The Bee yard, my first swarm & garden finds

What a week this has been. From heat to snow and back again mixed with odd activity in the Bee yard, there has not been a lack of activity. Lets start from the beginning.

Last week I was out mowing the back and stopped my mower in the area by the beehive. Went inside to grab a water & came back to find the Bee's were up to something big. The sound of their buzzing met me before I even topped the hill drive. There was a cloud of Bee's off to the right of my single hive and thousands of Bee's "bearding" in front of it. I initially thought due to the drastic rise between freezing evening temps to almost 80 {F} in the mid afternoon, they were doing what is called Cooling off on the front porch. Also making me think that extra high Pollen we have been enduring caused a surge in brood. Potentially making the cloud of bee's an orientation flight for the newbies. Or so I thought as I went down the check list of possibilities.

Their Bearding I found:

And for those of you who like a little live action heres a 35 second video clip. My first time using video on the DSLR Camera {mind you, the mic on my camera is on the backside and did not pick up the intense Buzz going on} http://youtu.be/Z1YpB9lnOqI

With all the action happening, I feared a swarm. To the best of my knowledge they did not swarm that day since we went back to freezing temps and rain until yesterday. It is very possible to have happened with a newly made queen. I know my hive is exceptionally strong and filled to the brim with Honey so at this point, I can only guess. . But I am getting ahead of myself. Back to yesterday. Panda was home with Strep and I made her come outside in the sunshine while I finished remodeling the Bee Yard. As I shoveled wood chips of which I got 2 dump loads worth free from the tree trimmers down the road, I hear her say "Mooom, there's a bunch of Bee's over here." Pointing about 20 feet to the right of our Hive. I walk over to find a swarm of bee's clustered onto a wild rose cane just 1 foot off the ground. THIS is not good. I ordered a second complete Hive {Bee Free} for this very purpose and was not scheduled to pick it up until the 1st of May. The bee's in my hive were still bringing in Pollen which is telling me there is still a queen inside {confirmed later on}.

front side of swarm:

 Backside view of Swarm

So I dialed up a local guy from the beekeeper society and he was here in just 20 minutes with an empty frame box and all the gear for capturing a swarm.

Time to head out and catch my first Swarm!

 

This man has been a beekeeper for 46 years. Spending an afternoon with a pesky swarm {we had issues getting the Queen into the frame for a bit} made for a most informative & delightful day.

Eventually the swarm was boxed up and this kind Bee Keeper asked to have a look in my hive. It was FULL of Honey since I had not extracted their first Fall season. The downfall being there is not room for the honey to be made THIS flowering season. His solution? Bring me over a new super for them to fill. I will need another added on in about 2 months. He also brought me out a 1 box setup in case we have a swarm with another queen before I am able to pick up the new hive set up I ordered for pick up on the 1st of May.

He said my hive is stronger then any of his and my queen is still in there. He said that since the Bee's whom were going in had pollen on their legs showed they were collecting and not scouting for a new home.

As we awaited the swarm to finish walking into their new home {once the queen is in there, you can see them "walk" right in}. He took the swarm home and has made plans with helping me split our hive this year, utilizing a friends property miles away.

I rather like the looks of our Bee yard.

During all that excitement, we discovered a new addition in the Potter Shed. Seems by not getting that door on, our feathered friends found the Garden Hoe to be most enticing for their nest building.

No eggs in there, much to the dismay of the children but much relief to me. I NEED my tool holding shed this time of year and truly can not have boarders holding it hostage.

I leave for Texas on the first weekend in May. My little brother has been stationed to a base in Maryland. I am flying in to help them drive the distance from their current location since my sister in Law is now expecting. I am going to have a niece!! Soon, I will have my little brother, his wife and soon my niece within a day trip distance. LOTS of road trips to the East coast are in our future.

The Wine Cap mushrooms have been planted in 2 different spots. One in the backyard rock garden and a smaller ring under an old apple tree in the side yard.

This has become rather long so I best be off. Wishing you all.....

Sweet Dreams,

~Tammie

Where have you been? & the Punk inspiration

So where have I been? Playing outside of course! Our home has been filled with children. Lots of sleepovers and laughter filling these hallways. Panda requested I take pictures of her & the friends staying over which I agreed to do. She came back with a question "What theme should we do?".. I honestly did not think the girls meant to go all out but thought... why not?! What would be FUN for these girls? Something THEY would want & appeal to...  Something fun & full of persona's. Something the girls would enjoy that includes doing hair, makeup & choosing of outfits. Then I remembered this video which I soon played for the girls to understand what I had envisioned. The one Drew Barrymore directed for the band Best Coast and their song "Our Deal"....:  " Lets go Punk. How does that sound?" .... of course they were very happy with a theme away from my norm of soft Natural settings. They wanted edgy and honestly, for teen girls, THIS is as edgy as I will go. Thankfully they were all about it.

The next Morning began with makeup & hair styling taking over the bathroom & Panda's bedroom. We got a late start due to some other issues, making the afternoon sun not play in our favor. Afterwards we stopped for slushies and while they looked through their photos, I picked up Pizza. Their evening ending with another sleepover with many talks of how much fun the day was. Their laughter & banter of the day's activities still echoing down the hall....

I like themes. I like costumes. I like giving different Persona's when I play with the camera. I am far from mastering it. No where near Pro quality but I'm learning as I explore & experiment. Have I reinforced this enough? I really do not want some "pro" coming upon this and proclaiming me a "hack". I in no way present this as anything other then a sharing of our camera play. Spare us all the spiel. 

This is the Short version of the inspired theme. The extended version is made like a mini movie music video of 10 minutes.

 http://www.mtv.com/videos/best-coast/677679/our-deal-directed-by-drew-barrymore.jhtml?xrs=share_copy

MTV Supervideo - Music - Best Coast - Best Coast - Music - More Music Videos

I call this session with the girls my warm up. I truly have not shot photos other then snapshots since Last Fall... Without all the fancy equipment, indoor photos do not come out well and my collecting of such items will take some time. The stuff is not cheap. There was a lighting setup at the thrift for $125 but it was gone before I could afford to grab it. One of those make you sick to the stomach deals being you know when you come back it will most likely be gone. Outdoor lighting is timed. Not just anytime of the day will do as you will see in my pictures. Shadows can be a photos worst enemy. We worked through it anyway. Knowing these are a session of practice & learning for me yet fun & adventurous for them.

A short Peak of our The Punk Practice session:

I'm still playing around with editing which is the cause for various differences of their colors, framing, etc.

 

 

 You should have seen their faces when I whipped out a handful of Twizzlers and cans of spray paint from my backpack. Priceless!  No, they did NOT actually use the spray paint. All props. Very little direction was needed by me. Other then moving of a chin or arm to help ease the shadow issues of mid afternoon, obviously you can't force it away but you can try working with it.

 They were so much fun and to hear from the backseat by all  "That was so much fun. When can we do it again?" and then hearing them think up more themes and persona's... pure happiness for this Mom. 

The pictures are not great and the girls knew before hand this is a new hobby for me. These were not going to come out as something you see in magazines. BUT they could care less.

They were laughing & loving it. My mission & their Spring Break fun.... complete. 

I honestly can not wait to do it all again soon. They want to gather up a few more girlfriends for this same theme in the next month or two. Thankfully I thought ahead & gained permission from the Train yard owner for re visits. Non active tracks & trains as well as so much inner city influence oozing from it's environment. PERFECT and safe for these kids I care for as my own.

 The hens have begun laying again after a late winter Molt. The Captain & I are discussing the possibility of allowing them to hatch out  a few dozen for replacements. I would prefer to just go pick up a dozen barred rock chicks and thin out the current flock. The thought of chicks inside for a bit has kept this thought as just thought. A consideration unconfirmed. We'll see how it goes.

For now...

Sweet Dreams,

~Tammie