I won't be at the Urbana Market this Saturday due to a conflict. We're planning on attending next week though!
I've had a lot of requests for honey. This year we're selling glass jars of fresh honey for $6.50 each. Creamed honey will be available later in the season. There is a *very* limited quantity of bulk honey available, if you are interested you will need to contact Linda at (217) 832-8200.
Our honey is not mass produced or medicated with pesticides, antibiotics etc. so it's only available in limited quantities. Before any honey is harvested, each hive is inspected and assessed. We believe the bees come first, and honey is only harvested from hives that have produced more than their winter supply.
Showing posts with label Bees. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Bees. Show all posts
Thursday, August 28, 2008
Wednesday, July 16, 2008
Honey Soon!
Ben took a couple honey supers off the hives the other evening. We should have honey ready to sell very soon!!
Monday, June 30, 2008
Update
I've been really bad about updates here recently, am trying to get back on track. I've changed my work schedule so I'm only working Monday, Wednesday and Friday in Champaign and have Tuesdays and Thursday to devote to soaping and candle making (amoungst other things of course!).
We've enjoyed a wonderful spring and early summer. I don't ever recall having such moderate weather. Usually we jump from snow to smothering humidity so I'm not complaing at all. The downside is its made all the plants etc much later than usual. This spells delay for the bees as well. Generally we expect our first honey "flow" late May. This year it was mid June, almost a month later. We are expecting we'll be able to take honey off our hives this week and will possibly have it at Market this Saturday!
The goats are doing very well. Babies are growing like weeds and the does have settled into the summer routine very amiably. I'm now milking all four and we are awash with milk. Time to do some serious soaping! :)
I'm happy to have a more relaxed schedule for summer and hopefully will be able to devote lots of time this week to making candles for Market Saturday.
We've enjoyed a wonderful spring and early summer. I don't ever recall having such moderate weather. Usually we jump from snow to smothering humidity so I'm not complaing at all. The downside is its made all the plants etc much later than usual. This spells delay for the bees as well. Generally we expect our first honey "flow" late May. This year it was mid June, almost a month later. We are expecting we'll be able to take honey off our hives this week and will possibly have it at Market this Saturday!
The goats are doing very well. Babies are growing like weeds and the does have settled into the summer routine very amiably. I'm now milking all four and we are awash with milk. Time to do some serious soaping! :)
I'm happy to have a more relaxed schedule for summer and hopefully will be able to devote lots of time this week to making candles for Market Saturday.
Wednesday, June 4, 2008
Rain Rain Go Away
Our farmer neighbor informed us in January that this was going to be a drought year. Um, yeah about that.... when is the drought supposed to start?
This has been one of the wettest springs in a while. Usually our crazy IL weather will have about a week of spring weather and then jump directly into smotheringly muggy summer. Not this year! Most of the plants are aproximately a month behind in growth. The farmers are still trying to plant the rest of their crops. Its unreal!
Personally I love rain. But for my animal's sakes, I hope it stops soon. We had to run out at 5:30 this morning to pull up the goat pasture fence so it wouldn't get washed away by the rising flood waters. Everything is so over saturated, even though the rains have stopped for now the water will continue to rise as we get run off from the fields and larger cities where there's concrete instead of earth. Our pond has overflowed its banks and is creeping up to the pen where the male goats live. Unless it stops I'll have to move them in with the females - NOT ideal. The bees are on a raised platform so they should be fine unless it we get a substantial storm.
In the meantime the poor goats are cooped up in their shed. The mud is unreal and I seriously hope the rain at least holds off for a while now.
This has been one of the wettest springs in a while. Usually our crazy IL weather will have about a week of spring weather and then jump directly into smotheringly muggy summer. Not this year! Most of the plants are aproximately a month behind in growth. The farmers are still trying to plant the rest of their crops. Its unreal!
Personally I love rain. But for my animal's sakes, I hope it stops soon. We had to run out at 5:30 this morning to pull up the goat pasture fence so it wouldn't get washed away by the rising flood waters. Everything is so over saturated, even though the rains have stopped for now the water will continue to rise as we get run off from the fields and larger cities where there's concrete instead of earth. Our pond has overflowed its banks and is creeping up to the pen where the male goats live. Unless it stops I'll have to move them in with the females - NOT ideal. The bees are on a raised platform so they should be fine unless it we get a substantial storm.
In the meantime the poor goats are cooped up in their shed. The mud is unreal and I seriously hope the rain at least holds off for a while now.
Wednesday, May 28, 2008
MayBees (Bad Pun)
On the way to the hives
Some of the hives, I couldn't get too close because they kept "zinging" me to chase me away. They don't like their photo taken. :)
Across the pond. The black locust trees are blooming and the bees are working them furiously.
Black Locust blossoms
The hives under a black locust tree. I LOVE black locust honey - its light and so delicately flavored. Usually the trees bloom at the end of April but with all the cool weather we've had they're only just now in bloom. These are one of the bees favorite trees and studies have shown that the bees can make 16,000 pounds of honey from an acre of the mature black locust.So now, hopefully, we shall have a honey flow!
Tuesday, May 20, 2008
Update
Market started two weeks ago - yay! I didn't attend last week but plan on going this next Saturday unless it rains. It was *so* nice to be there again, looks like it will be a great Farmer's Market this year! I'm working on candles, though I don't know how many I will have ready by Saturday. Life's kinda been throwing me curve balls recently so I haven't got as much completed as I had hoped.
Goats are doing really well. Since the babies were all born within a week of eachother they all are virtually the same size. They play together constantly, forming a "goat gang" racing around the pasture, trying to butt eachother off of tree stumps and high places. The recent rains have made everything a little muddy but it will probably all dry out soon and it brings the grass along really well so I'm not complaining.
I noticed the Black Locust blossoms are almost ready to open so we should have our first honey flow soon! Yay! The hives are doing very well considering how cool it's been and they are behind where they'd normally be this time of year.
Goats are doing really well. Since the babies were all born within a week of eachother they all are virtually the same size. They play together constantly, forming a "goat gang" racing around the pasture, trying to butt eachother off of tree stumps and high places. The recent rains have made everything a little muddy but it will probably all dry out soon and it brings the grass along really well so I'm not complaining.
I noticed the Black Locust blossoms are almost ready to open so we should have our first honey flow soon! Yay! The hives are doing very well considering how cool it's been and they are behind where they'd normally be this time of year.
Wednesday, April 23, 2008
New Hives
We finally got our new bee hives set up! We're up to eight right now.
This one needs to be moved. We're just not brave enough to actually do it!
Our neighbor brought some apricot prunings - the blossoms are spectacular!
This one needs to be moved. We're just not brave enough to actually do it!
Our neighbor brought some apricot prunings - the blossoms are spectacular!
Wednesday, March 5, 2008
The End of Winter Vacation!
Winter time is a bit of a lull. The market ends at Christmas, the animals require minimal involvement, life is quiet. I've really enjoyed my break, but its ending this week!
Despite the cold weather, Spring is here. How can I be so certain? I'm awaiting new arrivals! The 4-legged sort of course. "Angel" was due Monday 3/03 and has still not delivered yet. I think she's taking great delight in making me wake up two or three times a night and drudging miserably bleary eyed out to the goat shed to check on her. Its all worth it though, the sleep deprivation will be over soon and we'll have beautiful baby goats to care for. I can't wait! Oh and we'll be awash in fresh goat's milk!
On the down side, with the warm weather last weekend we were able to check the bee hives. We've had a higher winter kill this year than usual, which is really dissapointing. Two of the hives are very strong though and we will be able to split them, creating four total.
I'll post pictures as soon as I'm able. Finger's crossed for the safe arrival of Angel's babies!
Despite the cold weather, Spring is here. How can I be so certain? I'm awaiting new arrivals! The 4-legged sort of course. "Angel" was due Monday 3/03 and has still not delivered yet. I think she's taking great delight in making me wake up two or three times a night and drudging miserably bleary eyed out to the goat shed to check on her. Its all worth it though, the sleep deprivation will be over soon and we'll have beautiful baby goats to care for. I can't wait! Oh and we'll be awash in fresh goat's milk!
On the down side, with the warm weather last weekend we were able to check the bee hives. We've had a higher winter kill this year than usual, which is really dissapointing. Two of the hives are very strong though and we will be able to split them, creating four total.
I'll post pictures as soon as I'm able. Finger's crossed for the safe arrival of Angel's babies!
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