Millstone Farm

This is the first guest post by my lovebug, Mike! Enjoy.

Last weekend I visited my Grandmother, Aunt and two cousins in Connecticut.

Me hanging with the boys

My Grandmother lives on an 86-acre farm that has been in her family for four generations.

Year – Unknown. Maybe a certain family member can chime in.

At one point she used to tend to the crops on her own but as time has passed, and knees have been replaced, she now has a host of different people using her land.

The field

Last year my grandmother decided to let a local youth group start a beehive. Naturally, while visiting, I was most interested in how the hive was doing. As Janine has been posting, our hive has been seriously struggling . So much so that J and I believe that we may not even have a queen anymore. Not to worry, hopefully we’re going to solve that problem in the next week.

The Blueberry Patch

Anyway, my aunt suggested that we do a quick inspection so that I could really get a sense of what a flourishing hive should look like. When asked if it would be ok even though we had no smoker, hive tool or suits, my aunt replied; “Of course, I rarely smoke when I do inspections.” Quick note: do not attempt to do an inspection – at the peak of honey production – of a strong, two-year-old hive without any gear. I wish I could write about all of the interesting things I saw in there but I can’t. Within moments, my aunt had a sting between her eyes, one on her forehead, one on her ear and I got stung in the temple.

Quick, get the Epipe. Sorry Avery, I couldn’t resist.

Completely unsuccessful!! I did, however, get my first sting of the season, a major accomplishment. My mother says I have not learned to respect the hive enough. Perhaps she’s right.