Aren't they supposed to be buzzing??

The break in the seemingly endless snowfall brought us a couple of crazily warm days. For about three days the thermometer climbed into the 50's and low 60's. The huge banks of snow that I piled up along both sides of our drive vanished as if it had never happened.

During the 1980's I lived in Tennessee and was a hobbyist beekeeper. I gave up the hobby when I moved back north and took up life in suburbia. Last summer I got the bug (so to speak) again, replaced all of my equipment and started a new hive. We decided to call her "Hope".

We tucked the hive quietly away in our suburban backyard and the bees worked obsessively to pollinate every flower in our neighborhood. After buying the new farm I moved the hive in November in the back of the moving van. At that time they were vigorous and none too happy about the disturbance. I was impressed at how much the hive weighed as I strained to move it about. It felt to me as if there was well over 100 lbs of honey in there.

During the cold snap I had been worrying about "Hope" because I am not so confident that my Tennessee beekeeping experience taught me much about what it takes to keep bees alive in the Michigan winter. The unseasonably warm weather gave me a welcome opportunity to take a peek and see how they were doing.

Aidan and I headed out to the hive on a beautiful afternoon and right away noticed that there were no bees flying in and out of the hive. I thought that they would take advantage of the warm day to fly around a bit but I wasn't entirely sure. Without any protective gear we opened the top of the hive and carefully listened....to complete silence.

We removed the supers and dug our way down through heavy honey-laden frames until we found them in the second brood chamber. They were bunched up in a softball-sized wad as I expected to find them since that is how they preserve heat. We noticed that they weren't moving at all. After a bit more poking at them I decided that they were all dead.

They had plenty of honey so it wasn't a matter of starvation. I thought that perhaps they had simply frozen to death. I assumed that there must be some trick that the local beekeepers know to helping them stay warm, something like wrapping the hive in plastic or some such. I really need to join the local beekeeper's association!

Yesterday afternoon I discussed my poor bees and their fate with a man at the beekeeping supply store. After hearing my description of what we found he guessed that they were done in by tracheal mites (Acarapis woodi). Part of what I missed in the past twenty years of being out of beekeeping is that these deadly little mites have become a massive problem. I guess that I have a great deal to learn!

In February I will order a new package of bees to get "Hope" going again. In the mean time we plan to harvest the honey and bottle it for sale on the website and at the local farmer's market. Our first samples were delicious!

I've Always Loved Snow....Until Now!

During the third week of December the clouds began dumping snow on our little farm. Over the course of a few days it piled up about 18 inches on our driveway and formed drifts well over 2 feet deep in places. I have lived in Michigan for nearly two decades now and I have seen more than a few snowstorms. I always enjoyed the snow and it had little serious impact on me.

I was also aware that this was likely to happen at some point and had even begun dreaming about the tractor and grading blade that I would buy to deal with the snow. The problem was that the snow heaped on us right after we moved in and way too soon for me to deal with it!

I found myself facing my 980' long driveway with my little plastic shovel in hand. Of course there are plenty of people who would be willing to clear my drive for a fee but they wanted $75 to do it! Being both cheap and stubborn there was nothing to do but start shoveling.

On the first day I shoveled for 11 hours straight and only came back into the house for 20 minutes for lunch. The next day was a little better since I was able to clear that night's snowfall in only four hours. This went on for about another five days until the weather finally let up and gave me a much needed break. Sheesh!

The Winds Have Finally Stopped!

One of the things noticeable right away about moving to the country is how attuned you become to the weather. For the last two days we have had incredible wind storms that had me constantly listening to the whistles, moans, groans and bangs coming from the house wondering if it was going to give under the strain. Reportedly the gusts were up to 60mph. There have been power outages in the area but luckily ours has only flickered a few times. My primary concern has been whether the tarp that I put as a temporary patch on part of the roof is going to tear off. The wind did tear a few shingles off of the unprotected part of the roof and blew my rain barrels into the woods. Beyond that everything seems to be fine.