Flight of the Humble Bee

Forget not that the earth delights to feel your bare feet and

the winds long to play with your hair.

-Khalil Gibran

For the last two weeks it has been honey bee central around here.  Over the winter we put our names on a local swarm list ?and all of a sudden the phone has been ringing non-stop.  We got six calls to retrieve swarms in a little over a week and with only a couple of empty hives ready for the bees that meant a lot of last minute woodworking.  Fortunately that is a strong point and an enjoyable father son activity for our family.  We had already been planning to change our hive design after reading the book, Beekeeping for All, by Emile Warré, a french monk living in the late 1800s-mid 1900s who kept bees.  Warré developed what he called the People’s Hive after experimenting with over 350 hives of various designs and types. It was his goal to find a hive system that was simple, natural, economical, and bee-friendly.  Not to mention sustainable, right up our alley!  So after catching all those swarms our order of 3 hives came in from up north....more bees. 

one of three packaged hives we picked up this weekend

placing a small piece of foundation wax on each top bar for the bees to build on

up in the wee hours of the night assembling the top bars into place

?Here are our three new Warre hives after painting and before the bees moved in.  Not quite sure about the colors but its all about recycling all the old paint in the garage.  ?

Creativity in the Garden

One of the ways we love to brighten up our planted areas is with hand painted signs.  They are easy, fun, and make the garden way more child friendly (for the little ones you love or for the kids at heart).  Just use your old wood scraps and some nails long enough to hold the signs together, recycle those used gallons of house paint in the garage, or use acrylic paint for more color!

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our sons garden where he grows a variety of vegis and herbs

yarrow blooming in the medicine wheel

newly planted squash patch

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