Lazer Creek Apiary

Putting down roots.

We planted two gardenias by the gate in November, but this weekend we started our orchard with two fig trees we received as a gift and two blueberry bushes. The fig trees did great in the greenhouse over winter and we moved them outside a couple of weeks ago. The first leaves opened at theContinue reading “Putting down roots.”

Bee ready

It’s official — if we are going to expand the bee business, we need to build a workshop at the farm! We have bee boxes everywhere, and we have locations to set them up when the bees arrive at the end of the month. It’s been a lot of work getting everything painted,Continue reading “Bee ready”

One Bee of a Headache!

We’ve had a good weekend working in the yard and painting hives in preparation for the bees we’re getting from the South Carolina Beekeepers Association on March 19th. We have enough hive bodies built and painted to accommodate the newcomers, and I’ll spend evenings this weekend decorating them and using the wood burning tool toContinue reading “One Bee of a Headache!”

Painting Hive Bodies

After weeks of cold weather and a sinus infection that wouldn’t quit, I was so happy to see the sun come out and temperatures to rise above 50 degrees this week! My husband had been putting together hive bodies while I slept the previous weekend away, and they were stacked up in the garage justContinue reading “Painting Hive Bodies”

What I’ve learned while making fondant for bees

Let me preface this post by saying that I know some of these things should be painfully obvious, but I hope that some of my readers are, at times, as distracted as I while trying to do many things at once — like playing SimCity while cooking. Lesson 1: Respect the capabilities of your equipment. Continue reading “What I’ve learned while making fondant for bees”

Thinning Trees

While we are hesitant to lose our privacy, we know that our trees are overcrowded and therefore not healthy. We could probably have left them alone for another year or two, but as we need egress for the power company and a space on which to start building our cabin, we decided to have theContinue reading “Thinning Trees”

Magnolia Seedlings December 2015

A few months ago, I soaked and peeled magnolia seeds and placed most of them in the vegetable drawers of the bee-supply refrigerator as I read that they need to undergo months of cold temperatures before they will germinate. I planted some directly in seed starter pots and left those outside the greenhouse to naturallyContinue reading “Magnolia Seedlings December 2015”