Our Big Weekend - 45 Packages Delivered and Installed - VIDEO

I started off for the day at 6:00am to make to hour-long trip to Stafford, Va to pick up bees from my friends at Rock Hill Bee Farm.  He drove up 650 packages, of which 45 had my name on them.  I'd love to learn his secret, how he gets all of them up on the back of of trailer, but need him and want him to succeed so happy to have him make the trip, especially as the bees came up very early this year.  We love March bees!

Super Bee Day

With nectar flow practically in full force, this weekend was the perfect time to put on a second super for my bees. I set up my beehive in October, which was a bit of a gamble, but with some luck -- and an extremely mild winter -- the bees are thriving.

Every morning this month they've been congregating at the entrance, almost as if they've run out of room within the one super. Hopefully this new one finds them well.

Two plants they've been all over this spring -- rosemary and a meyer lemon tree I keep in a pot on my deck. But, there's also plenty of trees in bloom, which is where bees get most of their nectar, as well as some early flowers.

For zone 7, the tree hotspots for bees right now are:
Star Magnolia
Saucer Magnolia
Dogwoods (just starting to blossom)
Fruit trees like plums and pears, and of course, CHERY TREES!

Due to the very favorable winter, the cherry blossoms arrived several weeks ahead of schedule -- much to the chagrin of the Parks Service, which counts on tourists to attend the festival -- but the bees will definitely benefit from the famous flowers. With all these nectar sources in full force, make sure to give your bees plenty of space so they'll have enough room for summer honey.

Kaitlin's Bee Exhibit

You have probably met Kaitlin before as she tends to be my sous when I am working with the bees and has appeared in many of our videos.  She has taken to beekeeping like a fish to water in spite of some adversity (read: stings) and has made it part of her own mission to continue to learn more while enlightening others.  At her school today she put on an exhibit that included our single-frame observation hive which attracted lots of attention.

Even More Great Press For The Bees - NBC4 Video

We made the news last evening:

View more videos at: http://nbcwashington.com.

Did a Little Rooftop Beekeeping Today

These are hives we have on the rooftop of the Mt Vernon Triangle Business Improvement District headquarters.  We started them out last season, and had one failure (which we replaced with a nuc) and one that went gangbusters.  They have survived the winter thanks to some mid-winter feeding and both were ready for a honey super.

Bees East of the Anacostia River

Today we set up our nucs at an undisclosed location in Anacostia, which is an under-served community in DC.  The location of this new apiary is far from human interaction and surrounded by plenty of forest, perfect for nursing nucs.

Honey issues discussed on WAMU

On Kojo Namdi show.

Not a problem for us...


http://thekojonnamdishow.org/audio-player?nid=21024

Making 1:1 Syrup, By the Gallon

Here is a video for those of you who are about to become new beekeepers, and have only a hive or two to feed syrup.

Enjoy!

Upcoming Beekeeping Class, March 17th and 18th

Back by popular demand...our two-day beekeeping class.

We eat and drink: