Wintertime....Disappointment and Some Quiet Fun

Beautiful winter day :)

Every year after the Christmas season is done I have a moment where I feel down in the dumps.  This could be because in that moment I have a moment of peace and don't know what to do with it, but with 2 boys the moment doesn't last. :) In the winter, the Hubby is a middle school wrestling coach and is not available much so we are kind of on own own.  It is also a time when the kids don't have sports or any other activities outside of Cub Scouts.  Throw in a couple of snow days and this is a quieter time of the year for me.  It is  rather peaceful at times.  Truly a time of restoration for me before springtime sets in.  

I have been able to pick up a hobby again this winter that I truly enjoy.  I started a knitting project, really a felting project.  It has been so nice to feel the yarn on my fingers and to see something grow rapidly in my hands.  This project has renewed my love for this craft and I hope to make more through the year.

Working on my felting project

Throughout the cold days this winter we have been fortunate enough to have a nice warm day in there, too.  One such day was January 8th.  It was in the upper 50s.  I checked the beehives and both looked good.  Both hives had bees flying in and out.  Following this day, we had a pretty severe cold snap.  The temps were in the single digits with wind chills well below zero.  During these days, I got into a mad homemaking mood.  Cooking, cleaning, making my own chest rub and hand salve, and knitting.  I think the family liked it at first but became aggravated quite quickly when I asked them to help with the cleaning. :)  Actually, the kids enjoyed making the chest rub and hand salve and I am glad we did...it really works well and was so easy.  I also feel good about the fact that it has no petroleum products in it and is all natural with no chemical nastiness.  Here is the link to the recipes I used:

Hand Salve: http://thehappyhousewife.com/home-management/homemade-hand-cream/

Chest Rub: http://www.keeperofthehome.org/2011/11/homemade-herbal-vapor-rub-to-relieve-coughs-and-congestion.html

I hope to make more homemade potions this year including bug repellent and healing ointment.  

Homemade potions...Hand salve on left and chest rub on the left

So, on the next warm day which was January 29th, I went to check the bees.  I found one hive with bees flying in and out and the other one quiet.  I knocked on the sides and heard no noise, so I lifted the lid and saw no one moving around.  I pulled off the top super and found the bees...dead.  On February 10th, I did a bee hive autopsy.  I found that the top super was still completely full of capped honey without a bee on it.  The next super had a small cluster of dead bees on it with many in the cells of the comb with their heads in the comb.  I cleaned off the comb looking for the queen.  She was marked and I looked and looked.  I even looked through the pile of dead bees and I couldn't find her.  I also noted that there was very few bees only a few hundred, maybe.  There was also very little brood maybe only 20 or so capped brood.  I opened them up and they weren't stringy or mummy looking.  Lastly, there was no sign of disease.  So, I don't know what happened, abscond or they didn't cluster up after the warm day?????.  Luckily, the other hive looks good.  

A beehive autopsy is sad and sticky business indeed

So, as we have these warm days my mind goes to the return of spring.  I am thinking of my gardens and bees.  I don't know if I will get another hive or see if the other one swarms.  I am planning to plant many bee friendly plants including lots of lavender. 

I had a true delight yesterday, the tulips are poking through the ground.  Truly, spring is right around the corner!!!!!

I hope all have had a happy, peaceful, and restorative winter.  God bless :)

Christmas 2012

 Christmas!!!  What can I say??? It is all excitement for the boys and busyiness for us.  In the mist of decorating, seeing Santa, riding the Polar Express, shopping, wrapping, baking, cooking, planning, and trying to get some sleep, I often wonder what this is really all about.  This year I was reminded by my 3 year old.  As I am running about trying to make it all perfect for everyone and wearing myself out, Davy says "we have to have a birfday cake because it is the birfday of the Lword."  That was when I decided to stop and focus on the reason for the season...the birth of our Lord and Savior.  I began a devotional on my YouVersion Bible app that was daily for 25 days and talked about the meaning behind the Christmas carols that we sing.  I had never really thought about what those songs and their words.  They really are beautiful prayers of thanksgiving to God for sending his Son.  This really put the season into perspective for me.

Merry Christmas

 So, some hightlights of our Christmas will be shown in pictures...that is the best way I can think to do it.

Christmas break fun

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Getting ready to board the Polar Express

Santa on the Polar Express

Getting ready to go to Christmas Eve service

Saying Bye-Bye to our Elf on the Shelf Jingle

opening gifts

Opening gifts with family

Christmas gift time and dinner with the family

the view from the car on our wintery trip to my sister's house

On a hunting adventure

Gifts from my sister

Imax film at Air and Space in Washington DC

The Mall Washington DC

I know as I write this my house has been cleared of the Christmas decorations and it looks really plain but I am now pulling out those seed catalogs and beekeeping books and looking toward another spring with gardening and beekeeping.  I hope all had a wonderful Christmas and Happy New Year.  God bless :)

Honey Extraction and Thanksgiving

It has been awhile since my last post.  I hope to catch up.  We have been busy with the Christmas season.  So, what has been happening???  We finally got the honey extracted!  It was a fun process and nice family time :)   On a Friday morning, I packed up the kids and myself and we went up to the farm.  My Father in Law started a fire to warm up the wax on frame and fired up the decapping knife.  He also got the extractor all set up.

Jack spinning the extractor

First filtering of honey

The finished product

So, here is what we did.  Once the uncapping knife was all heated up we uncapped a frame on both sides by sliding the hot knife down over the wax cappings.  This is caught by a bucket below with a strainer to drain the cappings.  Then the frame was placed in the extractor.  When four frames were uncapped and placed in the extractor, the extractor top was closed and then one of us spun the top.  First it was necessary to start out slow and then as the honey was pulled out of the frame we would speed up the spinning.  The honey gate on the extractor was opened and the honey drained into a bucket which had a sieve lined with a sheer curtain for the first filtering.  This was repeated until the bucket was full of honey.  Then this bucket was drained into another bucket which was also fitted with a sieve lined with a sheer curtain for the second and final filtering.  It is from this second bucket that we filled the mason jars.  The process was repeated until all frames were emptied.  Then the clean up began.  This whole process took the entire day and believe me it was sticky business the kids the honey in their hair and I had wax on my clothes.  It was great fun.

Davy's first plane ride

We did take a break however, we were invited to take a plane ride around the lake.  The plane was very small and held only four people.  There was less room in the interior of the plan then in the inside of my vehicle!  The first trip consisted of the pilot, the boys, and myself.  Jack even got to sit up front.  This was David's first plane ride.  I can't tell you how beautiful it was and the pictures don't do the view of the lake and mountains justice.  The kids loved it and now they both talk about being pilots.  For the second ride my Mother in Law took my spot.  I have to say it was very scary to have my kids up in the air without me.  But, I am glad they had a good time with their Grandmother and of course all was well.  

Jack in the front seat

Accident, MD

McHenry, MD

For Thanksgiving, we had a great time at the farm.  Family came in from California and the food was fabulous.  The weather was crazy cold, snowy, and windy.  The men and Jack went hunting on the following Saturday. Unfortunately, both Jack and John were unsuccessful at getting a deer, maybe next year.  Also, at Thanksgiving is when we have our family gift exchange drawing.  This year I got to be my Father in Law's Secret Santa.  I was lucky enough to find one of the gifts he wanted we my Sister in Law and I were antique shopping while the guys were hunting.  After Thanksgiving, Christmas got into full swing here...cooking, planning, decorating, shopping, baking, wrapping, Santa, and Jingle our Elf on the Shelf made a visit.  I will post about this sometime soon.  

I hope all had wonderful Thanksgiving and that even though it is a very hectic time of year you took the time to be thankful for all the ways the Lord has blessed you.  God bless!!!

Closing up the hives for winter and Hurricane Sandy

The last week of October I decided to close up the beehives for winter due to Hurricane Sandy threatening our area.  I did a final inspection of both hives.  My slow hive never even touched their top super and stored no honey in it.  The hive is light.  There were yellow jackets, many of them, just sucking out uncapped nectar right inside the hive.  The bees were doing nothing to defend their hive.  There were yellow jackets also flying around outside the hive.  I saw mites on the tummies of several adult bees and a couple of hive beetles.  Needless, to say it has problems.  I set out a wasp trap, drenched the bees with Honey Bee Healthy, and gave them one more jar feeding.  

The other hive looked healthy.  No mites, beetles, or wasps seen.  I don't understand how 2 hives standing only 2 feet apart can be so different.  This hive had a full top super and was so heavy I couldn't lift it at all.  For this hive I drenched it also and gave them one more jar feeding.

The following day, I removed the empty jars, placed a serving of homemade bee candy on the top bars of each hive, put the screens on covered with the winter top, and checked to make sure the entrance reducers were on tight.  Said a prayer :)

The following day, Sandy decided to make a visit.  First it was just a cold misty rain.  This is my least favorite weather!  As the day progressed it got colder and rainier.  In the middle of the night is when the wind came.  We had several brown outs but the power remained intact.    In the morning we woke up to about 6 inches of snow.  No school for the kiddos so no work for me.  It was cold, only in the 30s.

That day, I found out my sister in Long Island was without power and my cousins and uncle had their neighborhood in Breezy Point, NY severely damaged by ocean surge and fire.  The pictures of Staten Island, Queens, and the Jersey Shore are heartbreaking.  The damage is staggering.  The pain I feel for those who have lost some much is intense.  I pray for help to come to them soon and in the meantime, God protects them from hunger, cold, sickness, and gives them some peace through this terrible storm.  

In our area, in the mountains, nine days post-Sandy many are still without power and have have a lot of snow on the ground still.  Thankfully, here nobody lost their homes but they still need help.  A warm shelter and hot meals.  Many here are better able to cope due to personal sized generators, wood stoves, and garden stored food for winter, but nine days without power still must be trying even to the hardiest of people.  

As for us, our garden suffered some wind damage to the raised beds and my mums were nearly blown out of the grown as ware my dahlias.  The bees took a hard loss.  When I went out to check on them, there were hundreds of dead bees on the bottom boards.  I took off the entrance reducers and cleaned out the dead bees.  Such a shame.  I am not sure what happened.  

Now with Sandy over and a nice weekend ahead of us here I plan on finishing up my garden clean up for the winter.  I also need to start thinking about Christmas gifts for the boys!!!  

We still haven't spun the honey out of my Father-in-Laws frames, hope to do that soon.

In closing today, I feel it would be unpatriotic or something of me not to remark on the Presidential elections which took place yesterday.  As I am sure all knows, President Obama was re-elected for another 4 years.  I hope now with all the contention of the election behind us that we can come together as a nation, put politics aside, and move us all forward in a positive way.  I pray God blesses this nation in ways we can't even imagine:)

God bless until next time.

Fall Fun and More Bee Issues

Wow!  What a busy time it has been!  But, I love it and love autumn.  We had a cold spell and even a kill frost in the middle of October.  Now at the end of October we are experiencing an Indian Summer.  It is supposed to get up to 80 degrees today and we put the A/C back on!  The leaves have been beautiful this year but sadly they are already almost gone.  I guess because of the drought they didn't stick around very long.  

So far this year we have had a great time in our activities.  Back to school is always hard but this year it seems harder.  A lot more is expected in 4th grade and there are a lot of tests, but Jack seems to be hanging in there well.      We had a fun visit with my Mom and went to the Preston County Buckwheat Festival.  Of course, that was the highlight of September!!!  Buckwheat cakes, crafts, parades, show animals, and friends.  I loved it.  In September, the Mountaineers were also doing great so it was a ton of fun to watch (not so much now :(.  As October is winding down, we are getting ready for the holidays.  Halloween costumes are all ready and I am thinking about Christmas gifts :).

This time of year is always busy.  Back to school, soccer, church activities, and holidays make things crazy at times.  I haven't even had the chance to do garden clean up for winter yet.  The exciting news for us has been the near completion of the garage this fall.  It should be done before winter.  I am already parking our car in the little garage...what a luxury!!!  No more cleaning off the car of snow or frost, I love it already.  

This past Sunday, I did another inspection of the bee hives.  One hive has done fairly well with it winter stores.  The hive is heavy and there was no sign mites or disease.  The other hive is another story!!!  While there were many wasps around both hives, this hive had several inside it and they were just sucking away at the uncapped nectar.  I saw mites on adult bees but, thankfully, no deformed bees.  I also saw a couple of hive beetles.  Also, the hive was light compared to other one.  Winter stores were low.  So, I did the only thing I knew to do at the time.  Close both hives up, feed them, put out an emergency tweet to beekeepers about my wasp problem, and call the master beekeepers I know for advice.

Twitter beekeepers suggested a wasp trap, which I quickly made and I am have to say has already been successful.  I have caught a few dozen wasps already!  My more experienced beekeepers recommended to keep feeding both hives, do a Honey Bee Healthy drench, and keep the wasp traps going along with putting the entrance reducer on the front of the hives.  This is because wasps will continue to work until the temperature drops into the low 40s where as bees cluster up in the upper 40s making their hive easy targets for robbers such as wasps.

So entrance reducers on, feeding continues with a fructose mix, traps are out and drench is done.  I am also sending up a little prayer for them :).  Around November 1st I am going to close them up for winter.  

Well, in the next week or so we will be spinning out the honey from my father-in-law's hives.  I can't wait to see how much his bees made this year and learn how to do that part of the process.  

Happy Fall everyone!!!!

What a FUN Day!!!

On Friday morning, I was talking to my Sister-in-law and she happened to mention that her Dad was going to take the honey frames off his hives with his friend and beekeeping mentor Bob.  So, I hurried up and called and asked if I could help.  In the frame of a couple of hours, I finished laundry, kind of cleaned the house, and packed up stuff to spend the night.  Oh, and of course packed up my bee suit (well, actually Jack's suit :).

Luckily, I got there before they had started.  As soon as I arrived, I was told to put on my suit and  head out to the bee yard.  My Father-in-law has 9 hives right now and has been beekeeping for over 20 years.  Bob has many many hives and has been beekeeping for over 30 years.  Needless to say, I was hanging with the big dogs!  

What an experience!  Bees flying everywhere, some working and I am sure some pretty angry about being blown out of the supers by a leaf blower.  The hum was so loud.  The bees were so fascinating.  God gave us as humans such a blessing in the honeybee.  There is no other animal or insect on earth that pollinates 40% of the food we eat, gives us wax to use, propolis to keep us healthy and as we are just beginning to learn fight cancers, and of course honey!  Honey, with it's antiseptic, antibacterial, anti fungal, and antiviral capacities.  Truly amazing!  Thank you God :)

I learned so much, that afternoon.  Such as what a deformed bee looks like, how to look for mite excrement, how to pull out brood to look for mite infestation, how much a hive needs to weigh to get it through the winter, how to winterize my hives, how to treat for mites, how/when to feed bees, how to properly take honey supers off, and how to do a proper inspection of a hive.  Also, I learned how to build frames properly and put in foundation.  Best of all, we took 8 supers of honey off--full!  That is about 250-300 pounds of honey!!!!  We have yet to extract the honey.  We hope to do that this week or so.

Even more exciting, my Father-in-law asked me to help with maintaining his hives in the future and he jokingly said he was going to will them to me :)  I have to say, I loved every minute of it.

Another happy event that happened this weekend was my Mother-in-law's birthday.  My Sister-in-law and I made dinner for her and we had a great time with family.  

Beautiful, cool weather, wonderful family get-together, working bees, and a 3rd WVU Mountaineer win.  Life is good and blessed!!!

I pray all who read this are enjoying their blessings and this wonderful time of the year.  I hope to write soon about honey extraction day.  God bless :)

Today's Inspection, Beetle Update, and My Newest Food Obsession

Ahhhhhhh, it truly feels like fall now.  I love the cooler days, cold nights, and NO HUMIDITY.  The leaves are just beginning to change here.  Although, I think this might be a weak year for fall colors due to the drought.  I see many leaves just turning brown and falling off the trees.  But, I still love the fall :)

So, today I decided since it was so nice out...sunny, little breeze and 68 degrees, I was going to take a shot at building a hive super and inspect the bees.  The hive super is actually my father in law's but he was gracious enough to let someone who has never built anything or used a power tool to give it a try.  There are no directions!  This week I spent time looking at YouTube videos to learn how to put together this thing consisting of a bunch of screws, some nails, couple of pieces of metal, and four boards.  With some instruction on the basics of the screwdriver drill thing from the Hubby and assistance from my oldest son, I completed it in one day.  Actually, half a day!  I also painted it today, too!  I have to say I am feeling kind of proud of myself :) 

After finding the hive beetle, I called my father in law and he said he had never dealt with them and he directed to call a friend of his who has been beekeeping for over 30 years.  Bob told me to not worry about it because the first frost will be coming and any beetles now will just freeze.  Beetles in the spring or summer can be a problem.  Just keep feeding them the Honey Bee Healthy, which incidentally he developed, and all should be well.

As for my hive inspections, Hive number 1 is light in weight.  My Hubby was able to pick it up from the front very easily.  It shouldn't be easy, it should be heavy enough that a strong guy can't do it.  Hubby wasn't able to lift Hive 2 up, so they would seem to be full enough for the winter.  I have to see what I have to do about getting hive 1 built up for the winter.  The goldenrod is still in full bloom so I am hoping they will keep working hard for their winter stores.  On a good note, both hives are queen right, drones seem to have been kicked out of the hives, there is stored pollen, brood at all stages, and capped honey.  Hive 2 has a significant amount more then Hive 1 of capped honey.  I saw no signs of beetles or mites.  So other then Hive 1 being light all looks good.  Hope so anyway :)

I am hoping in the very near future to see the whole honey extraction process.  I am so excited.  My father in law said in the next couple of weeks he will be removing the extra capped frames from his hives and then the following weekend extracting and bottling the honey.  I can't wait to see the whole process.

Now, onto my food obsession.  I know it will sound crazy simple but for some reason I can't get enough.  This has actually become my breakfast and lunch for the last week.  Apples with peanut butter and honey.  I know...silly!  All I do is find the best organic apples I can, mix about a tablespoon of local raw honey and a tablespoon peanut butter and feast away.  It is oddly filling and so good!  I add some cheese cubes and I got a meal!

Hope to write soon about the honey extraction process!  Buzz buzz :)