My sweet little golden darlings are busy again. In Southern California, bees can forage for nectar through the winter due to the blossoming of Eucalyptus trees. Eucalyptus honey is usually darker than wild flower, clover or lavender honey, but just as sweet.
In July, we harvested about 12 gallons of honey. We make a gathering out of it and invite friends to help. This year we had about 9 people working a day and a half. The L.A. Times did a little story and a television crew shot it for some TV home do-it-yourself network. I haven’t seen it yet but I took them through the entire process. Some of them were scared to death – ha!
Unfortunately, I lost one hive due to a condition that a colony can get called Chalk Brood. I replaced it with a wild swarm and then introduced a new young Italian Queen. She’s really a babe and quickly gained the trust and acceptance of the worker bees in the hive. Now they are a happy family – a little cold this time of the year – but they still go out everyday and milk the trees for nectar to make their sweet stuff.
Hmmm, sounds like what I go through when I write a song.