We were very excited about the prospect of having our own bees and honey. It would be our way of helping save the bee population and in return we would be rewarded with golden sweetness. What actually happened was that we contributed to the demise of the bee population and had a sticky mess on our hands.
To get started, Bill took an extremely informative online class through Cornell Coop and then reached out to Wilson’s in Chateauguay, true bee experts, to deliver four hives to us. We found a great spot for the hives a few fields away from our house that was protected from weather by tall trees and a storage building on one side. The boys held a painting party to paint the boxes bright yellow, green and blue.
The bees arrived later in the evening, on what was a rainy June day. After being cooped up and taking a drive from Chateauguay, they weren’t the happiest insects to be moved. But, Bill was ready to learn as much as he could from the master (our bee keeper from Wilson’s didn’t even need to wear a bee-keeper’s suit!). The bees eventually settled and Bill checked on them a couple of times through the summer. We appreciated the term “busy bee” as we could see how hard they were working – We learned that we should leave the honey they make in the first year so the bees would establish their home and could feast on the honey over the winter. The hives were treated for mites and ready for the cold months ahead.
As spring 2020 came around, we were excited to see how our bees faired, but upon checking the hives, there was no activity, no hum in the air, no insects flying around. Our bee expert suggested that they swarmed since there weren’t many dead bee bodies around. The hive was full of honey, however, that mite treatment in their hives made the honey not okay for human consumption. We had the loads of honey we had dreamed of but we couldn’t eat it.
What does one do when you loose your bees? Get more, of course! So more bees were ordered and delivered and we were off and buzzing again…until something was messing with the hives. One night, we took the truck down with a .22 and sat in the field in the dark, watching and waiting. After about 20 minutes, we were getting eaten alive by mosquitoes and headed back to the house – clearly, we are not hunters.
I’ve always liked Winnie the Pooh. He’s friendly, polite and looks so cute when he gets stuck in the big pot of sweet golden honey. In real life, when a bear finds a bee hive, there’s nothing cute about it. Thanks to our friend Craig’s trail cam, it was confirmed – we had a big, black bear visiting, making a mess of the hives and feasting on our honey.
After losing a couple of hives to our neighborhood bear, we put a few measures into place. We installed electric fencing around the hives, parked the big tractor near by, moving it every few days and turned on a radio every night, blasting WIZN for the bees to rock the night away. You know, it actually worked! We were able to maintain the remaining hives through the rest of the summer and fall.
This winter the bees stuck around, however the cold was rough on them and they ended up dying. As we were debating whether or not to give bee keeping one more try (third times a charm?), the bear woke up from hibernation very hungry. That meant more hives lost with wooden frames and honeycombs dragged across the fields…so sad! With that, Bill grabbed what was left to be salvaged of the hives and frames and dragged them up to the barn where they sat with honey in them for several weeks. He swore never to get bees again! Side note, Bill won’t let me get rid of the beekeeping supplies in case he changes his mind.
Pride and Tim, Bill’s parents, came up to stay with us for a few weeks this spring and were quite enthusiastic about the hives so we got to work harvesting the honey. It was a wicked sticky mess and the kitchen floor was sticky for a couple of days after but finally getting to see that golden honey flowing – it was amazing! What wasn’t so amazing was the stomach ache I gave myself after licking so much honey! (I promise, I washed my hands and the tools in between licks).
I’ve been practicing gratitude with each story I tell, but with this one, it’s a bit difficult because there was so much frustration. Nevertheless, there are people and things to be thankful for: I’m grateful for Craig and his trail cam so we could confirm we actually were dealing with a bear; to Dewalt for making a radio and rechargeable battery so we could play classic rock every single night of the summer and fall to keep the bear away; and to Pride and Tim for all of their help and enthusiasm in harvesting the honey. While it didn’t seem like we had many frames left, it took a lot of work to harvest, filter and jar all of that liquid gold.
Good news! There’s a cocktail with honey that is much tastier than mead (see previous mead blog) – Bees Knees – a delicious gin cocktail. Here’s a simple recipe.
Make honey simple syrup with equal parts water and honey gently heated together.
In a shaker pour over ice:
2 oz Gin
3/4 oz freshly squeezed lemon juice
1/2 oz honey water (a little more if you like it sweeter)
Shake it for 30 seconds and pour in a cute glass. A great tip is to make a big batch ahead of time and throw it in the freezer so you can enjoy them anytime. Thanks for that tip, mom!
Bear poo 
Destruction 
Bill cleaning up the mess 
Tim taking the frames for a spin 
Let the honey run 
These bears are cute 
Pride scraping off the cap 