Pollinators R Us!

This month the homestead has been a very busy place. The bees we introduced into their hive are doing well. A few worries, like the fact that they decided to raise a new queen for some reason, but still buzzing away. We have also noticed a whole host of other pollinators including bumble bees, dragonflies, other solitary bees and a ton of butterflies. In particular we have noticed several Monarch butterflies. It’s hard to not notice them, they are particularly large and beautiful and it was while attending an online course on pollinating insects that I discovered that they are on the verge of becoming an endangered species.

They really are remarkable, they spend time with us here in Illinois in June, lay their eggs on one species only, milkweed, and after raising 5 generations or so, migrate in September down to Mexico. They vacate in the warmer climes for three months or so and then start their journey back to us, raising a quick generation of young in Texas. These butterflies raised in Texas then make their way back to Illinois to delight us in June.

So, with this in mind, I ordered some milkweed seeds and then totally forgot to do anything with them! Imagine my surprise when a couple of weeks ago I noticed a Monarch butterfly anyway. Okay, so to be honest I didn’t really know what milkweed looked like. It turns out we have about three acres of the stuff in the land that we couldn’t clear this spring because the mower broke down. I did the initial post winter mow and then left it to its own devices. Perfect for the milkweed apparently! Despite its name it really is a pretty plant, smells nice too. I haven’t been able to get a picture of a Monarch butterfly yet, they fly off into the butterfly sanctuary we have apparently cultivated and it’s hard to follow them but I have managed to capture some others. All identifications are guesses, trying to match them against my butterfly book, it’s hard because no two butterflies are really the same! There is also a bright yellow butterfly that I can’t get close enough to photograph, with no photo it’s very hard to identify them. I will keep trying and I am determined to photograph a Monarch!

Dragonfly

Milkweed with bumble bee and other wildlife

Pale Swallowtail

Pearly-eyed Satyr

Tailed-Blue butterfly (inside the wings are a gorgeous blue)

The Buzz for the Cluck

Suzie put down a deposit on a nuc (short for nucleus, a queen and starter pack basically) of Bees quite a few months ago but we got the call this week that they were ready for pick up. We knew we wanted them up by the pond but needed to do some clearing first.

We did realize after a while that this was not the side we wanted to have the Bees on and it was tiring work so we moved on.

Honeysuckle might be pretty when it flowers but MAN is it invasive!

The side where we did want the Bees.

Leedle-Houme Bees in the fantastically named “Mulkeytown” (about an hour from us – the furthest we’ve been for quite a while).

Good to know!

Very useful onsite demo.

The Bee House.

Our nuc, can anyone hear buzzing?

Suzie’s Beehive, painted and ready to go.

Suzie’s Hazmat suit.

Smokin’?

Suze is keeping them supplied with sugar water but they are already flying around and seem to be getting accustomed to their new surroundings.

So we finally have our “Buzz” and the “Cluck” is doing pretty well too. In the few weeks we have had them they have about doubled in size and are feathering up nicely. We have 10 again temporarily as one of our neighbors Chickens had Chicks before they were quite ready for them. It was pretty funny actually, one of the new Chicks made so much noise at first that all of ours cowered at the back of the box we put in there for them, seemingly terrified. All is harmonious now though.

Also, just because I’m writing this one….Amazon are now shipping Cats!

Not sure all of the bubblewrap was necessary.

Anti-depression Photos

We have had a ton of rain lately, including thunder and lightning, even a tornado watch last night, and so work has slowed here on the homestead. With all the scary and depressing news out there in the world it has been an effort to keep things in perspective. With that in mind I took a wander around the property today and snapped a few anti-depression pics. Hope you all enjoy.

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  Cheerful colors.

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  The cat inspector has been.

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  Native bee doing what bees do best.

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  Dead nettle, rampant but pretty.

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  The parsley survived the winter!

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  The thyme survived the winter!!

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  Bradford pear, stinky but pretty.

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  Daffs and hyacinths – lovely!

Finally getting some Bzz

After what has seemed like a very long time, we are very excited to start our bee-keeping journey. Can’t have a serious homestead without bees, right? I have a nice space picked out for them up by the pond, somewhat sheltered by trees and wild honeysuckle but a nice clear route down to our proposed vegetable garden. I will plant some enticing flowers in a “bee corridor” down to where I really want them, pollinating my fruit and vegetables.

It’s way too cold for establishing a colony just yet so all I can do is read up about bee-keeping and of course get the hive built.

I ordered this one from Galena Farms, via Amazon:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07SKK4GLJ/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o02_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

It was really reasonably priced and looked good to me. Came on time, packaged brilliantly and I spent a happy , if cold, morning assembling it. Can’t wait to get it in place.

I still need to order a spacesuit, but will wait for that until a little nearer the time. Enjoy the pics!

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Wax coated frames