This picture was taken in early spring by Eli. Bear in mind that those little specks are all bees and he's standing in the middle of them too, pretty gutsy little guy.
Run Sheet
00/09/01
Today was an annual ending and beginning.
Today was the day I took the last of the honey off my beehives and started getting them ready for the long winter.
The beekeeper's year is spent gearing up for the honeyflow. For me it always seems to flash past. The fall and winter is spent making sure that the beehives are as well prepared and cared for as they can be. Spring and Summer is spent making sure the honey is coming in and putting it into jars.
In the fall I make sure that there is a queen present who is actively laying eggs, that there is some stored honey for them to eat until winter. I make sure that the brood comb is in good condition, that there is no evidence of disease and a thousand other things. I clean up my equipment and put it away and protect it from waxmoth and mice.
Winter begins the months of faith. From about October until April it is too cold around here to open up the hives and check on anything. In the Spring and Summer I can stand and watch the activity at the hive entrance and get an idea of the condition of the colony. In the Winter there is no activity at all, the bees are clustered in the centre of the hive around the queen for warmth. Often there is no sign of life to the outside observer for weeks at a time. Sometimes I'll sit in the snow with my ear pressed against the cold wood of the hive listening for the faint whispering buzz deep inside that lets me know that there is still life there. Sometimes I just need to know.
Spring is a sudden burst of life and activity. There is a magical time when the bees are warmed by the new sun and burst out of their home to smell and explore. The air is filled with them and I take a walk in the cloud of buzzing insects that land and crawl about on me. The joy and relief is indescribable as I see life in the hives again. The faith that I held, the same as beekeepers throughout history have held is once more rewarded, life has returned, and the anticipation of the new honey can begin. Late in Spring the new hive boxes are stacked on top to be filled with the first honey. When I come home from work I'll stand by the entrances and watch the bees fly. I'll watch for awhile and check their flight path thinking about what lies in the direction of their flight. South is broom in early spring and Blackberry in Midsummer. East is vine maple. West is clover. North is more clover and a big stand of Douglas Fir where they make propolis. In the spring I check the queens again to make certain they're laying eggs, and I take whatever steps necessary to make sure the hives are strong. More bees equals more honey.
Summer is the time for harvest. June is spent seeing how fast the honey is coming in and giving the hives more space as necessary. Care is taken to make sure they're not preparing to swarm. July is usually when the first honey is extracted. every year I take out a full frame and cut it all into comb honey to give to my friends. Comb honey is fairly rare these days as it's not a money maker, but its neat to eat the honey exactly as the bees left it. August is the next extraction. The weather and where you have your bees decides which extraction is the big one. This year my first extraction produced around 400 lbs. I'll be extracting again tomorrow and I expect another 200 or so. That's from six hives, a hundred pounds per hive is considered a good year.
The Summer ended today. The work and reward from last year will be finished by tomorrow night. The new faith begins tomorrow.
Today My youngest son worked with me. Both my boys have spent time in the beehives with me, but it has always been for a little while where I show them things like the honey, the eggs, the difference between a worker and a drone, and, if we're lucky we see a queen.
Today Eli came out to work with me. The time we spent in the hives wasn't a journey of discovery this time, it was work shared between father and son, it wasn't show and tell. To his credit he did a lot of work for a seven year old. Afterward I reflected with him on our family history.
We can trace beekeeping back over a hundred years in my family.We're not clear whether the first Ross to come to North America was already a beekeeper or took it up soon after arriving. But my Great-Great Grandfather kept bees in Saskatchewan as did my Great-Grandfather and my Grandfather. My father wasn't a beekeeper but his brother is. I took it up as a teenager. Unfortunately my first few years were trial and error with occaisional advise from my uncle. Today I'd say I'm an average amateur beekeeper. I'm not exceptionally skilled and I'm not a dunce. My boys have an advantage I didn't. They have an early start and a natural fascination and relationship with them. Some kids are born to horses, cattle and other livestock, my kids were born to bees. Today I got to watch the next generation start to continue the tradition.
This picture was taken in early spring by Eli.
Bear in mind that those little specks are all bees and he's standing in
the middle of them too, pretty gutsy little guy.
