Honey Bee hives that is! Our latest edition to the farm is our 2 honey bee hives. John and Beau went to pick them up today in Tucker, GA. Our honey bees are Italian honey bees, first introduced in the USA in 1859, the most commonly kept honey bee in the US. They have a reputation for gentleness... let's hope so! We have placed the hives on the west end of the garden where they will get morning sun only. Our goals for the bees are to grow the hives, split them and hopefully rob honey once a year!
Why do we have honey bees?
1. The bee population in Georgia has plummeted since the 1980s due to the Varroa mite parasite.
http://www.uga.edu/caes/insectlab/population.html
Our neighbors have reported poor garden harvest in the past several years due to poor pollination.
2. A deep desire to have fresh local honey. John and the boys are BIG honey fans. Papaw Ivy and Grandpa Clark used to raise
bees at Clarkdell farm in Madison, MS, when John was a little boy. John hopes to offer a similar experience to our children as
we set out on yet another farm fresh adventure.
(I am almost certain that #1 was more or less an excuse to convince me to support #2)
Don't forget Mamaw Ivy helped Papaw with the bees, also. I have a bee suit just your size, Amy! I would smoke the hives for Papaw to lift out the honeycomb frames. Then in the honey room,I would uncap the honeycomb with a hot knife. Fun days!
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