My beekeeping article from the summer 2013 issue of edible Upcountry magazine is now available online. Many thanks to Carolina Honey Bee Company for hosting such fantastic classes. Our three hives are still doing great! Click here or on the image below to see the article: You can pick up hardcopies of edible Upcountry at locations all over the Upstate,…
April heralded my first (epic) case of writer’s block. I’ve never run so close on a deadline before, but fortunately my brain clicked into place at the last minute and you can read the result in this season’s summer “honey” issue of Edible Upcountry magazine. Let me also emphatically recommend The Carolina Honeybee Company in Travelers Rest, SC for excellent…
We have Passiflora incarnata (maypop passionvine) growing outside our back door. I’ve written in the past about how to grow this native plant for its delicious fruit, but today I wanted to share a video of our “bee bar.” I’d say they show up at first light, but really, they never leave. These sluggish insects gorge on nectar, becoming increasingly…
*EDIT 1/15/2013* – This post was written when bees were far less expensive than they are now. Unless you are planning to catch a free swarm or have some other cheap bee source, it would be a good idea to learn all you can prior to obtaining bees. Yeah, that’s right. I did a Valentine’s post on undies followed by…
Bees naturally create “bee space” in a hive, which is about 3/8ths of an inch between each frame. Occasionally, they build extra cells inside “bee space” which can cause inconveniences for the beekeeper. This excess comb is scraped off with a hive tool during regular inspections of the hive.
Okay, so most of us don’t need to be talked into growing this one. Think of echinacea (also called coneflower) as the indoor plumbing of the garden — we usually take it for granted. There are few flowers better at attracting beneficial wildlife than native plants, and there are few native plants showier than the echinaceas. Unlike many “native” plants…