Off Week

-Posted by Isaac

Well, a somewhat decent weather week has now culminated in this:

Misery from the skies.

But hey, at least we have wood for the fire.

34 degrees and raining. All day.

5 am, I got my walking in. Cold and wet, ice on my jacket. 6 am, Jayne headed north to brave the market. 7 am, I called Lafe off. And he was really looking forward to some overtime. By 8:00 I was dozing peacefully by the fire. The kids woke me. Breakfast! Waffles! And we launch into another Saturday.

It feels like an off week on the bee farm. Not much to talk about. I thought I’d have to entertain you with Trump analysis and commentary. But even with the politics… in between scandals, in between impeachment hearings, in between World Wars… we seem to have fallen on an off week.

So back to Honeyrun we go. I guess we did get a few things done. I started in on a new project.

Two projects, in fact. One short-term.

Another long-term:

Both expensive.

But education is expensive…

These young minds are malleable. We’ll put the square baler in the ‘child rearing’ expense column. I grew up baling hay, and my thinking is, it may be good for our own kids. Maybe a distraction from the devices?

Question is, will Whole Foods buy Honeyrun Farm hay? No? Ah, maybe City Folks Farm Shop…

Back to honey production. Lafe finished up with the lids.

Then jumped on piecing the nuc boxes together.

Jayne and Hannah made 7 batches of soap, then she and Katie did some new product R & D.

We even got a gentlemanly visit from Jim North, our Pickaway County honey competitor.

And what do you think we talked about? Did we trash each others’ business? Did we exhume the honey hatchet?

No, we talked bees, of course!

Jim caught me that day while I was out feeding. Most hives had made it through their first helping, and needed another. They’re looking good. So far, we’re under 1% loss. But don’t count your chickens, right?

Mostly Jim wanted to talk about the bees in California. And to that, I had to respond with the truth: I haven’t a clue. I have no idea how our almond pollinators are doing. They don’t keep in touch.

But you know what? I’m heading out tomorrow! Bound for the sun. I’ll soon see for myself how the girls are doing. Good or bad, next week I’ll fill you in.

Maybe that’s why this relatively busy week felt slow. I’ve been anticipating next week.

The illustrious life of a migratory beekeeper— bouncing from coast to coast. I think the anticipation alone will get me through this rainy cold Saturday.