Still curious about the Stella

Cameron is also a friend of Deborah and Butch. We've all known each other forever, possibly longer. In fact, he is partially responsible for the outyard in Foster. When he told Deb I keep bees, she wanted to know more, and he gave me her telephone number at RiRa's one Saturday night. Thanks, Cam!

Anyway, when I posted the photograph of the Stella guitar hanging from the garden fence, I invited him to have a look. His email reply included a theory:

The garden looks great, and I agree that the guitar is an odd addition to a fence. Maybe it's so the deer can have dinner music while consuming the fruits of [Butch's] labor.

I laughed out loud. I hadn't considered dinner music for deer...and rabbits...and woodchucks...and...

When I deliver some honey to Deb this week I am going to have to ask about it.

Reminds me of the song...

I'm not sure why a Stella guitar is attached to the garden fence, but I find it funky and amusing!

Besides being decorated in colors evocative of dusk in the American southwest, it has an angel painted on the front of it. Hopefully a guardian of vegetable gardens and apiaries...

4th of July in the Foster outyard

Mike removing frames of honey for extraction.

Independence Day in the Foster outyard

We began extracting honey yesterday. The established colony here in our garden produced a small amount of Spring honey, somewhat less than we expected, in fact. When he inspected the outyard in Charlestown, Mike was surprised by the amount of frames that were capped and ready to take. 

Our hives in Charlestown and in Foster were newly installed in April so we really didn't expect much or any honey from them until next year, especially since it was such a wet season until June. New colonies must expend tremendous energy in their first season building out foundation for brood production and food storage, as well as producing their own honey for winter. So any honey in the first year is a gift, I think. Spring honey in the first year feels like a little miracle.

Because of the holiday it was even more quiet than usual when we drove out to Foster yesterday afternoon. Dogs baying in the woods, birds singing, bees humming. That was all. I hadn't been there in a couple of weeks (Mike had done those inspections for me) and was so pleasantly surprised to see Butch and Deb's garden was brimming with plants. A month ago Butch was laboring like mad and seemed a bit discouraged because he hadn't been able to complete his planting by Memorial Day. Yesterday, his worries seemed unfounded. The garden looks lush and wonderful!

When Mike opened the first hive yesterday, we were truly amazed at the amount of capped honey there. As of this morning we haven't yet extracted and weighed all the Foster honey, but we are so pleasantly surprised at, and very deeply grateful for the abundance of honey from those two young colonies! Wait until Butch and Deb receive their percentage of honey from this first extraction of the year. I hope they will be just as happily surprised as we are.

It was difficult for me to leave once we were finished working in Foster. Besides the unexpected abundance of honey, another wonderful surprise was watching blue birds flying across the garden. Here in the East, blue birds were nearly extinct for many years. More people are trying to encourage their numbers and those efforts seem to be working. Last month we visited a favorite vineyard in the mountains of Virginia. The moment we started up the long drive, two blue birds shot out from under the eaves of the barn and out over the fields. I was so delighted by the sight. 

Spotting a blue bird at first is a moment of incredulity: one has to really stop and observe because the sight of them is so rare. So I spent awhile yesterday before we drove off  just taking in the miraculous pleasure of watching several blue birds streaking back and forth over the top of the fence surrounding the garden's perimeter.

(Clicking on each photo throughout this blog will give you a larger view.)

Installing new hives, Foster, RI

This Spring seems to be a rainy one and that's not great for beekeeping, though it's lovely for the plants in our gardens. Honey bees prefer those warm, sunny days with little or no breeze. I've been stung a bit more than usual this year as a result of having to install or inspect hives on those less-than-ideal days.

Earlier this year I wrote about acquiring a new outyard in Foster, thanks to Deb and Butch and their desire to share their expanding vegetable garden with some honey bees. It was a raw and overcast day on 13 April when I installed the two hives there.

After the hives were installed Butch did a lot of work on the site, and I am very grateful to him and Deb for their caring attitude. He installed a snow fence around the hives, giving me plenty of room to do my work. The fence offers the hives some protection against unwanted visitors, both two-legged and four-legged.

I purchased a veil for Butch, even though he was willing to go right into the hives with me without any protective gear. He is a natural beekeeper, I think, but wears a short beard, and bees do seem to get tangled in hair and beards quite easily. I thought he should be able to enjoy getting as close to the bees as he likes without taking stings to the face or neck. Besides, a sting in or near the eyes can be quite dangerous. I don't want anyone being blinded because of carelessness.

Maybe later this season we'll manage a photo of him wearing his new veil.

Surveying our first outyard

They're good people, Deb and Butch. I've known them both a long time. Deb and I had a telephone conversation early in the winter about installing a beehive in their garden. This is a win-win situation for all of us and for gardeners within a three to five mile radius from them. And hopefully a great place, too, for the bees.

At our current location we can comfortably keep two hives but no more. The area is much too residential and I feel there's far too much chemical treatment going on all around us for the health of our bees. During our visit to their garden yesterday Butch assured me his treatment is strictly as nature intended--he uses nothing more than cow manure to enrich his soil and fertilize his plants.

I don't know whether these photos accurately indicate the size of their garden. It's big! Though we don't know for certain, Mike and I think it might be about 1/4 acre in size. Butch seemed genuinely excited about having our honey bees working along side him and Deb this Summer. I feel good about having our "girls" sharing a sunny garden with such a nice couple. I wish us all a very happy and productive growing season!