I know who I'd like to blame

-Posted by Isaac

Well, a week has passed. It seems I wasn't the only one fired up. In fact, the story became a national firestorm. (Only after I sounded the alarm.) Hate and rage on both sides of the issue... finger pointing, side stepping and an unbelievable amount of spin. How someone can look past the obvious cruelty and spin this as: 1. That'll teach them... 2. They had it coming... 3. You break the law, you pay the price... 4. Those aren't really the parents... 5. This has always been done.... 6. Typical hysteria of the drive-by media... 7. Typical media hate on Trump... 8. Obama did it first... 9. Happens to our own criminals every day-- they don't get their kids... 10. The Bible says follow the laws... 11. The whole thing is a complete fabrication...

What a bunch of BS. If anything, this week taught me how very polarized we are. How quick we are to scream and blame and point fingers. We fight on Facebook while a bunch of lost kids sit in cages. Is this Trump's fault? Obama's? Republicans? Democrats? Who is to blame for this?

Jayne and I saw Todd Snider in Nelsonville last night. He's not political. He says he only comes up with this stuff because it rhymes.

Anyway as you can tell, I'm still fired up. But it's nice to know that most of the country is on my side. It seems that some laws may actually get changed. And hopefully in short order. As I said last week, it's a bit dangerous for me to get political on a blog post. Even on an issue so cut and dry. I mean, this is not Boston or Boulder or Bellingham. If you don't watch out, they'll call you names down here in southern Ohio. Lefty. Hippy. Bleeding heart. Snowflake. Softy. Sympathizer. Schmuck. Patsy. Fool. And sometimes even the most intolerable of insults... the height of repugnant labels... the most odious and insufferable brand of them all- they might call you a liberal.

I looked it up. It's hideous: 

Let's hope I never go over that edge.

So setting politics aside, what's happening on the bee farm? 

Not a lot. Still treating bees, still dodging the rain and sitting in the truck. Which leaves plenty of time for fighting on Facebook.

I think we had four or five inches this week. I worked the market this morning alongside sister Becky of Tilley Farmstead. She pulled weeds in the mud and the downpours all week. She and I feel the same way- we put our minds to the task and just bear it. We've grown callus. If it's not over an inch, shoot, we barely even notice. Just a half inch this afternoon? Is that all you got? You call that a rain?

It's getting really old. Just like the snow in April was getting really old. The weather is weird and getting weirder. But hey, what can you do? Who can you blame?

 I still had this photo in my phone. It's the scene on the first official day of spring:

And here we have the scene on the first official day of summer:

We were blessed with two more inches later that evening. I guess I had it coming.

Who knows, maybe we'll luck out with the fall.

As you might imagine, the bees don't do much on these wet days. They hang out. Some like to do something called "washboarding." It's a cool little dance at the hive entrance. 

Nobody knows why bees do this. It is of yet, an unexplained phenomena. But they're bees- creatures of mystery. Not like us, the sensible, sane and rational Homo sapiens.

It was fair week here in Pickaway. We sensible and sane humans gathered up our projects and threw our hats in the ring.

The competition was intense. Pride and ribbons and bragging rights on the line.

Mason took home a second place with his ducks and champion in beginner showmanship.

Maizy cleaned up with ten blue ribbons in the flowers and crafts!

And Eden mostly just helped clean up.

It's not exactly the same, but even here in Ohio we lock our kids in cages. I wonder who's to blame?

Fired up on Father's Day

-Posted by Isaac

They're home!

All the pollination hives are now where they belong. It took a bit longer this year to get them to their out yards. Weather difficulties. As usual.

Last week Mason had some friends over. The idea was stay out in the camper, but three inches of rain that night put a stop to it. Still, the next day they helped us to celebrate Ohio's awesomeness. 

It seems to be shaping up about like last year-- rain and more rain. Flooding and chaos in the heartland. Like a drum major in front of the parade, high winds preceed each storm . About once a week we circle the yard and pick up downed branches. One of these days we'll have a hell of a bonfire.

About a half mile away a big branch broke off the hickory tree and fell in the corn. Bridger and I went to cut it up, but the chainsaw was out of gas. No matter, we'll just drag our prey down the road.

All the weather worries have sort of prevented us from doing what we should be doing- extracting honey. It's time to pull the spring boxes. Unfortunately there's not a lot of it, so I guess it's no rush. As I said in an earlier post, we sold too many nucs and I sort of split myself out of a spring honey crop. Too bad, because it could have been pretty decent. Every now and then I come across a hive that was left strong enough to take advantage of our spring flow. 

Wish there were more!

I have learned some things over the years. Like, no matter what, keep your comb honey yards strong. Don't split those hives hard! Our spring honey flow is both intense and reliable. It may be short lived, but if you have some comb boxes on decently strong hives, you're sure to fill them. 

And we did.

So we got that going for us. Comb honey, check.

And the June mite treatment is well under way. Check.

I'm back into that good old formic acid. Missed those vapors! You can see that the bees also love this stuff. (Sarcasm) After applying the strip and putting the hive back together, the returning foragers seem to be stopped dead in their tracks:

Whoa! What did you guys do in there!

This time I won't preach about mite treatments. Most of you beekeepers know how important this is. Here's a post from last year where I was a bit more preachy: TREAT YOUR BEES!

But let's not set preachiness aside totally. I can't help it. I know full well I should just stick with bees, but it's Father's Day and this week we bumped up against an issue that set me on fire. It's political. So it's dangerous for someone like me. Normally, as you may have guessed, I lean a little left. Not hard left, just a little. (Just enough to piss off my father.) And I don't argue left. It's not worth getting red in the face. I just shrug. Mostly I sympathize. Everyone is a product of their background. Their parents. Their community. Their education. Their media sources. Their own stubbornness. Bigots will be bigots. Racists will be racist. Homophobes, homophobic. Haters will hate and deniers will deny. I shrug. It's beyond me to try to change a set mind with facts. Or logic. Or reason. Or rationality. Or empathy. But...

It was empathy that put this week's hot button issue on the forefront of my mind. In fact, I was so out of sorts about it, I had to run it by Jayne. Should we actually do something?

It's this deal of taking kids from their parents as a deterrent for illegal border crossings. Some 2000 kids now. What the hell? This is one issue that is so clearly cut and dry. So clearly right and wrong. How could anyone be on the wrong side of this? And let it continue? Yet you see memes and arguments on both sides. Is this actually a law of the United States? What kind of heartless bastard(s) put that through? Surely not fathers and mothers! Surely not God fearing Christians! Could any "God of Love" forgive such a thing? 

I know Colbert isn't everyone's cup of tea, but he nailed it on this one. This was yesterday:

Can you imagine the hell these people are going through? Put yourself  there- you are leaving the hell you came from. You didn't want to, it's all you've known, but you're desperate and hopeless. There's no future here. So you have your kids with you because you're doing this for them. The future. It's such a risk, and it may not succeed. And even if it does, the best that you yourself can hope for is a life in the shadows. In the margins of a marginal society. Picking strawberries? Hanging drywall? Living in sheds and basements. But your kids... your kids will find their way. They'll learn the language. They'll learn the customs. They'll assimilate. A bright hope for the next generation. Sure it's a risk. But the future is always a risk. And always worth it.

You're caught at the border. It's always been a border of hope and despair. And you got caught. You lose. Despair. You are handcuffed and herded. When just the day before, you were a hopeful father. You had your family, forging a path to a better life, running from crime and poverty and hopelessness. Running from criminals. Now you're the criminal. A criminal? Now at the mercy of the courts. But at least you're still a father. At least you've still got your kids.

And then the worst possible thing happens. Worse than torture, worse than death. This new country decides to enforce a law.

This is so clearly a case of right and wrong.

I'm happy to hear that there seems to be a rising tide of protest. A very justified protest. I will gladly lend my support to these people. 

Happy Father's Day. I hope you fathers get to enjoy your kids as much as I enjoy mine.

What the dickens?

-Posted by Isaac

It was the best of times,

it was the worst of times,

it was the age of wisdom,

it was the age of foolishness...

...a little recap on our tale of two vacations.

Three days in the NC mountains and three days on the SC beach. Both fun, interesting and memorable. Both exasperating. Eden decided that this was the trip where under no circumstance was she going to let herself be photographed with the family. 

This is the best we've got:

In recent years, the Carolinas have been our go-to spot for a quick and easy vacation. The beaches, the mountains, the forests and the history-- all within a day's drive.

But it's never quite as easy as you think. Aside from the usual difficulties of keeping the kids from killing themselves or each other, aside from the predictable moments of me wanting to strangle one of them... this time there were other more specific obstacles. Like getting both burnt and eaten alive on the beach. The temps hovered around ninety, and the no see ums (also called sand gnats) were out in force. We camped, and they seemed to come straight through the mesh of our tents. Each morning we woke to find ourselves covered red with bites. Then spent the day itching. It was fun!

When we weren't ducking the hot sun and darting the biting bugs, we were dodging the heavy rain. It rained every day.

This made hiking somewhat difficult. But I have to say, our kids really turned a corner on this trip. For the miles we covered, there was very little complaining. A real change from past hikes. It gives me hope. 

The three days in NC area were spent surrounded by art. While the mountains and mist provided a perpetual artistic backdrop, the town gave it up close and personal. Asheville seemed every bit a hub of interest and culture. Music, murals, food and events everywhere you turned. Even the people are works of art. From Wayne, our highly decorated Airbnb host to the nice lady serving coffee at the farmers market.

If the Asheville market has anything over Worthington, it would be the body art. (Except for Jess at the Honeyrun Farm tent. Nothing could top our Jess!)

Art was everywhere. We took a lunch break at the famous Woolworth's Lunch Counter,

and while our hotdogs were being made, we had some time to meander through the gallery section of the building. The kids quickly found their style.

And I found some stuff to my liking. 

Silly or profound? Depends on your frame of mind...

I got flipping though a box of painting copies, and found this.

I laughed and called Eden over. "Look Babygirl! It's me and you when I get mad. See, I'm the big ugly monster and you're the little kitty."

She looked for a second and shook her head. Grabbing the next one in the box, she said, No Daddy. "It's this one. See. I'm the girl and you're the bird."

The title of this-- STEALING BEAUTY FROM STRANGE ANGELS.

I stared at the picture a few seconds.

"You know what, Babygirl? You're right."

Asheville Bee Charmer

-posted by Jayne

Isaac needed the week off from blogging after his week off from beekeeping, so here I am, guest blogging on the blog I started (I handed it over to Isaac when I decided he was better at it.) Last week on our family vacation to Asheville, NC, we had the opportunity to visit an awesome store completely devoted to all things bees and honey:  Asheville Bee Charmer.  

Along with hordes of other tourists, we crammed ourselves into this small but mighty shop to discover all the delectable treats and bee themed merchandise they had to offer.

The best part of this store was actually the honey displays.  There was so much to look at, I honestly missed half of their honey varieties (this was mostly due to trying to keep my 4 kids from getting in others' way- it was crowded!)

The honey... it's... glowing!

Honey tasting bar complete with a staff member to assist you with all your sampling needs.

I took a lot of pictures so I could convince Isaac to build me displays such as these:

Check out the color variations in all the varieties of honey!  They offered both local honey as well as honey sourced outside of the US.

We also used our Saturday off to do the exact same thing we do EVERY Saturday.  Visit a farmer's market.  This is Asheville's City Market- I decided it would be a good one to visit after checking out several options on YELP.  Asheville seems to have a bustling local food economy with plenty of opportunities to source local food.

We spent the morning wandering the town, being serenaded by locals, learning how to use the "WALK" buttons at crosswalks.  Country bumpkins in the city.  Do you know of other great honey themed stores we need to visit? (Besides Savannah Bee, which we covered two years ago.)  We always need an excuse for another vacation!

Our own little honeybee being charmed in Asheville.

Pandora's Box

-Posted by Isaac

I had no less than three people compliment last week's blog. Completely unexpected. And let me tell you, it makes a person feel pretty good to be the catcher of such surprising compliments. Really brightens your day, you know? And it occurs to me that I should try to occasionally be the pitcher.

Young Jaydyn Rapp knows how this is done:

Jayne and I laughed through a pile of these during one of our Netflix evenings. We find the same truths every year-- Fifth graders know something about mental health that many adults tend to forget. It's simple: say nice things. Even if they're barely true, even if you have to make them up. Say nice things.

I'm keeping Jaydyn's letter as my "good guy" card. Next time the world's got me down, I'll brandish it like a sword. Back you critics! Back you naysayers! Look what I've got!

So I'm feeling pretty confident. Feeling pretty good. 

Now what are we getting into today? What big bright news from the bee farm?

For one, this week marked the last of our babies leaving their nursery.

And man, has it been one busy month. This year I've learned some (hard) lessons about wholesaling. Namely, that you can't back out of it. Even if nothing is going right- with the weather, with the bees. 

You still have to get these girls where they're going.

I'm a people pleaser. And it stresses me out. Next year I think I'll be more cautious with my numbers and my timing.

One thing that did go right this year was the queens.  

150 gorgeous fat beauties came right on time each week. And our queen acceptance was around 95%. Great strong pheromones on those girls. 

90% went out with the nucs, so I haven't had the chance to really evaluate them. But the few that went into our own hives are looking awesome. Check out this brood pattern!

Before pulling that frame, I glanced at the date on the lid. I had put her in exactly thee weeks previous. 

When the weather cooperates, beekeeping is easy.

We jumped directly into summer this year. I'm not the only one to notice this. Just a month ago we were shivering and hoping the dandelions would hang around. Now we're sweating. And the blooms are rapid fire. This week Jayne's peonies popped.

Back when it was cold, before the bee work became nonstop, we found a little time for some arrowhead hunting. No arrowheads, but Eden found a nice fossil.

It's hot now, and the bee work has slowed a bit. With the corn growing fast, we once again find time for arrowheads.

But once again, no arrowheads to be found. Only rocks.

Which is just fine. Rocks are thrilling in their own right. I know I sound like a madman, but I repeat this to my kids every time we go out-- when you know rocks, you know the secrets of the earth. (And the secrets of life, come to think of it.) Hopefully someday they'll understand.

No arrowheads, but we did find something kinda cool. 

We debated without consensus. Is this a monarch? I'm thinking not. The antennas are the wrong color.

The caterpillar didn't really sound like a pirate.

That was me.

Sorry about the narration.