Lots of excitement today as our bee hive finally arrived! Bryn unloaded the hive from the truck while Liz helped me don the bee jacket and gloves. We place the hive at the back of the yard and then opened it up to locate the queen and to make sure that all the bees were okay.  When we originally opened it, the bees were buzzing loudly. They were already well underway in making honeycomb in the bottom level, so Bryn decided to add on a third level of empty frames to the hive.

The hive has a magnetic quality;  I keep walking into the yard to check on it. The loud buzzing has subsided and bees are flying around.  I can get very close to it, and the bees don’t seem to mind me very much.

The hive peeking out from behind the apple tree.

While I was away, my garden really took off. My carrots, fennel and leeks all sprouted. Potatoes (in the picture above) and the fava beans are well underway, while the green leafy things (lettuce, spinach, arugula and Swiss chard) have gone crazy and need to be harvested every few days. The tomatos and parsley don’t seem to be growing much at all, sadly.

Last week I planted two rows of lettuce (already up!) and several rows of beans. From south to north, I planted Jade bush beans, Fortex filet beans, Romano pole beans and Scarlet Emperor beans. The jade beans are fine without support, but the other three varieties will eventually need bean poles.