Planet G

-Posted by Isaac

Welcome to Planet Goldenrod.

Where the bees find happiness.

Where the pollen traps are quickly filled.

Can a praying mantis also find happiness?

Where the floral world has exploded in orange.

With a little white here and there…

If it’s time for a pollen run, my Baby Girl, my Princess will usually insist on riding along. She’s a real nature lover. A bee-hugger. Not to mention a great helper and sampler.

Yesterday I told her all about Greta Thunberg and the school kids skipping a day to get out and save the planet.

Eden thought this sounded like a good idea. I suggested that perhaps she learn to read before becoming an Earth activist.

Let’s stick with Planet G for now.

Gretta of the Goldenrod…

We’ll stay in school for the time being.

This week Jayne asked me to collect some pollen run footage for social media.

Most pollen runs are in the mornings. I’m alone almost always. It’s cool, the bees are calm, and I can wear a t-shirt.

Not so after school.

It’s nice to have my Baby Girl along. She’s a helper, she’s a sampler, and she’s a photographer. But the thing is, in the heat of the afternoon, you almost have to suit up.

The air is filled with commotion. For the bees in mid-September, there most definitely is a Planet G.

R.I.P. Bee Man

-Posted by Isaac

As I was yammering about the Lithopolis Honeyfest last Thursday, Arnold Crabtree, the Honeyfest founder was living his last day.

Arnold was The Bee Man.

He was a local icon.

The cheerful face, the animated persona of beekeepers here in central Ohio.

It’s hard to write this, saying “he was.” Arnold is still so alive in my memories. I loved to talk bees with him, as did so many others. His passing put a shock and a damper on the initial hours of the festival, but the somber mood didn’t last long. As we shared stories, it sort of turned into a Bee Man celebration.

He got the ball rolling on this thing, and we were not about to let it drop. He had touched the lives of so many.

Other years Arnold and Darla had run a booth, selling his Bee Man Honey. Darla had to do most of the selling, as Arnold, the face of the festival, was busy with bee beards and bee evangelism.

This year we saw the opening of a small museum of relics and beekeeping antiques. Once again, Arnold was the visionary.

Jayne and I were fortunate enough to attend his funeral on Tuesday. There, we got to see old friends and share more Arnold stories… stories centered around bees of course.

Here is the first part of his obituary:

Arnold Crabtree, 77, went home to be with his Savior on September 5, 2019. He was born on May 20, 1942.
Arnold was a welder, burner at Buckeye Steel for 16 years and a ship fitter at Ingalls shipyard and Bethlehem Steel. He retired due to his health and became a self-employed entrepreneur, and later in life realizing his calling as a bee keeper. He affectionately became known as the "Bee Man." Arnold was the founder of the Lithopolis Honeyfest when his idea of a honey bee festival became a reality in 2007. Arnold remained active in the festival until his retirement in 2016. Arnold was also the founder of the Scioto Valley Beekeepers Association in Circleville, OH.

Yes, he founded our club! As a result of Arnold’s foresight, dozens of people gather, talk bees and network every month. For that, we made him an honorary “Life Member.”

And I think he’s the only one. The rest of us still cough up our annual $15 per family. (Man, some guys get all the breaks!)

It struck me that Arnold didn’t reach his iconic status until the last decade of his life. Over sixty years went by before he found his beehive enlightenment.

This fact, for some strange reason makes me feel really good. You never know when you’ll stumble into your wheelhouse.

I got to thinking about the lyrics of a Townes Van Zandt song.

Days, up and down they come
Like rain on a congadrum
Forget most, remember some
But don't turn none away
Everything is not enough
And nothin' is too much to bear
Where you been is good and gone
All you keep is the getting there

To Live is to Fly.

When you’re a Bee Man.

Honeyfest is coming!

-Posted by Isaac

Every year, the day before the Honeyfest, I do a rough set-up just to see if we have enough boxes and tables.

And every year, the day after the Honeyfest, I do a recap blog post. Last year was a washout.

Setting things up this beautiful evening, it occurred to me I should switch it up… why not plug the festival beforehand?

Unlike last year, the weather looks to be awesome. Sunshine, highs in the seventies.

So if you’ve somehow managed to free your schedule, even for a few hours, come on out to Lithopolis.

There’s so much to see and do!

All things bees…

And honey…

And wax…

Music, food, games, contests, art…

And more honey sampling than you’ve ever had in your life.

Come see us!

Perpetual Summer honey

-Posted by Isaac

Again, sorry to keep you waiting. I promised I’d share an extracting video, and the suspense must be killing you. I hate to use the too-busy-to-blog excuse once again, but I’m gonna. The summer honey has taken all my attention.

I’m smitten.

The supers are packed. What an awesome flow we’ve had! Reminiscent of 2016.

We’ve fallen into a rhythm. I spend the day pulling those loaded supers off the hives, Lafe spends the day taking all that honey out of the supers.

The waiting stack in the drying room tells us who’s moving faster.

It appears I’m winning.

But it’s easy to stay ahead when nearly every yard is caked out. Three, four, five supers high, 20-40 pounds of honey in every one!

We’re a week away from finishing up. What a year!

Apologies, this was pulled off of Instagram, put on youtube, and the framing cut the top off in places. But you didn’t need to see my head anyway.

Grant us wisdom, grant us courage

-Posted by Isaac

Is it high time I posted a blog? I think so. Sorry to keep you waiting. We’ve been so busy! I’m full into playing with bees, while Jayne keeps it all rolling in the honey house.

Yesterday I spent the hot, sticky afternoon doing one of my least favorite jobs.

Putting on pollen traps. It’s not one bit fun. The bees get mad, trying to figure out the trap, and I get tired/mad, lifting boxes, taping holes, sweating through my suit, fighting an unrelenting thirst. I was able to put about 40 on before saying, enough!

Let’s get back to the honey.

Back to my favorite job. The summer honey harvest is in full swing and it’s been awesome this year. A lot of weight on those hives! I’ll share more about it next week.

Jayne made a cool video of of the extraction process, and if I can figure out how to put it on here, you’ll have more than just pictures and commentary.

But before we really dive into the honey, I’d like to tell you about my little pollination adventure last week. We take bees to three pumpkin farms. It used to be five, but I think some are starting to figure out that honeybee pollination isn’t vital for pumpkins. There are other insects that can do the job. Or maybe our bees are a bit pricey, I don’t know.

But Circle S Farms still think they need a few hives, and I’m perfectly willing to accommodate. Having worked with them for eight or nine years, I know the routine. The call is always going to come late (August) and they’ll always be frantic to get the bees asap. This year the call came while we were in Michigan. “We’re in bloom! Do you have bees? When can you be here!”

I have to bite my tongue, lest my sarcasm comes out. “Well, gee, of course! Let me snap my fingers and materialize your bees… let me whip up a truck to move them… a forklift, a trailer… let me teleport myself back to Ohio.”

Thankfully I did have the bees, and thankfully we happened to be heading home. Jayne only had to put up with my grumbling for a day or so. “How stupid can they be?? Just assuming I’ve got everything together… never a heads-up… never a contract… always by the seat of their pants.”

While I was quick to point out the Circle S stupidity, I sort of skipped over my own.

We got home and I was totally unprepared to move bees. No fuel in the truck, just a quarter tank in the forklift, no smoker fuel, broken windshield wipers on the truck, a mysterious hydraulic problem with the forklift, making right hand turns difficult and jerky… all things that should’ve been mitigated previously.

But I found half a can of gas in the shop, fired the smoker using dry grass, and limped along with the loading by only making sweeping left turns. It worked. And those broken wipers? Not a problem. Just pray for dry weather.

What a genius I am. But I’m not a witchdoctor. I got a few miles down the road and discovered that for some reason the running lights were not working on the trailer. I fiddled with the fuses and connections for a few minutes then gave up.

Could I just gamble? Sure it was illegal, but what’s the worst that could happen? It was early Sunday morning. What hurdles could I possibly run into— A cop? A drunk? A deer? Teenage lovers late for curfew? Overzealous churchgoers?— All dangerous in their own way. Not good. I weighed the possibilities and consequences. Hesitated. Would I really have to go back? Unload the bees, call Circle S? Hmmm….

Nope. So far, to this point, everything had teetered on the edge of disaster. And disaster had been adverted. Who was I to break a streak? Time to roll another seven.

Like clockwork, like fate, Werewolves of London came across the radio. My favorite pollination song! Time for this fool to summon his courage and let Warren Zevon get those bees to the pumpkins.

My luck held. No dangers, no hurdles, no rain. And sure enough, the bloom was on.

It took a bit longer than usual to unload. I could only turn left. My mysterious hydraulic problem hadn’t mysteriously fixed itself. But that’s ok. It gave me the chance to see a beautiful pumpkin patch sunrise.

And I would get to limp back home in the daylight, thinking about booking a flight to Vegas. Sometimes we just get lucky. We get wiser the easy way.

It’s time to find a mechanic.