Winter time is a ssslllooowww... time for bee colonies. The hive is in survival mode. The Queen is in the middle of a huge cluster of bees, and they keep the hive warm by flexing their wings, and taking turns migrating to the middle of the cluster and back out again. The entrance to the hive is reduced so that the guard bees don't have to work so hard to halt unwanted guests. What might you ask are the bees doing flying around outside in the middle of winter? Well, if the temperature is above 50 degrees, they will take turns taking potty breaks outside of the hive,( I can't imagine having to hold it all winter!) and the maids will clean house inside the hive. If we were successful in our feeding assistance, the bees should have enough food to last until early Spring, when the nectrar will start to flow. We left quite a bit of honey for them also, as some of our hives were newbies. We still have honey from the fall harvest, and hopefully the supply will last until summer, when we will start to harvest again. The farmer has been contacted by several persons, that have hives on their properties, in very inconvenient places, so we will be retrieving some hives as soon as the weather warms to add to our bee family. The target date for the opening of the market is Thurs. March 10. We will resume our Thurs. Fri. Sat. days and noon - 4:00pm hours. When the berry picking season starts in April we will extend our days and hours.We are planning our Spring festival, Saturday, May 14. This will be a family fun day with farm tours, demonstrations, food and entertaiment. More details will follow. From our farmstead to your table, thank you for all of your support!
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