This week we had the pleasure of two sweet things: in the early hours of Sunday, Meg Paska harvested our first fall frames from her top bar hive at Eagle Street Rooftop Farm–and later in the day, Michael Leung of Hong Kong Honey came by for a visit. We’re excited to meet these “newbees”–intelligent, interesting, passionate beekeepers recent to the trade–and pick their brains about the lovely balance of self-education in ecology and entomology necessary to keep 30,000 ladies happy in a hive.
For various reasons–a cold snap, mites galore–we lost our bees this year. The upside? We were able to disassemble the hive with the 2011 apprenticeship team, teaching the “newbies” about beekeeping without thousands of angry ladies flying at our faces. The honey, stored for the winter and just thawing out of the comb as April turns warm, was rich and delicious. We’re leaving three frames for the colony we’re bringing in on April 17th, and the rest will be jarred and available on Sunday, April 24th, our first market. We raise a toast (covered in butter and honey!) to you, dear bees!