Sunday 13 June 2010

Our New Babees

It's nice to have a lot of land that hasn't been sprayed for decades. Especially if you're a beekeeper and are looking for just that to place your bee hives.

Tom is just such a beekeeper who placed 2 hives not too far from our house today. It's a great spot with lots of southern exposure, mature trees providing shelter from the elements, and surrounded by lots of clover and wild flowers that the bees are so fond of. More hives may follow if this works out as hoped.


Northwestern Ontario holds a unique position in the Western hemisphere; it's the last remaining enclave that is free of bee mites and other diseases that currently kill honey bee colonies on a massive scale pretty much everywhere else. Mono cultures, widespread use of pesticides and large-scale intensive bee keeping practices are just a few of the reasons for it.

So far our bee-healthy pocket has been able to keep it that way, thanks mostly to the ever-vigilant regional beekeeper's association and its inspectors. Bees are an essential component in this fragile house of cards called the environment. No bees means not only no honey, but also no pollination of flowers, trees, vegetables, fruits. You know, the stuff we humans need to live.

We're looking forward to see how these colonies will do, the first official honey bee population on our property. Of course it's not an entirely selfless act, as I'm sure there is some great honey in it for us - from our own wild flowers!
Here's hopin' our resident bear won't find out about it...

6 comments:

  1. Elizabeth Pszczolko14 June 2010 at 10:33

    Hi, Congratulations.

    I just installed two bee hives of my own.

    Looks like it will be a good summer for bees.

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  2. Glad to see you got your bees.May I suggest a solar powered electric fence to deter bears,and a short fence to keep out skunks.What a shame to have a bear destroy your supers and eat all your brood and honey.By leaving your hives unprotected,it is only a matter of time.Ask any rural beekeeper about skunks or bears....

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  3. For sure, get some bear fence up asap for it's only a matter of time before you will get a visit from a bear. They just can't resist the smell of honey. Once they get a taste you can't keep them away.
    "Been there, done that"

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  4. That's some honey of a story! Bee careful of the bears :)

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  5. Hm, solar-powered electric fence! Might be good for my orchard. Glad I read this blog! :)

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