This Old Hive

I was sad to learn of Mr. Payne's death. He was a longtime beekeeper and member of the Mobile Beekeeper's association. Mr. Payne died in his sleep (he was in his 70's) of undiagnosed liver cancer. When I found out his son was selling his hives, I threw my name in the hat. By the time I was contacted, most of the hives were sold. There were two left. The first I inspected was in the last throws of death, overrun by hive beetles and no sign of a queen or eggs/larvae. I walked toward the other hive with a muted sense of hope. When I got closer I could see that this was a healthy hive bustling with activity and boiling over with bees. I knew without popping the lid that I wanted this hive...however I had to take a look and boy was I glad I did. The hive hadn't been worked in 2 to 3 years and was so heavily glued together with propolis I could not get the top cover off. So I decided to move the whole top (honey) super. Son of a gun that was heavy - I had to get Tim Payne to help me lift it back on top. We were both greeted with several...ahem...grumpy bees that began to ping us relentlessly.

I bought the hive. I figured it would need to be broken down to just one deep hive body before I could move it. Tim agreed that I could take the spare empties around the apiary to transfer all of the frames and bees since the current equipment was quite delapidated. It was currently 2 deep and one honey super full of honey. This put the entire hive around 300 pounds . I would need to move the honey super and 1 deep to my house; leaving one deep behind with the queen to catch all of the field bees. Mr. Payne lives right down the street from me. When moving a hive it needs to be moved at least 2 miles away or the field bees will still be oriented to their original location. These would need to be moved to my mom's property eventually. This would be good since I could put them way back in the woods. I had no idea of their temperament. Ripping the top super off the way I did would piss off even the gentlest bees...but still I wanted to be sure. Since I had some queens coming through the mail in a few days, I decided to wait. I could use 1 queen to rehive the deep I was bringing to my house. To get the bees out of that top super I would have to hammer the lid off - and - well you can imagine I was expecting quite a few stings from this operation. I figured the whole transformation would take 2 hours, 3 tops. Not including the move or the honey extraction.
I was in that hive 4 hours! 4 hours!! I have never seen so much propolis in my life. The ungodly amount of propolis and the 'greasy' cappings led me to believe that these bees had some of the caucasian bee line in them. Propolis is a sticky substance that dries hard. The bees make it out of tree sap. Some people use it for medicinal purposes. Caucasian bees are well known for making a lot of propolis. Greasy cappings refers to the appearance of the honey caps. 3 lined Italians, what I raise, cap in an air bubble with their honey, giving the caps a white appearance. Caucasians do not do this so their cappings have a sort of slick appearance. The one saving grace of the caucasian is that they have the longest tongue of all domesticated honey bees and can utilize nectar sources that are unavailable to other honey bees. This makes their honey very unique.
When the whole thing was said and done, I walked away with 2 hives, 40 lbs of BLACK honey, only three stings (One in each thigh and one on the butt - I know a cartoon classic. I laughed a bit when she stung me.) and a jammed big toe. How did I get the jammed big toe you ask? Well one of those little bitches crawled up UNDER my veil and was buzzing around by my eyeballs. I couldn't remove the veil because there were at least four other grumpy grannies waiting to sting my eyes and fly up my nose holes. So I had to run fast in a zig zag motion while ripping off my veil emptying out the bitch and reveiling myself.

But back to the honey, the glorious honey! I have never had or tasted a crop of black honey. Internet research points to either buckwheat or Tulip Poplar - both fall blooming. I don't recall seeing any fields of buckwheat, but know we have tons of Tulip Poplar in the area so Tulip Poplar it is. Wow is it yummy! I am keeping half of it and selling half. Thanks Mr. Payne wherever you are. I think I'll always keep a hive of Caucasians now in your memory.

My Perrenial Edibles

Beekeeping - Early Spring Hive Check

Early Spring Goodies

Pictured above is a bowl of treats I picked after work, destined to be part of our super. I shelled the English peas, cut the asparagus and snow peas in half, and cooked them in a skillet with some butter. So fresh and delicious. We ate the strawberries raw.

Pictured above are some beet greens I picked last week. I didn't get a great number of beets (I didn't expect to), so I used the greens. They were so yummy! I cooked a couple slices of chopped bacon and then sauteed the greens in the bacon reduction (aka fat).

Spring Stir Fry

Shown above is a sugar snap pea plant. If you look closely, you'll be able to see blooms and a fruit. When these first begin to fruit, I pick them when they are really small. This helps the plant grow larger and stronger to make many more peas at a later date. I will pick the little immature pods until the plant reaches at least 2.5 ft tall. Here they are only ~1.5 ft. If I were to leave the fruit on to ripen, energy would be diverted to the fruit instead of continued plant growth. I take this same approach with squash.

Above you see me holding some baby cabbage plants and some carrots. Because I direct seeded the cabbages, they need to be thinned. I picked these to make more room for the stronger, larger cabbages that stand a greater chance of making a nice head. The little guys do not need to be wasted; I can use them in my stir fry!

I cut up my harvest of mature carrots and sparse baby cabbage and tossed in the handful of snow peas that I found. Stir until tender, then add rice and scrambled eggs (from my chickens of course).

Voila! Stir fry rice! Yummy!

Easter Egg Chicks

Below is a photo of a new batch of chicks that is continuing to hatch as I write this post. The pic looks kind of yucky; I cleaned everything after I took the photo and moved the dry chicks to the brooding cage outside.

I am feeling the effects of spring fever and will be posting with renewed fervor. Stay tuned for posts on compost, seedlings, and beekeeping. I think I may even try to make some videos this year.

Loads of Tomatoes

Our harvest the day after we returned from vacation. Tomatoes, corn, cucumbers, green beans, and blueberries.

Ava helped shuck the corn.

Coring the tomatoes and slicing the opposite end. This helps the skin peel away after blanching.

When we came back from vacation, we had 22 lbs of ripe tomatoes waiting for us to pick. (Even with my youngest brother picking 10 lbs of tomatoes for his family while we were away). Since then, I have picked another 27 lbs. And they aren't done yet!!

With the first 22 lbs, I made marinara sauce. The 27 lbs. I cored, blanched, and skinned; tossing them in the freezer until I am ready to make my next batch of sauce.

Also waiting when we came back were 15 lbs of corn and a little over a pound of blueberries. We have picked over 7 lbs of blueberries over the past month. Some I have made into jam, others I have frozen. Most of them were eaten fresh.