homegrown honey

close up shot of honeycomb, seen below

last year we started keeping bees

(or more accurately, my sweet man started keeping bees

and i cheered him on)

since we are vegans, we didn't think we'd ever use the honey. 

the bees can't exactly give their overt permission for us to take it. 

BUT - a funny set of circumstances led said sweet man

to bring in one of the frames, filled with a honeycomb. 

(read his story below)

the honeycomb is such a work of art

and evidence of the mystery and wonder of life. 

there was about a pint of honey in that one honeycomb. 

we've been reflecting on sweeteners, 

and how many of them come from far away. 

so many resources are used to transport sugar 

or agave or brown rice syrup 

from place of production to our home. 

sometimes forest land is cleared so 

sugar cane fields can be planted. 

we, especially me, need to cut down on use of sugar anyway, 

and we are considering relying more on the honey that is 

right in our own backyard. 

we haven't made a definite decision either way. 

we don't hurt our bees - and in the past year 

we've needed to add bee box real estate - 

we started with two boxes and now have four. 

they are thriving here. 

we think around 60,000. 

we love our bees! 

and here is my sweet man's story 

about how he came to bring 

the frame into the house in the first place. 

enjoy! 

This morning I went out to my beehive and there were a few dead bee larvas at the hive entrance and no bees around. Right away I feared colony collapse right here in my own backyard. So, standing there in my bathrobe and slippers I popped the top off the hive which immediately buzzed to life with thousands of happy healthy bees inside and quickly coming out. So I dropped my phone (I had it out to take pictures) and ran inside. The bees clustered around the outside of the hive and all over my phone (which fell right on top of the open hive).

Knowing I would need my phone soon I suited up with double gloves, my hard hat, my coveralls and my bee hood. I grabbed my smoker, filled it with dry leaves, and headed to the hive. I used a small pry bar to pull out one of the 36 hive frames and it was perfect! All honey and wax - no brood (babies) or eggs. Just pure honey. I replaced the frame with an empty wood frame got my phone, added the additional story on their house (I had one more bee box and this hive needs to more space in their house) and closed up the top. 

Fresh honey for these vegans! 

I'm guessing there was probably 20 or more times the amount of honey in the hive than I took. I'm really happy about how healthy the hive is. 

The beehive had three boxes. I added a fourth. Each box has 12 wooden frames like the one below that I took today. I replaced the frame I took with an empty wood frame (no honey or hive, just the wooden rectangle with a hole in the middle).

Needless to say, Tera is pleased.

bees buzzing

photo taken by roberta of backwards beekeepers
could ryan be any cuter? 

ryan has wanted a bee hive for a long time. not so we can eat the honey (we're vegan!), but so they can pollinate our fruit trees and other food growing in our yard. and we want to do our part to help keep a healthy, local bee population.

last weekend everything came together beautifully with the help of craigs list, the amazingly helpful backwards beekeepers and gracious advice from los angeles honey company.

this place sells everything you need to keep bees - minus the bees

the backwards beekeepers have a blog post all about moving the hive to our place, with photos and videos.

ryan found a hive that needed to be moved (craigslist). a charming woman (who is vegan and a professional insect wrangler - how neat is that?) had to get them moved out of her storage shed because the bees were making her neighbor nervous. i won't tell the whole story here, because it's already on the backwards beekeepers blog, but check out this photo of the hive, attached to a folding table.

ok - it looks like something from outer space, doesn't it? it's awesome, in the absolute best sense of the word.

ryan and roberta wrangled the bees into our bee box, but the first night they stayed at their original home, and ryan brought a cardboard box into the back yard that had part of the honey comb in it. within minutes, there were tons of bees swarming around it. neighborhood bees taking the honey! bee thieves!

the next day, ryan and roberta brought the bees here. here's a photo of roberta looking over one of the frames that drops into the bee box. the bees will (hopefully) create honeycombs on these frames.

our little buzzers are getting used to being here. home sweet home!

many thanks again to roberta, the backwards beekeepers, and LA honey company for all their help and advice. and of course to ryan for having the drive and energy to want bees in the yard in the first place, and then to actually make it happen.