Beekeeping 101

We checked the hives and both queens found their way to freedom.  Now their work begins for they lay eggs, and lay eggs, and lay eggs....nearly 1,500 each day.  There are two types of bees in a colony; the females, divided into two castes - workers and the queen; and the male bees, or drones.  The most numerous are the sterile females, incapable of laying fertile eggs.  By midsummer, there will be about 40,000 worker bees thanks to the queen bee and her workers!

We checked the hives to locate the queens and we found them!  We also observed what action was taking place and discovered the honeycomb being developed.  I think I saw a larva but, not wanting to disturb the queen, put the frames back in place.

I started a bee journal and am enjoying spending time outdoors, sitting by the hives and watching them do their bee dance at the entrance.The area at the entrance is called the dance floor and scout bees perform dances to tell other bees where nectar, water and pollen sources are located.  I am finding the bees very calming and enjoy learning about their social structure.  The Beekeeper's Handbook by Sammataro and Avitabile is a great resource book for beginning beekeepers.  There is more to come!

The Flight of the Bumblebee

The plan was to meet Debbie and Andy in the Wal-Mart parking lot in north Carson to pick up our two orders of bees. When their email came, they said the bees were packaged on Thursday instead of Friday, so they should be placed in the hives this evening, which is now.  We started at 6 pm and finished shortly after 7, we're exhausted.  We had everything in place, hive tool, sugar syrup, mister to spray the bees with sugar water, marshmallows to replace the cork in the queen's box and, most significantly, white, spanking new bee suits, bonnets and gloves.  Bill decided to go first and in the process of uncorking his queen, managed to shove the cork into the box.  He went into the house to remove the wire mesh on the little box so he could remove the cork piece.  As I came into the house he announced, "She flew away!"  I was stunned....how could this happen?  Meanwhile, Bill located her on the front window and I went out to the shed and got a little aquarium net to catch her.  With a little teamwork, we got her back in her box and Bill stapled the wire in place, shoving the marshmallow in the end. Then he placed her between frames, shook bees on top of her and commenced to shake, shake shake his box of bees, trying to empty all of them in the hive body.  He ended up leaving the box at the entrance in hopes the remaining bees would figure out that this was their new home.

Then it was my turn.  Believe me, I learned from Bill and managed to remove the cork and replace it with the marshmallow with relative ease.  I decided, rather than shake out all the bees, to only shake a cup, or so, on the queen and place the bee package in the hive to let them come out on their own.  This means I only have five frames in my hive and will replace the remaining five tomorrow when I check on the sugar water.  So the adventure begins and we are bee-coming accidental beekeepers.  

Sustainability in Silver Springs

Sustaining anything in Silver Springs is a challenge, close to impossible. The summer is hot, the water sparse and the wind fierce.  The winter is cold, the water sparse and the wind fierce. The seasons in-between are fleeting at best. Despite all obstacles, pioneer spirit is alive and our community survives, often thriving.In March, our local library hosted a sustainability workshop and residents gathered to chat about chickens, bees and gardens; the room buzzing with interest. We took in all the info, paying special attention to the presentation by Debbie Gilmore, Yerington's third generation resident beekeeper and my sister-by-choice. After a failed attempt years ago, Bill and I decided to join the colony of backyard beekeepers and attend the monthly meetings in Yerington. Last Saturday, when we planned to set out the hives as our Italian bees arrive next Saturday, the wind was...yep! you got it...fierce. So much so that it was ripping roof tiles off the shed. So, I painted the hive feeders and assembled the hive bodies and frames in our living room. Andy, Debbie's honey, did an awesome job building two hive bodies and supers for our colonies, complete with a screened bottom board. Sunday is our target day, and out they'll go!

Button Button, Who's Got the Button?

A quilt often creates itself.  That was my experience as I embarked on a quilt journey, road map in hand.  I had fabric, a plan and found myself taking detours, purchasing miles of rick rack and scrounging bright orange buttons in varying sizes from all my crafty friends.  The resulting quilt, reminds me of the childhood game often played indoors on a rainy day with large groups of children.  All you need are willing people and a button.  Here are the directions according to Wikipedia,
Button, Button, Who's Got the Button
The children all stand (or sit) in a circle with their hands out, palms together. One child, called the leader or 'it', takes a button and goes around the circle, putting their hands in everybody else's hands one by one. In one person's hands they drop the button, though they continue to put their hands in the others' so that no one knows where the button is except for the giver and receiver. The leader starts the other children guessing by saying, "Button, button, who's got the button?" before each child's guess. The child guessing replies with their choice, e.g. "Billy has the button!"
If you have the button, haven't been guessed yet, and it's your turn to guess, you choose someone else so that no one knows it's you.
Once the child with the button is finally guessed, that child is the one to distribute the button and start a new round.

Vote for Your Favorite Baby Quilts

You have three short days, as the baby quilt contest ends Sunday evening, March 18.  The Quilting Gallery hosts a weekly online quilt show and contest and the theme this week is baby quilts.  I entered the baby quilt I made for Willa Rose.  So check out the website and vote.

 http://quiltinggallery.com/2012/03/16/vote-now-quilts-babies/

Nearly Two!

It's hard to believe but Penelope Jane is nearly two!  Born in May, just days before her Aunt Molly's wedding, PJ makes her presence known.  A wisp of a girl, she is enchanted with dance, running naked and night time nursings.  Her hair surrounds her face like a halo and her impish smile assures you that her halo is a wee bit lopsided.

I enjoyed making her birth day quilt in over-sized purple flowers.  I only wish I lived close by so I could cuddle her in her quilt.

The Road Back Home

I've been away....not gone, just away.  For the past year I've focused on Bill and the cancer that ruled his body like a tyrant.  Together we went through the diagnosis, lung cancer.  Then we faced the surgeon's knife and the news that he had clean margins.  Great news for us but someone forgot to tell his lymph nodes for they were harboring microscopic cancer cells.  So the chemo began, icy cold cocktails poured into his vein through a port in his chest.  The white blood cells played hide-n-seek, constantly disappearing and causing neutrapenia. Over a course of 5 months Bill had 14 treatments.  Then we changed offices and ended up at the radiologist office where they zapped him 33 times!  By then, what was left of my Bill was a mere shadow of the man who laid down on the surgeon's table in October.  He walked out of the radiology center in August, ten months later, leaning on the support of his family, those who love him most. Now we don't think much about cancer.  No, that's not quite true, we just choose not to think about it.  Monday is the day however, that we have to think about it again.  It is the day for the next CT scan.  We wait.