In The Trees, Honeybees

It turns out we have a fourth beehive on our property:

David noticed a lot of bee activity coming and going from the trunk of this tree and upon closer inspection, we see we have a hive!  

We won't be able to harvest honey or anything but we can keep an eye out for swarming and having even more pollinators around is always awesome.  

Yesterday morning Ayden went to play with David's parents while we spent a few hours tending to our little homestead.  David mowed whileI did hive checks.  Before we got started I got my first in person look at the house progress since last week.  Here is my kitchen window that will be above the sink.  I am already daydreaming about some beautiful things to do out there for us to gaze at while we wash dishes...

As for the bees, they are doing awesome at the moment.

The nectar flow is so plentiful right now and they are making honey like crazy.  Their top boxes were all almost full and they were even starting to pull some comb between the two layers of frames to store it (you can see that in the photo above).  David ended up needing to help me lift the boxes of honey off so I could inspect the brood chambers and got a few stings.  We weren't expecting there to be so much honey, making the boxes really heavy, so he did not bring the proper attire for working with them.  Happy Father's Day to him indeed... The things he will do in the name of love!

We ended up putting their supers on (the boxes that they will store honey for us in!) and will need to build more supers to possibly add on in a few weeks.  At this rate we will definitely be harvesting some honey this year and that is very exciting!  

Some bees getting a drink from a water trough in my parents yard.

As for today's house progress, they got the fourth wall raised and aligned:

And they started marking the doors and studs for the interior walls.  It's really coming along!

While they were doing that, Ayden and I played outside for a little while after dinner and then I got him to bed by 7:15.  I was really glad he was able to shift his schedule back to normal so quickly and I was glad to have the extra time to work on putting the house back together.  My original plan was to do it during his nap today but after recital weekend and not sleeping well last night (getting up to pee, over heating, not being able to sleep far enough on my stomach anymore, an itchy bee sting, etc.), I was pretty tired so I took a nap too.  I can't believe that the 10 week countdown starts in just a couple of days but with the way I am feeling I guess it's really happening!  

~Sarah

Flashback!  Here's what we were up to one year ago today: "Jump Into Father's Day"

And two years ago today: "Show Time"

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