All good things must come to an end.

After three years of beekeeping, I had to say goodbye to my bees. I didn't know this could happen, but I developed an allergy to bee venom after being stung in June. During my visit to the ER I was informed that I am now allergic to bee stings and should stop beekeeping because future stings will likely be worse. I was shocked, sad, and determined to go against the Doctors orders and continue my hobby (with EpiPen in hand). Family and friends thought I was crazy and deep down even I questioned what the heck I was thinking. Back when I was in beekeeping school the teacher said "Know this, if you're a beekeeper, you are going to get stung." Ever since my incident, those words have replayed in my head over and over. I know it's true because I have been stung many times before and it's not something I can really prevent from happening again. I have battled the idea of getting rid of my bees for a couple months and Sunday I finally did. It was a hard decision, but I know it was the right decision. I found a new home for them and they will be in good hands. While beekeeping is by no means glamorous, I found it to be fascinating and rewarding.  Boyz II Men said it best, "It's so hard to say goodbye".  I miss my bees and I will miss my hobby.   

Long Live The Queen!

Hello May!

I blinked and it went from April to May in a flash.  April was a very busy month, and sadly the ole bloggy-blog-blog didn't get a whole lot of attention.  So Yes, its May, but I'm just going to do a quick re-cap on my April adventures.  In a nut shell here are some of the festivities that took place in my neck of the woods.

Top Left:  We ate breakfast a few times at one of our favorites in town, (Cafe Patachou).  It's a great way to kick off the weekend - A big breakfast, with a hot cup of joe, while reading the newspaper with my love.

Top Right:  We also had some cool evenings so we had a couple of fires in the fire-pit and just relaxed and let go.

Bottom Photo:  I split my beehive.  Still waiting to see how things transpire with the split.  I'm crossing my fingers and hoping this year yields a lot of honey.

Top Left:  We played the lottery for the first time.  It was "The Big One"...the mega-million (I think it was called) - No luck.  Oh well.

Bottom Left: My brother and his family came to visit me while they were on spring break.  We had a couple of fun-filled days together....ate out, went to the zoo, went to the park and had a great visit together.  I wish I could see my sweet little niece and nephew everyday.  They are so much fun to be with.  I love them to pieces.

Right Photo:  Saw the elephants at the zoo with my brother and his family.  There was an adorable baby elephant....so cute and playful! 

 

Left Photo:  Packing for Vegas.  Packing is complicated - I tend to over-pack like most women, but you just never know what you're going to need.  I suppose it's better to be over prepared right?  

Top Right:  Pic of my friend Melissa and I while dining out at Lavo in Vegas.  The weather was toasty warm during the day, but gorgeous at night.  We dined outside overlooking the Vegas strip.  It was fabulous!

Bottom Right:  View from our room at the Encore - looking out to Wynn & the Vegas Strip.  

Top Left:  Ate out at PF Changs with my lover boy.  My fortune said that "A lifetime of happiness lies ahead of you"  - Sounds good to me!  That's all I could ask for. ;)

Bottom Left:  Took a quick trip back to my hometown in Illinois to visit some friends.  I had an amazing time catching up.  I just wish I had more time with my girls.  Time flies when you're having fun.  Saturday morning, my friend Tara introduced us to a fabulous "Farm-to-table" restaurant for breakfast in a nearby town.  I had lamb sausage and gravy.  It was amazing.  After breakfast, my husband and I strolled around the small town and I fell upon this store-front window.  The visual merchandiser with-in me was in absolute awe at this image.  It was a store that had been untouched for decades.  I love treasures like this.  My husband and I spent the afternoon stopping at various Antique shops on our journey back home.   We each found a couple of things.  It's crazy how my taste in fashion and design has evolved over the years.  I love getting my hands on fun, old stuff.  I never appreciated antiques in the past, but I really dig them now. 

Right Photo:  YEARS ago my mom and I went to the Jackie-O exhibit at the Field Museum in Chicago.  I bought this poster and have been holding on to it ever since then.  I finally got it framed and it's now hanging in my sewing room.  I'm not sure what took me so long to frame it.  I wish I would've done it a long time ago.  I just love it so much and it ties my sewing room together perfectly.  I believe "Stunning" was the word I used to describe it when I stepped back and admired it hanging on the wall for the first time. 

So That's about it.  We'll see what May holds.  It's already starting off crazy busy.  I'm just trying my best to carve out some time for sewing with Silvia my Singer.  I want to make sure that I'm fully stocked and readily prepared for my craft show in June. 

Love,

T!ffany

{The Paisley Tab} 

 

Bee Update: Splittsville

Big news on the Bee Front: 

I split my hive this week! 

The hive in the photo above on the right side was my first hive that I set up last year.  I was hoping to stretch my first hive to May, however it has quickly reached it's max and to prevent swarming, I decided to go ahead and preform my first split which - is the hive on the left.  Now, I just need to sit back and let the bees work their magic and create a new queen.  I've never done this before, so the suspense has me on the edge of my seat.  I'm hoping to sneak a peak in the next day or two to see how things are progressing. 

 

Pimping Hive #2

About this time last year, I was "pimping my first bee-hive" - Literally a bee-hive, not the fashionable hair style that women sported back in the 60's. My first year of beekeeping was an adventure.  At times felt chaotic, but overall a rewarding hobby, that I think everyone should experience.  In the end, when I got to harvest the honey it was worth all my efforts!

Before I got started last year I attended bee-keeping school and learned "enough" - really it felt like a crash course in beekeeping, because what I really learned came from "doing" and "seeing" the activity in my own hive.  An issue I ran into a lot last year was overcrowding.  When you have overcrowding your risk swarms.  Something I hope never happens!!  I had no idea that my bees would expand as quickly as they did and I wasn't prepared for that growth.  Thankfully, I found myself a wonderful mentor who is extremely knowledgeable in beekeeping. She came to my rescue multiple times last year.  I don't know what I would've done without her.  She taught me tons and let me borrow supplies when things got tight. 

Now that I am familiar with the natural progression that occurs in a hive, I think I'll be better prepared this year. We had a mild winter so my bees survived and since the temps have been so warm, the bees have already been hard at work bringing back pollen. So, since they're back at it so am I.  I just purchased my second hive, which I'm now in the process of pimping out to match my other hive.  I know this year will bring new challenges.  One being - splitting my old hive and hoping that my bees recognize the split and create a new queen for the new hive.  Then, I just have to hope and pray that things take off and flourish like they did last year. 

My new hive is freshly painted and ready and waiting for the split.  I just have to determine the best time and place to do it.  The temperament of my bees is different this year, so I'm a little cautious about setting up a second hive on my own property.  I might try to find a local farmer looking for a little extra pollination or perhaps someone with some land to let me set the hive on their property where I can come and manage it.  We shall see.

I'm looking forward to my second year of beekeeping.  I'm sure my beeutiful bees will provide some great new blogging material!  Hang on tight.  This is going to be a crazy ride!

Holy Honey Bear!

Here is a sneak peak at the fruits of my labor!

Aren't they adorable!  My first year of beekeeping has been fun and full of challenges!  Those little boogers kept me on my toes all summer long.  Yes even in the 90+ degree temps - and the season isn't over yet!  Overall, it was a very rewarding hobby.  In my beekeeping class, they said that you probably won't get to harvest your first year. I was told that the honey they do make is intended to feed them over the winter. However, I apparently have awesome bees (very busy bees), because I was able to harvest approximately 25 lbs, while saving at least 70-80 lbs of honey for them!  Not too shabby, eh? Hola! Woop-Woop!  It was a "win-win" situation for me and my bees.  ...& let me tell you, it is some tasty stuff, but I can't take the credit!

 So, as you may know there is a 

laundry list of benefits from Honey!
Click HERE, to get the scoop!

Look what I found...

I checked on my bees today and to my surprise, I found that my little bees have decided to create a new queen.  Although nothing has hatched yet, I found not one, but two new queen cells (supercedure cells) while working my way through the hive.  What?!?

Why I'm a Beekeeper

When someone first learns that I'm a beekeeper, 9 times out of 10, their immediate response is "Really?...Why?".  I know people think I'm crazy, that's ok.  I do it because bees are endangered and we would be in serious trouble if we didn't have them.  Besides that, honey is delicious and it provides an abundance of medicinal purposes.  I've been interested in beekeeping for a few years, but this year, I finally decided to dive in and do it.  I'm not the best communicator, so this video probably explains why I am a beekeeper better than I could have said it myself.

Now go rent the movie!

Living Large

I checked my bees the other day.  They are multiplying at a rapid rate and several of my frames are filled and waxed off, so I added 10 more frames to the lower blue super so they can continue doing their thing.  The top two supers are hollow right now, I've removed the frames from both of those so that I can store their food in there.

Learning as I go....

There is only so much you can learn in a class, especially if you are a "hands-on" kind of learner, like myself.  I would have to say I've actually learned more since I've started beekeeping then what I absorbed from my class.  Here is an example of that.

A few weeks ago I posted the above photo.  I saw comb forming, so I was excited.  I mean isn't that what bees are supposed to do?  ....Well, as it turns out, this is what you call a "violation of bee space".  Since taking this photo, I've learnedthat if your frames aren't pushed together as tight as they will possibly allow, then bees will create this comb in the open space, which leads to crowding in the hive.  Now that I know this, it's been removed, and from now on, I'll make sure that I press my frames together tightly.  I wasn't going to let this comb go to waste though. ...So, I sampled it later on a baguette and it was delicious. 

Urban Beekeeping

I found this inspirational video today about other urban beekeepers.  Turns out, I'm not the only closet-beekeeper out there.  I kind of dig it. I guess I'm technically a suburban beekeeper though. 

Video Credit: The Daily Green

    To view video without music, pause player at upper left-hand side of page.   

Legwarmers in May?

Legwarmers....umm, No. ...But it does look like it. These are just my bees doing their thing, working their magic, collecting pollen. I took a few close-ups today to show just what this looks like. Last week my bees were collecting red pollen from somewhere, but I didn't see any of them coming back with that today.  Click on the photos to enlarge them and you'll see the pollen.

Bee update!

I checked on the bees this weekend and things are looking great!  They are working fast and the combs are really starting to take shape.  Watching the bees work is quite fascinating!  I wish I would've gotten a close up of the bees bringing in the pollen.  They are completely loaded up when they come back to the hive with bright red and yellow pollen.  I can't wait for the honey.  ...However, I may not get any this year.  The honey that they do produce this summer has to feed them over the winter (and these Midwest winters can be quite long), so I have to store up! 

Look closely and you can see the combs forming!

Bee update!

I picked up my BEEutiful bees yesterday.  Here they are all packaged up and ready to be added to the hive.  Overall, I think the transition went smoothly for my first time.  Sadly, there were some casualties, but I think that's normal.  I had a little anxiety - not gonna lie, but I accomplished it without a single sting - thanks to my sweet beekeeping gear.  The process created a little "Buzz" and let's just say I got to know my new neighbor a little bit better.  I'm not sure if she thinks I'm crazy or if she is just scared of bees, but I tried to assure her that there was nothing to be alarmed about.  I think she'll be keeping a close watch on me. 

Here is the lovely hive.  I have a few more additional boxes that will be added later this summer.  I'll be checking them tomorrow to see if the queen bee has been released yet.  Let the fun begin!

Don't Hate Me Because I'm Bee-utiful!

I posted the news that I'm becoming a beekeeper on my facebook page, but I haven't mentioned it on CTACW yet - but here is the proof.  There's nothing sexy about this, but by the end of the summer - if all goes well, I'll be nurturing 50,000 honey bees.  I'm pretty excited about this since the bee population is dropping and their existence is so important for our fruits and vegetables.  So far, I've attended Beekeeping school, I've purchased the gorgeous gear (as you can see above), and I've got the bee hives (which I'm in the process of pimping out).  Now all I need are my bees.  They've been ordered and should arrive in just a couple of weeks!

I'm still pimping my hive - but I'll post new pics when the beautification project is complete so you can see the gorgeous results.  It's coming along quite nicely. I think my bees are going to have the best home on the block!  

"If the bee disappears from the surface of the earth, man would have no more than four years to live?" - Albert Einstein