A little update on our honey bees. Despite cool and wet weather, both hives have been flying quite a bit. They have started building comb. One of the bees in the pic, lower right,has a nice full pollen basket.They have been bringing in a lot of bright orange pollen this week, not sure what plant that is from. I am very happy with these bees, they are nice and calm and have not been upset by me making minor adjustments on the hive boxes.On the next nice warm day I will try to get a pic of the comb they are building. I don't want to open the hive when it is cool out, that would chill the hive and could harm any brood that may be there.
We have been trying to eat only food we have grown or foraged as much as possible. Our lunch the other night was this fabulous quiche Ann made. The eggs and cream were home grown. It had ostrich fern fiddle heads, ramps, and our home cured ham in it also. The only part that wasn't grown or foraged by us was the wheat flour for the crust. We will probably try growing a small patch of wheat this year. That would eliminate one more thing we have to buy and move us a little closed to self sufficiency. Last night Ann used some of the fiddle heads we picked last week and dried. They worked very well in the wild rice dish she made. We will be foraging some more of those since they dry well.
Hey Roger and Ann !
ReplyDeleteglad your bees are doing well , my 2 hives are building comb also and seem to be doing well.
I'm curious to see how the differences in hive designs play out. although it may be small since I'm using small cell frames and foundation-less.
I have 3 colors of pollen coming in and the queens seem to be laying well.
We've been reading your blog quite a bit , looks good.
Lee