So, in addition to the cut comb you saw yesterday, our crush/strain yielded a 5lb bottle of honey (plus a dribble beyond that), enough wax for 6 votives, and 3 quarts of honey water from the cappings rendering process. This honey water absolutely requires cutting before drinking - the concentration it currently has could probably have been used for ( Read more... )

Today we harvested our first crop of honey. We wound up with 37 trays of cut comb and about 5-lb of extracted honey, plus a couple pounds of beeswax - the extracted honey/wax are still straining/rendering right now. I am RIDICULOUSLY excited about this! I feel almost silly about how excited I am about it, despite every beekeeper I know saying for ( Read more... )

Bees and nutritionOne of the main themes that came up over and over and over was "good nutrition makes for healthy bees". For the commercial guys this usually means "bees that get fed are healthier than bees that don't, and bees that get fed syrup AND pollen patties are healthier than those who only get syrup ( Read more... )

Bees and the LawThere are several legal issues currently facing the beekeeping industry ( Read more... )

Jay and I split one of the meads tonight. Crafted from Wisconsin Wildflower Honey and Wisconsin Raspberries, Andy (whoever donated it, I am guessing) crafted it in December 2005, bottled it in October 2007, and then it proceeded to win 1st place at the WI State Fair in May 2008 ( Read more... )

One of the biggest research facilities for bees in the state is the UC Davis Department of Entomology, and especially their Harry H. Laidlaw Jr. Honey Bee Research Facility. Their staff presented several times at the convention.

Eric Mussen (who is the CSBA parliamentarian and leader of the pack from what I can tell over at UCD) started with "A ( Read more... )

One of the most exciting things I heard at the convention this week was during the very first day, during the very first presentation session. During the report of the committees on their activities during the year, one of the committee chairs invited Kathy Kellison up to talk about the Partners for Sustainable Pollination program. Their goal is ( Read more... )

of the gardening stuff (which reminded me why we bought the new camera which is sadly out for warranty repairs...)

Pics Here

Lavender staked up (yay! So much more open ( Read more... )

When we moved into this house almost 4 years ago, the back yard had a well established vegetable garden (with its own chain link fence, concrete foundation, irrigation, and raised beds, even) and a fairly well established herb garden, including blackberries. And by well established I mean heavily used and somewhat in need of care/upkeep ( Read more... )