Bees settle in Ispas Meadows

Yesterday my alarm went off at about 4:30 am. My goal was to get out and move bees before sunrise which, in this area, is currently 5:14 am. I happily ignored the alarm because in my fuzzy sleepyhead brain, I heard the welcome sound of rain overhead. A cloudy, rainy day makes it possible to move bees any time. I loved getting a couple of extra hours!

When I eventually got out into the field (at about 8:00am), I loaded up four hives from a small yard (they're all small these days!) at my parents' place. Three of them were mature, two-box hives, while the fourth was a "nuc"--a "mini" hive which will be "stoked," so to speak, this year to become a full-size, fully-productive hive. No bees came out of the hive until the last hive was loaded which was a relief. When you work with bees on rainy days or at night, when they're not flying, they CRAWL which means they will get into any little open nook and cranny on your bee outfit. No movement this day! No stings! Which means this year has, so far, been sting-free. Not that I'm expecting that record to hold for very long....

Once the bees were loaded, we headed east on Township Road 564, through Sturgeon County, across the North Saskatchewan at the Vinca Bridge, through Strathcona and Lamont Counties to our destination: the farm of Donna and Bogdan Borody at Ispas Meadows in Two Hills County. Donna and Bogdan are LOVELY people whom I know through the City Market in downtown Edmonton. For three years, we've been neighbours at the market (this year I'm in a new spot and, I confess, still getting used to it). Donna is The Jam Lady and she makes superb jams and preserves mainly with local fruit, much of which they grow themselves.

I've been through that part of the country a few times, mainly when I've been on my way to St. Paul to have chickens processed at one of the only processing plants in the province. I had never been off the highways; this time was different. I ignored Bogdan's instructions to come in on the highways and travelled cross-country through some BEAUTIFUL countryside. Donna and Bogdan's farm is located just a half mile from the south shore of the North Saskatchewan. The land is lush and green right now. Many plants are blooming: pin cherries, crabapples, and raspberries are on the way. Donna and I walked around to finally settle on a really lovely sheltered clearing a decent distance away from their jam-labelling shed. I just got the bees unloaded and settled when it started to pour! The timing was perfect. I reduced their entrances, including with some scatterings of grass--the slower they have to come out of the hive the more time they have to memorize new landmarks. Bees need time to orient themselves when they're in a new spot.

It's exciting to have them there; I'm looking forward to seeing what kind of honey comes in! We'll be harvesting it in a small batch and selling it under its own name...now I've just got to think of one! The spring has been hard--I've had about 50% losses with the hives. Many beekeepers in Alberta experience 70-80-90% so I feel lucky in that regard. But I admit that it has been hard to get motivated. The drive out to Ispas Meadows fanned my flame a bit! I look forward to a summer of getting to know that beautiful countryside even better.