Bee Gone!

Well it's official. Our bees have flown the coop. Or the hive, as the case may be.
After seeing the bees being attacked by a foreign swarm, we knew it was only a matter of time. And sure enough, when Tom went out to check them late last month, the hive had nothing but bee corpses and the honey they'd worked so hard to accumulate was gone. It was heartbreaking, but we have chalked it up to another hard (and expensive) lesson learned on the farm.

We plan to try again next year, taking the lessons learned from this year, and will hope for greater success. It is not uncommon for beekeepers to lose their hives, so we knew this was a possibility, but we really hoped to succeed.

In other news, we were bees for Halloween - Daddy was the beekeeper, Mommy was the queen bee, and the kids were two cute honeybees!

A quiet month for the bees

Not much to report in terms of bee activity. They are not producing comb and honey quite as rapidly as we'd hope. An established hive would have surplus honey to harvest next month, with enough remaining to last the colony though the winter. Our hive currently does not have anywhere near enough to last the winter, let alone harvest. Last month Tom added a second box to the hive, hoping they'd start expanding their comb-building activities, but so far they've not expanded much, and in fact have been consuming some of the comb they built.

We are supplementing their nectar gathering activities with sugar water to help them build honeycomb more quickly. The mixture is a 1:1 combination of sugar and water, heated just enough to dissolve the sugar, but not to boiling as that would crystallize the sugar and make it inedible for the bees. It seems that keeping that sugar water full will be critical going forward.

When inspecting the hive today, Tom found the queen (good), a few hive beetles (no good - but the bees were attacking them so that's a good thing), and plenty of larvae, which means the queen is actively laying. So now we wait. Tom is attending a day-long bee seminar next weekend and should get some good information about sustaining and growing our hive. He'll treat for the beetles and hope we don't have any other infestations.

The Flight of the Honeybees

The excitement of receiving the new package bees quickly turned to disappointment at the Lazy Duck. After only two days, the new package bees were gone. "Absconded" is the term used in beekeeping when bees abandon their hive. To us, it was a big blow. One afternoon they were there, the next morning, they had absolutely vanished. If not for a few dead bees remaining in the box, and some slightly established comb, you wouldn't have even known they were there. It was heartbreaking.

Nobody really knows why bees abandon their hive, but we learned the following things (after the fact) related to successfully installing package bees in a new hive:

1.  Always install the package in the evening. Bees don’t leave their hive at night and this allows them to become familiar with the hive and begin installing their scent before they begin scouting out the area.
2. When installing a new package, if at all possible put them in a hive with at least one frame of established comb. This gives them a bit of a head start in having a place to put new pollen when they begin working before the queen is released from her cage. If there is hive with pollen and comb when she is released, it encourages the queen to begin laying eggs. When eggs are laid, the bees are more likely to stay as they will not abandon brood.
3. If possible, transfer a frame of brood from another hive to the new hive. This goes along with #2, in that bees will not abandon brood.
4. Put in something known as a queen keeper under the bottom frames for 1-2 weeks after installing the package, which allows the workers to come and go, but has openings too small for the larger queen to pass through. Since the bees in a hive follow the queen, if the queen can’t leave the hive, the bees won’t, either. This encourages the queen to stay and begin laying eggs and, as we know from #2, the bees won’t abandon their brood.

This has been an expensive lesson for us, as the package bees cost $150. Now our second hive boxes sit empty until we can either catch a swarm from our first hive or until we purchase another package or swarm next spring. 

Our established hive is working away. We are pretty certain the hive swarmed. This means they grew a new queen and kicked out their old one. When she left, she took half the worker bees with her. We were not able to recover that swarm. The new queen began laying after about a week. The honey that was built up was cleared out some, we suspect to make room for new brood. As summer progresses, they are left to do their work. They've visited the many blooms that have sprung up around the property, pollinating and doing all the normal honeybee activities. They have a few more months to build up their stores for winter, and in the meantime we simply monitor their progress.

Today we had a package at the post office - A Package of Bees!

Today our second colony of bees arrived! Back in February we reserved our bees from Kelley Beekeeping – with May 9^th being the earliest ship data available. (We learned too late that December or January is the best time to order to secure an early spring delivery.) The bees arrive via USPS and must be picked up at the local post office. Early his morning Tom received a call that our new friends had arrived. Living in the country, our post office is not alarmed by the arrival of the small, screened wooden crate that the bees are shipped in. We went to collect our bees and brought them home to be installed straight away.

knock knock!

It was a bit of a blessing that our first hive, well established, arrived at the lazy duck ranch weeks ago. This gave Tom a chance to grow comfortable with handling the bees before having to undertake what had seemed like the daunting task of transferring bees from the shipping box to the hive.  

Tom began by “smacking the package smartly against the ground” to knock the bees to the bottom of the box (per the instructions on the youtube video he watched to refresh himself before undertaking the installation.) He then removed the cover and extracted the feeder that kept the bees nourished in transit. He located the small box that contains the queen and set it aside. The package with the bulk of the bees was upended into the hive, from which several of the honeycomb frames had been removed.

smack smartly on the ground

safety first

The small box containing the queen was next to be introduced – she was held in place with a cork and a candy plug. Her hivemates will eat away the plug until she is released from the box and into her new home. Keeping her contained in the hive is important to helping them accept their new home. The colony of bees follows its queen. Our purchased queen bee has been marked with a dot so she may be easily located when she is in the hive. After three days, Tom will reopen the hive to verify that the queen has settled in to her new home and the colony has begun producing comb in the now vacant frames.

the queen has a white dot painted on her.

This new colony of bees has its work cut out for it to establish a store of honey to sustain them through the winter. For now, they will be supplemented with a feeder of sugar water to ensure they have are maximizing their production. Fortunately, the farm is also in full bloom with plants the bees appear to love. We've seen the bees on the blossoms on our rose, mock orange and blackberry bushes, the American holly tree, and countless other plants around the property. Their buffet also includes clover, dandelions, peonies, and soon, honeysuckle and the extensive bounty of our garden.

While our package bees are just starting out, the established colony we received has already begun to fill up the few empty honeycomb frames in the first brood box we set out. Tom added a second deep super on top of the first to allow them to expand their empire. The colony requires two deeps to last the winter, anything from additional supers on top are what we will harvest. All that jargon! Here’s a diagram to help explain.

two hives in action!

The Bees' Needs

Life at the Lazy Duck Ranch is getting as busy as... well, a bee! We have chickens in the coop, goats in the pasture, and now we are just waiting for the bees for our hives. In addition to the hive we won at the beekeeping class, we purchased another setup just like it from the same vendor and plan to have two hives started this summer. As with most things on the farm, the bees will take a year to get established, so we don't anticipate much of a honey harvest this year. Patience is the name of the gane around here!

There is a local Amish man, Albert Zook, who recently took over the business from his father making beehives. We visited his workshop to pick up our hive. It was a neat experience, just showing up to someone's house where they have goods for sale. It is pretty common here for everything from produce and eggs to furniture and, in this case, beehives. The prices from this craftsman are about half what we'd pay from the beekeeping catalogs, so it was a no-brainer to shop locally! Plus the drive through the country to his home was gorgeous. When we arrived, there were the traditional Amish clothes drying on a line out front, and no electricity or motorized vehicles to be seen. His shop was immaculate (enviable given the current dust-covered state of our own workshop). He had a good stock of what we came to buy, but needed to put a few more nails in the hive stand we wanted, and did so on the spot.

Primed

WHOOPS! Overzealous painting

We needed to get one of the hives to the man who is going to provide us with the swarm of bees. Every year, a hive of bees grows a new queen and evicts the old one. She takes half the colony with her, creating a swarm. One of the members of our beekeeping club has 30 active hives, and collects and sells the swarms rather than harvesting the honey and selling that. Since he never knows when the bees might swarm, we had to get him the setup as soon as possible. I spent hours priming and painting our first hive. Hives are painted with exterior paint to protect them from the elements. I thought I was being extremely thorough when painting ours and made sure every speck of raw wood was covered. We come to find out that - whoops! - you're only supposed to paint the outside, because the smell of the paint on the inside can disturb the bees and cause them to reject the hive. So now we have to decide if we make the trip back to Mr. Zook to purchase replacements, or attempt to remove the paint from the inside somehow (heat gun or sanding, probably). Lesson learned. We returned with a properly painted box from our second hive setup and dropped it off to await its new residents. We have a second colony of bees on order through a catalog which will arrive at the post office around May 9th.

All that remains to prepare for our bee friends is to finish painting the rest of the hive parts (just the outsides!) and order the last few supplies we need to get us going. Bees start out drinking sugar water to jump start the honey production in the hive. This initial stock of honey is what will get them through the winter. So we need dispensers for that, and possibly the recommended additives to keep our hive healthy. We also probably need a second set of protective gear so we can both work with the bees at the same time.

A New Bee-ginning

Moving to the country has opened up such a range of possibilities that our former life within the confines of an HOA would not allow. One of those things is beekeeping. We'd discussed the possibility and were thrilled to discover there is a Beekeeping Association in our new county. This weekend they hosted an introduction to beekeeping, and we were able to learn the fundamentals of starting our own apiary and harvesting honey! There were more than 50 other beekeepers-in-training in attendance, which is a good sign for the dwindling honeybee population. We want bees not only for their honey, but to pollinate the fruit trees and garden we plan to plant. In addition to video and power point presentations, we were able to go around to stations to see hands-on how the equipment works and speak to experienced local beekeepers. It was a great experience and really got us excited to get our hives set up as soon as possible so we might have honey by summer.

We learned different methods of feeding bees sugar water.

We learned how to build the brood boxes, supers and frames that make up the hive.

Our kiddo was especially fascinated by the hammering involved in hive building.

We learned how to use a smoker to calm the bees.

Finally, we learned how to extract the honey from the comb.

At the end of the class,they held a raffle to give away the beehives we'd built in the class, along with a swarm of bees to populate the hive and some necessary accessories. Lo and behold - WE WON! We planned to start off with two hives, so still need to supplement our winnings with another setup, but what a good omen to our fledgling beekeeping endeavor! 

About this blog (Introduction)

As an angst-filled teen, and later as a Literature major in college, I wrote quite a bit of poetry. I enjoyed stringing words together, creating lyrical turns of phrase and evoking emotion and imagery. Lines of poetry would come to me in flashes, in the shower or while walking to class. I would carry a journal with me to scribble these fleeting thoughts down to later expand into a full verse.

In the years since, I have scarcely put pen to journal page. One day last year, my Gram asked me if I still wrote poetry, and it rather shocked me to have to respond, “No.” I still list it on my resume as an interest, but in reality I had not been inspired to write in quite some time. It was like my life was on Prozac: flat, listless, content with just getting by on an even keel. It seemed that the highs of first love and lows of first heartbreak had been lost. It shamed me to be leading an uninspired life.

At one point after my husband left me, I was suddenly struck with a flash of inspiration. In a single, crystal clear moment, I had a notion that I could develop into a poem. I was walking home from the bus after work one day, and had a bottle of water in my hand. As the wind blew over the top of the bottle, it made a low, plaintive whistle. That sound seemed to precisely mirror the howl that was building up inside me. This first metaphor stopped me in my tracks. Over the weeks more came, and I grew used to the idea that it was alright to feel the pain brought on by my situation and even more so to find some joy in life.

One day I was wandering the East Village of New York City. I had grabbed a bite to eat at a vegetarian pub (yes, New York has everything) aptly named Kate’s Joint. As I left the pub, I realized a friend I hadn’t seen in years lived nearby. I thought why not stop by since I was literally “in the neighborhood?” I popped into the bar next to her house where I knew she was a regular and asked the manager if she was around. He said he’d just seen her go into her apartment, next door, and dragged me over to her building. He shouted her name through her open window, and she welcomed me in.

Her friend, a poet and bookstore owner who I’d heard much about over the years, was in town from Buffalo for a poetry reading. As we drank wine, and the poet rolled cigarettes on her knee, we talked about men and life and poetry. I told her, “I am just getting my fragments back,” and she understood what I meant. She read us a poem she had written that day, and I felt a warm sense of being at the right place at the right time.

These chance encounters – my Gram’s question, meeting the poet – have germinated in me for several months. As I begin to process all that has happened to me over the last year (or five or thirty years for that matter), I feel the need to put all those experiences and emotions into the written word. My goal is to reevaluate my life and transform it into an inspired, fabulous, love-filled one. So “From Nerdy to Thirty” is the story of how I hopefully accomplish that as a single, thirty year old woman.

Perhaps it’s self-serving. Maybe it’s vindictive. Hopefully it is therapeutic for me in some way, and ideally will provide some insight to others. I am a bit nervous opening up my life to the world, and I hope that the stories I share do not embarrass those involved in them. It is my intent to tell the events of my life honestly, as I remember them occurring. I may not tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth, but the version of the truth as seen through the filter that is my slightly off-balance brain.

I don’t think anyone involved (with one glaring exception) will be painted in a bad light. Just in case, I will use pseudonyms for the majority of the characters in this story. My ex-husband, for example, I have given the moniker “James” because he drinks Jameson. His son, who was named after him, I will call “Jamie.” It may be a bit confusing to follow at first for anyone who knows me, but I think it is the best solution.

It is my ultimate dream to have my story published, as a memoir, and maybe even end up on Oprah’s sofa. I know my story is not entirely unique, but I hope it is one worth telling. For now I am posting my chapters in a blog format. The feedback I receive is invaluable and will shape the story as it evolves. So I invite you to read, enjoy (or don’t!), and comment!

Almost "new year's"

A month and a half ago, I was so motivated to start this project, and to write this blog regularly. Well, as you can tell I haven't been here in awhile. However, April 7 is just around the corner. I keep thinking about the changes I would like to make, and how to go about making them, but have not put the words on this digital paper.


I've been trying to milk the last little bit of enjoyment out of my time, and truth be told, it's lost the joy. Going out for drinks just makes me tired and irritable the next day. Eating foods that are indulgent are making me gain weight. Spending money is making me feel guilty. Having set the date for my new leaf to turn over without doing the work in advance to make it truly effective has just made me feel bad that I didn't pick some earlier, arbitrary date.


That date is coming fast and furious, and while I do not have a full plan, I am still very motivated. Looking back at my list of what I want to change, I have decided to set some rules for myself to try to make those changes. The alphabetical list was:

1. Attitude
2. Drink
3. Exercise
4. Food
5. Money Management
6. Personal Presentation
7. Project Completion

Attitude
I can sometimes have a bad attitude. I generally try to maintain a positive outlook and be a good person, but the way I present myself is sometimes sarcastic, cynical, or selfish. I know that people sometimes see me as arrogant. I like to get in the last word. I can be snippy and churlish. I was never a saint, but I think when I was younger I was generally a nicer, more respectful person.I used to be the kind of person who gave gifts, brought treats to my friends, and was quick to help someone out.
Rule #1: No eye-rolling, backtalk, condescention or sarcasm. Put others first.

Drink
Alcohol has, over the years, become more than just a social lubricant for me. I come from a family where alcoholism is a real problem, and always told myself I would not fall into that trap. I try to convince myself that I am responsible and can handle my liquor. I am fooling myself. I know that if we go out drinking on a Friday night, chances are I will not be motivated to do anything on Saturday. I know that most of the arguments with my husband occur while we have been drinking. I know that the money I spend on alcohol is a waste. I know all of these things, yet I continue doing it. But I shouldn't.
Rule #2: No booze

Exercise
The last time I belonged to a gym was while I was working at the engineering firm in 2003/2004. While I was waitressing, I was at least on my feet for 8 hours a day. Now, I am a cubicle dwelling couch potato. My body hurts constantly because my muscles are too weak to support me
Rule #3: Workout at least 3 times a week for 30 minutes

Food
I became a vegetarian in 1996. It had nothing to do with health, or animal rights, though I do see those benefits to it now. It came to be beacause I had an epiphany about what meat actually was, and it really grossed me out. However, in eliminating meat from my diet, I eliminated most proteins. When I eat a meal now, I am often left feeling unsatisfied. I try to fill up by eating meals of cheese or fried food. Cook at home, and use portion control. Eating at restaurants is not only expensive, but unhealthy.
Rule #4: No eating cheese or fried food. Go Vegan.

Money Management
To be frank, my finances are a mess. I attribute it to job hopping, eating & drinking out, cost of living in New York. I am fooling myself, as I know I am just really spending outside of my means. I buy things I don't need and spend too much money on travelling. I will have to examine my options to help get my credit card balances in order.
Rule #5: Reduce credit card debt by controlling spending.

Personal Presentation
When it comes to my appearance I have gotten very lazy. Some of my clothes are out of style, in poor condition or no longer fit. I take the easy way out and wear jeans. Instead of heels, I will opt for flip-flops. I don't wake up early enough to do my hair or put on makeup. My jewelry generally just sits in my jewelry box. The result is a generally unkempt, unprofessional look. My grey hair is starting to show, and my skin care regimen is so lax that I somehow have both wrinkles and pimples. When I open my mouth, my speech is lazy and riddled with "likes" and "ums".
Rule #6: No wearing jeans, pony-tails or flip-flops to work. Think before speaking.

Project Completion
I have so many unfinished projects around the house (and in my life), from changing my name on my drivers license to finishing a quilt i started years ago. We still are not completely unpacked from our move 4 months ago. Having this never-ending to-do list weighs on the back of my mind. I should not start new projects before the old ones are completed, and I should complete the ones that are already started.
Rule #7: A project started must be finished.

So there they are, my new 7 rules. I think creating these hard and fast rules will help me make the changes. When there are things I know I SHOULD do, I sometimes choose not to do them. However, since I have established these rules to myself (and to the world, by putting them up here), I hopefully will feel much more guilty breaking them. Come April 8, I will be living my life under new rules.

Another tool in my belt

For the past week I have been trying to live my life in anticipation of this upcoming project. I know that trying to make all these changes at once will be too much, I have been trying to take small steps to get myself in a place to really tackle it. To this extent, I have done several things to proactively better my situation. Some of these are discrete tasks, but one in particular is a seemingly small item that will perhaps benefit me in the future.

I asked my boss if I could take a class in AutoCAD, which is a computer program I use for my job, but am not that proficient at. He agreed to pay for it, and I signed up. It is a three-part course at NYU's school of continuing education. I am hoping that not only will this class help me with my current job, but will be a valuable addition to my resume if I have to look for a job in the future.

The last time I decided to make a change in my life was in 2003. I was working as an Environmental Consultant for a corporation in New York City. The work I did was generally monotonous, churning out reports by the boatload. For an environmental firm, it was ridiculous how much paper I used. Anyhow, I was quickly realizing that I did not want to spend my life doing this type of work, and the options in my field within New York City seemed limited. I had enjoyed decorating my new apartment in the city, and was regretting not having pursued architecture in college. I decided that Interior Design was the next best thing. I started taking classes at FIT, in an effort to switch careers. After taking a semester's worth of classes, I began interviewing for design jobs. Eventually, I was laid off from the Engineering company. It was a blessing, as I was able to get unemployment insurance and take a job as an unpaid intern at a design-build firm.

Since that time, I have alternately worked for design firms or as a waitress. I have learned so much in the past years, about design and design resources, patience in dealing with clients, and how to run (or more accurately, how NOT to run) a small business. My ultimate goal is to one day work for myself as a designer. It is a field that is open to such possibilities, assuming you have a network of willing clients. At this point, I do not. Until that time, I hope to gather up as many skills, tools, and resources as I can to best prepare me to step out on my own. Taking this AutoCAD class is just one small piece in that puzzle.

Goooooooooooooal!

What sort of things do I need to do to get me to where I want to be in a year? Better yet, where do I want to be? Never being one to ask for help, I have never read a self-help book or seen a therapist. I don't even watch Dr. Phil. I don't know if what I am planning to do is the "right" thing, but it's the thing that makes sense to me. Thinking about what I want to accomplish, I realized that there are small tasks, large tasks, and what I am calling habits.

Small tasks are things I can do in an afternoon, such as paying bills, taking down the Christmas decorations, or putting photos in an album. These seemingly simple tasks, when not tackled, weigh on my mind and clutter my life. Large tasks take more time, but are still discrete tasks such as spring cleaning or losing five pounds.

Finally there are habits. These are the biggies. I am a task-oriented person. I love the little thrill I get by crossing off items on a list. It is my hope that by breaking these habits down into smaller tasks, they will become less intimidating. The potential downfall will be that I will be even more overwhelmed by everything I have set out before me. Time will tell. In thinking about my life, and what I want to change, the following seven areas (in alphabetical order) have come to mind.

1. Attitude
2. Drink
3. Exercise
4. Food
5. Money Management
6. Personal Presentation
7. Project Completion

Over the next seven weeks leading up to my birthday I will examine each area in depth. I want to see how each one impacts my life, what my goals are, and what needs to be done to achieve those goals.

I can tell you already that one item that will fall under number seven is this very blog. I am committing to finishing this project. I cannot guarantee that I will meet all of my goals (I have to leave something to work on for my thrity-first birthday!). But for this to have any semblance of validity, I have to at least be able, one year and 365 days (it is a leap year, after all) from now, to say that I did everything I could to make myself happy, fabulous and successful as I venture into my fourth decade of life.