Eden to the rescue

-Posted by Isaac

Happy St. Paddy's! Unfortunately, there's still nothing green out there. Three weeks ago I was blogging about winter being over. Maybe I was a little overzealous? 

With the cold hanging around, I had to call for more propane and we hauled in another couple loads of wood. Hopefully the last.

Nothing brutal, but winter is staying put just enough to keep us complaining.

Us and the bees.

Well, maybe they're not complaining. This yard happened to look great. But they were hungry and cooped up inside with that big bursting population. No pollen coming in because of the the cold.

These girls finished our last few boxes of patties.

And on Thursday they even had a couple bright hours of flying. But just a couple. Highs in the mid forties aren't cutting it. But when the weather does finally break, we'll be ready. We finished up the nuc boxes this week.

So we're staying busy despite the cold. And at least it's been dry. The firm ground enabled us to jump into another small project-- moving bee yards.

Here is what a bee yard should look like:

As neat and orderly and awesome as this is, sometimes it still doesn't suit. I try, every time I put in a new location, I try to warn the property owner. These are bees... not hamsters. They can go anywhere they want. But still, despite my warnings, every year there are a couple yards that need to be moved. Too close to people... too close to animals... need to run a fence through that area... want to put my garden there... that's where I walk the dog... the bees are on my hummingbird feeder... my chicken feed... my horse trough... my dog dish... my swimming pool... my bird bath, etc...

It's endless. When I get the call, I don't argue. I don't scream or growl or cuss or call them names. I just say ok. Then I throw my phone.

We've averaged two or three moves every winter. This week we got a couple more out of the way. Cold dry weather makes is easy. You can work in the daylight.

And I had some help from my little helpers. Eden was the very first to show off the new suit from Mann Lake. Maybe I bought a size too big?

But she didn't need a bee suit for what happened later in the week.

Opps. This was out on Rte. 56. Someone got a bit too close with a tractor.

We left it like that a whole day. To my mind, it was sort of amusing. Plus I was busy doing other stuff. It didn't seem to hurt the farmstand crowd. Maybe it caught a few eyes, brought in a little more business? Sympathy business? 

Thankfully, Eden came to the rescue.

Heavy lifting for a four year old, but somehow she prevailed. I wish she could have touched up the paint a bit...

But maybe we'll tackle that another day. The Eden heroics were needed elsewhere. 

We got Mason's 4-H project this week-- four baby ducks. So far, Mason has taken very little interest, even though he requested ducks over goats and bees, his 2017 projects.

But no matter, those little babies have garnered all the love and attention they could ever want from our own valiant Baby.