It's been a busy year and I didn't mean to end the blog in April 2022! The theme of the past two years has been change change change.
It's October again and the apiary is a busy place. The bees are winding down the fall harvest and curing their honey, and we're well into winterization mode. I am making candy bricks and rotating hive bodies to ensure that the ladies backfill the deep hive bodies with honey so that they'll be snug and well stocked to last the winter. Unlike last fall, where we had a record low crop (the goldenrod crop was a complete failure due to the dry summer), this year was a bumper crop of honey and we had so much honey that we have spring, summer and fall honey to enjoy in the winter months. We usually make comb honey too; this year we experimented with the comb and we also now have 3 types of honey in the comb! Normally, comb honey is a single season and in this area, it's typically summer or fall, but here at Philosopher Lane, comb honey is often spring honey, when there is a strong nectar flow and the ladies are eager to get to work after a long winter.
Fall is the season of change, and Philosopher Lane has undergone some important changes this past year. Our master beekeeper is now at college and living away from the apiary, so the main duties fall to the next in line, and I am reminded by how physical this job really is; a full medium box is about 40 pounds, and if you couple that with thousands of bees buzzing around you, and that each hive is about 5 boxes, it's hard work lifting these boxes! Commercial beekeepers use deep boxes, which are about 80 pounds when full of honey, but even with the master beekeeper lifting boxes, it becomes too much if the entire hive is made of deep boxes. Like most things in life, there is a tradeoff: heavier and fewer boxes means less equipment and faster hive work, and less stress on the ladies. More boxes means more lifting, more boxes to inspect and more time in the hive. The bees are patient, but there is a point where they just don't want you messing up their home and they will lose patience the longer you're in there mucking around. This is especially bad near end of their workday, which here is 5pm. If I am still in there, inspecting frames, and it's quitting time, I am asking to be stung. I try to avoid that time, but beekeeping is also based on weather, and sometimes you just have to go in there during suboptimal times. So far they've been patient with me, but there's always someone who just wants to relax, flies home and sees that the house is in 5 pieces, plus there's smoke everywhere. To that little bee - sorry! I know how you feel. But trust me, this will be better for everyone if I can just finish what I am doing! If they only could understand that I'm in there for benevolent reasons.
I read on social media that some people think beekeepers are colonial powers taking advantage of slaves, but I want to remind them that if it weren't for beekeepers, there would be no bees in this country. Feral colonies live on average no more than 2 years, and they succumb to disease and the varroa mite that continues to threaten the health of all colonies, feral or otherwise worldwide. Beekeepers monitor the health of the hive and we work very hard to ensure that the bees have a nice home with plenty of space. They are protected from the elements, I ensure there is enough forage and a source of clean water, and I protect them from predators. Bees also store more honey than they can use; if you leave all the honey to them, a lot of it ends up crystallizing and they won't eat that either, surprisingly. More honey in the cupboard means ants, beetles, mice and a host of other pests. The Philosopher Lane bees have no worries. We guard them against all these pests and diseases and in return, we get some honey. It's a bartering system. Honeybees are also not native to North America, so like most of us they are pioneers on this land. They were brought over not just for their honey, but also for their superior pollinating capabilities. Ever try growing vegetables and fruit? The difference in our gardens pre and post bees is astounding. Honeybees don't just feed themselves - they feed everyone around them. All the fat squirrels running around the gardens are munching on apples that were pollinated by the ladies, and I don't remember those squirrels doing anything for the ladies earlier in the year. If anything, I have to keep them out of the hives so they don't munch on baby bees.
We still have a few more weeks, and lots of work to do before winter. However, beekeeping is very much a cerebral activity as it is a physical one. Busy as a bee, yes, but the cue is taken from nature. Nothing can be forced. As the saying goes, Nature is never in a hurry and yet everything gets done. Philosopher Lane indeed.
Disclaimers: Blog posts are opinions, not advice. One thing all beekeepers will agree on, is that if you ask 10 beekeepers what to do, you'll get 13 different answers. Beekeeping is alchemy, nature, and a bit of magic.
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