We had an exciting happening on the farm this past Saturday afternoon-- a swarm of honeybees showed up right in our front yard. That may sound less than ideal, but it's actually a really cool thing!
Honeybees swarm when their existing hive has reached a certain population, and they produce a second queen bee. Half of the hive then heads out to find a new home. Beekeepers generally would prevent a swarm from leaving or split their colony into two boxes, but sometimes they sneak away. We're not sure where this swarm came from, but there is an apiary relatively nearby.
We were elated, as we purchased our first colony of bees this spring and started our first hive, however, we happened to have a second hive on hand from a secondhand equipment purchase. Bee swarms are actually very gentle, as they don't have a large hive of honey to protect, and once they formed into a ball of bees for the night, we went out and shook them into our new hive with some already drawn honeycomb to entice them to stay. The goal here is to get the queen in the box, because if she stays, so will the rest of her colony.
So far so good, and we're very excited to have been so lucky to get another hive of bees. Not only do we love honey, but pollinators are great for our crops and good for the ecosystem. We feel like our little organic haven where we avoid spraying chemicals that harm bees, in addition to a myriad of sown flowers help them to arrive here! We'll share more about our 'insectary' plantings in the future.
We're excited for more summer crops (zucchini!) this week and a fun surprise of fresh garlic in shares this week. you can use the stalk as well as the bulb, it'll be a little more mild as this garlic isn't yet cured, and you can even use the leaves to make stock or any way you might cook leeks. We hope you enjoy.
Your farmers,
Ashley and Caleb
