Haikus confuse me

-Posted by Isaac

Haikus confuse me.

So often they make no sense.

Please pass the honey.

Redemption comes sweet

to rushed and lousy cooking.

A touch of magic.

Something so divine

could never be created

by the hands of man.

Bright honey bees fly

in joyful abandonment.

A moment of gold.

Rushing homeward bound,

bearing treasures from afar.

Rejoice and commune!

Dew on the beehive.

Early May apple blossom.

Nothing more truthful.

We shall overcome.

We shall overcome some day.

Yes, I do believe.

Company founder

Executive manager

Chief business partner

Purple deadnettle

springtime pollen, new promise,

feeding the future.

To live with the land,

to breath sweet and lucid air.

To sow, to harvest.

Haikus confuse me.

Short, thoughtful meditations

making too much sense.

End of Winter?

-Posted by Isaac

Is it over? Is that all she wrote?

Goodbye and good riddance?

Technically we've still got another month of winter, but it sure has been warm lately. Unfortunately we're not yet donning the sunglasses. Rainy season has reared its ugly head.

Yesterday I did a little mitigating. And today, once again the rains fall steady. I think they said four inches this week. And that's just here. South of here, it gets really bad.

Oh well. Back to the shop. Back to the projects. The wet weather gives us a chance to finalize some winter jobs. Like piecing together the last of two thousand frames.

And finishing up 150 new lids.

Yes, we're going up in numbers.

But to do this, you need your bees alive in April.

More than anything, our late winter project has been keeping the girls fat and happy. They are now multiple frames into brooding and they're hungry!

Round three on the feeding took place two weeks ago. I had Mason's help on one of the days.

The kids were out of school with a snow day. Perhaps the last of the year?

Since I had a cameraman available, Jayne asked me to take some videos for Instagram. The clip below is one of the attempts that landed in the reject pile. 

Feeding bees

It didn't make the cut because it was longer than six seconds. Apparently the Instagram folks have extremely short attention spans. Not so with you pensive blog readers... setting aside your Tolstoy for a few reflective moments of Honeyrun Farm.

As you no doubt noticed, it was warming up that day. The bees were flying and Mason didn't have his veil on. I thought we'd better cut the video short rather than have a freak out. We're trying to project an air of professionalism here.

And I mentioned that the smoker was in the other truck. There is a reason for that. The previous evening I had buried the bee truck. It was the last yard of the day and I had to call Dad to come pick me up in the dark. 

I had actually thought about fording the river and running the five miles back home, giving you a heroic winter beekeeping tale. Plus, Dad was right in the middle of Fox News and I really didn't want to pull him away. But I still had a little charge on my phone...  Eventually logic and Apple and Direct TV recording won out. No heroics. 

The next morning, instead of taking the time to pull the bee truck out (and possibly burying the other truck) we just transferred all the feed and hit the road.

Forgetting the smoker in the process.

Our girls were waiting and the show must go on. Round three was completed by week's end. The muddy bee truck made it home a day or so later.

Now I'm mixing feed for round four. In March, the bees need a bit more protein. And protein is expensive, especially in patty form. To lesson the impact, I'm mixing it myself this year. The only casualties: a little more time and a couple burnt drills.

The maples have just now started to bloom. We've got a little warmth, but the rain is preventing the girls from making it out for any length of time. You can see they're desperate for protein. I put out some pollen dust a few days ago and this was the scene:

So hopefully, if we eventually dry out, they'll find those maples. Warm days and happy times ahead!

And think of all the fun we'll have! Beaches, boats, barbecues... Bye bye winter!

It's truly a joyous time for a consummate optimist like myself.

Oh, the things we'll do!

Buckwheat is for lovers

-Posted by Isaac

Happy Valentine's everybody!

This year I got my lover an entire field of flowers.

Buckwheat flowers!

And I put them all around the house.

It worked out just fine. She was very happy. Fortunately and conveniently, my lover doubles as my spouse.

It's great! I'm a lucky one, I'll tell ya. It really saves you a lot of running around.

But unfortunately, I was about eight months too early with the flowers. So for Valentines Day my lover and I just dressed up and went out. I even wore a tie. Fancy, but I still couldn't compete with the fancy mixed drinks.

But back to those flowers...

I want to tell you about our 2017 buckwheat endeavors. I can say it went much better than our 2016 debacle. 

For one, I didn't burn up the tractor. Probably because I had an experienced crew.

The 14 acres (This year, surrounding our house!) were planted in mid May, bloomed in late June, and the honey came off the thirty some hives in August. 

My experienced crew taste tested.

Not bad, but we can do better. The honey did have that robust molasses buckwheat taste, but the color wasn't quite right. It was a brownish, instead of the thick black we were expecting. I think it was just a matter of the bees mixing in other nectars.

All total, the first round tallied to about 600 pounds.

Time for round two. This time it was a succession planting. I mowed half the field in early August and the other half three weeks later.

Replanting buckwheat is pretty easy. Just wait until the seeds are mature and hard, then mow it. After a couple rains, it comes right up.

It was a good idea to spread it out. With the succession bloom, we had bees foraging on buckwheat from early September through late October. 

The honey came off in November. Just under 700 pounds this time. Not bad. 

And round two got the color right:

Wow! Is that motor oil going up that tube?

So all in all, it was a successful buckwheat year. No disasters, and over a thousand pounds of this dark speciality honey. Unlike last year, we'll actually be in the black. By my rough estimates, it takes around 600 lbs for us to at least break even on 14 acres. That's paying for land rent, seed, farming equipment, and my very expensive crew. Of course I'm not including my own cheap labor.

An accountant would look at our years of buckwheat records and tell us that we'd do better if we just planted corn. Thank God we're not accountants.

Because buckwheat honey production has hidden intrinsic value. For one, we get to look at flowers all summer. And we get to watch bees working those flowers. And when you have a million flowers out the back door, you're never short on bouquets and smiles. But most of all, and this is a biggie, we end up with an awesome and very unique product.

A product that never fails to raise eyebrows in the sampling line.

"C'mon Mom! Show them the buckwheat!"

So if you haven't had a chance to try this Guinness of honeys, come on out to the Worthington Market. My lover will greet you with a smile and a sample bottle. If you like it, take home a bottle for your own lover. If you don't like it, well, we've got an entire octave of honeys to chose from. Buckwheat being at the bottom. Our low B.

I can't think of a better way of saying 'I love you.' A bottle of honey, any honey, says it all. Sweet and sexy. Please just make sure it was produced in the US.

If not for your country, then for the sake of your lover.

Sweet Reminiscence

-Posted by Isaac

Some of you laughed at that last post. Some of you did not.

And many of you were just plain confused. (Not my intent at all. That post was meant to offend, not confuse.)

Kidding. Kidding. But rest assured, I have been asked to dial it back a bit. Sorry about the spoofing.    

Anyway, some of you thought, 'What is this?' Semi trucks? Forklifts? Feeding America? Isn't this supposed to be about beekeeping? Or at the very least about Honeyrun Farm? Nope, not always. Sometimes, especially this time of year, I like to think about the industry of beekeeping. The commercial way- the way most of the hives in this country are kept-- migratory. Maybe you've heard that honey bees are directly responsible for about one third of everything you eat. To make this impossible feat a reality, there are some logistics to overcome. It's a little more involved than keeping a few boxes in the backyard.

Over a million hives are headed to California right now. This is because the year's first great monoculture bloom is about to commence. The almonds!  Back in 2006 I got to be a part of it. And now I sometimes like to reminisce.

So... to hopefully clear up some of that confusion, hit the link below and let's go play in the big leagues:

The Super Bowl of Beekeeping

Down in a ditch

-Posted by Isaac

There are always surprises.

In every job, in every season. The unexpected. This week I spent many (unplanned for) hours on a backhoe. Luckily I have friends in high places and my brother Justin, the grain farmer, lent me this big shovel free of charge. I don't know how much we'd be shelling out if I had to rent... but I do know it would've been in the thousands.

Let me back up. The week started as any typical winter week in Ohio- miserable. 

Upon returning home from Joshua Tree, we caught the last of the snow and cold that you guys had been enduring. Then it heated and soon we found ourselves in a lovely drizzle. Last Sunday I took the opportunity to check a few hives. The girls are looking fine. Enjoying the sudden warmth.

As it turned out, that was the highlight of the week.

We were scheduled for an ODA inspection on Tuesday. Once a year the honey house is inspected by the state. They need to make sure everything is code and up to par. Our "commercial kitchen" status hangs in the balance. Nothing to get excited about, really. We've passed every year with flying colors.

But as luck would have it, Monday threw a wrench in the works. Jayne was cleaning the soap pans and had to dump a large amount of water down the sink. A few seconds later that water was moving across the honey house floor like a small tidal wave. Something was clogged! We had no drainage, it was all backing up, and it stank!

Not ok. ODA inspection tomorrow. 

So I stopped doing whatever I was doing. I can't remember what is was now. The to-do list suddenly had a #1 priority. After about an hour of digging and poking around, I figured out it must've been a frozen outlet or a crushed tile. Maybe a little of both? 

The culprit.

I'm a beekeeper. What do I know about these things?

As I said, my brother thankfully had a backhoe. Thankfully not in use at the moment. And thankfully it started on a thirty degree morning. Barely. We didn't have much time. The water had to flow by high noon on Tuesday.

So I pretty quickly re-learned backhoe language. If you've ever run one of these things, you know the controls are a language of their own. I knew it once, many years ago, and as it turned out it's a little like riding a bike. Anyway, I managed to avoid knocking down the honey house.

Here's my homemade septic tank:

It's just gray water, and we have another septic on out, but I figured that as long as I was digging around, I might as well improve things. But in doing, unfortunately I managed to hit the propane line. Yet another small problem. As fast as I could I jumped off the tractor, jumped the fence into the goat pen and shut off the big tank valve as the air filled with gas.

Called Buckeye Propane. Now their to-do list suddenly had a #1 priority... Don't do anything, they said, we'll be right out.

I was shaking. Time for a cigarette.

An hour and a half, $135 later, we were back in business.

Long story short, I got everything patched up and looking decent. The water was flowing just fine. On Tuesday ODA came and went, none the wiser. 

But we still had a backhoe sitting there... and man that thing is fun.

I thought maybe Justin wouldn't mind if I knock off a few more jobs. Starting with burying that old well in the barnyard. 

My awesome luck continued. About the second big scoop, I hit a water line.

Which normally would be no big deal. Just shut the water off, run to town, buy parts and fix it. But as it turned out, I happened to align my little mishap with the County Health Dept. doing their annual water test. Perfecting timing! 

We try to check off our annual inspections and testing in the same general time frame. Preferably not during the height of bee season. 

Great time to lose water pressure. And no time to run to town. I really didn't want the poor lady to have to make another trip. What to do, what to do? As it turns out, ratchet straps have infinite uses. 

A ratchet strap and a hose clamp- the idea actually worked! At least long enough for the Health Dept. to run the water a few minutes. I often have to pat my own back and call myself a genius. True or not, it helps to keep up the morale. Do you do this too? It works, doesn't it? Nobody's going to do it for you, if you know what I mean.

So Wednesday went by, water test done, old well buried, and the weather continued turning nicer. By Thursday we were actually looking at clear skies and sunshine. On top of it all, we still had the backhoe.

And man, is that thing fun!

I bounced from job to job. By Friday evening I had two new water lines, two new hydrants, a parking lot extension, and seven large trees transplanted. It's fun to play farm. For the past three days Joe Diffie has been rolling through my head. As it turned out, this surprise week was kinda ok.

And it all started with cleaning the soap pans. I don't know what next week will bring, but tomorrow I'm finding a shade tree and an RC Cola.