True Love and Green Tomato Pie

My bug-a-phobic, bee allergic man just spent the better part of the morning building this sturdy hive stand so my ladies (and hopefully an additional hive or two for the spring) can come home!  That's true love.  

Unrelated...due to last night's frost we have quite a pile of green tomatoes.  And therefore:  Green Tomato Pie.  I used this recipe and though we were skeptical, we all agreed it was a good one.  I probably wouldn't have guessed it wasn't apple if I hadn't made it myself.  Try it. 

 

Good Bye Boys

I went to feed my ladies this morning.  Roughly weekly, I deliver a half gallon of nearly 2:1 ratio of sugar to water.  They appreciate a little fast food this time of year when the nectar is scarce and the air chilly.  Honey bees form a cluster at about 52 degrees F, which means they all clump together in a large ball, with the queen and brood in the middle.  Older bees make up the outside of the "bee ball" and swap positions to stay warm.  They vibrate their flight muscles, without actually moving their wings,  fast enough to heat the cluster to as warm as 93 degrees.  During these chilly days they may break cluster for only the warmest part of the day, and are happy to have some sugar water right nearby.  Of course I only took a tiny bit of their honey, so they have plenty of the real deal as well.  I'm hoping they're saving that for the really cold months when I won't be delivering.

I've affectionately referred to them as "the ladies" all summer, despite the few (several hundred perhaps?) brothers among them.  The drones live an easy life, of no work--aside from hoping to mate with a virgin queen, and eating all the nectar and honey their sisters bring in. (If ever their wish comes to fruition they will chase and catch said queen, and will begin mating while maintaining wing velocity so high they will actually "pop" and explode upon ejaculation, dying and falling to the ground*),  Not a bad life.  Until October.

A week ago when I made my sugar rounds I noticed maybe 30-50 bees swarming anxiously about the entrance.  At first I was afraid there was some kind of robbing taking place, since a few of the bees were yellow jackets.  But on closer inspection I realized that aside from the few foreign visitors, the panicky bees were all drones who were desperately trying to gain entrance to the hive, where their sisters had suddenly turned against them.

Today I discovered a rather large pile of dead bees, most of them drones just off to the side of my hive stand.  The poor boys must have formed their own tiny cluster and perished in the night, having been evicted.  Such is the life of a fall drone.  The ladies know they eat a lot--they're quite a bit larger after all, and since they do so little work its hardly worth feeding them all winter.  Out they go.  Its the way of things, but oh what a sad thing to find.

My ladies however were thrilled to have the syrup and I noticed a few brave souls still returning with pollen baskets full, and lots on tiny new bees gathered about the feeder.  These girls are the bees who may actually live to see spring.  I hope they eat up.  Winter is a hard time of year to be a bee.


*At least according to The Storey Guide to Backyard Bee Keeping

Honey!

I harvested a very small amount of honey from our ladies last week.  The first year of a new colony the bees use so much energy and resources drawing out (creating) the comb that most of the honey they make is needed as food for the winter.  Taking just two frames I left plenty for them to overwinter with, and they are still busily working to fill up every last inch of their hive with the sweet nectar of goldenrod and asters. With so few frames to extract we opted for the slow drip method.  Fortunately we have quite a few lidded beer  buckets that turned out to be just the right size for holding frames of honey as they sat in the sun for days, dripping.

Last night we hung up the straining bag, and allowed it to drip through all night.  This morning we had enough to fill one small jar of our own Frogwater Honey. Not to mention a handful of buckets, pots, and frames for the bees to lick clean (just as soon as the children are done with them).

     Label courtesy or taproot 

 Yum!

The Bees Knees

The bees are here!  I was a bit anxious before moving them into their hive, mostly that I'd do something wrong and somehow mess things up for them.  But, it went off without a hitch.  Not only are they incredible, mysterious, intelligent creatures, but they were really docile, friendly little ladies to boot.  Hurray for bees!