Of Bees and Mushrooms

Annie and the Bee Keeper

The beehive, now

Jeff's bees are really doing well.  I have such high hopes that they will get through the winter, as it is a very (strangely) comforting thing to be working in the garden and hear the low hum of the workers in the hive.  They have filled most of the bottom super, so Jeff was able to put on the next one.  He then put a queen excluder on and a third super which is where the excess honey will be, as I understand it.  Hopefully!! It would be very cool to have honey from them.  We didn't take any last year as we wanted them to have enough to get through the winter.  Since they all died anyway it was only this spring that we got about a half a cup when he cleaned out the hive.  Theoretically we should get lots more than that----but it never was the goal.  Pollination is the reason he wants bees.

Waiting for the elfin folk

Annie found some very large mushrooms when she was here on the weekend.  We called them toadstools, but I don't know if toadstools are one thing and mushrooms are another.  These looked like the kind elfin folk and such like should be living under.  I can just imagine the little doorways into the stems with the insides being fitted with tiny little furniture made out of bark and twigs.  If I was a real scientist, instead of a dreamer, I would go back and look at them to see what happens to them over time.  Real scientists don't think about the elfin folk moving in, do they?
I've started a pair of variegated purple socks for myself.  I want to get all my socks knit for the winter as two pair from previous winters have totally worn out--I have darned and even re-knit bits on them.  Besides, even though I have the shawlette, lace shawl and the kit shawl on the needles, I didn't have any socks going.  I love to have socks to knit up.  Wonder if brownies and elves need socks?

The Bees and the Birds

The top bar hive

This weekend was a very full one.  Saturday  Jeff actually took the entire day off from work, a rare event in his life as The Barber in town.  The reason he took it off was two fold--First he had to go pick up his shipment of bees, and Second, because it was Town Wide Yard Sale day, and he is never very busy that day as folks who aren't shopping for bargains tend to avoid the village. 

 The little cage with the queen

He got his bees without any problems.  This year he is not using his top bar beehive, but a more common, square built one.  In order to get the bees into a hive, the queen has to be in there waiting for them.  So the first thing to be done is to take out the little cage the queen is in, and after making sure she is ok, put that inside.  Then my beekeeper put some food, as sugar water, in the hive for the very hungry bees, who have traveled a long way by then.  Lastly, after making a ramp (from an old board) from the ground to the entrance of the hive, he opened the box containing the bees and dumped them onto the ground by the ramp.  And the bees all started crawling up the ramp into the hive to find the queen!! I wish I had been there.  It looks so cool!  I'm glad he had the presence of mind to take photos.

Crawling up the ramp

New hive, new location

 Meanwhile, I was very busy on Main Street, actually selling items.  I was very pleased as Gloria and I look on it more as an educational day--showing who we are, what we do and  what we have, as most people are bargain hunting, not looking to buy hand crafted things.  But we both sold enough to make it worth our while.  And I got quite a lot spun up of this luscious dark brown  fleece which is going to be part of the next weaving project--a shawl done in all natural colors.
And the birds?  That would be my Mama Hen and the three little chicks, now just a day away from two weeks old.  She is taking them all over the yard, causing me no end of distraction and I despair of them ever reaching a decent age---I am so afraid of disaster---they are so tiny!!!  Actually, it is tons of fun to watch them.  They leap up on things, chase after each other, scratch like Mama and peep constantly!  I still won't name them until I find out if they are cockerels or pullets.  Because I am determined to raise the cockerels for the table.  Wonder if I can do it?

Mama Hen and the three chicks

Not Thinking

This is what becomes of Not Thinking.  I was doing a cold water wash, and, as always, had all my hand knit socks in the little laundry bag that I wash them in.  Because I was Not Thinking, I put my lovely newly knit Nemesis socks in with the others.  But Nemesis were knit in commercial alpaca, so this was the result.

Sad little socks

I was horrified, yet also amused that I would spend all that time knitting only to ruin them!  I quickly put them on and made them fit my foot and leg, letting them actually dry (mostly) so that they could still be worn.
The end result is OK.  They still can be worn, are still soft, and life goes on.   Good thing the next pair is out of my usual sock wool that can withstand a wash in the machine.  I will definitely treat these babies with a little more care next time!

Molded to foot and leg

Meanwhile, spring is slowly advancing upon us.  It is still very cold.  The snow is leaving the yards at a sedate pace.  This will probably put us in a good place come May, as we got word that the bee shipment is going to be late.  At first I panicked about that, thinking that there won't be enough blossoming for bees by mid May, but at the rate we are gong it probably will be perfect timing.

Bees

Today is warmer again--nice break from all the cold.  Jeff decided to let the chickens out early and then check on his bees.  He opened the end of his top bar hive, but couldn't hear any noise.  There were lots of dead bees on the bottom.  He broke off some of the comb they had built, only to find it was all empty.  Does this mean they have starved to death?  He got the bees comparatively late last spring--maybe they didn't have time to gather enough to have honey through the winter.  So we have ordered more bees for this spring, as he really does like having them.  The comb smells wonderful.

The top bar bee hive

Today I hope to finish spinning the merino/silk.  I also need to keep working away at the sweater for my sister.  I am up to the yoke with raglan decreases, so it shouldn't be long now.  Then the infamous steek cutting! It is the Classic Lines Cardigan from KnitPicks.  Keeping me busy.