Hot weekend weather.

Urania was washboarding again over the weekend, this time I was prepared with camera!



The bees are in their own space when they are doing this. The fact that I was sitting next to the hive did not faze them at all. They just kept with the behavior. This little bee got me giggling a bit - the rhythmical pattern made me think of vacuuming.




Overall, the bees were crowding around the entrance, and stacking on top of each other.
















They are definitely amazing creatures. I keep asking them to be patient, that they are getting more space tomorrow afternoon, that they caught us off guard with their amazing abilities. Please don't swarm my dear Queen! Please be patient girls!

I'm unprepared for honey harvest. Before we got the bees I obsessively read books, websites, etc. I've learned all kinds about hives, pest management, disease, etc - but very very little on the honey end. I'll get to that later. I thought. Everyone agrees you don't get honey your first year. It's definitely a learning experience. The local guild meets this Thursday, I'm hoping to attend. Hopefully I'll be able to get some good advice on collecting the honey and possibly using the guild's equipment.

In garden news - trouble in utopia. I picked strawberries last week, and the next night saw a pile of dirt had appeared.

I don't know if it's the work of voles or moles or gophers - I've been lucky that I haven't had too many large garden pests in the garden and would prefer to keep it that way. So far it doesn't look like much else is being disturbed.

Was able to give away a couple of bags of plums this weekend. Hate seeing good food go to waste. The wind we've been having lately isn't a help - it keeps blowing the not-yet-ripe fruit off of the trees.

The blackberry wine continues to ferment away. It will be ready to rack into secondary containment this coming weekend. Elderberries are ready for picking as well, so all in all - the summer work has begun!