What an exciting day it was loading up our girls and heading to Kentucky to pick up our first 4 Nucs of bees.  None of us knew what we were getting in to.  As we arrived we could hear the "buzz" coming from the owners bee yard and knew we were in for an adventure.  As we walked into the store on the property we ducked a few times to get away from the looming bees around the store entrance.  Once inside, we saw floor to ceiling stacks of bee products, that at the time we were unsure if we would need or not.  "What are we getting ourselves into" I thought as an overwhelming feeling came over me.  We stayed and talked to the store owner for awhile with Tyler asking many questions that new beekeepers think of once they have made the decision to take that first step into investing into hives.  The girls started looking at the tiny bears filled with honey, the candles made from beeswax, and the beautifully filled jars of creamed honey that sat on the shelf.  A sweet lady pulled some creamed honey out and asked "would you like to tasted some creamed honey?" Yes we did!  Several flavors were available for us to sample.  The orange flavored one was my favorite.  Now I was excited!  Boy if I'm going to be able to make some of this deliciousness... due to having our own bees,  I was sold!  We left that store with a new excitement of being beekeepers with the awareness that this was going to be a totally new adventure for our family!  And ALL were excited with the anticipation that these little creatures were going to provide a delicacy of fresh honey that we would be able to share and enjoy! 

Beekeeping!  What a fun thing to share with your children. 

There are so many things to teach our younger generations through the furry little insects that provide us with delicious honey. 

Here are the top 5 things to do with your kids to help them love beekeeping as much as you do!

 5. Explain the life-cycle of the bee using props

4. Let them try on your bee suit, or better yet, get them one of their own

3. Ask them to join you when you're inspecting the bees. (wearing their bee suit of course!)

2. Share with them why you are excited about being a beekeeper. Anytime you take time to share your thoughts with your kids is time well spent. It matters.

1. After spending time in the bee yard with your kids, let them experience harvesting the tasty honey. It will mean so much more to them after seeing all of the work these wonderful creatures do day in and day out when they can put a "taste" to their experience!  

What an amazing thing... to see a cluster of bees land on something on your own property. These beauties (pictured) was our first swarm. We think they came off of our own hives, and we felt fortunate to have caught them. Excited and nervous we were able to scoop this small cluster into a deep and place them in one of our other apiaries. It's nice to have your own bees safe and sound in a new hive! 

Tyler and I came upon a HUGE hive swarming on a pile of logs our property. They were flying in a true discombobulated way. It was exactly what we had read about in books, magazines and online. The experience of walking through the swarm was one we knew doesn't happen everyday. It was absolutely incredible.  It took about an hour for the cluster to land and settle before  we were able to put them into a new home. The queen must have been VERY popular, for she took a HUGE amount of her workers with her. We named her "Big Momma". She was a beauty! 

What a proud moment.. harvesting our first batch of honey. Being a beekeeper is so fulfilling when you harvest honey that YOUR bees made. To think each bee only produces 1/12 of a teaspoon of honey makes you appreciate all of the dedicated workers that it took to produce even one pound of honey. The light color was one of delight and the taste of a sweetness that made us think the bees collected nectar of clover and spring wildflowers. We were happy to share the benefits of the summer harvest with our family and friends! Wow! we had no clue how fast a bottle of sweet goodness would go! 

This is the first year grafting our own queens.  Hope to have queens available in the near future.

The lightest color, with a taste just as light, was a pleasant surprise to our pallets after our first harvest of 2018. You never know what each harvest will taste like, but this honey was amazingly light. For those who like a light-tasting sweetener, you will want to buy your honey late spring, early summer. The lighter the color, the lighter the taste! This year we were able to expand our efforts to share this deliciousness on FB! We were sold out after 1 day!

AMAZING what a month will bring in when it comes to honey! If you read our blog of our May honey, you will see a BIG difference in the coloring. Whereas the first harvest must have been made up of possibly Maple, clover and spring wildflowers; this 2nd batch is a lot darker. With a richer flavor than May's batch and having summer flowers possibly from our blackberry bushes, or crimson clover that we've seen around our apiary. Possibly even some nectar from tulip poplar trees around our farm. Perhaps a mixture of all of the above. Nevertheless, this batch was delightful, rich and a wonderful treat from the last batch of light-goodness. 

Swarm traps are a huge help in persuading bees to make their new home in a box built just for them! We got these boxes built and ready to go out for placement this upcoming spring! 

If you've been a beekeeper for over a year, you know the work that goes into preparing your materials for the upcoming spring. Success starts in the winter! We are embarking on taking our number of hives up a notch... therefore we are building frames for our new 3 frame Nucs! Whew... and that's just the beginning!

We are super excited to see how these 3 frame Nucs serve our apiaries this spring. 50 of them to be exact... now to get to painting! 

Whew... that took longer than anticipated! Finally the 50 queen mating Nucs are complete! And just in time. With spring on the horizon, we are going to need these to get a jump start on building 5 frame Nucs for our customers. 

Look at these girls at work! We are loving the way the 3 fame Nucs are working. They are small enough to get a quick build up going, light enough to maneuver quickly and all you do is pop open the lid, pull out the center frame to see if the queen has indeed mated and is laying. There's also a frame of resources and Tyler built an insert that goes on the outside of the Nuc, so that we will be able to easily feed the bees. We are blessed to report that so far... all is going well!  

Today I was busy in the wood shop with my friend Chris building swarm traps.  We cut 6 sheets of 1/2" plywood that will equal 21 traps.  If you have never built a swarm trap, it’s a great way to get free bees.  Here in middle TN, you will want to have them out no later than the 3rd week of March.  Its also a great project to do on those wet cold January days while we dream of the fast approaching spring.  

Swarm traps are almost complete.  I'm just waiting for a warm day to paint and add the metal to the tops.  This will bring my total trap count to 36.  The 18 I had last year caught over 20 swarms so hoping to double my catch this year.  Thanks to all the land owners for allowing me to place the traps on your properties.    

Would like to thank Dave Cardaciotto - (For The USA Today Network - Tennessee) for joining us at the Cheatham County Beginners Bee Class in January and helping to promote beekeeping in Tennessee.  If you have ever thought about beekeeping as a hobby feel free to email: [email protected] and we'll be more than happy to help you get started in the exciting world of beekeeping.

The next round of queens going into the incubator.  They will emerge on April 29.  If you need a queen or just looking to make some splits give us a call and check availability of our Queens.

Tyler: 417-894-0974 or 615-500-8810

Removed a swarm from an RV in Ashland City.  If you see or know of a swarm please call so we can safely remove the swarm and relocate them to one of our apiaries so they can make honey.

Tyler: 417-894-0974 or 615-500-8810