A beautiful day on the farm! We harvested the last of the greens and cabbages so Bob could till the soil. He planted carrots and radishes in one row and onions in another. The potatoes are cut up and ready to be planted tomorrow. The sun porch is full of seedlings.
We got our bee packages last Wednesday right in the midst of the spring freeze. We installed them in the hives, fed them with sugar water and prayed they would survive the brutal temperatures. We briefly checked them a couple days ago just to reassure ourselves that they were still alive, and we have been watching them come and go on sunny days, but today was the day to make sure the queen had been released and eggs were being laid. I suited up, stoked the smoker and headed out. The queens had been released in both hives. There was comb and what seemed to be capped comb. The only problem: we put two supers on top of each other, a deep super with frames and a medium super where we could put food and the package in which they came so they could all escape. We put the inner cover on top of that and then the outer cover. The bees built their own comb attached to the inner cover! So, when I lifted the cover, I pulled up a whole bunch of bees! But, there was capped comb and as long as I managed not to kill the queen, I think we are on our way. Our goal this year is just to keep them alive…next year, we may get some honey.
It’s been quite a year on the farm: we added chickens, pig, and bees! Here’s a slide show of pictures from the day: