Bees / Apiary

 Homeadow Song Farm

   Work for the Hands to do...

The Honeybee, a Most Beautiful Creature of Love and Light!

 

As we all know, the honeybee’s survival is threatened by the way we think and act in the world.  One of the best things we can do to contribute to her well-being is to take interest.  In learning to understand the honeybee we can work with her natural rhythms rather than impose our own conveniences.

 

Working with the honeybee in a conscious way transforms us into healthier people. Not only do bees offer health-giving substances such as honey, propolis, wax, and pollen but they can also provide us with a model of respect, service and interrelationships if we look at how they co-exist within their hive and nature. Working with bees deepens our relationship to the cycles of nature, birth and death, nutrition and health, art, social structures, agriculture, and more.

 

Günter Hauk, President of Spikenard Farm, and Rudolf Steiner have inspired us to work in some ways that are contrary to most present-day large beekeeping operations:

We allow colonies to reproduce by raising their own queens and to swarm

We strive to leave enough honey, their natural food, for the bees in seasons when there is no forage

We encourage the bees to build their own honeycomb

We take care in the placement of hives and we do not move them from field to field

We promote health through special herbal and medicinal plantings

We do not use medical treatments systematically

We not use chemicals in our plantings

We use biodynamic preparations to bring strength to our land and animals

 

We want to share our love for the honeybee with others who visit Homeadow Song Farm.  Images of the honeybee are woven throughout all our children’s programming. We work with stories, poetry, and the visual arts.  We extract honey, render wax, make healing salves and dip pure aromatic beeswax candles.  We build hives and plant flowers for the bees. Bees are observed working in their hives and in the flowers. We also have a monthly bee club to learn more about the honeybee through study, artistic experience, and practical work in a positive community setting. Please call for specific dates for meetings.

 

January – Candle-making and study / Bee Club – The Art of Being Social

 

February – Candle-making and Honey Be Mine Sale

 

March – Introduction to the Honeybee

 

April – Introduction and seasonal management

 

May – What is happening this time of the year? Swarms! Honey!

 

June – Seasonal observation and honey extraction

 

July – Observation and artistic work

 

August  - Observation/Making sure the bees have what they need and related artistic work

 

September – Seasonal observation and management / artistic work

 

October – Getting the hives ready for winter/ artistic work or study

 

November – Honeybee diseases and prevention / mite treatments

 

December – Maintenance and repair of equipment and bee shop / mite treatments

 

We appreciate all who support and inspire our work with the honeybees and of course the bees themselves who are tolerant even when our actions are not as graceful or wise as they could be.

 

Harvesting honey - Uncapping honeycomb

 

Beehive with two supers