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Across the Fence:  bee hives  |
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julia hayes
True Blue Farmgirl
1132 Posts
julia
medical lake
wa
USA
1132 Posts |
 Posted - Jan 08 2009 : 07:01:20 AM
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Is it just me or is there anyone else out there suddenly desiring to keep bees? I don't know but I think I've caught a whiff of our Queen Bee's magical scent! I've actually been thinking about it for a few years...I think this may be the year I gather gear though. Too exciting! Let me know if anyone else has caught the buzzzzzzzzzzzzzz!!! ~julia hayes
being simple to simply be
Farmgirl #30
www.julia42.etsy.com |
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willowtreecreek
True Blue Farmgirl
4813 Posts
Julie
Russell
AR
USA
4813 Posts |
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Mumof3
True Blue Farmgirl
3890 Posts
Karin
Ellenwood
GA
USA
3890 Posts |
Posted - Jan 08 2009 : 07:10:34 AM
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I have wanted bee hives since I was a little girl. The family that lived behind us kept bees for their apple orchard. I loved hearing the hum as I walked past and the honey that they made was fabulous! Can't get the hubs on my side though. One day I will have my little farm somewhere and it will have bee hives. I say, "Go for it, Julia!!"
Karin
Farmgirl Sister
# 18 :)
www.perfectlittlemiracle.blogspot.com
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bohemiangel
True Blue Farmgirl
2087 Posts
Bridget
Ligonier
pa
USA
2087 Posts |
Posted - Jan 08 2009 : 07:45:34 AM
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I think it's great! Especially since it's a "dying" art. We had honeycombs and busy bees in my grandparents stone house (the outside portion but didn't want them to come in) and hired a beekeeper guy that takes them out without harming them. :) I was so proud of my farm family for caring and knowing about how the bees are disappearing. It was interesting watching him.
**~~Farmgirl Sister #60~~**
"... to thine ownself be true."
http://liggybitsandpieces.blogspot.com/
http://ligonierliving.blogspot.com/
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graciegreeneyes
True Blue Farmgirl
3107 Posts
Amy Grace
Rosalia
WA
USA
3107 Posts |
Posted - Jan 08 2009 : 07:53:14 AM
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Julia - I too have had the idea in the back of my consciousness for a while, but reading the new issue of MJF has provided inspiration galore. It may be a couple of years before we can do it - we are starting chickens this year - but I am definitely planning my flower plantings with pollinators in mind
Amy Grace
Farmgirl #224
"use it up, wear it out, make it do, or do without" |
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chessie
True Blue Farmgirl
403 Posts
Karen
Vista
CA
USA
403 Posts |
Posted - Jan 08 2009 : 07:53:42 AM
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OH Honey, I want Bees! A couple years ago, a swarm of bees "rested", for lack of a better word, on my ranch wire fence overnight. I tried to to talk them into staying around, but they had places to go apparently. The resting swarm was fascinating to watch - they undulated and moved as a group, all the while saying put. It was better than tv...i will look for the pictures i took and if i find them i'll post one here...but the result was I really want bees! The Simply Bee issue has cemented the desire.
Blessings,
Karen
www.edgehillherbfarm.com "where the name is bigger than the farm, but no one seems to mind"
blog http://edgehillherbfarmer.spaces.live.com/default.aspx?wa=wsignin1.0
happy farmgirl #89 |
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K-Falls Farmgirl
Chapter Leader
2096 Posts
Cheryl
Klamath Falls
Oregon
USA
2096 Posts |
Posted - Jan 08 2009 : 07:58:33 AM
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Strange how bee for MJ issue and the information about a dying cratft, We decided to raise bees too.. My husband is scheduled to take a class in Portland in March.. He & I both have had some experience with them and as part of our "back to the farm" dream will have a hive or two. So Bee it!
http://www.k-fallsfarmgirl.blogspot.com/
Come visit the barn at http://barndoorcreations.blogspot.com/
Cheryl
Farmgirl #309
"If you don't like something, change it. If you can't change it, change your attitude." Maya Angelou |
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julia hayes
True Blue Farmgirl
1132 Posts
julia
medical lake
wa
USA
1132 Posts |
Posted - Jan 08 2009 : 08:09:13 AM
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Alright right that's it! I'm putting out to the Universe that I want to do this. Now all I have to do is wait for it to respond. I'll let you know when I run into someone needing to get rid of their stuff...This is the way it typically happens...I'm thrilled...can not wait...I'm just feeling super-gized about Life these days...Things are good...just so good! loads of buzzing bee kisses to you! ~julia
being simple to simply be
Farmgirl #30
www.julia42.etsy.com |
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ruralfarmgirl
True Blue Farmgirl
4309 Posts
Rene'
Prosser
WA
USA
4309 Posts |
Posted - Jan 08 2009 : 08:13:52 AM
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Last year, Alee posted about the bee population suffering and sent us to Burt bee website to get bee friendly flower seeds to support the bees... of course we did.. I would think that if you can’t have bees for yourself then what a great way to support the bees.
But Julia I am so with you... I have been stitching bees on tea towels and singing the Archie’s... "Honey, aw sugar, sugar... you are my candy girl........." anyway... I just lost all the young'en's wondering who the Archie’s are...............but you get my point.........Even stamping "aint mis-beehaving", onto everything :)
2 years ago, my hubby took me to a co-workers house to buy honey... I figured he must live on a farm, right? Wrong... he lives in town and has a hive build onto a window in his kitchen. He just access the hive from his KITCHEN.................Now really, WHO KNEW! So, While I am in the middle of building my Hen Hotel, and my SQ foot garden boxes, OH and I found a Cast Iron Claw foot tub for sell that I am going to go "pick up", and the Mavens all wanting to plant outhouse hollyhocks (which would require at least a token outhouse), now add bees... seems right some how. Luckily, I have a whole swarm of farmgirls here in Prosser who are always up for some farmgirl fun... and our hubby's just shake there heads and look at each other in that all to knowing look... I say, "Bring on the bees".
Rene~Prosser Farmgirl #185
http://farmchicksfarm.blogspot.com/
Circumstances made us FRIENDS; MaryJane's has made us SISTERS :) |
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Carol Sue
True Blue Farmgirl
4033 Posts
Carol Sue
Washingtonian
USA
4033 Posts |
Posted - Jan 08 2009 : 1:41:47 PM
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Go Julia go, we have chickens and would love bees, wonder how much we can get away with here in our little mobile home park space. Yes, want to do square foot gardeing too, have book, have been doing the reading. Hubby has always wanted to do bees, has the books on it too. Hmmmmm, we shall see how life goes.....buzzz buzzzzz buzzzzz
www.Quitemoments.blogspot.com |
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katmom
True Blue Farmgirl
17161 Posts
Grace
WACAL Gal
WashCalif.
USA
17161 Posts |
Posted - Jan 08 2009 : 3:47:28 PM
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OK, Julia,
when you get the Bee's send them over to my lavender plants & fruit trees.. hmmm, lavender honey... oh yummy!
>^..^< Happiness is being a katmom.
"I've never met a sewing machine I didn't like!"
mjf#72
Sisters on the Fly#472
www.katmom4.blogspot.com
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kydeere40744
True Blue Farmgirl
1132 Posts
Jessica
Kentucky
USA
1132 Posts |
Posted - Jan 08 2009 : 6:48:35 PM
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Wow, I was getting ready to post up this article that was in the Lexington Herald Leader about beekeeping.
http://www.kentucky.com/471/story/647015.html
Researchers focus on bringing missing bees back
By GENARO C. ARMAS - Associated Press Writer
STATE COLLEGE, Pa. -- Scientists in the field and the lab are trying to solve a mystery critical to the future of American agriculture: Why are honeybee hives failing at a disturbingly high rate?
Some researchers are studying whether pesticides and other chemicals used in fields and gardens might affect honeybees, as well as bumblebees and other insects that pollinate crops. Other research, including an experiment at Eastern Kentucky University, is focusing on building more habitat - planting trees, shrubs and flowers that pollinators prefer.
Bees are vital to U.S. agriculture because they pollinate many flowering crops, including almonds, apples and blueberries. The bee pollination is responsible for $15 billion annually in crop value.
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External Link Pollinator Partnership
Honeybees, a non-native species from Europe, are the pollinators of choice because they are easier to manage and are more plentiful - a single colony can contain 20,000 workers. By comparison, a bumblebee colony may have only a couple of hundred worker bees.
The honeybees have taken a hit over the years from mites and, most recently, colony collapse disorder, in which beekeepers have found affected hives devoid of most bees. Bees that remain appear much weaker than normal.
Beekeepers in 2006 began reporting losing 30 percent to 90 percent of their hives. Since then the annual loss rate has been roughly 33 percent, according to government estimates.
The first case of colony collapse disorder was officially reported in Pennsylvania, and Penn State University has been spearheading research. Maryann Frazier, a senior extension associate at the school's entomology department, said researchers remain concerned about the number and combination of pesticides that have been detected in decimated hives.
"We realize it's much more complicated than what we thought a year ago," Frazier said recently. "From what we know now, it's not something we'll figure out very, very quickly."
Native pollinators also are being monitored. The National Academy of Sciences in 2006 found declining populations of several bee species, along with other native pollinators like butterflies, hummingbirds and bats.
The report suggested that landowners can take small steps to make sure habitats are more "pollinator friendly," like by growing more native plants.
And that's what scientists appear to be doing on a larger scale across the country in hopes of bringing bees back.
One such track is at the Environmental Research Institute at Eastern Kentucky University, where apiculturalist Tammy Horn oversees an experiment in apiforestation, a term described by the school as a "new form of reclamation focused on planting pollinator-friendly flowers and trees."
The project in central Kentucky is in its first year. Horn is working with local coal companies to plant trees, shrubs, and native wildflowers on reclaimed lands that would be attractive to pollinators, rather than the once-typical scenario of planting only high-value hardwoods to establish a timber industry.
There are years of study still to go, though there are no signs of colony collapse disorder so far, Horn said.
Local support from residents and coal companies has been encouraging to Horn. It helps that locals have family ties to beekeeping, with parents and grandparents perhaps dabbling in the hobby before it started to become less popular locally.
The rallying point has been concern about the disappearing bees, she said.
"That's been important for my project to succeed," Horn said in a phone interview. "Even people who don't care about beekeeping show up to (beekeeping workshops) in eastern Kentucky and know it's important. They like showing up on mine sites to see that coal mines care enough to invest in it."
The idea is intriguing enough to draw interest for similar projects in other parts of the country, including California and Pennsylvania.
"The more of these pollinator-friendly areas we have... the more likely we are able to retain bee species," said Karen Goodell, an ecology professor at Ohio State University trying to find the right mix of plants and trees to build native bee populations.
Her project is housed at The Wilds, a private, nonprofit conservation center located on nearly 10,000 acres of reclaimed mine land in rural southeastern Ohio.
"It's not as much a scientific study as a 'Let's do this and see what happens,'" Goodell said.
Though Goodell's work deals with native bees, she said the plight of the honeybees has drawn more attention to her work. Boosting native bees also could end up helping farmers, she added.
"Those populations would then be contributing to colonizing areas that have lost bees because of poor management," Goodell said. "Definitely, these bees will be playing a role in pollination services."
Jessica
Blog: http://bluegrassprincess.blogspot.com/
Etsy: http://kyphotography.etsy.com
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windypines
True Blue Farmgirl
4260 Posts
Michele
Bruce
Wisconsin
USA
4260 Posts |
Posted - Jan 09 2009 : 12:47:20 PM
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I have been wanting to keep bee's for about a year now. Just been kind of overwelmed as to what to do first. I have looked at some websites and still lost. I need someone to hold my hand! Loved the bee issue also.
Michele |
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Buffalomary
True Blue Farmgirl
199 Posts
Mary
Caldwell
ID
USA
199 Posts |
Posted - Jan 10 2009 : 5:40:31 PM
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I have to admit, I caught the buzzzz as well. I love the latest edition of the mag and will now have to find out if I can have bees. I have already planned on have several flower beds to bring the bees in but the idea of having my own hive is definitely "buzzing" in the back of my mind. (Laura, stop your giggling, Mommy can hear you!!  ) I have to giggle about the idea of having an outhouse to have outhouse hollyhocks as well. I have been working on my plans for building an outhouse to use as a tool shed! I just haven't decide what color to paint it yet! buzzzzz, buzzzzzz, buzzzzz...
Buffalomary
Farmgirl Sister #293
You can take the farmer's daughter off the farm but you can't take the farm out of the farmer's daughter!!
Please visit me at my blog: http://buffalomaryscorner.blogspot.com |
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lisamarie508
True Blue Farmgirl
2648 Posts
Lisa
Idaho City
ID
USA
2648 Posts |
Posted - Jan 10 2009 : 6:18:16 PM
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I have to admit, I've been considering a hive myself. Just one should be sufficient. I have some fruit trees and plan to plant more. Some years, I have lots of bees and some years, hardly any. This year was pretty good and I got lots of apples and plums. I do have nesting boxes for mason bees, but they don't seem to be filling them up very fast. Our judge (who keeps bees) says people need to leave the dandelions alone for the bees' sake. So, if I get a hive, I would have a great excuse not to pull them all up every year!
Farmgirl Sister #35
"If you can not do great things, do small things in a great way." Napoleon Hill (1883-1970)
my blog:
http://lisamariesbasketry.blogspot.com/
[size=1]My apron website:
http://lisamariesaprons.bravehost.com [size=1] |
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cheneygal
True Blue Farmgirl
503 Posts
Suzie
Cheney
Wa.
USA
503 Posts |
Posted - Jan 10 2009 : 8:37:24 PM
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Speaking of bees, LisaMarie, you made me think about this....any one in the Spokane area have Mason Bees??? We had several boxes on the west side, but left them there for our renters to enjoy, wish I had them now.....!!
live, laugh, love |
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katmom
True Blue Farmgirl
17161 Posts
Grace
WACAL Gal
WashCalif.
USA
17161 Posts |
Posted - Jan 10 2009 : 10:22:50 PM
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Hey Suzie,
what are Mason bees ?????
>^..^<
>^..^< Happiness is being a katmom.
"I've never met a sewing machine I didn't like!"
mjf#72
Sisters on the Fly#472
www.katmom4.blogspot.com
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cheneygal
True Blue Farmgirl
503 Posts
Suzie
Cheney
Wa.
USA
503 Posts |
Posted - Jan 11 2009 : 8:56:38 PM
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Hey Katmom.....been awhile!! Mason bees are the type of bees that pollinate your fruit trees, (of course), look like a fly of sorts, are not agressive and do not sting unless they are threatened. You can purchase a "bee box", they are generally wood boxes, with several holes, about straw size in diameter, some bee boxes have many holes. Anyway.....the bees, when done pollinating make the openings in the boxes their homes for the next 9 mos. They usually make a mixture of mud and water and "build themselves into the openings". They generally are active when the temps. get to 60 degrees, and for the most part have their pollinating done in 3 weeks.The reason I got interested in this was because of my Dad, my mom was the Pres. of the Enumclaw Garden Club for quite a few years, and my dad being a "woodworker" made bee boxes for all the ladies in the garden club one year as table favors for a yearly breakfast they do. He gave me one....I put it away....several years later we bought one....then I remembered my dear dad made, so put it up also. I'd kind of like to get back into that. No work, just enjoyment!! And, a legacy from Dad!!
live, laugh, love |
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Lavendar fields dreamer
True Blue Farmgirl
1032 Posts
little monkeys mommy
washington
USA
1032 Posts |
Posted - Jan 11 2009 : 11:40:38 PM
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ok bees are awesome but i am too scared of them to keep them but love the honey so julia i shall be one of your loyal local customers
lavendar girl
http://lavendarfieldsdreamer.blogspot.com/ |
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Across the Fence: bee hives |
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bee hives
