Lord-willin’ and the Queen don’t fly…
If you were raised in the South, you’ve heard the expression ‘Lord willing and the creek don’t rise.’ (Pronounced: lordwillinanthecreekdonrise.) Usually it’s used just after a statement of something you plan to do, kind of a disclaimer, a humble acknowledgement that there are many things that might happen between now and then, things over which we have no control…
For example, when you have a brand new hive of bees over which you are deliriously happy and on day-four you watch helplessly as they swirl away in a big bee-tornado off into the tall forest full of hollow trees that must be more inviting than the lovely little home you so carefully prepared. Humbling indeed. Hence the new variation of the old expression: Lord willin’ and the QUEEN DONT FLY!!
“Absconding” is the beekeeping term for when you install a new package of bees into a hive and they, well, decide otherwise. I found this out after obsessively reading for hours on what could have happened or what I could have done wrong. Absconded. (Visions of wearing the Scarlet “A” of Shame to the next beekeepers meeting did flash through my mind…) It was a rough day all around, even after I found out that sometimes bees just do this. “It happens,” say the bee discussion boards. “It happens,” say the experienced beekeepers, adding a shrug. It happens most often when installing ‘package’ bees in brand new equipment that lack the honeycomb and brood that tether bees to a homeplace. Some sources say there’s a one in four chance of absconding in a brand new package-bee installation.
Sometimes the swarm lands nearby in a low tree and you can fetch them back. Sometimes they leave again. “It happens.” Mine just went once, but with a sense of purpose and no hope of retrieval from the forest. Worse yet, this late in the season and with an ongoing ‘bee shortage’ it seemed unlikely I’d find more bees this year in the short Spring window for starting a new hive. It was a sad day. Those happen too.
But you know how difficult events sometimes bring their own gifts with them. One huge gift on that sad day was my wonderful bee mentor dropped what she was doing and drove right over in hopes of locating the swarm. I’d never been so happy to see a green truck pull in the driveway. Her kind presence and determination to get me more bees this year is something I’ll never forget! Thank you so much Charity!
Mendy was so kind and supportive throughout all my distress and dismay, an award may be warranted. Being a poet, she added at one point it was worth the price of a package of bees just to actually witness a swarm —an awe inspiring sight! It is, after all, what bees do to make create more bee colonies in the Spring, adds the poet. It’s much more enjoyable, I observed, if those aren’t YOUR bees swarming away! Later, there was her short summary Facebook post of the events of the day: “Queen leaves. Seeks better disco?” I laughed, and that was a good sign.
Then there was knowing we’d contributed roughly 10,000 pollinators to our ecosystem since swarms usually travel less than a mile to locate a new home… And that did help me to feel better. I hope my errant colony found a wonderful, spacious hollow tree and are setting up housekeeping right now. I send them fondest wishes and luck since I couldn’t help but fall in love with every fuzzy golden one of them in the brief days they were here. Every one was magic and their absence was palpable here at Larrapin.
Days passed and another good thing happened. The local swarmcatcher of the beekeepers association told me he’d call me if they caught a wild swarm. Jim’s the person who gets the call if a beeswarm shows up on someone’s front porch, the playground, etc and someone calls the police or animal control or the fire department. Jim shows up both to save the day for the folks scared of the bees and to save the bees from any harm. If the swarm is caught, some lucky new beekeeper is going to get THE telephone call…THE call that has been the reason the new beekeeper has kept the cellphone at his or her side for days or weeks…
I got THE call on Wednesday: a small swarm in a lanky tree overhanging a patio. My lucky day. With the help of Jim, the homeowner, several ladders, a prop, good luck and a long bee-catching pole, the swarm was placed in my hive.
There are no guarantees at all. Will they stay? No one can say. Will they thrive? Will this current cold weather snap and harsh wind harm their homemaking? Will the colony grow to a size they can survive winter? No one can say. Jim did say that if they flew away to call him and he’d catch me another swarm. Charity has offered all assistance needed. Another friend’s Grandpa may have bees to sell soon too. Beekeepers are a good bunch. And I find I’m willing to pursue every angle, because it’s been a long time since I felt as enthralled by an endeavor as since picking up that first book on beekeeping last fall. I love everything about it and the more I know the more I love it all. I’m determined to learn this amazing art, and that includes the challenging parts and the humbling parts too. It all feels worth it just to experience such amazement.
So for the second time in as many weeks, Larrapin has bees—lord willin’ and the Queen don’t fly.
Above are some pics from my first bee day with my mentor Charity at an early spring hive inspection with her own mentor beekeeper. Enjoy!
—A Larrapin Garden www.larrapin.us
Posts most wednesdays & weekends…like this one on Why Eat Local Food? Don’t miss any posts— subscribe by Email here. You can also get bonus links and recipes by “liking” our Facebook fan page at www.facebook.com/larrapin.garden. Geesh, we’re even on Twitter at http://twitter.com/LarrapinGarden.
Spring: beauty everywhere..and a wood duck
Mendy's flying pig among 'liberated' daffodils...will tell that story soon ...now that the statute of limitations is probably up...
There is so much beauty popping up everywhere—singing, flying, blooming, buzzing, growing—that it’s hard to keep up with all of it! And of course I can’t, but it sure is fun trying. As Emily Dickinson puts it, “To live is so startling it leaves little time for anything else.”
Beauty also shows up in unlikely places, the scum pond, as we affectionately call it, for example. On the property next door there is a shallow cow pond. It’s not remarkable at first glance. In the summer, thanks to the cows and sunshine, it has a brilliant green scum on top that sticks to the cows as they cool off. When they emerge from the pond, they are covered with green confetti. A lovely sycamore that stood with feet in the pond was badly broken in the ice storm a couple years back and looks the worse for wear.
Yet the pond is such a treasure. Iridescent dragonflies emerge in shimmering colors. I watched our resident pair of hawks mate (!) in the broken sycamore just recently. In the early spring, we wait for the chorus of peepers to begin the singing season, later deeper voiced frogs take over for summer. (You can listen to a springtime chorus of peepers I recorded at the bottom of this post. If you are reading this by email, you may need to go to the actual post to play it.)
Then last week on a cold, rainy day I looked out from my home office window and saw a small duck on the pond. I dashed inside for binoculars and camera.
Wood Duck at Larrapin!
First ever sighting of a wood duck at Larrapin Garden. What a beauty he was! The sighting was more delightful because we’d seen our very first wood duck ever — a female standing in a tree— just the week before on a vacation to Crowley’s Ridge, Arkansas. And here was another one, this time the beautifully colored male. He stayed and dined on something in the water for a few hours, then flew on to wherever he was headed. What a great day. Here’s to beauty everywhere.
If you enjoy wildlife in the garden, I heartily recommend one of my favorite blogs, Beautiful Wildlife Gardens for inspiration and ideas. And please listen to the spring concert in the audio in the podcast player below, courtesy of spring peepers at Larrapin, and a few thoughts thrown in by yours truly. It’s about a minute and half long…just click the arrow to play. Enjoy!
—A Larrapin Garden www.larrapin.us
Posts most wednesdays & weekends —you can subscribe by Email here. You can also get bonus links and recipes by “liking” our Facebook fan page at www.facebook.com/larrapin.garden. Geesh, we’re even on Twitter at http://twitter.com/LarrapinGarden.
Been (Bee) Crazy!
The girls, checking out their new home (pre-entrance-reducer)
First let me give you some good garden advice I did not follow: carefully plan your vacations to NOT fall in major planting times, no matter how tempting the vacation! OK, I couldn’t do it either, but have been paying the price for a couple of weeks. The week before vacation I was running around like crazy trying to get all the little cool-crop seedlings (broccoli, kale, cabbage, winter lettuce, beets, cilantro, parsley, etc) I’d grown with the light table or purchased at Chicken Holler into the ground. This was a gamble since if it didn’t rain, they’d die tragically in the field… But I got lucky on that one and it rained a lot. Which was not so lucky for the vacation part of the story…but we had a good time and lots of good food and great company, regardless… My wonderful neighbor Hershel looked after the seedlings to tiny to plant and they came through beautifully. (Thanks Hershel!)
Since I’ve returned from vacation, I’ve been trying to catch back up with life, all while preparing for the new bees! After taking the January bee class series, finding a mentor (Thanks Charity!!) and ordering the amazing array of stuff and gadgets required for a brand new hive, the occupants arrived on Saturday! Driving home with 10K bees in a flimsy box (and a half-dozen or so clingers-on clutching the outside of the cage and taking occasional confused flights) in one small Corolla was a lively experience, but I loved it. I’ve loved every single thing about this bee adventure and I can’t wait to tell you more, much more! But for today, given that I’m still behind at everything, I’ll just leave you with this brief note and a few pics of the girls. More to come soon…
They are so beautiful..we've been watching "Bee TV" from lawn chairs...
—A Larrapin Garden www.larrapin.us
Posts most wednesdays & weekends unless I’ve been on vacation or I’m transfixed watching bee TV! Don’t miss any post though—you can subscribe by Email here. You can also get bonus links and recipes by “liking” our Facebook fan page at www.facebook.com/larrapin.garden. Geesh, we’re even on Twitter at http://twitter.com/LarrapinGarden.
