Thursday, September 25, 2008

beekeeping 101

Last year, Lorraine really impressed me with her incredulous descriptions of her first beekeeping experiences.

As we all suited up our bee gear, i felt much like the crew of the Nostromo, and we all know how that turned out...
(anyone?) I wasn't nervous, I have been stung plenty, however, there was an air of respect, we spoke in hushed tones...

She promised me I could help harvest some honey from the Kitty hive but first we visited the other hives in the new electric-fenced area. A good thing we went to these hives first...

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the Mimi and Kelli hives were very peaceful, sweet bees tumbling out, bumping into us politely...
here is my favorite picture of Quiche, the picture of calm:

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they showed me how to use a smoker to control the bees (somewhat):

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Sharon our birdchick & her husband Bill were great guides...he sacrificed a bee suit so that others would be protected...
here Shazz holds a tray of pollen and bee debris:

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pointing out how to harvest honey from the frames:

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she even wrestled me in my bee suit:

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Neil carefully attends to the bees:

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although i look puzzled, am more entranced really, the buzzing is hypnotic:

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bee on my glove:

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Kelli bees:

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we ventured over to the Kitty/Olga hive and the mood grew a bit darker.

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within two minutes of taking the lid off, Neil and Euan were both stung, and then quickly after, Dog went dashing away, licking his wounds:

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here Sharon has a snack direct off the comb:

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and Quiche cleans the frame of the delicious honey:

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so grateful for this chance.

4 comments:

Dan Guy said...

Also, way awesome picture-taking!

Dread Val said...

The wrestling's funny. :) Good pictures!

Did Quiche show you my painting form the show yet? (And yes, I do feel like I'm about five years old, trying to get the grownups to look at my art…)

Rubius said...

Wow... that's some awesome honey-harvesting. Thanks for hte photo album. I almost feel like I was there... and I wish I were because honey harvesting is a dream for me.

Those Kitty/Olga bees know how to protect their own.

Dragonsally said...

Its wonderful getting all these different perspectives of the honey stealing escapades and with the added bonus of great photos.