I caught a swarm! I came home the other day and was walking around my property and into my orchard and noticed all the bees swirling around in the air and the hives. I realized that the bees had just left their hive and were about to settle somewhere and that was when I could catch them and rehive the whole cluster of bees. When the queen decides to move, she lays some eggs in queen cells and when they are capped, she takes about half the bees and leaves the hive. They settle somewhere usually close by, and some bees go in search of a new home. I have found that when they settle I have about an hour...

This past winter was low snow and warmer than normal. I was not happy, as I love to ski, but my bees are happy. The bees are so happy with the warm weather, and they came out of their hibernation and are buzzing  with gay abandon! I'm beyond happy that I didn't lose any hives this winter, which is really amazing as most bee keepers do lose some hives every winter.  I left my hives with lots of honeycomb so that they wouldn't run out of food stores, and would come out of the winter with vigor and a growing population.  

A spring special, Limited time only...just like the Bloom! The trees are popping right now and I have a special treat for you, a fresh blossom in a 1 oz tin of Honeybee Balm! These won't last long @ $25 each. Enjoy the fresh feel of spring and nurture your skin at the same time!

Every spring beekeepers have to take stock of their bee hives. Which ones are strong and which ones are weak. The strong have amazing build up of population, because the queen is laying like crazy, and the weak have a queen that is really just walking around the combs not doing anything! So that's where re-queening comes in. You have to remove the queen who is not doing anything and introduce a new one.  This sounds easy, but does not always go the way you think it should!  Yesterday, I opened a few queen cages that had been in their new hives and most f them just walked out and were accepted by the hive. But one decided this was...

A long time ago, I lost my trust in the products that were intended to help my skin  stay healthy. I’ve had so many experiences where I’ve put my fate in the hands of some company that, I needed to be able to rely on. And time after time, I was let down. If this has happened to you, you know there’s nothing more frustrating and costly. Skin care have become synonymous with unreliability and distrust. Conventional products hide junk ingredients that can make your skin feel and look worse. And you’ve probably been misled by enough poorly formulated natural products to look at the pretty packaging and ask yourself, “but does it really work?” That’s why it’s time for...