Honey (and more) from The Second Garden

It was a bad year for my bees. All five hives, three in San Francisco and two in Nevada County didn't make it through the winter. And it was a bit of a rough start this spring, as well. Starting up 4 hives was a lot and in April I was running around between my three locations in Sunnyside and teaching full time. I was worried something was going to have to give.  Somehow I and the bees made it! Although one of the hives had queen problems. I noticed supercedure cells (emergency queen cells) when inspecting the hive the second week after settling them in.  I waited a few days before checking on them again and by then it was quite clear that the queen wasn't laying well, if at all. So I ordered a new queen (you can order a single bee by overnight mail!) and after a week of worry, the hive accepted the new queen.  Now they're thriving like my other three, though they're about a month behind in terms of honey production.

Two hives in The Garden, two in two different neighbor's gardens

Next week I plan on my first harvest of the summer. It won't be much, I'll be happy if I can get 10 lbs out of them.  But its just a start.  If all goes well, I'll be harvesting every two weeks for a couple of months and will be able to satisfy most of the appetites of friends and neighbors for local honey! Crossing my fingers, I'm letting people know now that I will have honey for sale on Wednesday, June 29th, at my usual time of  4:30 - 6:00 in The Garden.

Even if the bees aren't ready to give me any honey, I'll be here, the gate open, with lotion, lip balm, soup, and Garden tours.  We may be able to check out The Tower

as well. Currently no one is scheduled to be in it Wednesday.

And- The Garden Bazaar was a great success last year, so I'd like to do it again. I've picked July 30th as the day so please save the date.  An official announcement will happen soon. Once again we'll have music, food, face painting, neighborhood garden bounties, and crafts to share, buy and trade.

Carter and Lena modeling bracelets Lena sold at last year's bazaar

If you have anything you would like to barter, sell or share, please let me know.  The more the merrier!

If I don't see you next week, some Honey Sale soon.  Until then, stay sweet!

Love the slo mo!