hi, and I was so looking forward to it, what a awesome offer, any chance if we ask nicely now, and we keep you in the loop on dates etc, that we might be able to book you for the 5 year get together for next summer 🙂

I'm beginning to learn to not bother making plans. Life doesn't seem to be particularly fond of my plans.

But, i'm out of grandmothers now and my uncle won't be turning 60 next year, so yeah you can probably book me in.

The one thing I've learned about bees very quickly however, is to not waste time. If you're interested, get involved right away. Once you've visited a beeyard and cracked open a hive and had some fun, if you're still interested and comfortable with the work, get some bees.

It takes a long time to get your colonies (if you're buying nucs) healthy and productive. Essentially your first year is just catering to the bees. If you get any honey at all for yourself, you can consider it a solid season.

Right now my bees are doing incredibly well. All the hives have booming populations which means plenty of bees going into winter. But, that also means they need a LOT of food... so each hive is probably going to get 2 supers of honey, just for themselves. I'll only get a few frames of honey off each.

If next year brings a poor nectar flow (drought, or pests eating the bees' forage) i could be going 2+ years without honey to sell and very little for personal consumption.

Just something to think about.

Very interesting info oddmott, and yes, life can and will let us know, that we can plan but that does not mean that it will happen that way 🙂

I buy my honey just down the road from me, and yup, there are good, ok and poor years.. its just the way it works, for my own bees, the crops planted around me make a huge difference..

Last Spring we had huge sprring populations, it was so amazing, then they sprayed for the corn crop and overnight, we lost at least 60 to 80 percent of the bees.. just gone.. very slow build back to reasonable amounts by late fall.. this year, we had wheat and he only sprayed once very early and whatever it was.. minor 10 percent dip at min.. I said, to him, I do not know the difference in spray but the bees sure do..

Interesting he asked his guy that sells him the stuff and he says that of course it does nothing at all.. I laughed and said, one day, the whole garden is buzzing, spray and gone.. try again..

Its part of the reason I do not have my own bees, no where on the farm is truly safe from drift or this issue, and it just seems like a huge amount of work when I am so uncertain of a return but having said that, I have often thought of it

Oddmott. Sent you a pm.

I'll be heading out Sat (tomorrow) morning. Will be in Richmond for 9am-ish. Usually takes me 3-4 hrs to get through all the work I need to do.

If anyone wants to check out beekeeping, now is a great time to do so as the hives are full of hot dripping honey.

Had a really productive day at my hives on Sat. Pulled honey for harvest, switched out some brood boxes to better quality ones for wintering, inspected every single frame, checked the queens I could find...

So, that means the next few visits will be pretty leisurely and I'd have plenty of time to answer questions and give folks some hands-on experience.

I will be hitting the hives again either this Fri evening, or Sat afternoon. After that, my next few visits will be during weekdays.

I am going to try and come during the week days. Its not ever day we get an opportunity check out bee hives up close and personal. Thanks oddmott for offering this up.

Heading to the bees from 10am-2pm on THURS.

I have one spare suit. If others are interested, its perfectly safe to stand off a bit and observe without protection. My bees are docile and only care about ppl immediately around the hives.

I'm preparing to move in early Oct, so this may be the last time I can give any sort of warning before my visits. From now on, I'll be sneaking in visits whenever packing & prepping allow.

It's a rare occurrence these days but I do not have anything this Thursday and would like to come. PM me with the details.

Farmgal has also made some time and will be coming as well. We just need to work out the timing. I sent you a PM.

I want to formally thank Oddmott for an informative and enjoyable day. It’s not every day you get the opportunity to be up close and personal to so many bees. Oddmott is very knowledge and an excellent teacher. He is prepared to share his knowledge a few more times over the next weeks and if anyone is considering attending I urge to take the time and meet his bees. They are quite amazing little creatures.

Glad you enjoyed it Adagio, its always nice to have company in the beeyard.

Maybe next time the schedules will sync up for a few more people.

I'll be heading out again next Wed or Thurs, depending on weather. Will only be for a couple hrs in the early evening. After that it's touch and go once every week until Thanksgiving.

I'm heading out again on Sunday. Should arrive in Richmond around 10:30am and will be leaving around 3pm. If you're interested, shoot me a PM.

This will be the last time I take any visitors, as it's the last time I'll be going through my hives thoroughly this year.

As much as I would have enjoyed visiting one more time, I will not be able to attend this Sunday. I hope you get a couple of takers. It is well worth the time.