Beekeeper's Blog — fireweed RSS

Here I am, sneaking in a beekeeper selfie so I can say I actually met Sue Cobey and hung out with master beekeepers Bruce and Marco.  It's all about street cred, you know?! so how did I get here? Good question.  I've been working with and buying up a bit of Bruce's amazing honey for my small but growing wholesale side business, which will hopefully sustain me and my bees over the winter when funds and honey reserves are low.   Bruce has a team of great guys working with him, each with their own set of strengths and abilities.  I see Seth and Joe and Pat regularly, but haven't spent much time with the man himself.  So I just...

Waking up this morning to the gentle pitter patter of rain is one of the most exciting and relaxing sounds I've heard in awhile. While we have had a very early, and very productive, dry summer, the lack of just a little rain has me worried about upcoming nectar flows.  Fireweed won't produce much if it's a really dry year, as well as Japanese Knotweed (yes, I know, highly invasive...but makes our only dark honey of the year!). We have learned that the DNR wants to charge us a bigger fee than we'd like to pay for the use of state land in Fireweed honey production, so todays rainy morning we will try for plan #2 - ask the private...