Busy As A Bee

We've been so busy lately. The bees seem to be doing better, and we have green tomatoes and quite a few squash blossoms.

Just wanted to share this story we saw cross the wires.

DANVERS, Mass. – Maybe these bees were too tired to fly for themselves. A gang of honeybees landed on the wing of a plane used for flight school training at Beverly Airport. At first, the 10,000 or so bees swarmed over the left side of the aircraft, then landed on top of the left wing. The owner of the flight center called police, who said to call local bee removal expert Al Wilkins.

Wilkins used a specially designed vacuum to suck the bees off the plane, and then relocated them to hives where they will produce honey.

Wilkins guessed that the queen may have stopped to rest on the plane, and the other bees congregated around to protect her.

Garden, Garden Everywhere

As we drove around today, we couldn't help but notice all of the gardens. There seemed to be gardens everywhere we looked. Some were huge and some were only a row or two, but they were green and growing and alive.

Our garden is still hanging in there, but we may have either started some of our seeds to late or not waited long enough before planting them. It looks as if some of the plants have disappeared altogether.

We hope to do our weekly check on the bees tomorrow. Hopefully the colony will have grown and we will see some hatched brood, and maybe if we are lucky we may even see some emerging.

Here's hoping for another exciting day.

Happy Farming.

So.....He Is Worth Something

Over the weekend we received an interesting gift - from our dog. He brought us an animal. Yes, an animal. He caught a mole that had been digging up our yard.

For the last couple weeks, our dog has been digging up our yard. We had just smoothed it all out and planted new grass - he was driving us crazy.

Apparently he had been after this mole for quite some time, and luckily he caught it before it made to our garden. That would've made us mad.We knew that dog would be worth something at some point in his life.

Our garden is looking strong, and our tomatoes have several blossoms.

Hope to have some pictures up of the mole soon.

Happy Farming.

Checking out the ladies...

We checked out the bees today.They looked good. Several frames of brood were capped meaning that new bees are on the way. Since this is our first hive, we don't have a lot of experience, but we think that were not that many bees.

We think that those bees are looking low in number, but as the bees start hatching the numbers will improve. Hopefully, they will increase the number and start building up the colony. Even if we don't get honey this year, we hope that we can at least get the frame built out in the first two boxes.

Anyways, it was exciting and we hope that the bees continue to grow and build.

While we were out there, we checked on the garden. The vegetables look good...can't wait. Have a good weekend.

Happy Farming!

Winner Winner Chicken Dinner

Congratulations to our contest winner - Bovee Brigade. Thanks to all who responded. We appreciate it.

We were going to check on the bees this evening, but it was a little overcast. We will wait until a sunny day to open up the hive - that way more are out and about.

The garden is looking good. We have blossoms on some of our tomatoes and our beans are growing nice and healthy. Some our peppers and tomatoes are looking rather puny, but hopefully they'll perk up soon.

Looks like some good rain coming in this weekend and then some beautiful, growing, sunny weather.

Happy Farming.

Vanquished The Foe

Prickers no more!

We were able to get out back behind the fence this evening and cut out all the bushes growing in through fence and cut them back. Thus, they will stay out of our garden.

We followed a dirt trail out back through the woods and found the back of our house. We were a little afraid (maybe more than a little) of snakes out there. Since there were a lot of blackberries coming ripe, we thought there may be some animals out for a snack; there were no animal snacking on the berries or us, thankfully.

Hopefully, we will be able to collect some blackberries and make some nice jam. We love blackberry jam, and it is so simple to make/ Maybe when we get a batch going, we'll fill you in on the details.

By the way, the bees seem to be all back on track without any intruders attacking this afternoon.

Happy Farming.

Double Good News

The first good news:

The bees look good. We put on the entrance reducer to the smallest entrance, and it looks like they fought off the invaders. Yeah - go bees, go bees, you bad.

The second good news:

From a press release sent out by Haagen-Dazs:

Buzz into any participating Häagen-Dazs Shop on May 12th for a “Free-bee” scoop during Häagen-Dazs ice cream’s annual Free Flavor Day!

On Tuesday, May 12, 2009, consumers can visit any participating Häagen-Dazs Shop between 4 p.m. and 8 p.m. to receive a free scoop of any of Häagen-Dazs bee-built flavor. Since honey bees pollinate ingredients essential to more than 50 percent of Häagen-Dazs ice cream’s all-natural flavors, consumers will have a large assortment of flavors from which to choose.

To find a nearby Häagen-Dazs Shop where you can participate in the Free Flavor Day festivities, go here.


Go in and remember to thank the bees.

Thanks to moneysavingmom for the heads up.

Happy Farming.