What did you do in the garden today?

[Eagle343]

How difficult/time consuming is bee keeping?

Ok you asked and I will give you the best answer I have: It depends, Beekeeping is something that has thousands of Paths, and they are all correct and incorrect at the same time. The beekeeping world currently is in a huge flux, due to a mite and another is coming from over seas in the next 10 years. Old timers would tell you you could catch a swarm hive it, once it got big enough add honey supers and harvest twice a year. no muss no fuss, in the 80's everything changed, or so I was told and it became something that is becoming less and less easy. There really is two camps the treatment free crowd and the pro-treatment, and both are entwined in a never ended battle, of who's right, ultimately it will be the environment, the genetics of the bee you can get ahold of, and a touch of luck.

If you have any questions please feel free to ask, as I am the type of person that believes that there is no stupid question, except for the one you don't ask.

 

[Smokerbill]

It's been cool here all day so I decided it'd be ok to pick some veggies from the garden. Finished filling a quart bag of snap peas and filled a second quart bag of snow peas for the freezer, got about a quart of chopped chives in the freezer and a half gallon of chopped kale leaves in the fridge for salads. I like this time of the year. It's the beginning of the payoff for all the work I've done to get the garden going.

 

[Rick589]

Sorry to laugh but you start by dropping almost $1000 to get started, and then the dummies are always trying to leave. You spend all your time trying to get them to not leave or die from parasites or disease.
Seriously though, I love beekeeping. About 50% of the time.
View attachment 4160121

Soooo, a giant gamble. Got it.

 

[WthrLady]

They already have substitutions they are required to use in Europe for most.
I was watching something they were saying they change a couple molecules and then it's different, they call it something else and slide it in under the radar.

As long as they make the switch and the new ingredients clearly KNOWN. When Kraft Mac and cheese switched out their red and yellow dye for the cheese for tumeric, it wasn't listed (then) and just said spices, but I didn't know they even switched it so didn't even look for SPICES on the label.
Guess who's allergic to tumeric? Now it says tumeric on the label.
That's another peeve, just saying herbs and spices on the label. LIST THEM!

 

[WthrLady]

Soooo, a giant gamble. Got it.

yep.. I loved it though.
But it got too sad, and too pricey.

 

[Sally PB]

How difficult/time consuming is bee keeping?

I'd say less time consuming than chickens!

Unless you collect swarms on your own, a nuc will cost 150-280$ each.

Our first one was $165 in 2023. The one we got this month was $200.

Sorry to laugh but you start by dropping almost $1000 to get started, and then the dummies are always trying to leave. You spend all your time trying to get them to not leave or die from parasites or disease.
Seriously though, I love beekeeping. About 50% of the time.

We have about $1200 into our bee adventure. This will be our 3rd summer. We are getting our first honey harvest just now. No, I don't think this is typical.

What we have gotten is a bunch of pollinators, on site. Cool. Some interesting knowledge. Also cool. And a lot of humbling. Bees gonna do what bees gonna do.

We have made mistakes. We have made assumptions. We have had some bad luck, maybe? Anyway, finding a super FULL of honey this morning turned my entire day around. We'll see how much honey we actually get, and what kind of mess it makes to extract.

 

[TJAnonymous]

I'd say less time consuming than chickens!

Our first one was $165 in 2023. The one we got this month was $200.

We have about $1200 into our bee adventure. This will be our 3rd summer. We are getting our first honey harvest just now. No, I don't think this is typical.

What we have gotten is a bunch of pollinators, on site. Cool. Some interesting knowledge. Also cool. And a lot of humbling. Bees gonna do what bees gonna do.

We have made mistakes. We have made assumptions. We have had some bad luck, maybe? Anyway, finding a super FULL of honey this morning turned my entire day around. We'll see how much honey we actually get, and what kind of mess it makes to extract.

$1200...wow. I don't even want to guess how much that is per jar...

 

[Rick589]

If it is an ingredient that you do not know, due to the "scientific" name, don't buy it. Many still do not know that Glyphosate is Round-up- ugh. What we are ingesting into our bodies by deception. I will add it is also our fault that we do not investigate. We didn't have to do this 3 okay maybe 4 decades ago.

I believe this thread addresses our general desire to eat as naturally as possible. I’ve always adhered to the moderation stance and stuck with the natural(unaltered/undesigned) foods:sugar, flour,salt,butter,lard,milk,eggs,etc. Grow and can a lot of our own vegetables and do not buy any premade/ready to eat foods except for the occasional chips or pizza. Grandmother cooked with the above, grandparents ate well(we all did), and they died at 88 and 87. So, they, the researchers, can keep the sugar substitutes, play with the definition of what milk is, bad mouth eggs, and muddy the waters on fat. I’ll stick with good old God given food.

 

[Rick589]

$1200...wow. I don't even want to guess how much that is per jar...

Yes, well at one point when we got our first egg we figured it cost about $600.00

 

[Rick589]

I'd say less time consuming than chickens!

Our first one was $165 in 2023. The one we got this month was $200.

We have about $1200 into our bee adventure. This will be our 3rd summer. We are getting our first honey harvest just now. No, I don't think this is typical.

What we have gotten is a bunch of pollinators, on site. Cool. Some interesting knowledge. Also cool. And a lot of humbling. Bees gonna do what bees gonna do.

We have made mistakes. We have made assumptions. We have had some bad luck, maybe? Anyway, finding a super FULL of honey this morning turned my entire day around. We'll see how much honey we actually get, and what kind of mess it makes to extract.

Be our luck the bees would decide they didn’t like us and leave.