Bees Update

The other day it got warm and the bees went crazy!  They were very busy bees.  But it was only a great big swarm for about 20 minutes, then they went back to normal.  

I had to get in the hive again on Wednesday to take out the bee box they came in and to put in more frames and feed them more sugar syrup.  This time AL was m brave photog.

Here's the smoker and the hive and the pot of sugar syrup.  The sugar syrup is 2 parts sugar to one cup water.  I think i did 6 cups of sugar this time. 

The smoker totally works!  I was truly amazed.  They run right back into the depths between the frames.

Moving the frames around.....

Buzz buzz bees

I think I found my queen.  She's a little longer than the others.  She was sort of at the end of my finger when this picture was taken, but I can't find her in the pic.  Even when I try to zoom in.

Reclaiming the Yard

Our backyard had been lost under butterfly bush branches for too long!
AL helped me reclaim my yard, she stacked all teh branches and we mowed. and I've been weeding....

BEFORE

AFTER

I'm a Beekeeper now!

I picked up my 3 lbs of bees today.

Here are some stacks of bee boxes at the bee supply place.  My bees were actually in much larger stacks! 


Here they are in the back of my trunk, along with a few other bee necessities.  Like a bee suit, and a hat.  (The home fax/copier/scanner is not for the bees.)  The lady at the bee place said "You DO NOT want to let them tip over in your car."  The sound of them buzzing was pretty intense.

Hanging out in their box in my garage.

One big mass of bees in a box.

They're really really pretty.....  The pics just don't do them justice.  They're amazingly yellow and kind of glow.  I took SO MANY pictures and just couldn't quite get it.  My bees are Italian bees, they're supposed to be less aggressive then the Carniolans, black bees, which were the other option.  The Italians are yellow, the usual honey bee, and of course they like pasta and wine.

Got the suit!  Got the hat!  Got the veil!  Got the gloves!  Got the BEES!

When I tilt the box back and forth, the bee mass tilts too.....

First you get your hive ready.  Then you pull out the can of bee food which is also the box stopper.  It was really hard to get out, and my gloves are way too big.  So I had to take a glove off.  

I had to put the glove back on REALLY FAST because once I got that plug out those bees started flying everywhere!

Lucky for me, Tina was nice enough and brave enough to get and stay close enough to take all these pictures.  Here's the rest of the audience.  As soon as those bees started flying they decided that a further vantage point was probably a better idea!

Checking on the queen...... She's in her own little box.  I had to pull the cork out and plug the hole with marshmallows.  The bees will eat the marshmallows to release their queen.

Unplugging the bee box again!

Putting the box in the hive.....  I read 3 different sets of directions on how to deal with package bees, and each said different things.  I decided I liked the one that said to put the whole box in and leave it in for a week instead of the ones that say to shake all the bees out.  

Putting in the feeder tray.  I made lots of sugar syrup to fill the feeder tray.  2 parts sugar to one part water.  Now I have to go by more sugar and make even more!  I also put little wood chunks in it for the bees to float on, to prevent them from drowning in their food.

Then you dump the bee food all over the inside of the hive.

There's the bee box in the hive with 5 frames and the feeder frame.

Pretty sugar syrup everywhere!

Putting on the cover.

Yay!  All done!

That was pretty intense.  I had a bee inside my veil right away.  But I didn't get stung!  Neither did Tina, and she was only about 4 or 5 feet away from me.  One landed on her arm and just hung out for a minute.  When I pulled that plug and they started flying everywhere my heart started beating a little bit faster.  It was pretty neat though, dealing with all those bees.  I'm excited to have my own pet honeybees!
Now according to some directions I'm supposed to leave them for a week and not get in the hive at all, according to others I'm supposed to get in there after 24 hours and THEN let them release the queen, then get in there in another 24 and find the queen, and all this other stuff.  I think I'll get in there in a few days to take out the queen box and maybe the bee box and check and make sure they have enough food.  I'll compromise somewhere in the middle of all the varying directions.

Wedding blog

I started a wedding blog for all pertinent wedding info and updates if anyone wants to check it out

Things are growing

The sun came out for day, so I went out in the garden.
Our backyard is still under a pile of butterfly bush branches. I have borrowed a chipper from the neighbors twice, and both times it didn't work. First time it was broken and she didn't know, second it still wasn't working right and just wouldn't stay running.
I worked on weeding the front yard and pulling up the nasty horrible annoying weed fabric that seems to be hiding EVERYWHERE in our yard.

Exciting coming alongs:

First dahlia shoot!



the strawberries are getting crazy!



Still no sign of asparagus.......

Bees!

I took a little bee keeping class..... the last class was last night. It was all really interesting, but I wasn't sure if I wanted to go ahead and do it or not. For one thing, the equipment is kind of expensive and the whole thing is a little intimidating. But then I dreamed about bees all night. I woke up and knew I wanted a backyard beehive. So today I ordered bees! 3 pounds of bees and they arrive on May 5th. So I have until then to collect my supplies and set up a hive. I have been checking craigslist for used supplies and so far I have some good leads. I may be able to set it all up for quite a lot less than I feared! I'm also comforted by the fact that I don't HAVE to set it up to harvest honey and if I do I can't do it until next summer anyway! The thing I find the most intimidating about the hive management is that every spring you're supposed to find your queen bee, kill her and smear her on the front of the baseboard of the hive. Then get a new queen be to put in the hive after 24 hours...... Something about that just really bothers me! Poor queen, works hard for you all year and then you smear her! How rude! It's so brutal!

Easter Arrivals

My brother has a new companion.




We made a mad dash trip down to the Eug for Easter festivities and to meet the new addition to our family. World, drool over Baxter. Our new little fuzzy guy friend. He is way too painfully cute, and I just don't think I can post enough pictures of him to really do it justice..... but I'll try.








the best part for me was that Rosie was very nice to the puppy, they even played a little bit!






We did fun Easter Stuff too. The egg hunt, the dyeing of eggs, the making and eating of good food.....

babysitting adventures

We had some kids over to party on friday night. We did some awesome sculpting, let me tell ya! This ones my fav, it's an elephant as you can see!



Here are the artists with the masterpiece:



the masterpiece itself! it is a pirate ship, and the pirate and mermaid are on their honeymoon.



the smallest artist borrowed my shoes.

Pi Day

Happy Pi day! Jeff made onion pies for his classes. I didn't get to try any, evidently there weren't any leftovers!

Wedding Clothing

Yesterday I thought i was going to work, but all the work evaporated. I called AL and we made a mad dash trip to the Gap Outlet in Woodburn, where we purchased a grip of dresses for all my bridesmaids..... We had talked about making them and I wanted to model them after the black dress I got from the Gap to wear in Anatomists wedding. AL said to me on Wednesday "They have them at the Gap Outlet in gray. And they're on sale." 24$ each. not bad, i say. and my sister found the shoes everyone's going to wear, at Target online for $20. After the outlet mall AL and I went to NW 23rd to a silk dress store where I had tried on dresses with my Mom and Sis awhile back. There was this one dress that I just really loved..... So I talked to the guy about what I wanted, the gray green color and similar style to the dress I tried on, but with a few changes. He said they only had enough of the fabric for one more dress and he was supposed to be holding it for someone else. I was SO bummed..... Then he seemed to reconsider, said that this color was only one of three choices this other woman was deciding between. So he said he would make it up for me and tell her she'll have to pick something similar or one of her other choices. I think he realized that he would make more money giving me what I wanted, especially since I said I wanted to have a tie made and some other things. So i totally lucked out, and am so glad we went in when we did because if I had gone in Saturday it might have been too late! And in the end I'm getting a custom made silk dress for $305. Wedding plans are rolling right along. It's seems so far yet so close, only 6 months from yesterday. We'll be sending out our save the date magnets real soon! I'm talking to a caterer about whether I can do a pig roast within my budget. Maybe if ALL they do is the pig..... We'll see.

Night of Magic

Jeff and I attended the PTA fundraiser event of the YEAR last night, the NIGHT OF MAGIC! It was a big ol' silent auction AND a live auction. There were fancy snack foods, lots of booze, and a 16 piece string band followed by a DJ. It was a strange scene, but was a total blast! You could buy a pint glass or wine glass (with the school name and logo on 'em) for $5 and have endless beer or wine. I was misinformed and thought there was dinner, so I hadn't eaten beforehand. There was no dinner, but I made up for that in beer and horsdouevres. We bid on a few things, Jeff and some other parents conspired to win a day with the kindergarten teacher for 4 of the kids. So those kids are pretty freaking lucky, and they're excited about that. I got myself a sweet paid of adidas for $10. Afterwards we went out for drinks with some of the other parents. It was the latest I've stayed out in a long time, and today I had one of the worst hangovers I've had in AGES. I'm just so boring these days. It often strikes me as funny and odd that I spend my time going to PTA functions and such...... The right words for all of it elude me.

Asparagus trench!

Back in the garden again

I love plants. I love planting plants. Today I discovered a new heaven in North Portland. I went to Pistils Nursery on Mississippi. It's beautiful. I can't even describe how happy that place made me and I'm even happier that it's really close to my house. They sell all sorts of cool plants, indoor plants and outdoor plants and air plants and garden stuff and chickens and everything. They even teach classes on keeping chickens in the city and Vermiculture and beekeeping! I think I'll start small, vermiculture for sure and MAYBE beekeeping......

We got started on some major yard work this last weekend and I am now a woman possessed. We moved our 4 blueberry bushes from the middle of the yard (not the most convenient place, not very Rosie running or soccer ball kicking friendly) to a lovely patch on the side of the yard. We made a little area next to them for an herb garden. Today I got strawberry plants (I showed great restraint, that is ALL I got at my new heaven) and I planted them around the blueberry bushes. I think I'm going to plant some asparagus and some rhubarb on the other side of the blueberries from the herbs. I think if we keep the butterfly bushes under control then the plants should get enough light there. They had some really nice asparagus crowns at Pistils, big ones. So maybe we'll only have to wait 2 years for a harvest.

In other news, I got a part time job to ensure some consistent income. It's intense, but so far it's going well. I work in an office in Multnomah Village for a Commercial Real Estate Broker and Investor, he also manages properties and assets. I've been writing up a lot of commercial leases. Our office is right next to a really nice yarn shop, so that could be trouble.