May 28, 2024 Bee season is well underway and sounds like due to the mild winter the bees got a pretty good start with brood rearing! Im hearing about swarm after swarm in late April and all through May. Great news if your ready for splits, not so great if your not ready. I’ve encountered som challenging situations myself and […]
April 4, 2024 Well, it’s been a while since I’ve come with hive news, but the truth is it’s pretty quiet still. I mentioned on my Instargram account the importance of making sure you have emergency feed (sugar cakes, fondant) in place in your hives as colonies often, tragically, starve to death at the finish line in March/April if they […]
February 28th, 2024 We’re having a weirdly gorgeous 68 degree day here in west MI so I went out to check on my hives. I added a small piece of a pollen patty last week to get things going a bit, and I mean a small piece. The key to adding pollen patties is to coordinate the popping of the […]
January 30, 2024 Welcome to the dead of winter in west MI. Bleak, gray, wet, depressing and a surprisingly mild 39 degrees – with the same temperatures expected for the following week! Ive already lost one hive due to, Im guessing, starvation over the stretch of arctic air we had a couple weeks ago. It’s always a sad surprise when […]
Jan 10, 2024 Winter hath arrived in west Michigan. We’re down to single digits here and of course my first thought is “I hope I put enough sugar blocks in my hive?” I ususally try to check all of my hives for sugar supply when I know an arctic front is coming. Thankfully this one is only going to last […]
January 6, 2024 Happy New Year- and finally some snow in MI! Only 1-2 inches but, such a welcome sight. It’s been a long string of gray skies and drippy, dreary, uninspiring days around here so when I got that text at 5 a.m. informing us of the school closure for the day I knew we were in for a […]
Hello! My name is Susan and I have been an avid gardener for a zillion years and a beekeeper for almost ten years, seven of which have been here in beautiful Belmont, MI! We live surrounded by majestic Red, White and Northern Pines which later can be found laying in our yard, or smashed through a barn roof or living […]