A guest blogger

Even though I have not blogged for some time, much has happened in the apiary. I will be publishing a complete account when I get around to it. 

In the meantime, here is an account from a fellow beek, Laura.

 

 

The Beekeeper's Daughter

March 21, 2020:

Sonoma County announced a shelter-in-place order due to COVID-19, while Sabine, Amaya, Matt and I were in the mountains. When we came home a few days later, we found that a swarm of bees had decided to shelter-in-place in our very own pulp swarm trap! Matt had made and hung it in the nectarine tree about a week earlier. Was it the lemongrass-infused q-tip that drew them in? The blooms that were suddenly covering our fruit trees and flowering plants? The height and placement of Matt's expertly crafted trap? Beginner's luck? Who cares?! We were thrilled.

The first thing we did, of course, was call our guru and favorite beek-- Papa/Daddy-o. He advised that we not move our new friends straight into our hive, as we weren't sure when the swarm had arrived and the bees were already oriented to the precise location of the swarm trap. So, we decided to rig up our modified langstroth hive up on a ladder so it was positioned about 2 ft. from the entrance of the swarm trap. Around 4:30/5pm (it was still light out and not too cold), Matt geared up and poured the bees from the pulp swarm trap into our hive, while the girls and I stood by, watching with wonder and excitement. 

It looked like a success! After an hour or so, the air was clear of bees and only a small cluster remained on the trunk of the nectarine tree, where the swarm trap had previously been. Daddy/Papa said to expect this small, stubborn crew of bees to remain at the site of their original chosen home. He said to leave them alone. Of course, I felt that I needed to "save" these 50 some stragglers who were out in the cold without their queen. So later that evening, just when the sun was setting and it was significantly cooler, I climbed the nectarine tree, without any protective gear on whatsoever, and brushed a large number of bees into a Tupperware container. The remaining bees got very upset, and when one stung my upper lip, I dropped the Tupperware, which got everybody mad. I jumped from the tree down to the ground, and a high speed chase ensued, all the way to the edge of a neighboring Apple orchard. Bees were covering me-- in my hair, my shirt, even my pockets! Miraculously, I managed to get just one other sting on my head. Poor Sabine, Amaya and Daddy had watched the whole affair from Amaya's bedroom window, including my frenzied sprint out of sight, and were very worried. When I got home, I got possibly the biggest hug I've ever gotten from Amaya, and she got me an ice-pack straight away to put on my stings. The whole fiasci was humbling, and the lower left side of my face, which blew up to 3x its normal size the following day, served as a good reminder that I should always listen to my father and, if I don't, to at least put on a damn bee suit.

First pic is the wise son-in-law, all suited up and doing an expert job escorting our new residents into their new home. Second pic is your daughter, who certainly learned her lesson about bothering bees.