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All three hives pictured have double deep hive bodies. The hive on the right has four medium suppers and the hive in the center has three. The smaller hive was split off one of these hives because it was growing too fast. You might think it was split from the center hive, but it is the progeny of the larger hive. This queen is just a superstar when it comes to producing bees and honey.

Bees Thrive as Interesting Weather Patterns Hits the Homestead

We've had unusual weather this year, but it seems to be benefitting both the trees and our honeybees. We expect a record honey harvest.
When covered with a lockable lid or roof, this enclosure will be the bunker where we store our gasoline cans, spare kerosene, and pesticides we don't want in the house.

Bunkers, Bees and Firewood, a Homestead Update

Work on our many homestead projects progresses, despite somewhat whacky weather.
The nuc (left) arrives in a temporary beehive. The beekeepers lifts out the frames and adds them to an empty beehive. This larger hive body gives the queen more room to lay eggs and the bees room to put nectar and pollen,

From Four Beehives to Ten in a Month

The bees are overflowing! Time to create some more splits to prevent swarming. I also add a nuc to bolster my bee's genetics.
I was given these two beehives by a beekeeper who was moving and couldn't take her bees with her.

Beekeeping Grows more Difficult in 2025

Commercial beekeepers have lost between 60 and 80 percent of their beehives in the past nine months, endangering the food supply.
This is one load if firewood, 10 feet wide and two rows deep. I had to re-split about a third of them.

Spring and Winter Duke it Out on the Homestead

Spring finally arrives, but winter won't be pushed out so easily. The warm weather lets us do long-awaited chores while the freezing rains drives us indoors.
This is a good looking frame of capped brood for this early in the year. he queen laid a good pattern and if you look closely, you can see just-hatched bees emerging from their cells.

It was a Tough Winter for our Honey Bees

The weeks of bitter cold weather in January took their toll on Pete's bees, but enough hives made it through he can rebuild his apiary.
This is an example of the bottles of honey we filled from our late-summer harvest, from quarts all the way down to eight ounces. The honey is all the same color; it just looks darker in the larger bottles.

Big Honey Harvest Plus Homestead and Security Update

As summer draws to an end, we harvest our honey crop and some of the last vegetables from the garden. Before winter sets in is also a good time to check that all systems are functioning.
This was Tuesday's harvest as our garden hits its stride.

Vegetables, Critters and Bees on the Homestead

The garden is flourishing, the bees are piling up the honey, and an assortment of young critters is trying to make our homestead their home.
Two 8-ounce bottles of freshly harvested honey sitting on top of a box of two-dozen one-pound jars.

The Spring Honey Harvest is Complete

We finished extracting, filtering and bottling honey. Now we need to add labels and deliver it to our local retailers and customers.
A honeybee in flight.

Busy Bees and the Honey Harvest

Summer is busy on the homestead. We have to take advantage of the warm weather to grow and harvest what food we can in a limited time.
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