag it to the edge and boot it over the side. Got to watch them send out their first scouts to go find the local nectar and flower supply.

Got tons more work to do in the yard today, but it looks like more rain here in the bay area so probably won't get a chance. I'll probably work a bit in the garage instead, promised I'd make her some redwood planters so I might lay out some plans and cut some wood today instead.

All in all, a nice peaceful and productive weekend!

-- Gary F.

I hope the hive does well enough to provide you the honey for a batch of mead. There's nothing like a really good mead to enhance an evening.




Wayne

You're a braver man than I. I have an unnatural phobia of anything that buzzes and stings. I think I'd rather keep a den of snakes as a hobby. It could have something to do with an unfortunate incident involving a hornets nest and a wiffle ball bat when I was 6. One imaginary home run and 34 stings later, nearly killed me. Yeah I was a bright one ;)

Jeff