Isn’t this exciting! After several false-starts, dead-ends, and a couple of broken promises, we’ll be launching an online store here on the site within the next couple of weeks! Check back here for the announcement or drop us a line here and ask to be added to our email list.
Rendering wax for fools
Beeswax is amazing stuff: hard and strong, but also flexible in the warmth of the hive. Because it takes a lot of resources for the bees to produce it, they’re very frugal with it. The workers have to eat roughly 7kg of nectar and honey to produce 1kg of wax, so they build it only where it’s necessary and in …
What does a beekeeper do in January?
In the Northern latitudes, a lot of thinking and planning. Reading. The beginning of a new year is a great, symbolic, time to think of the year ahead: set goals, make plans, get ready to go, start to right some wrongs from the previous year. Our hives are all wood and while it’s generally pretty durable, things do get damaged …
Goodbye, and good riddance, 2018!
Boy, it’s great to see the back-end of 2018! It’s been quiet around here for good reason: we’ve been trying to figure out if we wanted to continue in this business or just pack it in. It’s been that kind of year. Something that we’ve always been proud of is that we’re generally able to keep our losses in the same …
February: Warm & wet?
February generally brings a warm spell in Eastern Ontario. This year, it’s also bringing rain. Lots of rain: Environment Canada is predicting 25 – 40mm of rain and highs above 10C in the next couple of days. So much for the snow. Temperature swings in the winter can wreak havoc in a hive. In a good winter, it gets cold …
Black Beekeepers Are Transforming Detroit’s Vacant Lots Into Bee Farms
A wonderful story of hope and renewal arising from the ruins of Detroit’s inner city: “Work hard, stay bumble” is their nonprofit motto. Source: Black Beekeepers Are Transforming Detroit’s Vacant Lots Into Bee Farms
Elephants Are Very Scared of Bees. That Could Save Their Lives. – The New York Times
This is very cool. Who would have thought that an animal’s innate fear of another creature could be put to good use like this? Source: Elephants Are Very Scared of Bees. That Could Save Their Lives. – The New York Times
January: It’s cold out there!
Weather conditions Cloudy +3.2°C High +0.7°C Low (Not recorded) Wind Winter is usually in full force in January in our area. Temperatures can vary over a wide range, but they have one thing in common: it’s cold! On the first weekend of January, there was a windchill warning issued. Environment Canada was forecasting windchill values of -30C or colder. The …
Introducing ‘A Year in The Yard’
In 2018, we’re going to try something completely different. Each month, we’ll highlight some activity that we’re undertaking or the bees are up to that are generally specific to a particular month. For instance, December isn’t generally busy for beekeepers in our neck of the woods. The bees are safely ensconced in their hives, entrance reducers and solid bottoms in …
Beekeepers & Arthritis
If you ever do any research into apitherapy, you’ll eventually run across the claim that beekeepers don’t get arthritis and that it’s due to being stung all the time. First, let me disabuse you of this myth: it just ain’t so! I’ve been keeping bees since 2008 and have been stung more times than I care to count, including my …