Anjou Apiary

Skep tool update!

2009-08-10T17:55:00.003-04:00

I saw my Dad on Saturday on the way home from bee camp. He has my awl for skep making all cut out! We are just waiting on the handles now.

When they are finished, I will post a picture of them. YEAH!

Back from Bee Camp!

2009-08-10T17:35:00.004-04:00

I am home safely from Bee Camp. What an overwhelming week! I found how much I don't know about bees and beekeeping! I have a lot to learn. I forgot my camera, so I have no pictures to share. :( There wasn't much to take pictures of anyways.

I met some great people at the Conference and at my B&B. I'd like to say hi to Christy (fellow SCAdian and top-bar hive beekeeper), Landi, Margaret, Linda & Dave, Anne & Dave, and Dave! Lots of Dave's at the conference.

I also saw some famous bee people such as Kim Flottum, Dave Hackenberg, Ross Conrad, and Nicholas Calderone. It was like having a backstage pass to a concert. I heard all of them speak about their thoughts on beekeeping which was very exciting!

What did I actually learn there....updates on Colony Collapse Disorder, way too much about Varroa Destructor mites, and how to attempt to control them. I made some contacts for my CCD paper for school, so that is exciting!

I bought some great reference materials for beekeeping. Books on how to spot disease in the hive, a checklist of what to do and look for in the hive, and a flowers of North America book. You have to know what your bees are eating! I also got some cute bee stuff...a couple of bumper stickers, two tote bags, a pin, and some dish towels all with bees on them! I'm obsessed!

The conference is in North Carolina next year, but I have already decided that I'm going to Pennsic. I want to teach my skep class and Pennsic is one of the best places to do it. And I missed everyone terribly while I wasn't there!

One day until Bee Camp!

2009-08-01T15:46:00.002-04:00

Tomorrow I leave for Bee Camp! Yeah! I'm so excited. I hope the weather stays nice. It's been raining again.

I just bottled the honey. Fifteen pounds in all. Some for Their Majesties, some for Raven and some for work people. Who-hoo!

Bee Camp - 10 days and counting

2009-07-23T22:40:00.003-04:00

Well, it is ten days until Bee Camp....also known as the Eastern Apicultural Society Conference 2009. More information here: www.easternapiculture.org/programs/2009/

I'm very excited about going. I get to stay in a B&B with a pool and learn new things about beekeeping. There are classes and field work too.

However, I will be missing Pennsic. :( I am already missing Pennsic. :( I didn't think I would this much. But, I will be back next year. :) With my laptop, as my big school project is due 3 weeks after Pennsic!

More info on Bee Camp will be posted as I find out more. Happy and safe Pennsic and Bee Camp week to you all!

July 19 - Harvest!

2009-07-23T22:22:00.004-04:00

We harvested 7 full frames of honey from the Lang super. I bought a hand crank extractor from our bee landlord and he loaned us his capping fork.

We brought it all home and I began harvesting. First, you scrape the capping's off one side with the capping fork. Then you put two frames in the extractor, decapped side out. Then you put the lid and hold on for dear life as you spin the crank. The honey spits out to the sides and falls to the bottom of the extractor. Then you turn around the frames and start over again. What fun! Then, you drain the honey into the bottling bucket. Chris helped too as it gets tiring cranking that extractor. I also poked myself with the capping knife. I decided to get a tetanus shot because of it. (That hurt more than poking myself!)

All in all, we harvested about 18 pounds of honey. And darn it all.....it is the best tasting honey I have ever had.....raw honey is the best. But I'm biased....ask for a tasting and see for yourself.

I am donating 3.5 pounds to Their Majesties of Æthelemearc for Their various baskets. We are bartering with Raven for some hoods for Chris. We will sell the rest, which isn't much, but there will be more in about 6 weeks. I am waiting on the jugs to put the 3 pounds in and we have jars for the rest. I also gave .5 pounds as a prize for a class I taught too.

Chris returned the empty frames to the super and the bees only need to fill up the combs instead of making and filling the combs. Woohoo! The beauty of the Langstroth Hive.

The Top-bar Hive is coming along slower than last year. I think we will get another 5 pounds off that hive though in the fall. I have faith in the girls!

I love beekeeping!

July 13 - 5th Inspection

2009-07-14T22:33:00.004-04:00

Finally got out to the hives today.

The top bar is moving along slower than last year. I believe this is due to the rain. Put a grease patty in to feed them. A grease patty is 1:1 sugar and crisco. It feeds the bees and makes it harder for mites to stick to the bees. We also put a grease patty in the Lang.

We checked the super on the Lang. WOW! We have 8 full frames of honey. That is about 40 pounds. We are so excited!

We have to buy Bee-Go and a fume pad to get the bees out of the super. The bees don't like the smell of the Bee-Go. They leave the super and then you pull it off the hive for harvest. The Bee-Go doesn't hurt the honey. We also need to buy some 3lb bottles.

We are giving Their Majesties a 3lb bottle, plus an 8 oz jar for the Pennsic gift baskets. We are bartering another bit for some hoods for Chris. We will sell the rest.

I feel like a real beekeeper now. Harvesting is going to be fun!

Rain, Rain, go away...

2009-07-14T22:31:00.004-04:00

Haven't been out to the hives since May 30 due to timing and rain.

It's been raining a lot and I am worried about the bees....are they getting enough nectar and pollen to survive? Let's hope so....

June 2, 2009 - 4th Inspection

2009-07-14T22:26:00.002-04:00

I went out by myself to the hives.

I took out the now empty queen cage on the Top Bar.

I added the queen excluder to the bottom of the super.

Make me some honey!

May 30, 2009 - Installation Day & Inspection 3

2009-07-14T21:23:00.016-04:00

We installed the new package of bees into the Top bar hive. There were no problems with it.

Chris did the installation this year and I took pictures. By the end of the installation he was covered in bees. He had a bunch on each of his shoulders.

I found out from my list that those tall combs were drone comb and that it's healthy to have that many. The drone comb are towards the top of the frame and near the glove.

The white stuff that I accidentally broke into was brood. I did not brake any cells this time.

There was lots of activity at the entrance.

A lot of burr comb (comb in places it doesn't belong) on the inner cover.

There was a lot of tight, concentric brood comb (that's the way it should look in a healthy hive.)

Generally, a lot of healthy activity.

We also supered the Lang. The super is the small box on top where the bees put the extra honey for harvest.

A bee also managed to get in Chris's suit in the face area. Luckily, he got it out before she stung him.

All in all, a good day.

Second Inspection - May 25, 2009

2009-05-25T21:22:00.006-04:00

We made our second inspection today. We rearranged the bottom and top brood boxes on the Lang, putting the top on the bottom and bottom on top as instructed by all the books. The now bottom box is full of brood and honey. The now top box is about half way full of honey. The bees naturally work bottom to top and will fill the rest of the top box with brood or honey. I am going to put a queen excluder on and super the Lang next weekend.

When I was inspecting the now top box, I broke open a couple of combs. There was sticky white stuff inside. I'm not sure if it was nosema or some other bee disease. I have to do some research and consult my books and lists to find out what it was and if it needs to be treated.

There were also many capped combs along the tops of the frames that were large and stuck straight out. They did not look like queen cells. There were not big enough. When I accidentally popped one open, there was a new bee in there. I believe they are drone cells. I just don't know if they were from laying workers or not.

We went over to the top bar to retrieve the top bars for repair. There was another mouse nest in there! No mice, just a nest. We picked it out of the hive and through it into the bushes. Now we know we need a mouse guard on all the time to protect it from mice.

I have discovered I need to take pictures every time we go out as there are new things out there that I don't know what they are or how to explain them. I am going to the Eastern Apicultural Society 2009 Conference in August. I am going to take a lot of pictures and ask about what is going on there.

Next week: Installation of the top bar!

First Inspection - April 10, 2009

2009-04-12T12:12:00.005-04:00

Weather and time finally permitted us to go see the bees. I couldn't find my camera so I have no pictures.

We cracked open the Lang first. We went through each frame on the top and bottom brood box. There was still a lot of honey on the top box. We found brood in a tight pattern off to one side of the frames with honey on them. We thought we saw the queen, but she had no mark and no attendants with her, so probably not. Some of the honey filled cells had red marks on them. To me it looked like mold, but I can't be sure. I'm going to ask my beekeeping lists what they think.

The bottom box had the old plastic frames in them. There was no honey and no brood in them. Lots of old brown wax. The comb is very messed up too. The bees built comb on the frame but in such a way that they built two sided comb on one side of the frame. We are going to replace all of those frames with wooden ware and wax foundation.

Next we opened up the top bar. First we looked into the observation windows. Everything looked fine. There were some dead bees along the entrance, but that is to be expected. There was a lot of mold on the top bars and we will have to make new ones.

I started popping off the top bars one by one. And what do I see but a MOUSE! and then I see another mouse with two babies attached to her!!!! They had chewed through the comb and made a huge nest in the hive. :( We pulled the rest of the top bars off and pulled the comb out. The mother mouse ran away and dropped one of the babies on the ground. The father mouse stayed until the bitter end, but I finally pushed him out with the brush. We dragged the hive away and dumped everything that was left in the hive out.

I was expecting to lose both hives, so a 50% loss isn't bad. We are going to reinstall in the top bar and get a brand new Lang hive. I'm looking forward to the upcoming year and getting a July harvest with any luck.

Ice Dragon Results!

2009-03-29T15:49:00.007-04:00

Here are the results of my Ice Dragon Entries. I entered 5 bee related items in the Pent. I don't have the all final scores, just ranges of scores. I will post the scores later when I have them. I'm listing the category too. I entered as a singles entrant. I'll be posting the documentation on the web page when I get a chance.

Research Paper: "Bees Are Neither Wild Nor Tame" 29.7 of 60 points, Yellow Ribbon

Sweets & Subtleties: Gyngerbrede (contains honey), 30-39 of 60 points, Green Ribbon

Curiosa: Beekeeper's Hood, 40-49 of 60 points, Red Ribbon
I received a "Mistress Rhiannon finds your work delightful ribbon" for this piece. I also received 2nd Place "Best in Show" from the A&S Ministry.

Materials Manipulation: Skep Beehive, 40-49 of 60 points, Red Ribbon
I won First Place for this category!

Household Arts: Honey, 40-49 of 60 points, Red Ribbon
I won First Place for this category!

I was disappointed with my research paper score, but received some great feedback and offers of help to make it better. Since this is one of the articles that I am submitting to the "Complete Anachronist", I want it to be the best it can be. Overall, I am very excited about my results, especially since this is the first year I have ever entered. I plan to enter next year using the feedback I received this year. Plus, now I have two more nifty scrolls for the collection!

Webpage update - AnjouApiary.com

2009-02-24T17:19:00.002-05:00

I added some pages to my webpage and rearranged some things. I added more links to connect each page so the whole thing is easier to navigate. I want to add more articles and recipes soon.

Another Ice Dragon Update

2009-02-23T19:41:00.002-05:00

I have decided not to enter the illumination into Ice Dragon. The gold-leafing is not coming out like I had hoped. I have never gold-leafed on vellum before and it is proving more difficult than I thought. I am doing something wrong and I can't figure out what. Plus, I am SLAMMED with homework for school.

I still have five main categories, so I can still enter the Pent. Yeah!

Ice Dragon - Another Update

2009-02-19T21:59:00.003-05:00

I finished all but two projects. I'm about 75% done overall. The next few weeks will be very busy. Still working on the documentation for everything. I'm being very meticulous about the documentation. I don't want to lose points for silly reasons.

I can't wait to share my projects here and on the website. When everything is complete, I will post the pictures and documentation for everything.

Ice Dragon!!!

2009-01-07T22:10:00.004-05:00

I have decided once again to complete my Ice Dragon projects! All 5, maybe 6 of them. I'm not sure if I want to enter my honey this year or not. I have an Excel spreadsheet to keep all my tasks at hand.

All told, I'm about 60% complete. I'm very far behind in my illumination docs, but found some great sources at SU. Now I just have to get up there and find them. The documentation for the other projects is about 75% complete. I need to finish each project, take pictures and add the pictures to the documentation. The research paper is on its final editing.

I have been really AR about the documentation. I hope the judges like it. I've been comparing my projects and documentation to the various rubrics available. I do really good on some aspects and poorly on others. So I need to bring it all together and get everything in tip-top shape.

Straw, Straw, Straw

2009-01-07T21:58:00.005-05:00

Well, I was able to meet with the farmer in November. He gave me what he calls "Fox Tail". When you strip it all down, it looks just like the straw that I got from my skep class. He said call him August 1 for more straw from the fields. I want to get enough to teach a skep class at FFF or Three Ravens.

I am working on the skep whenever I have free time. I have to lock the kitties up when I work on it because they think the straw and caning is a toy! Cute, but annoying. I ordered more caning. Enough to make a bunch of skeps/

I miss my bees. I hope they are okay. I want to go see them when the weather gets a little better. It needs to be above 45 degrees. Plus, they are far back in a field and it will take a bit of effort to reach them.

We are adding one more hive this year. My dad gave me foundationless langstroth frames for Christmas. They need to be tweeked a bit to fit the box, but I think they will work out nicely. We will put foundation frames in the super boxes. So we will have small cell bees producing large cell honey!

Our beekeeping landlord, Kevin, got 40 pounds of honey this fall. I am soooo jealous. We got about 2 pounds. It's a precious comodity. I'm using some for my Ice Dragon project and giving the rest away to people like Their Majesties, Her Highness and The Baron and Baroness. I hope they like it. Not enough to make mead, but enough to taste for toast and tea. Next year, we will have enough for mead! Yeah! Alexandra and I are going to brew mead together.

Great news!!

2008-10-31T17:41:00.002-04:00

I finally got in touch with a farmer who will sell me unbaled straw. He has some grasses I can use right now. I'm hoping to go out Sunday after we come home from PA.

He said to contact him next August 1 and he will have straw for me. I am finally going to be able to make a skep and teach the skep class!!!! I need to get the handout together for it. Maybe Izzy will draw the illustrations for me.

YEAH!

Harvest Day - 10/12/08

2008-10-31T17:27:00.010-04:00

We harvested the combs a few weeks back. The bees were not happy. We were able to take the comb with relative ease. I think we only brought back about 4 bees with us. I hope they are dead now, otherwise we will need to wear our bee suits to process the honey. We just got the processing equipment. For the TBH that consists of a bucket with a spigot on the bottom and a double layer metal strainer. Now we are waiting for the honey jars. I hope to get one to two pounds from the TBH.

Sarah smokes the Top Bar Hive

Sarah holds up some comb from the TBH. Note there is no honey.
But look how beautiful the comb is.

More comb. The bees used propolis to glue the top bars together.
That is why we are are able to pick up three at a time.
Notice the capped honey at the very top of the picture.

More comb with honey.

Success!

2008-10-05T14:52:00.002-04:00

We went out to the hives today. The bees were in a bad mood, but we still worked the hive. We had GREAT success with the new frames in the langstroth. We took a frame out and it was absolutley beautiful! It was ALL full of capped honey. Simply gorgeous. All of the top brood box is full now.

We won't be harvesting any of the honey from the lang this year. We will defiinetely get some from it next year. We will be harvesting from the top-bar hive, about 10 bars. It won't be a lot of honey, just enough to taste. We harvest next weekend.

We are going to put in 2 more langs next year. Can't wait!

Ice Dragon Update :(

2008-09-05T06:35:00.002-04:00

Well, I have decided with a heavy heart that I will not be able to complete my Ice Dragon Pent projects this year or next due to school. I do homework everynight and most of the weekend too. I just don't have the time I want to devote to both and make both school and the Pent entries Spectacular.

I love school and NEED to do this now. It has to be more important than most everything else.

7th inspection - 8/31/08

2008-08-31T15:00:00.001-04:00

Everything is looking better. There is more comb and some honey and nectar on the plastic frames. We took out four plastic frames and replaced them with four brand new wax foundation frames.

They ate most of grease patty I put in the Lang. We took out the remaining part of the patty as it hasn't been raining as much.

We'll go back in two weeks for another inspection.

Failure to thrive

2008-08-18T10:03:00.002-04:00

Well, the lang is not doing very good. We are worried that it won't survive the winter. We are trading out the old plastic frames for wood with wax foundation frames. We suspect the bees don't like the current frames because there was some mold on them. We did scrub and bleach the frames, but I don't think it helped. So we will try the brand new frames.

Inspection #6

2008-08-14T21:42:00.009-04:00

The top bar is nearly full. There are 21 bars and 20.5 are full. Bad news. The bees built the last 5 bars diagonally. I'm not worrying about this year as those are the combs I will be harvesting.

I remembered the camera this time and took some pictures that I will of course post here!

Here are all 20.5 combs.

Here's the girls staying cool on the porch.

Look very closely and you will see the baby bees about ready to come out!!!!

Here is the 21st bar with comb about half way drawn. Just a little bit more and we can harvest. Look to the middle left to see the diagonal comb. Silly bees, build on the bars provided!

Ice Dragon

2008-08-13T20:36:00.002-04:00

Well, I'm back on track to do my all bee Ice Dragon Pent entries. I have to get cracking. I will certainly be busy with it and school. Countdown to 3/21/09!

I am also still writing the Complete Anachronist about Beekeeping. I worked on that a lot today.

Cheers!

Beekeeping Jeopardy

2008-08-13T08:00:00.003-04:00

This is Jeopardy!! Or at least my version of it.

I taught my Period Beekeeping class in the form of Jeopardy at Pennsic this year. You really have to put on your medieval thinking cap to play this game. Everyone did great! I didn't take away points for wrong answers so everyone was guessing. Some of the answers were really funny. (Sticks!) I think the class went well. I got a lot of compliments and good feedback on how to make it better.

Two of my students gave me some of their honey. (YUM!) One is a clover with a mint aftertaste from Chicago and the other is a darker, wildflower from Ohio.

I'm trying to develop a honey class for Cooks and Bards Collegium in November. I might just do a honey taste test. But I want to do something with more period information.

July 27 - Inspection # 5

2008-08-13T07:50:00.007-04:00

Rain, Rain, go away! Or at least only rain at night so the girls can do their work!

We didn't get ot the hives much in July due to rain and other commitments. We went on July 27 at about 2pm. Everything is looking good. There are lots of bees coming and going with pollen in both hives.

The top bar hive has 15 1/2 combs! We were very excited! I have not attempted to pull out any combs from that hive. Everything is looking strong and I figured why bother them.

The Lang has about 1 1/4 brood boxes filled. Slower progress than we had hoped. I would like to get at least one super on before the end of August.

I found out at the Pennsic beekeepers meeting that we need to feed when it rains a lot. So I'm going to make up some more grease patties for them. I would like to get to the hives this Friday or Saturday.

3rd Inspection-June 13, 2008

2008-07-06T20:20:00.002-04:00

I just wanted to share a picture from the last inspection. The comb has reached the floor of the TBH. There are still 9 combs. The hive is looking good.

The Lang is doing well. We didn't open it up as Kevin suggested just watching for the comings and goings of the bees. We watched them come in with pollen covered legs and there were a lot of them so that tells us the hive is healthy.

We go out on Tuesday (July 8). I'm hoping the bees will start on another comb in the TBH. At this point we will not be harvesting from the TBH, which is ok. I did not expect a lot of honey from it anyway. We will also be hopefully adding a super onto the Lang if the brood boxes are full enough. Must remember to bring the queen excluder.

Brood Box vs Super

2008-06-12T17:20:00.003-04:00

My sister asks "What's a brood box?"

The brood box is one of the lower two boxes on a langstroth hive. It contains honey, brood(baby bees) and the Queen. The brood box is where the bees store their honey.

A super is any box above the two brood boxes and queen excluder. This is where the bees store your honey.

What's a queen excluder? It's a plastic or metal grate that is placed between the top most brood box and the supers. It keeps the queen out of the honey and prevents her from laying eggs there (Yuck!) She is bigger than the worker bees so they are still able to get up there and store honey.

Why straight combs on the Top Bar Hive?

2008-06-11T22:14:00.000-04:00

Mom asked about why I was excited that we had straight combs on the Top Bar Hive.

Unlike the Langstroth Hive, there are no frames in the hive of a TBH, sometimes the bees build across or perpendicular to, the top-bars instead of along straight with the top-bars. But because dad used the nifty plans from BackyardHive.com, we have straight comb on the top-bar the way it should be. Go dad! Go BackyardHive.com! (See page 5 of http://www.backyardhive.com/images//backyardhiveplans_a.pdf )

Second Brood Box

2008-06-11T22:11:00.002-04:00

Well, we learned from Kevin on Saturday that we need to get another brood box on ASAP. Monday we cleaned up ten frames filled with old wax. They still smelled of honey! Yummy! We were going to go out to the bees on Tuesday, but it stormed. We are going out Friday instead. Watch for more pictures.

More Progress on the Period Beekeeping Hood

2008-06-01T13:57:00.000-04:00

Here is the outer piece of the hood before stitching. The liner looks the same, except with no liripipe.

I hand stitched the back of this piece yesterday at Melee Madness. I used a back stitch for the whole thing. I even remembered how to do the stitch this time. You come at "B" , down through "A" and back up at "C" which then becomes the "B" position. I work right to left, although I'm not sure that is right. The stitches come out neat and tight so I guess that is all that matters.

1 Week Post-Installation

2008-06-01T13:29:00.000-04:00

What I learned today to do for next year:

Two to three days after installation:
-Come back to the hives to check that the queen was released
-Remove queen cage
-Add in remaining frames into Lang hive (10 total)
-Remove the entrance reducer
-Remove the follower board from the Top Bar Hive

Report on Progress:
It was a sunny day about 65 degrees and a little windy. The bees were very calm and were not coming at me as strong as they did on installation day. I am still timid in my actions and need to be more confident in what I'm doing.

Lang:
-Excess comb attached to inner cover due to not having enough frames in.

-Removed comb from not on frames from between frames and on inner cover. There was honey in one of the mini combs!
-Filled the brood chamber with more frames
-Took out the queen cage
-The queen was released although I did not see her

TB:
-I opend the cover and there were a lot of ants. We brushed them off.
-From the observation window you can see there are five combs being drawn and partially attached to the window. I did not brush the bees off for a better look.
-Took out follower board
-Took out the queen cage. She was released although I did not see her.
-Some of the grease patty was gone.
-ALL comb was on straight!!!

Progress on the Period Beekeeping Hood

2008-05-28T21:13:00.000-04:00

I made significant progress on the hood over the weekend. I drafted a pattern, cut out the wool and started the hand stitching. I managed to get the front seams stitched on the outside and lining. And it only took an hour!! I also found documentation for the stitches I'm using. So far I've used the back stitch. I had to teach myself how to do it and I started over three times, but I finally managed to get it right. I tried taking pictures, but there is not much contrast with the off-white thread and off-white wool. I'll try again and post the results.

I found a website that stated that cotton thread wasn't used until the 1800's, but I'll be dipped if I can find it again and I didn't bookmark it! :( Oh well, better to find it in a book.

Period Bee Hood

2008-05-25T04:52:00.000-04:00

Today I will start my period beekeepers hood. Basically, it's a hood with a liripipe and what looks like the bottom of a basket for the face. I have almost no documentation to go on. There is very little on this topic. I need to get to a big library to see if there is more out there.

What I have so far:
6 Period pictures
Some research from "The World History of Beekeeping and Honey Hunting"
Wool Gabardine
Basket Making Materials

I ordered linen thread to hand sew this project with.

What I need to do:
Make a pattern
Document the usage of linen thread and needles
Cut and hand sew the hood
Buy large needles that approximate period needles
Assemble the face mask (Basket)
Stain the face mask
Stitch face mask to hood
Take Pictures
Finish Documentation

Installation Day!!!

2008-05-25T04:17:00.000-04:00

Yesterday was installation day. We hived one package and one queen into a top-bar and a Langstroth hive. The breed is Italian.

WHAT A RUSH! Over 20,000 bees swirling and buzzing around your head. They slam into you trying to sting. The sound was amazing! I freak out a little when they get near my ears. You could swear they got into your beesuit.

Our friend Kevin, who's property we are keeping the bees on, is a beekeeper and helped us out A LOT! He showed us a few tricks for getting the bees in and keeping them in the hive. They are not used to the new queen yet and sometimes fly away from the new hive. So you reduce the entrance for getting out.

I fed the top-bar hive a grease patty to get them started. The yahoo group I'm on suggested sugar water and pollen patties, so I will add those too. Kevin is going to put feeders on both hives for us.

Check out the pictures we took! Wow!

http://www.kodakgallery.com/I.jsp?c=iu61rvh.3bzddu19&x=0&y=l577sc&localeid=en_US

I can't wait to check the hive in a week!

Update to web site!

2008-05-24T20:33:00.000-04:00

I created an oh-so-simple webpage at AnjouApiary.com. Check it out!

Welcome to Anjou Apiary!

2008-05-24T16:41:00.001-04:00

Hello,

This is the first entry of this blog. It will be used to share my journey of beekeeping, modern and historical. Most of my research will go here: http://www.geocities.com/anjouapiary/. But I want to share my journal of beekeeping with you here.

I belong to the Society for Creative Anachronism, (SCA), which is a group dedicated to researching Medieval and Renaissance history. This is how I came to be interested in historical beekeeping. The name Anjou Apiary comes from my SCA name of Olivia d'Anjou and an apiary is a collection of hives. By the way, my friend Gillian and I are writing a "Complete Anachronist" on historical beekeeping. I am so excited!

I first became interested in bees when I was a kid. My mom took my sister and me to a honey store in the 1,000 Islands, NY. The little old lady had been a beekeeper for years. She had an observation hive and I remember being fascinated by it. She also had a giant bee made of Styrofoam that flapped its wings.

I started to become interested in bees again about 5 years ago. It was a passing interest mostly as I usually flit from subject to subject when I research. I collected items with bees on them mostly. My interest kept growing and I found IBRA.UK.org, which is the International Bee Research Association. They have a plethora of information on bees, modern and historical. From there I ordered 4 historical manuscripts on beekeeping from the 16th-17th century. I've been redacting them ever since. My husband also bought be a great, must have book: "The World History of Beekeeping and Honey Hunting", by Dr Eva Crane. It is THE book on bee research.

My husband Chris and I will be beekeepers together. He had an interest in beekeeping before he met me, but never pursued it. Now we both have bee suits are ready for our adventure to being.

I hope you will enjoy this journey. Most people think I am crazy for wanting to be a beekeeper. I find it a fun and fascinating topic!

Sarah