100% Local Ohio | Your Cincinnati Bee Connection
Posted in Going Naked on Oct 10th, 2011
I think I’ve probably inspected the bees for the final time this season. Now we give the colony time to set its hive in order for winter. Which means it’s time for the colony to propolize the gaps between the boxes and to move honey to wherever it’s wanted and to cap the honey for [...]
Posted in Going Naked on Oct 6th, 2011
I resigned from my job. I resigned from my job without a plan for another. I think I may be finished working for other people. I am trusting the universe on this one, and so I’m focused squarely on the bees. The bees are in front of me right now, and I’ve learned to handle [...]
Posted in Going Naked on Sep 18th, 2010
I spent some time yesterday setting up the site for the new bee colonies. First, Deb helped me move the remnant of an old wood pile. Then, I had to move the compost heap. As I was shoveling the compost to its new spot, I uncovered something that promises to work great in the smoker [...]
Posted in Going Naked on Aug 18th, 2010
I think I’m probably a shitty beekeeper. I watch videos of others working their bees, and they look so calm and confident. I’m sure a video of me would show me standing there swatting at bees and looking confused. And inevitably I get a darn bee inside my veil. Trying to figure out which side [...]
Posted in Going Naked on Aug 8th, 2010
Once again, it’s time to start worrying if the bees will live through the winter. It’s just the weirdest thing to begin planning so early for winter, but the bees do it. They probably don’t worry, though…they simply do what they can do and that’s that. Maybe they’re too busy to worry. Maybe I should [...]
Posted in Going Naked on Jun 20th, 2010
Upon today’s hive inspection I have one very clear realization: I have no idea what I’m doing. Why on earth did I think I could manage a hundred-thousand bees? I am not as smart as I look. Seriously, I get in there with those bees and all those cells and eggs and larvae and brood [...]
Posted in Going Naked on Jun 5th, 2010
Yesterday I began the process of converting to foundationless frames. I’m going to let the bees do their thing without purchased, pre-formed beeswax. Why? Well, there are good reasons, none of which I will go into here—I think these past few posts have been sort of boring because there’s just too much detail. To prepare [...]