Finally! Something to brag about!

Let me get this straight..something that we Pensacolians can brag about besides 1. beach 2. history 3. seafood 4. amazing athletes from this town 5. bringing up the FCAT scores a tad The Pensacola Community Maritime Park is a jewel in the crown of this little town. My first experience there was beyond great. The park is beautiful, with the water and port views and breezes and green grass. The staff was professional, helpful, courteous and smiling. The parking is within walking distance of almost every parking spot in this town (ok, we might have to walk a few block..so what?). I am impressed beyond words and looking forward to more positive changes like this in Pensacola.

Quiet little hive

It's been 8 days since we became beekeepers (or should I say they are "keeping" us?) When I checked on the bees this morning, there was little to no activity outside the hive. Not really alarming since it was cooler temps this morning and it was early. Should we all keep to ourselves and go about our business like the bees? Maybe we would get more done, waste less time, take care of ourselves better? Maybe we would work together as a team and let the natural order of things take place? After one week these two little hives have quite a bit of honey and propolis in the brood chamber (a brood chamber is the part of the hive in which the brood is reared)(propolis-plant resins collected and modifiged by bees; used to fill small spaces in the hive). In the future I pledge to have more honey bee like behavior and behave in a more orderly manner. Maybe.

what makes me

“My life - my personality, my habits, even my speech - is a combination of the books I choose to read, the people I choose to listen to, and the thoughts I choose to tolerate in my mind” ― Andy Andrews

our bee journey

This is day 4 of our life with the girls (bees). So far, so good! They are making honeycomb in the frames already. The bees amazingly calm down when they get smoke from the smoker blown across them. We have so much to learn from them!

The smallest things can make a big difference

I am happy to announce the newest members of the household. Well, so to speak. We picked up our two hives of honey bees on Saturday and we are pretty smitten with "the girls". Out of about 9,000 bees in a hive, only a few hundred are males (drones) the remainder are girls and they are the true workers. They clean the hive, gather the pollen that makes the honey, and tend to the queen. The females are busy and productive while the males wait around to mate (the female worker bees also take care of them). The male purpose to the hive is to reproduce with the queen. If, after a few weeks, the male doesn't do his "duty" the girls pick him apart and kick him out of the hive. I mean, literally...they take off his legs and his wings and toss him out the bottom of the hive. I think we could all learn a few lessons from the lady bees! Did you know without bees that we would all be eating rice in about 3 years? no more veggies, no more fruits, the pollination would stop and the growth of blooms would stop that results in most of the foods we know. There are some problems with the honey bee these days. Colony Collapse Disorder is wiping out whole honey farms. The bees are disappearing and without them..so will mankind. Support your local honey farmer. Read up on bees, watch "The Vanishing of the Bees" to become more informed, or better yet become a beekeeper. Let's do all we can to protect this "sweet" life that we owe to the mother nature and tiniest honey bee.