What's in my bee pickup bag!

I know I have been bad about updating this blog. I have been really busy with school, preparing for my garden, and the bees, and my hub is starting a handmade furniture business. It has just been crazy around here! But I am back! And spring is here, which means bees are coming! We are driving down tomorrow to pickup our bee packages. I will be installing them in their new hive tomorrow afternoon. I wanted to just do a quick post on what is in my go bag for tomorrow. I have:

- My suit
- Hive tool
- New gloves for me and my new apprentice. :)
- Smoker (probably wont need it on the first day, but I want to take it in case)
- feeding jars and tops
- Spray bottles (when we first get the hives we will spray them down with sugar water. So they have plenty to eat on the drive up. 1/1 ratio of sugar to water.)
- Sting swabs (just in case!)

Each package will be 3lbs and about 13,000 bees. Can't wait to get them and get them working! I will post again all about the pickup and installation!

I am going to start blogging from my iPhone because I never have the time to sit down at the computer so please excuse any weird line ups in the posts!

Beekeeping Overview

Beekeeping is a fairly detailed hobby. I just wanted to do an overview of what all a beekeeper does, and what is involved.

First of all beekeeping is such a passion of mine. Not a day goes by that I don't think about the bees. They are absolutely remarkable creatures. As you learn more about them and what goes on in the hive you will be amazed at how much they do in their little lives. During the summer a worker bee only lives about 40 days. They accomplish so much in their short lives it is amazing!! It really makes you think about "How much can I accomplish in 40 days! Much less 40 years!" The little bees really make me want to love, enjoy, and savor life!

Before the 1850's people use to keep bees in "skeps." These are what you see in a lot of pictures and cartoons of a beehive. They are woven baskets open end down, with a small hole for an exit/entrance. They were pretty inconvenient for both the bees and the keeper. In most cases destruction of the colony was the only way to extract the honey. In 1852 Reverend L.L. Langstroth patented the top bar bee hive, which is what most beekeepers use today. There have of course been a few small updates and modifications over the years, but it is the same concept as Langstroth. The basic idea that Langstroth discovered and implemented is the removable frames, which enables the beekeeper to remove parts of the hive without destroying the colony.

As a beekeeper the basic components of a hive are:

1. Hive stand: I usually use two concrete blocks, just something to keep it off the ground. They sell hive stands, but I don't want to spend the money.

2. Bottom Board

3. Two hive bodies: these are deep boxes. They can hold 8 or 10 frames, I use 10 frame hive bodies. You will need two of these boxes on each hive. These deep boxes can also be called the brood chambers. This is where your queen will lay her eggs, and workers will begin producing honey. These boxes always stay on your hive. This is the nucleus of the hive, the honey they store in the brood chambers is what keeps them alive through the winter. This is their home. So don't take it away from them!

4. Supers: This is the fun part! This is your part of the hive! These are just like the hive bodies but shorter. This is the part of the hive you use for yourself to extract honey and beeswax from. These also hold 8 or 10 frames, I do 10. These always go on top of your hive bodies. Once your hive bodies get filled with larvae and honey, you add a super, once that super gets close to completely filled with honey, you add another super. The more supers the better, this means more harvest for you!

5. Inner Cover

6. Outer Cover

That is what makes up a hive. For a list of basic equipment you need to get started click here. 

The frames are not included when you purchase your boxes.

Also, there is a crazy amount of different types of foundation, which is a guide you place in your frames to help the bees know where to draw honeycomb. The thing about this is, it's pretty expensive, and almost completely unnecessary. Honey bees out in the wild draw comb perfectly fine and they don't have a chemically infested man made comb telling them what to do. It may speed up the comb-drawing process a few days, but this year my supers are going to be foundationless. We will see how this goes!! I will do a post about that soon!

Once you choose your equipment it is time to order your bees and your queen. I would try to find someone local to purchase your bees from. Your bees and equipment do not have to come from the same place. Local bees arrive a little better I think, because they don't have to go through the post office, you will go pick them up at the supplier. A lot of companies have parties on bee pickup day. At my supplier we have a huge pancake breakfast and get our bees. I always buy Italian bees, they are very docile bees and good honey producers. They have begun offering Russian bees. I am thinking I will try them on a few hives in 2014.

Hive components need to be purchased now, so do your bees. Do not wait till April when it is time install your bee package. Order right now! They sell out very quickly!

Right now is the time to get your equipment ordered, assembled, and ready to go. Where I live we install bees in April, this is different depending on where you live. People further south get to put theirs in earlier because it is warmer. People up north have to wait longer.

I will do a step by step how-to's on how to do everything you will need to do throughout the year. But this is basically what your are going to do. You will install your bees into their hive, let them build up their colony in the brood chambers, until you have two full hive bodies. Begin adding supers and hopefully do a spring harvest. Summertime is the big honey flow, and at the end of the summer you will hopefully do another harvest. I say hopefully because hives are very unpredictable. There are a number of things that can go wrong; pests, diseases, absconding, swarms, or just a bad summer with not very good honey flow. In the fall we will prep our hives for the winter, the bees will form a cluster and eat off the honey in the hive bodies all winter. In the spring we start all over again, except without the new packages.

I am really excited to share my beekeeping knowledge with my viewers, and I can't wait to hear from you all and find out where you are with your bees! As always if you have any questions, comments, worries, or ideas comment below or you can email me at whatcanimakeoutofthis@gmail.com

Mail Center

Mail seems to be a struggle that most households face. The root of many peoples organization problems lies in their mail, whether they realize that or not. It comes in everyday and piles up. It might pile up in the car, on the kitchen counter, or on a desk in your home office. Where ever your piles form, they don't belong, and cause clutter and stress.

Unfortunately a lot of the mail that comes in daily is junk and needs to be thrown away, and important documents get lost in the confusion. Many times these important documents get shoved in a drawer when cleaning the house, or get lost from being spread all over the house and car in different piles.

This is where a mail center comes in handy, and I will explain my mail "process" to you. Let me start by saying do not check your mail when you are leaving home! When you check it on the way out your daily pile ends up in your car. This causes clutter in your car and can be forgotten which results in forgotten bills, unseen invitations, and missing out on great coupons!! Always check your mail when you are going inside, and sort it on your way in. Don't leave it on the kitchen counter to deal with later, sort it now. My mail center is right beside my garage door that leads inside, so I can sort my mail on my way in. It never even makes it into the house!

Your mail center can consist of whatever you see necessary, and what ever supplies you already have. I happened to have an extra dry erase board and file holders, so that is what I used. Get creative and try to use things you already have!

I used command strips to attach my three file bins to my marker board. This is very convenient because I can write notes on the board and also use magnets to attach papers.

Every batch of mail that comes to my house falls into 1 of 4 categories:

Garbage - I keep a trash can below the mail center to go ahead and throw away junk
Read Later - Magazines, catalogs, etc.
Actionable Items - Bills, invitations, things that need to be filed, etc
Discounts - Coupons, deals, flyers, etc.

I printed labels to mark each bin...

About once a week I go through the mail center and take care of all the "Actionable Items" and weed out all the "discounts" and "read later" items. The discounts bin is the bottom one, closest to me, so that on my way to the car to go shopping I can check for coupons and deals.

A mail center should be made to help you, so personalize it depending on your life and your needs!

Organizing the Utility Closet

I am very proud to say that I spent an entire day re-organizing my utility closet and den. I become giddy at even the thought of organizing! I honestly have so much fun taking a mess and turning it into something clean and functional. I believe that in a home there should be a place for everything, and if there isn't room for it, it needs to go. (Easier said than done,)

I think the new year is a great time to start going through your home and life, and cleaning things up. Getting rid of the things you don't need and organizing the things you do.

Our utility closet was pretty awful, and pretty useless. We kept our kitty litter box in there and that is about it. My vacuum didn't really have a home, it would just get shoved in whatever room people wouldn't see when they came over. My mop, broom, and duster was kept in the garage and the refills were kept in the laundry room. So we had cleaning supplies scattered all throughout the house.

After ditching the litter box, I hung a shower rack we already had on one door, to hold various bottles, the duster, a small dustpan and broom, etc.

Moving out the litter box made room for the vacuum, swiffer, and broom. 

On the opposite door, I wanted more storage. The hubs was about to order me a $30 rack from Amazon to do the job, but then I found (while cleaning out another room) this fabric rack my sister gave me in high school, that I hadn't been using. I am so happy I found this and saved my $30! 

In this I can store my rubber gloves, mop refills, duster refills, sweeper refills, and light bulbs! I cut out the names of each refill from the boxes and slid them into the label slots.

My entire project cost me nothing! I just used things I already had lying around. When you get to cleaning your house, it's amazing the things you find that you forgot you had. What kind of spaces can you make more functional using things already in your home?

Things You Need For Beginner Beekeeping

I know I have some interested hopefully future beekeepers here so I wanted to take some time to introduce the supplies/equipment needed for basic beginner beekeeping. Later in the season you will obviously purchase the things needed for your harvest (jars, buckets, extractor, etc)

Also these are the things I see as necessary. There is just a ton of different equipment out there. These are the things you must have to get started properly. There a few things that cause quite the controversy in the beekeeping community. As you get to know your beekeeping style you will figure out what works best for you and your bees.

These things should be purchased in the winter. A lot of companies send you unassembled hive components, and it is a little time consuming to put them all together if you are just starting out.

Your packages of bees will need to be ordered ASAP!! I am planning to order mine right after Christmas. All I asked for for Christmas this year is what I call "honey money," money for the bees!! You will need to make sure you order a package plus a queen, they are not always included. Your bees will come to the post office if you get them shipped. Your post office will call you when they are in and you will have to go pick them up. The further in town you live the funnier the reactions you will get at the post office. Trust me if you are a pretty girl walking out of the post office with 13,000-40,000 bees in your arms your gonna get some looks! haha

Lets start with the basic equipment you need to properly tend to your hives.

Equipment:
- Hive tool
- Veil or Suit
- Smoker
- Feeder
- Spray Bottle

Your hive tool will very quickly become your baby. It is about 9-10 inches long. The bees will glue the different hive components together with propolis, so you need your hive tool to separate the glue. The hive tool will prevent you from splitting the wood in your hive, like a screw driver or something else would do. The end of the tool is curved for picking up frames and scraping off propolis, comb and unwanted queen cells.

A veil is not completely necessary. But bees are drawn to eye movement and don't like it, so I like to wear one. Also, a sting in or around your eyes can be very serious. It's better to be safe than sorry. You can buy entire suits to wear in the bee yard if you want to be completely protected.

A smoker is very handy for entering a hive. The bees are calmed by the smoker. In response to the smoke your bees will begin pigging out on honey and get so full that they have a lot of trouble stinging and are just kinda in a food coma, kinda like Americans after thanksgiving.

A front feeder will be needed to jump-start your bees when they first arrive.

Buy a brand new spray bottle so you can spray your bees at the post office and up until they get dumped into their new home with 1/2sugar to 1/2water.

What makes up the hive:
- Bottom Board
-  2 Hive Bodies + Frames

- 3 Supers + Frames

- Inner Cover

- Outer Cover

- Package of Bees + Queen

I recommend a screened bottom board as opposed to a solid. I am a chick so I like to buy shallow supers for my harvest, but you can buy medium supers too, they are just a little to heavy for me to be lugging around. I would also get my queen marked, they will put a little white or colored dot on her so you can easily identify her in the hive. This is useful later so you tell if there is more than one queen in a hive or a new queen all-together. Do not panic if you see a queen that is not marked, sometimes the workers will take it off of her, thinking it is dirt, just do further investigation to see if you have a new queen, or if your hive is preparing to swarm. 

Other things:

- Gloves

- Frame pullers

- Frame rack 

Gloves are not completely necessary, just a matter of what makes you more comfortable. Sometimes it is easier to handle your hives without them because you can get a better grip. Frame pullers can help you pull frames out of a hive. I like using these when honey is capped, so my hive tool doesn't rip into capped honey and cause more work for my little workers. A frame rack hangs on the hive while you are inspecting to hold your hives. I don't use one but you can. It is just kind of an accessory. 

These are the things absolutely necessary for beginner your hives. If you have any questions at all please comment or email me! There is nothing I love more than talking bees! 

A great company for supplies is Brushy Mountain Bee Farm. I am a numbers person, and have compared their prices to a lot of other suppliers, they seem to be much cheaper. Plus they offer more choices in equipment, and have a lot of different traps for pollen and propolis, which is not even offered at some other supply companies. However, I am buying my bees locally, I don't want them to go through the post office, just because I am very motherly towards my bees and want to make sure they are well ventilated and nourished. The postal workers won't take very good care of your bees surprisingly, I don't know what their deal is!

Husband's Stocking

I did a stocking for the hub this year. We are on a teeny tiny budget for christmas this year, so a stocking with a lot of fun little things was easier than a one big expensive gifts. I did get him one present in addition to the stocking, which I will not list on here because he hasn't opened it yet!

Despite my husband's deep voice, beard, and crazy muscular arms he is such a little kid still! Every Christmas about a week before christmas he begins nagging me about opening presents early. It's really very sweet because he honestly gets more excited about giving me my gifts than opening his. He gets such an excited look on his face at the notion of opening some presents early, I have to give in. 

So I thought I would post what I put in his stocking to inspire the rest of you, since we did his stocking a full week before Christmas haha!

Here is what I put in his stocking, the only thing I forgot to add in the picture were two mini bottles of Captain Morgan Black rum (his favorite) The mini bottles of alkie at the liquor stores are so fun for Christmas and would be great for birthdays! They are super cute, and inexpensive. 

- Avengers Boxers in an adorable tin that he can keep. The boxer label is a sticker that peels off so he can use the tin for other things (Every grown man needs a pair of super hero boxers!)

- 7 in 1 Tool Key Ring 

- 2 bags of Beef Jerky

- Atlanta Falcons Pens 

- 2 Boxes of Candy

Make your own Beeswax Candles Part 2

For those of you who are not beekeepers, which is most people, you can buy blocks of beeswax from Michaels or Hobby Lobby, for about $15/block. I bought my adorable little jars from hobby lobby along with the wicks, and tea light holders. I also bought some candle scenting oils.  

I melted my rendered beeswax in my crock pot. If you buy a block just stick it in the crock pot and let it melt. Then I used a turkey baster to draw up the melted wax, and I dropped it into the candle holders. Just a heads up this will ruin your turkey baster, so I recommend buying a cheapo one before hand. The wax ends up hardening in there by the time you are done, and its just a mess. 

Before your put the wax in, make sure to place your wick in the bottom. You will have to adjust it as you add the wax to make it straight. I bought the wicks with the metal base so it would sit up, I think if you are doing a lot of candles these are best. Without the metal base you have to hold the wick straight up until the candle hardens. 

If you are adding a scented oil do so as soon as you drop the wax in, while it is still liquid. I put three drops in each of my tea lights and about 6 in my slightly larger jars. 

I bought my labels at Michaels, they were all Martha Stewart brand labels. I am a sucker for all things Martha Stewart! I labeled the bottom of every candle to identify the scent. My three scents were Cinnamon, Banana Bread, and Tropical Mango.

This is such a fun project to do for Christmas gifts. Everyone loves candles and homemade is even better!

Here is my finished product. I ended up with 3 of the bigger jars, and 11 tea lights. I bought some glass tea light holders. I am going to wrap them in cellophane bags as Christmas presents. Great neighbor gifts, or gifts for people you don't ordinarily buy for.