Bees!

Hey all!
I’m gonna do a few shorty posts this week to make up for my lack of writing lately. First off, about the bees!
Steve and his friend James came out from Victoria on Sunday, picked up Bill and I, and we all went over to Tugwell Creek Honey farm for a beekeeping field day. It was great, the crowd was a mix of veteran beekeepers, newbies and practical bee-virgins like myself. The morning sessions went waaay over my head (discussing the benefits and such of various bee box configurations and a run-down on integrated pest management strategies). After we all sat down in the sun to eat our lunches, we donned veils and suits and got to looking at the bees. One of the commercial producers gave a demonstration of emptying a load of bees into a brand new bee box, which was pretty useful information. Then we all went into Bob’s bee yard, opened up some boxes and had a good look at the critters. They were super docile that day, which made for great observation conditions. The veterans all had little crowds about them as they casually instructed on whatever matters came up from the people gathered there. It was really quite inspiring. We looked at drones and workers (didn’t see any queens), saw little larvae curled up in their cells, and looked for the infamous mites that are plaguing bee colonies all over the place these days. Very informational session, and so nice to spend a few hours in the sun surrounded by buzzing and honey smell. Mmmmm…
Stay tuned…