It's the Bees Knees!

It has been a pretty exciting week one of new skills and knowledge. We have two bee hives here at Old Oak, but since being here, I haven't had much exposure to the bee process. Well we went into the hive three times this week and each time it got easier and much more interesting. Bees are such fascinating insects. They work with such purpose and each bee type, the workers, drones and queen all serve a specific purpose which aids in the success of the hive. I am reading a beekeepers beginners guide at the moment and am simply amazed at what I am learning. It is very exciting stuff!!

So the reason that we went into the beehives is to basically just check on their progress. Right before I arrived they had harvested the honey and you really only want to harvest honey twice a year. The first day we opened the hives I went a bit overboard in my outfit. I did not want to get stung at all!! The contraption that I'm holding in my hands is the smoker. You fill the circular part with pine needles, corn husk, cow manure or wood chips and light it on fire. You keep the smoke going inside by squeezing the yellow fabric. Before opening the beehive, you want to smoke the opening and the top. This subdues the bees and allows you to work without them becoming aggressive and agitated. The honey that we harvest is found in the top three supers (the smaller boxes). The lower larger boxes are called the hive bodies. This is where the broods are located. Broods are the bee larva that the queen places in each individual comb. I'm reading a book right now to help me understand the intricate life of bees and it is just so fascinating. I'm convinced that one day I will in fact have my own hive!

To the left, Matt is smoking the bees so we can get a better look at their activity. On the right I'm lifting up a frame full of bees! 

The second day I realized I didn't really need the goofy suit. 

So not only have we been busy attending to the bees, but there have been several small projects we've been working on around the homestead. Yesterday we worked on digging holes and trenches for some raspberry bushes we are going to plant out by the fruit trees. It was really fun using a pick ax and getting blisters on my hands. I felt like I was really accomplishing something! The days have been simply beautiful here and its been such a joy working in the garden with my sun hat taking in the cool breezes. When we're not working, we spend a good bit of time in our kitchen cooking, reading, or just hanging out. Its such a cozy place and I love sitting around our little wooden table cutting veggies for dinner or reading a book. However we have had some interesting creatures lately in our kitchen. We had a family of mice living in two of our drawers. We don't use the drawers so I decided to let them stay. However, a couple of days later, we found a huge black snake under the drawers. Needless to say, the mouse family was nowhere to be seen. Then one day we found a baby copper head under our water bucket. That was kind of scary, but we trapped it and moved it to a new location. 

Baby Copper head on the left. On the right is a crazy bug that I trapped in our kitchen. I just thought it looked super cool. 

 Lately I've been embroidery quite a bit and working on my banjo skills. Yes that is right, I am learning to play the banjo! Slowly....but its going to be great!!