The beginning of our bee farm

We bought a piece of property a few months ago.  There are lots of reasons we bought the place including it’s beauty, it’s size, etc.  One of the big reasons, however, was to have a place to move the bees.  You may recall that I had a bit of trouble last summer during the harvest.  It was after that event that I decided that we needed a place out somewhere where the bees could be away from people.  “The event” was probably a once in a lifetime thing (I hope) but I can’t take the chance.

Aren’t these daisies pretty?   They are everywhere in the hay field…

Our new place is outside of Charleston in the country so, of course, there is a potential for bears to be around.  If you remember your Winnie the Pooh, bears tend to like honey.  A determined bear cannot really be stopped, but a good electric fence will dissuade all but the most determined bears from messing with the bee hives.  So, the beginning of our bee farm has to be a good electric fence.

We found a nice sunny spot on the property away from where we plan to do most of our other messing around.  Emily, the kids and I laid out what is to become our first bee yard at the new place.  We set 4 corner posts in concrete.  Being thrifty as I am, we decided to hand dig the fence post holes.  When I put our fence in for the dog, I ran into all sorts of roots and rocks but the digging at the bee yard was easy…apart from the fact that we had to dig 3 foot deep holes.  It was warm and humid so we took turns digging.  Abigail and Isaac both wanted to help so I was happy to oblige…and they earned their supper for sure!  Really, the kids were great and a big help.  Let’s hope they will help with the bees too!

So, we will let the posts set up this week and add the rest of the supports, posts, wire, etc next weekend if all goes well.  After digging the holes, we are committed so the bee farm is officially underway!  Who knew a few fence posts would make me so excited!?!

Stay tuned tomorrow for a funny story about our posts!