Tulips, Rain, and Trouble-shooting

Spring is here and we are busier than ever! It seems to be the same story all over Ohio... rain, rain, rain. I'll try not to complain because without it we wouldn't be seeing these gorgeous double tulips that I planted last fall. I think it is safe to say my obsession with tulips is just beginning...The bees like them, too! It has been so much fun watching them work on the sunny days when they can leave the hives. We recently took 60 hives to several apple farms in Ohio for pollination. This is a first for Honeyrun Farm, so we'll see how that goes. It is nice to know we can help them out, because many apple farmers are having difficulty finding beekeepers who do pollination work. But it is a lot of work... loading up the hives late at night when the little ladies are all back home, then taking off early in the morning before they have time to get out and get back to work. Imagine what it would be like to wake up in the same house, but when you walked outside... you had a completely different neighborhood! I think this is exactly what the bees feel like when they get moved!
On the only really nice sunny day last week, Mason and I worked at cleaning out the leftover garden plants from last year. This is Mason as he strenuously pulls out an old zinnia plant, all while holding on to a tulip. It slowed him down a bit, but he was relentless.
And did I mention that our greenhouse has about a foot of standing water in it? For the past 4 years we have only used the greenhouse to grow potted plants. This year, we took 2 of the tables out and decided to plant some things in the ground. This year, it flooded. We also dealt with a broken heater, a broken water table (we have hot water running through pipes in our table), and a broken tiller. None of these things are surprising. Farming is a lot more about fixing machinery and troubleshooting than it is about planting seeds in the warm sun. It's just the warm sun that we remember and focus on. I'll let you know when we get one of those days. :)

Cheers-

Jayne