Blog #43 – mid January 2024

Another preface of “I should write more often” is boring. “Resolution” to blog? No. “Just do it”? Again no. I just have a lot that happened already in the New Year and want to catch you up. 

Just to recap for those of you who might be new: we moved from suburban Long Island and are now making a completely new kind of life (for us) outside of Asheville, NC. Why did we wait so long? I had bees and chickens in NY, but there people thought I was crazy. Here people think you’re crazy if you don’t have animals! And people are nice for no reason at all! They were all over this great country when we traveled in our Airstream RV for a year to determine where we would live next.

Below is table of contents (don’t I look organized?!) so you can jump around to the parts that look interesting. Just click the link and the site will bring you to that heading.

1. New Year
2. Bee Expo!
3. Meeting My Beekeeping Heroes/Bee Struck/Fan Girl-ing
4. Swag
5. Bee Learning
6. Hives for Heroes and Nightlife
7. Urban Bourbon Trail
8. Bourbon Trail
9. Hiking Chimney Rock
10. The Flood
11. More Hiking with Rachel
12. Winter Beekeeping and Animal Husbandry
13. Winston/Wookie

New Year

January started off with a bang; people set off fireworks in my neighborhood to celebrate the New Year. You can do that around here. To paraphrase a 1979 orange juice PSA — Fireworks: They’re not just for Fourth of July anymore. 

Bee Expo!

On January 3, we drove to Louisville, KY to attend the North American Honey Bee Expo.  Don’t call it NAHBE, just the Bee Expo as its founder Kamon Reynolds prefers. It is the largest congregation of hobbyist and “sideliner” (read: beekeeping is your side hustle) beekeepers in America. Over 3000 eager bee enthusiasts attended along with dozens of vendors.  And when I say eager, count me among that crowd.  I didn’t have to wait long on the 1000+ person line on Wednesday at 12:30 waiting to get in.  They processed us and all our entry info in under 30 minutes! Wow!

Meeting My Beekeeping Heroes/Bee Struck/Fan Girl-ing

In the first five minutes, I met one of my YouTube heroes, Bob Binnie. It was near the bathroom so I wasn’t going to make him wait for a selfie, but I didn’t pass up that opportunity again and saw SO MANY of my beekeeping heroes – and some who soon would be!  I didn’t know I could “Fan Girl” at a bee expo!  

Everyone there is so positive and enthusiastic. Okay there are a few grumpy old men. I guess that comes with the territory.  But 90% of the people are there to learn, purchase deals on beekeeping equipment they need and talk bees with whoever will listen – which is EVERYONE. It was so exciting!!

Swag

I got some great bee swag (sorry Cliff Struhl – your BeeSmart bottom board cleaner is already down at the apiary).  Besides these t-shirts, David was integral in my shopping conquests.  He scoped out the extensive vendor area and we got a good price on some new hive boxes (I want to expand a little), new frames to go in said boxes, a couple of specialty frames just for drones, a sieve that is perfect for straining the honey after it’s extracted from the combs, and various and sundry other things.

Bee Learning

Some of the presentations I saw included:

• The Science Behind Processing Honey
• Ergonomic Beekeeping
• Honey Bee Social Immunity and Propolis
• Nutrition and Its Profound Impact on the Hive
• The Yellow Legged Hornet: Be ready for the onslaught!

Hundreds of people watched each presentation and fervently took notes and asked insightful questions. There were lots more presentations.  I’ll tell you all about these presentations if you’re interested, just ask in the “comment” section. I missed one or two presentations I wanted to see because I was talking. Those ad hoc conversations were sometimes even more helpful. They announced that all attendees will get video links to the presentations so I can see the ones I missed. Yay!!!

There is a judged honey show at the Bee Expo.  While I don’t think I can compete with just my honey, I was happy to enter a couple of cooking categories. I didn’t win anything but I have much more information for next year. My marshmallows didn’t win the confection category as they were in a cardboard box, but not on ANOTHER piece of cardboard.  Don’t ask.  The winner was Honey Cotton Candy.  THAT looked amazing!

Hives for Heroes and Nightlife

In the evenings, we took in some of what Louisville has to offer. The first night we went out with friends and bee mentor Cliff and Wanda to a great restaurant, Varanese. Friday was a special event with the Hives for Heroes group.  I joined this organization last year at the predecessor to this Bee Expo, a conference called Hive Life. The Hives for Heroes group was founded with a great mission: to help interested veterans and first responders start beekeeping. Turns out that this cohort loves the adrenaline rush that comes with working with bees, as well as the orderliness, and the need to sometimes break the rules on the fly.

Hives for Heroes gets donations from all kinds of people and companies to help start off the vets. The vets get matched with mentors to give them hands on beekeeping skills.  I was matched with a vet in my area last summer. Eric was excited to peek into a hive and handle the boxes and frames. We got to see a lot over the course of a few months. Eric has done a lot of research on his own and now is very passionate about beekeeping.  As a matter of fact, he got involved in our local bee club. He started in supportive a/v role, moved on to membership but now they need him as treasurer! He’s getting more hive time and I’ll be supporting him as he starts keeping his own hives at the end of March.

We got a group pic with the Hives for Heroes folks and I got to meet people IRL that I’d only talked to on our monthly Zoom meetings.  It was like a reunion of sorts. We got to talk further a casual dinner at the local Mission BBQ which the group filled to capacity. So cool.

Urban Bourbon Trail

Before this dinner, David and I wanted to be sure to get some cool local bourbon. After all, we were on the Bourbon Trail! We stopped in to a local House of Bourbon store and tried a few varieties to see what we might like. I think we went home with 4 bottles!

I got to close the show the same way I started it; by meeting Bob Binnie – and his wife! THIS time I got a selfie.  I was so pumped after the show! I made a reservation at a great restaurant, Proof on Main. It is part of the hotel chain C21 also known as The Museum Hotel. It’s on museum row, but there are many other locations around the country. They feature contemporary art installations – in the lobby, halls, restaurant, rooms! Really amazing. Since they knew we were celebrating they started us off with champagne, but we came for their specialty bourbons. We shared but it was clear we couldn’t drive back to our hotel. David consulted the front desk – which said they had availability and happened to have a special deal that night. We got a room for half off (lower price than our Home2Suites room!) and a special bourbon shot to sip while looking at the art installation!  We met a whole bunch of famous beekeepers at dinner as well. I’m networking with them all!

Bourbon Trail

On the way home, we HAD to stop at a couple of distilleries. Oh the tragedy!!   We hit Bulliet Bourbon too early and they couldn’t serve alcohol yet on a Sunday.  The vibe of the tasting room was so cool! Farmhouse industrial chic. The tour would have taken an hour that we didn’t have.  Reconaissance for next time.  

Then we had to stop at Woodford Reserve which was also on the way. Serious horse country down here.  And BEAUTIFUL. Rolling hills, gorgeous fencing (and you know I love me some fencing). The tasting room was in a slighty different location from the selling room.  Guess they ran out of space.  Anyway, the entire shakedown cruise proved helpful as we know what we want to visit next time and how much more time it will take. We want to go to some smaller bourbon producers, things we can’t get at every ABC store in NC. We’re making plans.  If you want to join us, give us a ring.

Hiking Chimney Rock

Pre-Bee Expo, David and I decided to hike Chimney Rock. It’s famous in these parts, very steep steps to a gorgeous view.  Unfortunately, it’s one of those places that’s been asphalted over to protect it from the vast number of people who visit. After we got to the top, there was a nice trail, but quite frankly, the rest was too DisneyWorld-esque for us.

We started giving the goats and sheep nearby neighbor’s used cut Christmas trees as a treat.  They LOVE it.  First victim, Brianna and Michael’s tree.

The Flood

After the Bee Expo, we had rain. And when I say rain, the skies opened and gave us everything they had been saving during the 4-month drought of the summer. Maybe it was 6 months.  Anyway, the deluge was like a snow day; we couldn’t go anywhere because our road and driveway were flooded out!  Luckily, it receded as fast as it started and roads were clear by around 6pm.

More Hiking with Rachel

Rachel and I went on a great hike in the Florence Nature Preserve practically down the street. Wonderful winter views and it follows a stream and some waterfalls.  Looks like it will be a keeper in all seasons. 

Winter Beekeeping and Animal Husbandry

Winter projects abound.  I’ve already wrapped my hives with insulation, mostly to keep the wind out. The top is insulated feed them syrup regularly so they don’t die of starvation. One hive may be too weak to survive but I’ll keep observing. Nothing more can be done over the winter.

I ordered some new packages — a queen and 3 lbs of bees — for the spring pick up at the end of March. Now I have to put together my hive boxes that I purchased at the conference.  Using info from the Bee Expo, I’m roughing up the inside of these new boxes to get the bees to add more propolis. It’s a sticky substance made from tree resin. It has anti microbial/bacterial/fungal qualities. It should lead to healthier bees according to many studies presented at the Bee Expo. I’ll bite… and hopefully they won’t sting too much.

Winston/Wookie

We had a foster dog that came to us. He is not going to leave. Brianna’s boyfriend Michael dubbed him Winston because he looks kinda like the man. Michael also named to goats and sheep. He’s our professional namer. At any rate, Winston is here to stay. He’s a sweet Pyranees/Chow mix who is too big, needs grooming and still likes to chew on anything left on the floor. At least I’ve become better at picking up shoes and socks? Sometimes he barks and he sounds like Chewbaka from Star Wars, so we also call him Wookie. 

He’s not what I wanted in a next dog, but he is a total love. He needs a good 10 minutes of scratches and loving every morning and many times during the day. He’s learning commands, but is a bit stubborn. We were hoping he might be a livestock guardian dog, but found out those really need to be trained from birth by another LGD. He likes to be outside. We got him from a friend’s 18 year old daughter adopted him because he’s cute. Then she couldn’t take care of him — to the point of neglect. When we heard his story, we had to take him in. And now he’s staying. Let’s just say it’s the start of David’s 5 dog pack that he’s always wanted. I still want a dog to hike with and this one can’t due to hip dysplasia. Oh well.

In the meantime, my flock missed me.  Now it’s bitter cold (-7^o with wind chill this morning) and I have to head out to give them fresh, unfrozen water. I’m going to bundle up well.  Wish me luck!