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Hivelights: Ivy League Baby
Beeyard Basics: Spring Swarms
Buzzworthy: Honey Bee Presentations
Raw Honey: From our Hives to your Table
West Broadway Farmer’s Market
2024 Beekeeping Calendar
Bees, Bees, Bees: 2024 Nucs Available
Combing Soon: 2024 Intern Experience
Sweet Beesus: Recipes Dripping with Goodness
Video: Jamaican Bees ‘Mon
Hivelights: Ivy League Baby
I’m officially a graduate from the Cornell Master Beekeeping program and now dubbed a Master Beekeeper from an Ivy league school. Damn! I feel good! *cue James Brown
My overall average for the exam series was 90% (not too shabby if I do say so myself.) I especially kicked ass on my oral presentation, “Piping, Tooting and Quacking of Honey Bees,” with a score of 100%, which I’ll be doing as an Instagram Live on Sunday, May 12 at 9 pm. I’ll be starting the live at 5:45pm to chat about bees – I hope you JOIN ME!
I’m proud of this accomplishment. The information I took in over the past two years is mind blowing — I’m in the process of reviewing my notes and creating presentations, so I can put the knowledge to good use.
My biggest takeaway is the need for a community approach to beekeeping. When we are faced with issues in the hive and do not know the immediate solution, we should feel comfortable reaching out to the beekeeping community to bounce around thoughts and ideas before deciding what to do. At the same time, I’ve learned the importance of making informed management decisions based on scientific principles when considering and analyzing different options.
Having a better understanding of honey bee biology and immunity has helped me realize the importance of an Integrated Pest Management system to prevent and control all known pests, parasites and pathogens that threaten honeybee health and productivity. This includes the ability to monitor, diagnose and control specific problems in our hives.
Maintaining healthy colonies prevents the spread of disease to other apiaries and the wild bee population. We all need to be stewards of the environment to help keep our surrounding pollinator population healthy – let’s raise awareness about how some of these wild bees are facing declines because of diseases, pesticides, habitat and climate change.
Large-scale pollinator initiatives are important, but as individuals we can help by doing our part. Keep your hives healthy, leave those dandelions, set up a bee watering station, replace your grass with a clover lawn, don’t use pesticides and resist the urge to clean up your yard this May. Every action counts, nothing is too small. Let’s work together, like the bees do, to help make a difference.
Seems like yesterday that I was daydreaming about signing up for this program and now here I am – on the other side, excited to plan what’s next!
Beeyard Basics: Spring Swarms
The hive is literally buzzing with activity during the month of May. Colony population is expanding quickly because the queen is laying heavily. The brood and newly emerged bees keep the nurses busy. Foragers are actively bringing in pollen and nectar. The bees have much to do and are less defensive because there are more bees to help protect everything.
This is also the beginning of swarm season. You may begin to see queen cups being built along the bottom edges of the frames. Once there is an egg present, these are now queen cells and your bees will be in the mood for swarming.
As beekeepers, one of our biggest tasks is to responsibly manage swarms in the beeyard. Here are two articles from my previous newsletters on swarming. The first article discusses the basics of splitting your hive and the second piece talks about some cool ways the bees communicate during the swarming process.
The Buzz: Spring 2023 – Spring Swarms
The Buzz: Spring 2022 – Intricacies of Swarming
There are some preventative actions you can take before they feel the need to spread their wings — like expanding the brood nest, requeening with a younger queen, pulling nucs from a strong hive and/or making sure you are providing them with enough space. The goal is to make sure they don’t feel overcrowded.
Keep in mind, if there are queen cells already present none of these swarm prevention techniques will do you any good. Bees are stubborn and once they start the swarming process, they want to see it through to the end.
The key is to try and stay ahead of the bees. And make sure you have the necessary equipment on hand for nucs/splits. This way you’re ready to roll when the time comes.
I’m looking forward to the season ahead! If you haven’t already, now is the time to think about your apiary goals and decide how you are going to make them happen.
Buzzworthy News: Honey Bee Presentations
Education is my passion! I love sharing about the life cycle of the honey bee, the important role they play in our environment and the amazing ways they communicate and work together to get things done. We can learn so much from the bees.
My buzzworthy news is that my observation hive has arrived so I can safely bring live bees to my presentations! Let’s see how fast you can find the queen.
Presentations are available for schools, garden clubs, senior centres, bee clubs, businesses and more. Prices vary depending on topic, audience, location and length of time.
There are a few last dates available for May and June – so book now if you’re interested. Simply contact Rebecca at prairiesweethearthoney@gmail.com or 204-391-4765.
Raw Honey: From our Hives to Your Table
All natural honey, straight from our hives to your table. This honey is the best on the planet! What else can you expect when our bees like to forage from places like Assiniboine Forest, Assiniboine Park, Assiniboine River, the Leo Mol Gardens, Canada’s Diversity Gardens and other nearby sources. It’ll have you drooling for more.
Simply visit our online store to place your order today!
West Broadway Farmers’ Market
The West Broadway Farmers’ Market is a fantastic opportunity to support local producers, enjoy live music, and connect with your community — Wednesdays July 3 to September 25 @ 185 Young St (map).
Prairie Sweetheart Honey will be participating as a vendor on the following Wednesdays from 3pm – 6pm :
July 3, 17, 24
Aug 14, 21
Sept 11, 18, 25
2024 Beekeeping Calendar
As part of my Master Beekeeping program, I created a beekeeping calendar to help with my planning. Month by month, it identifies what is typically going on with the weather and identifies what is blooming that time of year for the bees to forage in this area.
It also outlines what the bees are up to and beekeeping jobs needed to stay on top of colony health including what to look for during inspections, general nutrition and the pests and diseases you should keep an eye on.
If you are interested, simply send an email to prairiesweethearthoney@gmail.com and I’ll pass along the link. By doing this, you will be subscribing to my upcoming emails this bee season, which will include more tips and tricks in the bee yard!
*Huge sidenote: The bees have their own plans and they like theirs better than yours — so although it’s great to have a plan, you must be prepared to roll with the punches and flip things on a dime.
Bees, Bees, Bees: 2024 Spring Nucs Available
These strong, healthy, five-frame nucs will give you a great start to the bee season. Our five-frame nucleus colonies will include a robust laying queen from the previous season, three frames of brood and bees and two frames of bees and feed.
Combing Soon: Intern Experience
Come experience the world of bees through a reciprocal exchange this summer. This unique experience provides hands-on learning in the bee yard in exchange for work related to bees.
If you are interested in learning more or want to get on the waitlist for the 2025 season, please send an email to prairiesweethearthoney@gmail.com.
Sweet Beesus: Recipes Dripping with Goodness
HONEY MUFFINS
YIELD: Makes 12 muffins
PREP TIME: 10 minutes
COOK TIME: 12 minutes
These sweet honey muffins are the perfect hybrid of roll and muffin and thus, can be served in a number of different ways. They can be put out for a brunch spread or included next to the turkey, gravy and fixings as a replacement (or sidekick) for traditional rolls. They’re soft yet dense and slightly sweetened, which makes them perfect for copious amounts of butter. Or you could eat them for breakfast, too; they would be equally as great alongside some eggs and bacon or sausage.
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- ½ cup granulated sugar
- 1 tablespoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1 cup milk
- ¼ cup unsalted butter melted
- ¼ cup honey
- 1 egg
Instructions
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Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Line a 12-cup muffin tin with paper liners or spray with a non-stick cooking spray.
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In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt.
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In a medium bowl, whisk together the milk, butter, honey and egg.
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Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and, using a rubber spatula, fold together until no dry ingredients remain.
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Divide the batter evenly between the muffin cups. Bake for 12 to 15 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool in the pan for 5 minutes, then remove to a wire rack. Serve warm or at room temperature. Leftovers can be stored in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 3 days.
Video: Jamaican Bees, ‘Mon
I spent the afternoon at Fred’s Honey House this March learning about Jamaican bees, mon! Fred has 27 hives on his property located in the steep hills of the Ingleside community near Mandeville.
What an amazing experience – thanks so much Fred! I love growing my beekeeping community, feels like we are all one big happy family. Enjoy the video highlights!
*Click on image below to play on Instagram