Hello, friends - ready for some fun news from the AOC acre?
We've got bees!
They are not our bees, though. I'm not up for the whole bee-suit-and-smoker-thing, but I'm happy to host them!
The two hives belong to my brother-in-law and he loves his bees. Seriously. When they were at his house, he would go and sit near the hives watching them for "relaxation." Which makes it a little sad, then, that after my nephew got stung three times (the last resulting in a large lump) with the bees in their city backyard, they asked if they could move them out to our place.
They're housed in our little 1/4-acre "pasture." I think we need goats or something- gah, what a weedy mess. We pretty much don't know what to do with this fenced area- it's not big enough for an animal, but too big to mow regularly. And for goodness sakes, I don't want anymore garden- I can barely keep up with what I've got.
Anyway, he brought them over and we were advised to stay indoors for the rest of the day because they probably weren't going to be happy. We did and we haven't noticed anything in the following days except happy bees fluttering about. It's such a fun sight!
I'm excited to have these little pollinating buddies around our yard and gardens, though. I've not had much problem attracting bees- we've had great fruit and berry harvests in year's past - but these guys are a for-sure thing. Do you think I'll have even better harvests?
And you can't get much more local honey than from your own property! They say that hyper-local honey from your own or a neighbor's yard can help with allergies and overall health. Plus I know it will taste delicious.
And I'm really looking forward to seeing how my brother-in-law harvests the honey, because that will be a new experience for me.
If you keep bees or have any questions, make sure to leave them in the comments!
