Bye Bye, Bees

This has been a sad week for me because I had to get rid of my bees. While working with a friend and her hives, I was stung twice in two days and my body decided enough was enough.

I didn't think anything of being stung and was on my way home when I realized I was having anaphylactic shock, my body tingling, itching, numb in places. I looked in the mirror and my face was a big old blotchy red blob and my breath was coming out sounding just like an old wheezy accordian.

So two miles down the dirt road, I turned the car around and went back to Sue's place where I calmly announced, "I think I need your epipen." And then I went to the hospital and received more drugs to ensure the reaction didn't recur.

It was just a year ago I received my first two hives of bees.

I nurtured "the ladies" and became a confident beekeeper. I fed them up with bee tea that first summer and fall, worried about them all winter, tucked into their hives in subfreezing weather, but this spring they emerged healthy and busy. Last month I purchased a small local hive to make three, and looked forward to harvesting honey for the first time.

Beekeeping taught me to listen to the bees to see how they were feeling. With sunny weather they were busy doing their jobs and indifferent to a stranger opening up their home for an inspection. When the atmosphere became close with an impending thunderstorm, they could be temperamental, time to close up and give the girls their space. I learned that a calm demeanor made for a good beekeeper and became a confident, patient, and respectful bee steward, making a tiny difference in our world with my three little hives.

But the doctor said I should not handle bees since another reaction could be worse and we are 30 miles from a hospital. I carry an epipen in my purse now. Maybe I will explore desensitizing shots sometime in the future. I don't know.

Friday at dusk a local beekeeper came to pick up the bees. I know they will be well taken care of, but it's like a death, a lack, an empty space.

I stood there, looking at the truck driving away, taking the ladies to their new home, and I cried.

Bees and Carrots

This is a pretty random post, but since I've been random in what I do lately (like today waking at 4 a.m. and deciding that since I can't sleep, I might as well make a gigantic batch of granola), why the heck not talk about two topics that really aren't related?

Today after the epic granola project, I had to do some gardening chores. There is a 600 gallon water tank which acts as a thermal mass for the dome. The water evaporates, so I lugged in the hose to top off the tank. While it was filling, I did some planting.

But to make room, I had to pull the last of our Nantes carrots. This is the first time I've grown carrots in the dome and they did well. Now an Early Girl resides where the carrots were. I added some worm castings and growing mix to welcome the new tomato to the block.

Do you like that dishtowel? Thanks, Pattie!

Just outside the growing dome are the beehives. For a while there I was worried: robber bees were trying to get into the beehives with epic battles just outside each hive. I finally reduced the entrances to about bee width so the guard bees would more easily stop the invaders and it seems to have worked. All is orderly again.

Here is a closeup of the entrance to our top bar hive, now open because the robbers are gone. Most of the beekeepers around here use this type rather than the more common box-type hives called Langstroth.

Those little specks you can see against the cinderblock are flying bees.

Each of the bars, which you can see under the metal roof (which needs a good hit with the hammer), is 1 and 3/8 inches and the bees make their combs along the bars' length. There are no frames, so the bees make the combs just the way they want them. When we harvest honey, I hope this year, we lift out the bars, cut the combs off the bars and crush the combs to extract the honey.

This past fall we left all the honey for the bees because they were a new colony and I wanted them to have enough food for the winter. As of last week they still had some honey left, but friend Sue gave me two bars of honey yesterday. So I switched out some lightweight combs (they had eaten most of the honey) with the heavy, full ones. That should hold them for the couple of weeks we have until the flowers bloom. We have a late spring, yes, we do.

Surrounding the bee yard is an electric fence to keep out bears because the last thing the ladies need after a long, cold winter is for their homes to be invaded again, this time by gigantic furry destroyers. Both Ms. P and I have involuntarily tested the fence and it works just fine. The rocks on top of the hives and the orange straps on the ground keep the wind from blowing off the roofs.

I hope by midsummer to expand to four hives, but that depends on the bees and their queens and if there are enough flowers for them, and who knows what else. 

We will hope that all goes well with plenty of honey for everyone this year!

Beekeeping at the Nickel and Dime Ranch

A year ago I finished a beekeeping class taught by Meg, our local master beekeeper. The bees at Meg's place make honey so well that she has a booth at the Mora Farmers' Market where she sits with jars of honey labeled with each purchaser's name. Each week folks give Meg their names which she writes down in her little notebook. The following week they pick up their freshly harvested honey. Meg spends much of her time at the market explaining why there are names on the honey jars. "I never heard of Rosalita honey," someone said a couple weeks ago.

Meg, teaching her class last year.

A little over a month ago a gift of two colonies of bees came home. Paul, a local beekeeper, shepherd and carpenter, made two snug top bar hives to hold them and we moved the bees into their new homes. So far, they love their new digs and are busy making more bees and more honey to fill up the space inside the hives.

This morning I wanted to check the hives to see how the ladies are doing and to bring them some "bee tea," a combination of sugar water, mint and herbs that helps to build up their colony to a good size before cold weather hits.

It was a cloudy day, but the ladies needed their tea, so I soldiered on.

I fired up the smoker, used to calm the bees. The smoke masks the alarm pheromones bees send out when they are feeling defensive or if a bee is injured. That way no one knows what the heck is going on and they can go about their business. At least that's how it works in theory. Every beekeeping day is different, I am learning. Well, even each hive is different, too.

 Below is the smoker, opened, with the fuel beginning to smolder. And yep, that's a pile of dried manure next to the smoker. That's the fuel. I really smell great after beekeeping, just so you know.

The hives are trapezoidal, with bars across the top for the bees to build their combs. Paul adds a roof to further keep out the elements.

Here the roof is ajar so you can see the ends of the bars. There are about 24 bars in this hive and 15 are filled so far. On the bottom right of the hive is the entrance where the bees go in and out. It's a small entrance designed for easy guarding. There are guard bees stationed inside to repel intruders.

I was excited to see that the bees are building new comb, laying eggs and making honey.

Here is a shot of the new comb being built, but decided I wasn't brave enough to continue taking photos as we got closer inside. New beekeepers probably shouldn't multitask.

I also finally found the queen, who was busily laying eggs, her attendants faithfully following.

Then the weather got close, the atmospheric pressure changed, and the bees in the second hive were cranky. So I switched out their empty bee tea jars for some full ones and got the heck out of Dodge. I learn a little something every day. Today it was get out while the gettin's good.

A Rough Day for Ms. Pearl

Yesterday Ms. Pearl had a traumatic experience. She is still recovering.

Pearlie came along while I was showing some visitors the bee yard which is surrounded by a portable electric fence. And you can guess what happened.

So today we have a somewhat subdued Ms. Pearl.

When Tom offered to go outside for an adventure, she thought about it for a second.

But staying in the chair seemed like a better idea. It's safer.

Perhaps a little game of Frisbee later today will make it all better.

Moving Day: Bee Edition

 

Neighbor Sue, who has generously gifted me with two hives of bees, was up before the sun to help me transport the bees to their new home at the Nickel and Dime Ranch.

She helped load the girls into the back of the pickup and met me at our place. There, we carefully transferred each bar of bees into their new hives. In the photo, Sue is checking for eggs and larvae and for the queen. All looks good so far and the bees were quite calm as we made the switch.

The white netting surrounding the two hives is an electric fence connected to a solar charger. At least three bears roam this neighborhood, so the fence will remind them to keep back. Sorry, but there's no honey for Yogi or Boo Boo here. 

The hives are located away from any foot traffic, but I can keep an eye on them from the house.

When we lifted each bar of bees and comb, the combs seemed light, with little honey stored up.  I made up some bee tea,  a mixture of sugar, water, chamomile, lemon thyme, and a little mint. It tastes good! The bee tea went into some feeders and will act as a tonic and pick me up after all they have gone through: being divided from their previous hive and now moved down the road to our place. I will probably keep this up until it looks like they are making enough honey to last them through the winter. 

Will I harvest honey this year? Probably not, because the bees get to keep theirs first and all I get is the extra. But I might sneak a taste (or two) when the bees are too busy to notice.

The bees are local to our area, acclimated to the altitude and climate, and have a good temperament. Nonetheless, I need to drop by the local clinic and ask for an epipen prescription so that I have one handy if an allergic person is stung.

Spring Randomness-Some Nickel and Dime Photos

Spring is finally, really here, with all the trees and bushes leafed out and, for a while at least, warmer weather. When we're talking warm, what do I mean? Dang! It was 78 degrees! It was "I could have stripped off my clothes and run around" warm! But I didn't.

The grass is growing and the steers have been having a party, moving throughout the Nickel and Dime like they're at a progressive dinner or something. You don't see any cattle in this photo because they are over in The Enchanted Forest testing the grass.  When we tossed out the last of our hay,  they ignored it. I think The Angus Boys like eating locally.

The bees are humming along, tasting all the blossoms: apples, pears, these pink things, and the lilacs you can see in the background.

Speaking of lilacs, I had never seen them growing or smelled their delicious scent until we moved here. When I smelled them, it knocked me for a loop and the next thing I knew I was weeping uncontrollably. I think I associated them with orange blossoms, which used to be the signature scent in Corona, CA. The days of orange blossoms permeating the Corona air are gone, so maybe I was weeping for the past. M said it was probably hormones. I think she's right.

A series of storms has arrived, and these clouds were the beginning of it. Isn't the New Mexico sky amazing? No wonder artists like it here.

It's the Bees' Knees! Beekeeping in Northern New Mexico

When we bought our steers from Donald and Anita LaRan, local cattle ranchers, Anita invited me to join their organization, The Sangre de Cristo Livestock Growers Association. The group was started through a grant from Heifer International, an organization dedicated to helping people in high poverty areas find a sustainable source of food and income. By purchasing my steers from Donald and Anita, I kept money in the community, which is important for a small, rural village in Northern New Mexico.
 At the meetings (sorry I've missed a few, Anita!) the members teach skills they have to the others. I am learning about solar water heating, cattle care, fruit tree grafting, and now, beekeeping thanks to the knowledgeable group members and the guest speakers who come to talk to our group.

Meg McGee is a member of the livestock group and a master beekeeper, as well. She offers classes at the classic adobe home she is renovating, her gardens and bee yard our classroom. Meg believes in hands on education, so that's what we have been doing, acting like beekeepers while she guides us in our learning. 

That's Meg on the left giving us important bee info. Paul, on the right, is an experienced beekeeper but continues to learn.

The bee population has decreased worldwide due to mysterious bee illnesses. Scientists think the increase in pesticide use is a contributing factor, since pesticide residues are turning up in bee remains, hives, honey and the combs. By learning how to keep bees, people can  turn around the decrease in bees and help the public to understand why bees and bee habitat are important and necessary components for survival, not just for the bees, but for us. Not only do bees produce tasty honey, but they are necessary to pollinate the crops that we and our animals eat.

The type of beehives we are using are called Top Bar Beehives. Coffin shaped, simple boxes have wooden bars spanning across the tops. Simple and cheap to make, these hives are easy to maintain and inspect, bees don't usually need medicines living in this type of hive, less equipment is needed, and the queen can go wherever she wants, which I understand isn't possible with the box type hives which keep the queen separate from the honey.

Some of Meg's hives. That's Jonathan, listening intently.

The hives are simple to inspect. We just lift the bars up one by one to look at the brood combs or the honey combs.

Inside the hive with some of the bars removed so we can see what's happening.

 

 

Our tasks at this class were to identify drone and worker bee cells, identify the drones and workers and to find the queen. She was busy at work, laying eggs, which we were able to identify within their cells. The bees were not concerned with us and kept doing their bee jobs while we were visiting. Smoke from the bee smokers kept them docile, but these bees are pretty mellow all the time.

After lunch we learned about swarming behavior, heard a tale about collecting bees from within the walls of an old barn from two of our class members, and a cautionary tale about a black widow spider bite and the local medical care available for dealing with such an event. Note to self: Find doctor in Taos or Santa Fe.

Members of the Sangre de Cristo Livestock group taking the class get credit for the hours spent learning. When they reach forty hours of bee training, they will be eligible for a gift of bees from someone else in the group who received bees previously. It's called Passing on the Gift and a large component of the Heifer program.

Eventually the plan is for all the beekeepers in the area to form a co-op to sell the honey. Because there's money in honey.