How To Set Up An Apiary | Traditional Beekeeping in the Forest (Vlog) & Inspiring Painted Beehives (Photos)!!
We're setting up our Apiary in the Forest!!!
This dream has been a long time coming and we're so thankful!
Ini bringing in the hive stands with Luci in tow.
Welcome to Mountain Jewel, our homestead!
The forest is one of our favorite places...
Setting up our Apiary in the forest!!
Wren setting up the Warre Hive with our cat Alabask who follows us all over the property
At our homestead, we've been focusing a lot on Natural Beekeeping lately!
Check out our other recent posts detailed at the bottom.
In this vlog, Ini discusses:
- Making hive stands
- Designing and laying out the apiary
- Considerations for the apiary
- Aligning with natural bee habitats when designing our apiary
When designing an apiary, keep the following in mind
- Do the bees have access to fresh clean water
- Do they have access to a diverse forage throughout the season
- How many hours of sun does it get/is it shaded (we're looking for 4-6 hours of sun)
Level hive stand waiting for the swarm to return so we can place it permanently in our apiary!!
A Look At An Established Forest Apiary
Our mentor Leo showing us a hive in his apiary. Anyone spot the other insect in the picture?
Last fall we also had the great opportunity to visit our beekeeping mentor Leo's Natural Apiary in the Forest. It was very inspiring-- probably most of all because of his wife's gorgeous art which is pictured below!
I also loved the meandering magical feel of the apiary in the forest!
Beauty of the Apiary
Leo, our mentor, and his wife, Ira, have a beautiful apiary. Ira makes incredible Hive Art! Wren took photos of these as we took a tour of their apiary.
Obviously this is incredibly inspiring!! We will paint our hives as we make them. Any ideas for designs?
First Impressions
We fell in love with beekeeping more that day!! That week we decided to take some honey from our hives. Our bees produced a lot that year, but unfortunately Ini got stung that day on the face!
After the beekeeping first forays... You can see Wren had a lot better time than Ini!
Thanks for reading. We hope you enjoyed!
@mountainjewel's Natural Beekeeping Series
Why Catch Wild Swarms
Hanging Swarm Traps
Catching a Swarm
Relocating the Swarm
banner by @radicalunicorn
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I learn something every time I tune into your vlogs, how cool is this :D
Local honey, you cant beat it!
:) oh cool @abh12345, thanks for stopping by and glad to hear it!! no you simply cannot beat local honey!! nothing like it and so geared toward our health & pleasure!--it's even more powerful for us from our local ecosystem! <3
The painting on the hives was really impressive! Just loving this series....
thank you dear!! i just LOVE ira's work! thanks for stopping by :D
Having trouble with Dtube tody. Not able to catch any videos. I will try again later...
oh sorry to hear that! hope you can watch it later. i think when you had looked i only had the dtube section of the post up. i've added more layers for steemit.com too ;) so there are some photos now of the process, too!
Thanks, I will recheck.
Thanks for the photos. Dtube is still not playing nicely. Perhaps I can see the video tomorrow!
It's super generous of you to share your insight with us. I've been putting off looking into keeping bees on the land, but you've made it a lot more palatable for me. Thanks. Thanks a lot. ;P
thank you so much for you kind comment @brockolopolis. honestly it is our life's work to share this good news and support people in connecting with their natural environments!
feel free to check out our other posts on natural beekeeping (listed at the bottom of this post) and our mentor's website www.horizontalhive.com for more information. feel free to ask questions! thanks for stopping by!
I really appreciate all the great info. I appreciate that you have the willingness to share, the taste to do it well, and the chance to ask questions. This is why steemit is my thing! You exemplify the type of accounts i like to keep around haha.
So touched by your comment @brockopolis! This is exactly the response that fuels and feeds us. Keeps it connected and worthwhile. Thanks for seeing us and valueing our approach. Hope we can keep you keeping us around ;)
That must hurt a lot if a bee stung someones face! The sweet honey must be worth the pain :)
No so fun, but bee venom just makes me stronger ;) many good things take sacrifices, and I’m ok with face stings now and then.
These are definitely the next producers I want on the homestead. Does Ini where a bee suit?
I did wear a veil and jacket combo,but ond ended up sneaking up the cuff. Best of luck on your bee endeavor :)! Have you looked into the layens hive model? There’s a lot of positive aspects that we’re stoked on.
loving it! I'm getting the non-invasive tap system this year. I don't want to bother the bees while I rob them ;)
followed and upvoted. I hope to reach as many people as you one day
I hear you on lack of disturbance. This is one reason we’ve switched to the layens model. I’ve heard of the flow style of hive. Sounds very interesting and I’d be intrigued in hearing your experience. Thanks for sharing.
Hi, what an inspiring project! I have just finished reading a novel with the title 'The bee queen' I already feel connected to bees but that book inspired me even more. I felt like inviting these little winged friends in to my outside living area too. I once saw someone make a round hive by securing circles of dried grasses with string to each other. That looked cozy too. But the painted hives are marvelous too. In the novel it was explained that bees need points of recognition to return to their home hive and that they shouldn't all be the same because that gets confusing for them. Like when all the houses in streets are the same it gets somewhat like a labyrinth. For me at least. All the best of luck with your apiary!
So glad you're feeling love for bees. They are truly magic beings. I think what you're referring to is called a skep, a very ancient type of primitive hive that has always intrigued me and seems coz indeed! Especially useful if you won't be managing the bees in any way.
It's truly fascinating learning all the details of bee biology and facts... another factor for us to give them an easy go at navigating is orienting them all in slightly different directions.
Excited to hear you're considering being bees near you. Do you have anyone near you who keeps bees? That helps A LOT!
There used to be an apiary close by, I'll have a look if it is still operational. Thanks for the idea!
Getting so many awesome bee info from you two souls <3 <3 <3 loved this
The painted hives are beautiful
Love to Share it and happy you're enjoying it ;) more to come <3