tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30353862011-10-17T08:54:06.798-04:00Postfield Honey CompanyA Collection of New England Musings Concerning Life, Nature and even a few posts about HoneybeesGeo.http://www.blogger.com/profile/00006112744858969417noreply@blogger.comBlogger301100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3035386.post-64625752485054074352007-10-15T09:50:00.000-04:002007-10-15T09:55:15.102-04:00Webb ParkOver this past weekend we took time to explore an amazing local park just on the edge of the Boston Harbor Islands. Webb Park is located in Weymouth, but it feels like a world apart. One of the few places that feels like a great secret that hardly anyone knows about. We too the two dogs out and they absolutely love roaming and checking out the latest smells.As for nature, the ocean is on both Geo.http://www.blogger.com/profile/00006112744858969417noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3035386.post-31992064978897922382007-08-31T18:58:00.000-04:002008-12-13T04:47:30.661-05:00March of FallThe rhythm of the days are changing... you can see it in the quality of the light, the position of the sun and the picture-perfect days. There is plenty to do, and I sometimes think of that old tale about he grasshopper and the ant. And actually there are many signs even for casual observers like myself. The quantity of crickets in the yard as I mow the late summer grass has increased, small Geo.http://www.blogger.com/profile/00006112744858969417noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3035386.post-78473838153203283902007-08-13T07:41:00.001-04:002008-12-13T04:47:30.968-05:00In Preparation Summer is in full swing as the bees have been very active this season. Of course, the image of the Dragonfly is not one of my bees, but apt imagery for the languid summer days that are fast beating by. As a harbinger of the Fall and noticing the rhythm of the hive, the bees have begun the process of sealing the hive for the colder weather. They have been filling every crack and Geo.http://www.blogger.com/profile/00006112744858969417noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3035386.post-19156698618351535772007-08-05T07:45:00.000-04:002007-08-05T07:46:38.201-04:00The concept of "consideration" for others... is this an old-fashioned concept and do people still understand the necessity of consideration?Geo.http://www.blogger.com/profile/00006112744858969417noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3035386.post-1106582396566872132005-01-24T10:53:00.000-05:002005-01-24T11:00:09.993-05:00It was, quite simply, a classic New England Blizzard. We sat up in our new space, high above Pequit Brook and watched the wind blow and the snow fall. The blanket, thicky covering the beehives as well as the bridge over the brook. We ventured out into the heart of the storm at 3:00 am, it was wild. The wind gusted to almots 60 mph and the snow culred around us like cyclones. Drifts were almost Geo.http://www.blogger.com/profile/00006112744858969417noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3035386.post-1090581742207697682004-07-23T07:22:00.000-04:002004-07-23T07:22:22.206-04:00Geo.http://www.blogger.com/profile/00006112744858969417noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3035386.post-1090581075736045422004-07-23T07:04:00.000-04:002004-07-23T07:11:15.736-04:00For some reason I have not spent as much time blogging which incidently coincides with the fact that I have not spent much time with the bees. I placed the honey supers on vety late this year (July) and I am sure that the bees appreciate the space, but as for honey flow, I fear that it will be a very light yield. The season began so late, mostly owing to the difficulty in actually getting liveGeo.http://www.blogger.com/profile/00006112744858969417noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3035386.post-1077642030429473512004-02-24T12:00:00.000-05:002004-02-24T12:03:15.170-05:00audio post powered by audblogGeo.http://www.blogger.com/profile/00006112744858969417noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3035386.post-1077641275703490092004-02-24T11:44:00.000-05:002004-02-24T11:50:39.796-05:00I took a look inside my three hives. The extreme cold weather here in the Northeast has taken a toll on the bees. Only one hive has thus far survived and it appears weak. It is always a sad occurence to lose the bees. I will spend some time this weekend looking into the surviving hive and perhaps giving them some food in the hope that they will make it through the next few weeks. I will order Geo.http://www.blogger.com/profile/00006112744858969417noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3035386.post-1073417536022896922004-01-06T14:32:00.000-05:002004-01-06T14:33:55.810-05:00Over the past few weeks it has been unseasonably warm. So warm, in fact, that the bees have been out and about their hives. All three hives show a strong colony going into the winter. The deep freeze is about to begin this week and with temps that will drop ino the single digots I hope that the girls will be snug and safe. At the beekeeping club meeting we voted in our new board of directors. Geo.http://www.blogger.com/profile/00006112744858969417noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3035386.post-1059743583103393122003-08-01T09:13:00.000-04:002003-08-01T09:13:03.076-04:00It has been a fairly dry summer here, and all the while we have needed rain for gardens and flowers, the bees dislike the rain. My bees get fairly grumpy and many of the younger ones just hang out on the landing board or pile up under the edge of the cover along the front of the hive. I tend to wait a few days after the rain to let them get back into the swing of things. This is the weekend I Geo.http://www.blogger.com/profile/00006112744858969417noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3035386.post-1058970675671431432003-07-23T10:31:00.000-04:002003-07-23T10:31:16.193-04:00This past weekend I mowed the grass around the beehives. It was a perfectly dry summer day and many of the field bees were out doing their thing. It was the light frangrance of honey on the breeze that signaled the production process. In fact, the whole yard smells like honey and beeswax. These are the days when the bees are busily fanning the hive and evaporating the water prior to ripening theGeo.http://www.blogger.com/profile/00006112744858969417noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3035386.post-1058200192265629852003-07-14T12:29:00.000-04:002003-07-14T12:29:52.240-04:00I have been away for the past week, but before I left I placed all of the honey supers on the three hives in the apiary. It was really less trouble than I imagined, in that the bees were pretty distracted by the warm summer day and paid little if any attention to the process. Also, I had stored the frames in a very large plastic container and the woodenware was in great shape after being used Geo.http://www.blogger.com/profile/00006112744858969417noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3035386.post-1057321619996607722003-07-04T08:26:00.000-04:002003-07-04T08:26:59.943-04:00audblog audio postGeo.http://www.blogger.com/profile/00006112744858969417noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3035386.post-1057321209330314202003-07-04T08:20:00.000-04:002003-07-04T08:23:17.503-04:00Beekeeping is part science and part art. The science part is biology, ecology, botany and meteorology. The art part is curiosity, creativity in problem solving and wisdom. Combine the two and throw in 120,000 bees and you have your beekeeper. Curious folks who enjoy nature and creativity...plus there must be a bit of old fashioned yankee ingenuity thrown in for good measure. My family and Geo.http://www.blogger.com/profile/00006112744858969417noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3035386.post-960235172003-06-25T13:51:00.000-04:002003-06-25T13:51:40.876-04:00One of the nice things about being a beekeeper is the fact that it is kind of novel and people have tons of questions. Just this past month I gave an interview to th elocal newspaper about my bees. The interview lasted quite some time and the reporter, who is an excellent writer, seemed quite engaged by the topic. The photographer was another story. I think that the thought of being within a Geo.http://www.blogger.com/profile/00006112744858969417noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3035386.post-956498542003-06-13T22:58:00.000-04:002003-06-13T22:58:42.610-04:00audblog audio postGeo.http://www.blogger.com/profile/00006112744858969417noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3035386.post-956497982003-06-13T22:56:00.000-04:002003-06-13T22:56:25.293-04:00audblog audio postGeo.http://www.blogger.com/profile/00006112744858969417noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3035386.post-956496922003-06-13T22:51:00.000-04:002003-06-13T22:51:06.980-04:00It has been so very wet and damp here in Canton. The weather has deflated the ego's of many of the bees in the hives at the edge of the brook. I received three calls this week from area residents reporting swarms. Of the three, only one swarm was picked up by a Norfolk County Beekeeper. Gary Libby travelled all the way to Stoughton to pick up a two and a hlaf pound ball of bees from a low Geo.http://www.blogger.com/profile/00006112744858969417noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3035386.post-946920542003-05-21T12:24:00.000-04:002003-05-21T12:24:30.653-04:00Norfolk County Beekeepers AssociationGeo.http://www.blogger.com/profile/00006112744858969417noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3035386.post-946917222003-05-21T12:16:00.000-04:002003-05-21T12:16:47.350-04:00On Monday I installed a very strong package of bees into my third hive. These bees were rearing to go, as they had already begun to make honeycomb inside their shipping container. I installed the bees late in the day so that they would settle into their new home without much fuss. I have to say that it was and always will be an amazing experience. Several thousand bees flying around and Geo.http://www.blogger.com/profile/00006112744858969417noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3035386.post-940691362003-05-09T15:37:00.000-04:002003-05-09T15:37:32.510-04:00audblog audio postGeo.http://www.blogger.com/profile/00006112744858969417noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3035386.post-940690092003-05-09T15:34:00.000-04:002003-05-09T15:34:56.253-04:00The trees are producing such amazing amounts of pollen this late in the year. Having such a rough winter has pushed Spring into late May. In fact it is still cool here and overcast today. The bees are a bit ornery due to the change in weather and the damp week we have had. Otherwise all is well. Geo.http://www.blogger.com/profile/00006112744858969417noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3035386.post-939318472003-05-07T11:30:00.000-04:002003-05-07T11:30:11.893-04:00Early this morning I took a walk down to the hives. As the morning sunshine warmed the white boxes, several of the more daring "scouts" were out and about getting used to their new surroundings. Life on Pequit Brook is very different from their home in Louisiana. Soon they will lose their southern buzzin drawl. The bees are hovering in front of their hive to begin fixing their location and newGeo.http://www.blogger.com/profile/00006112744858969417noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3035386.post-938635252003-05-06T10:23:00.000-04:002003-05-06T10:23:35.743-04:00audblog audio postGeo.http://www.blogger.com/profile/00006112744858969417noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3035386.post-938634112003-05-06T10:21:00.000-04:002003-05-06T10:21:50.306-04:00audblog audio postGeo.http://www.blogger.com/profile/00006112744858969417noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3035386.post-938201902003-05-05T16:24:00.000-04:002003-05-05T16:47:37.000-04:00While it has been awhile since I have blogged, Spring has occasioned upon us here in New England, and as such I have begun my musings again. All of my bees had died this past winter. It had been a tough year and I think that by December all three hives had pretty much been wiped out. In March I failed to hear the telltale buzzings inside. On a warm late winter day I opened the hives to find all Geo.http://www.blogger.com/profile/00006112744858969417noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3035386.post-38148372001-05-27T09:19:00.000-04:002001-05-27T09:19:28.620-04:00Yesterday I opened the hive for a brief inspection. All is going extremely well. The bees are building up large quantities of brood comb and they are all so very busy. In fact, the bees are so busy that I was able to perform my inspection without any protective gear at all. The bees remain calm and have a very nice disposition. I will let a few weeks go by and then before I add a second brood Geo.http://www.blogger.com/profile/00006112744858969417noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3035386.post-37781072001-05-24T13:35:00.000-04:002001-05-24T13:35:26.993-04:00I inspected the hive last night. Of concern to me has been the fact that for most of the past week we have had rain and very overcast days. The chill and damp has kept the gals inside and they have consumed about a quarter of the medicated sugar syrup that I have mixed up for them. All appeared calm and the bees seem busy down in the frames. I am trying to keep them stress free and look forwardGeo.http://www.blogger.com/profile/00006112744858969417noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3035386.post-37442562001-05-22T10:02:00.000-04:002001-05-22T10:02:37.160-04:00The bees have arrived and this past Saturday they are in their new hive. About 10,000 bees have begun to forage in and around Postfield. They have been very active and over the past few days I have seen them carrying large quantities of pollen in their leg baskets. The transfer of the package of bees was textbook perfect, except I did lose the Queen Bee for a few minutes when I had accidently Geo.http://www.blogger.com/profile/00006112744858969417noreply@blogger.com0