Farm Fresh News - May 2018

• June 3 Randy Granger Concert
• June 10 Neotropical Bird walk with Swan Trust
• June 14-17 Organic Gardening Intensive 
• June 16 Market Day under the Dome
• June 22 Dances of Universal Peace at the Quaker House in Nashville
• Bee Update

Dear friends,

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I always have a great time during the Organic Gardening Intensive. It's the best my garden looks all year! 

Bee Update!

 My My daughter and I transporting a captured swam, placed in smaller hive body called a "nuc."

This was one of the coldest winters here in Tennessee in a long time and it was particularly hard on my bees. They just didn't seem ready for it. I started the winter with 3 hives, and by spring, I was down to one.

It was the first winter where I left them plenty of honey and did not have to feed them any sugar syrup in the fall. They didn't run out of honey. One hive that died completely had almost a full box or super of honey left.

When it turns cold, bees will move to the top box, because as we all know, heat rises. Unfortunately, the super full of honey was the one below the top box. I guess it was not in their programming to go back down.

In another hive, the bees died on a frame that still had honey, just a few inches over to one side. It appears they froze before they could move over, or were afraid to try moving their cluster. This hive had some number of bees left, but I could not find a queen or any signs of the queen starting to lay. I merged them with my one remaining hive, which is now going strong and putting up honey.

In April I purchased 2 new starter hives of package bees, approximately 3000 bees in a screened in box, plus a queen. These both appear to be doing well, but I do not expect to get any honey from them this year.

One thing I did last year to expand my hive numbers is set up my daughter with 4 hives on her 25 acres just down the road. Last summer we did 2 splits, purchasing a queen and then putting her with 5 frames of eggs from my stronger hives. We also got a box of package bees from a friend who won it at a beekeeping workshop. Another came from a local friend who was ready to give up on beekeeping.

Last month, at the end of April, a few days after the arrival of my starter hives, two of my daughter's hives swarmed! This is when the hive splits in two, with the original queen leaving the hive and taking half the bees with her, while the remaining bees hatch a new queen. One swarm was about 20 feet up in a tree and the other landed on a branch very close to the ground. We were able to capture both swarms, cutting off the branches and dropping them and into a small hive called a "nuc," short for nucleus. It holds only 5 frames, while our other hives have 8 frames. It appears were successful in capturing the queen, because both swarms have remained in their new home. It has been almost a month, and I am now ready to move them into a full size hive. 

Our birth resource web site for families seeking guidance on subjects such as

• Choosing a Care Provider.
• Health and Diet
• Challenges and Complications
• and much more!
• The Awakening Birth podcast is now available on iTunes or at www.awakeningbirth.net

Please spread the word to anyone in your circle who is thinking of having a baby, expecting, your favorite midwife, or care provider. Please like us and give us a good review on iTunes. It helps!

GreenLife Retreats
A division of Village Media Services
PO Box 259Summertown, TN 38483
931-964-2590 - office / cell
Douglas@villagemedia.com
www.villagemedia.com
www.greenliferetreats.com
www.douglasstevenson.com 
Douglas@thefarmcommunity.com