Guys! I finally decided to make an Instagram dedicated to posts about my boyfriend and I navigating through the ups and downs of learning to become better beekeepers! We started in the spring of 2020 which became a great hobby to have as the pandemic began and changed life as we knew it. I will be doing my best to document and educate on what goes into caring for our precious honeybees! Please feel free to follow us and share with others if you like! Our instagram is Gear Garden Honeybees (@gear_garden) I've included a sample of some pictures on our insta already. More to come if you follow us!
Did I tell you guys about our beekeeping adventures on the homestead? I don’t think I did. (Shows you how long I’ve been off Tumblr. Adventures were had, but no time to write.) I’m going to be sharing posts a little backwards. We lost our two beehives last Fall. Our motion activated cameras caught the culprit, and while we tried multiple tactics to deterred the black bear, he came back over and over again. Not only could we not save these hives, we’re going to lay off keeping bees for at least several years to not encourage the bear to the return. But we can’t be angry. He’s just doing what he needs to do to survive and last year’s lean acorn production probably sent the bear into desperation to get protein and fats. In the meantime, I’m happy nurturing my habitats for my bumblebees, sweatbees, butterflies and other pollinators.
First hive inspection of 2020! Our queens have already started laying and the Ashleys are bringing in lots of pollen. We’ll need to feed them some sugar syrup soon to make sure they have plenty of food stores until more plants start bloom.
The Original Transplants Podcast Episode 53: Homesteading for Food Security
The Original Transplants Podcast Episode 53 explores food security and supply chain logistics during the COVID-19 pandemic. Will explains swarm-trapping for apiary expansion, and Will and Sarah discuss preventive and supportive therapies for low-intervention chicken flock health. Sarah shares favorite recipes for preparing dandelions and fiddlehead ferns foraged from the edible landscape, and updates listeners on the progress of vegetable seedlings and orchard pollination. Sarah and Will discuss invasives management and lessons learned while morel hunting, including proper identification, dangerous look-alikes, and the importance of ethical harvest. Episode 53 closes with articles from Lancaster Farming featuring farmer perspectives on food security and supply chain logistics during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Notes (below the jump)
Exton Bee Company
http://extonbeecompany.com/
Tom Seeley et al. - Bait Hives for Honey Bees
https://ecommons.cornell.edu/handle/1813/2653
In the Name of the Kind: A Dungeon Siege Tale (film reference)
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0460780/
Gail Damerow - The Chicken Health Handbook
https://archive.org/details/The_Chicken_Health_Handbook_Complete/page/n2/mode/2up
Samuel Thayer - Nature's Garden
https://www.foragersharvest.com/store/p3/NaturesGarden.html#/
Mushroom Appreciation - Morels - Identification and Hunting Tips
https://www.mushroom-appreciation.com/morel-mushrooms.html
Robin Wall Kimerer - Honorable Harvest
https://www.upaya.org/2014/06/guidelines-honorable-harvest/
Lancaster Farming
Farmers Market Gets Creative to Deal With Covid-19
https://www.lancasterfarming.com/news/southern_edition/farmers-market-gets-creative-to-deal-with-covid-19/article_69f987df-ca5c-5540-a23b-ba690726821e.html
Foodservice Decline Leads to Flock Culling
https://www.lancasterfarming.com/farming/poultry/foodservice-decline-leads-to-flock-culling/article_7b952f8a-d50c-5329-a1f5-ff1673f7d0c3.html
Dairy Industry Seeks Ways to Donate Excess Milk
https://www.lancasterfarming.com/farming/dairy/dairy-industry-seeks-ways-to-donate-excess-milk/article_ec34d93b-21a7-53ef-81b9-614729eae62e.html
Redding Outlines Steps Taken to Secure Food Supply, Address Food Insecurity in Pennsylvania
https://www.lancasterfarming.com/news/main_edition/redding-outlines-steps-taken-to-secure-food-supply-address-food-insecurity-in-pennsylvania/article_2fe6cfb0-856b-11ea-a141-5b3accc6a0b0.html
In this video Doug Remschneider from DougTheBeeGuy shares tips on how to harvest honey from a beehive. If you are wondering how to harvest honey using an uncapping comb or uncapping knife, check out this video. This honey harvesting tutorial will help beginners through the process of uncapping and extracting raw organic honey.
