…and I think I’M busy….
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#bee #beekeeping @napavalleybeeco #backyardbeekeeping (at At Home in Napa)
I smell orange 🍊 blossom honey!
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#california #bee #beekeeping #backyardbeekeeping #honey (at At Home in Napa)
Torching the nooks and crannies of the beehives to rid them of last year’s pestilence in preparation for the new 🐝 inhabitants.
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#bee #beekeeping #backyardbeekeeping #inbeeswetrust (at At Home in Napa)
Taking clues
from movements in Nature
on how
to live my life.
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#bee #beekeeping #backyardbeekeeping #garden #borage @napavalleybeeco (at Napa, California)
Joy (and nourishment) stirred with the first blooms of rosemary.
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#garden #bee #beekeeping #backyardbeekeeping @napavalleybeeco
(at At Home in Napa)
Bees and borage.
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#honeybee #bee #beekeeping #backyardbeekeeping @napavalleybeeco (at Kicking Bull Farms)
The knife purchased
a lifetime ago
from a flea market
outside Paris
from an elfin woman
specializing in ancient tools
for the farm and
la cuisine.
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Wooden boxes
splayed and overflowing;
knives
bung hole drillers
leather cutters
harnesses
instruments
of discipline.
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Unearthed
from farm jetsam
lay an unusual knife,
the handle lifted above the blade
like a brick layer’s trowel.
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Pour le miel,
for the honey
she said thrice.
With a haughty smile
and jaunty scarf
and tiny hands elaborating
slicing open the honeycomb,
ouvrir le nid d'abeille
liberating the honey.
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Once belonging to a beekeeper
in Burgundy,
a friend of an uncle,
a likely story
for an over-eager foreigner
with USD.
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The carbon blade and
turned walnut handle
in fine condition
from hundreds of years of
minding someone else’s
beeswax.
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Buying a knife
before the hive,
the mis en place
before the honeybees,
a life glimpsed
before
it’s realized,
the desire to understand
Nature
before I’m able
to nurture.
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#beekeeping #bee #backyardbeekeeping @napavalleybeeco (at At Home in Napa)
Locked inside
a wood and wire cage
buried deep in soft honeycomb,
a Pollack of nectar and honey,
paces a new virgin queen
anxious
to replace
the faltering first royal,
her genetic lineage
in question,
her weakness
threatening the health
of the colony.
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Re-Queening
a maintenance not uncommon
to marrying for title;
cold, calculating
in service
to genetics
to better battle
the underclass
of pestilence,
the Varroa mite.
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Autumn’s Hope
languishes
in her prison
for four long days
being fed and fanned,
her new girlish scent
alerting the swollen hive
to her noble presence.
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If accepted
rather than slaughtered,
she is released,
ascending the throne
amongst the throng;
her virginity
powdered, puffed
and prepped
for her maiden flight
to bee serviced
by randy drones,
laid
amongst the last blooms
of fall’s garden.
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If Autumn’s Hope
manages
to find her way home,
her walk of shame
will not be
in party dress
and oversized sunglasses
but rather in
slutty
swaggering
triumph,
for she now bears
a lifetime of sperm
in her tiny abdomen
with which to fertilize
a lifetime of eggs.
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So many variables,
possibilities for failure:
a hungry bird
unrequited lust,
a misdirected honing signal.
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But I’ve made it this far,
and hopefully
so will she.
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#bee #beekeeping #backyardbeekeeping #longmayshereign
(at At Home in Napa)
Yesterday
high as a kite
happy as a clam
trowel in gloved hand,
sunhat shading crow’s feet,
Virgin Airlines black pajamas
my horticulture clothes,
congratulating myself
on the natural aliveness
of the garden:
the hum of bees
the smell of honey come midday heat,
the blooming flowers,
the frantic hummingbirds dive-bombing for food,
the tiny finches’ afternoon visit to the fountain,
the screeching blue jays raiding the feeders,
the baskets of fruit and veggies
resting
in the shade
under the camellia tree.
Today’s inspection
of the hive
revealed the facade;
a trifecta
of pests
invaded the bee box
and my brood
may not survive
the winter.
Small Hive Beetles
tiny helmeted monsters
and
wax moth
dragging a web of pestilence to the comb
and finally
the dreaded Varroa mite
parasitizing the new winter bees
before they even hatch.
What to do?
Not even an aspirin
do I take.
Are the bees treated
once
with an organic insecticide?
Is the queen
replaced
to create a stronger colony?
Or is nature
allowed
to take its course?
Environmental factors
are relegating
today’s
beekeepers
to
pest managers.
Divorcing myself
from the emotional aspects
of animal husbandry
means understanding
chemical manipulations
only lend the illusion
of control and well being
and instead
affect
every
other
thing.
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#bee #beekeeping #garden #everythingisconnected (at At Home in Napa)
A cinnamon bear had gotten into the hive kept high on Pritchard Hill, strewing the frames dozens of feet away. It wasn’t the honey he was after, as commonly thought, but rather the sweet baby bees resting inside the comb.
The frames were put back into the hive weeks ago, and when we visited today, we expected to find only remnants of a departed colony.
When we lifted the lid of the hive, we both exhaled a sigh of relief, followed by a loud whoop shouted into the hot midday air, smoky from late summer wildfires.
It wasn’t a large group of bees, but the queen was present and accounted for, and performing her royal duties, as evidenced by the new comb containing her eggs. And there were plenty of busy workers foraging for food, but by God, it was so parched on the mountain, most of the flowering plants had long past. We left the little colony with a container of honey on which to feed and hopefully flourish.
Fingers crossed.
Tightly.
Honestly, these amazing creatures make me cry.
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#miraclesofnature #evolution #beekeeping #bee @napavalleybeeco (at Saint Helena, California)
Give ‘em an inch…
the bee boxes weren’t a snug fit, so the ingenious fellas created a new entryway. The learning curve has been steep, fascinating and not yet laced with stings. ❤️🐝
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#bee #beekeeping #backyardbeekeeping @napavalleybeeco (at At Home in Napa)
“There is a strange fact worthy to be mentioned which I have ascertained about the food of bees. There is a village called Hostilia on the banks of the river Po. The farmers of this settlement when the flowers of the neighborhood are over, place their hives on ships and take them during the night about five miles up the river. In the daytime the bees fly out and bring their booty to the ships, whose position is changed daily until it is noticed by the sinking of the ship lower in the water that the hives are full; then they are taken home and the honey is extracted.”
Pliny the Elder (23-79 AD).
#allium #bee #beekeeping #backyardbeekeeping (at At Home in Napa)
Tagged along on a swarm capture. My fearless honeybee mentors dug through the apiarian pile to locate the queen, the ❤️ of the operation.
#california #beekeeping #bee #napavalleybeeco (at Napa, California)
Superorganism, indeed.
#mindblown #napavalleybeeco
#beekeeping #bee #backyardbeekeeping (at At Home in Napa)
🐝 Day Five.
The new hive seems happy and adjusting well, furiously collecting nectar and building comb. My first nibble on their handiwork put me in mind of tasting wine in Alsace: distinct flavors of flowers and earth.
As noted in the bee book, the pollen from the calendulas we planted to herald their arrival has made its way into their hive.
Magical and meditative, I’m completely enchanted by their arduous daily ballet; I actually put a chair close to the hive to peep.
#bee #beekeeping #backyardbeekeeping
“Why am I just as happy as a child
Why am I like a racehorse running wild
Why am I in a state of ecstasy
The reason is ‘cause something’s happened to me.
I’m in love again, and the spring is comin’
I’m in love again, hear my heart strings strummin’
I’m in love again, and the hymn I’m hummin’
Is the Huddle Up, Cuddle Up Blues.”
Cole Porter must have been an apiarist.
#california #bee #beekeeping #backyardbeekeeping (at At Home in Napa)
Busy as a 🐝.
#california #napavalleybeeco #beekeeping (at Napa, California)