Napa Valley Bee Company

Last two beek weeks in pictures

Wheew!

This bee-blog thing is time consuming. Looking back I haven't gotten much done 'round here since the 8th, feels like just yesterday. What I'm going to try <--- key word try --- to do is up load some of the images I take out there while I'm rustling bees and make comments on them rather than doing longer posts less frequently. Certain times of the year it gets really difficult to manage the blog and bees because I'm either working with bees or talking about them all day -- the last thing I want to do at night is come home and type about them too! This time of year I am in 5-10 colonies a day checking them for brood and stores before sending them into winter. I'm talking going deep here, not just a pop of the lid for a quick looky loo. On my mother colonies I'm not overly concerned, they have shown me over time that they are decent producers of both honey and brood. It's the new colonies I have introduced into my apiaries I want to check-up on. Enough excuses....

Hop in, let's see how this rolls:

For the past month or two I have wanted to get a business card. It's always a little funny when people ask for a card and I don't have anything with my contact info. You guys know where to get me, right here at the blog, but not everyone is so bee savvy. For now I didn't want too get crazy - only the basics - my splitty and the bees... They should be ready in 7-10 working days. Lemme know and I'll hook you up with one fresh of the press.

Checkin' on the bees at College Ave.

It's a desert out there in the rural landscape, look at how hungry they are... That 1:1 hadn't hit the deck for a second before they were all up on it. Be careful, not only are some of my less foraging bees in a tight place right now but desperate x's call for desperate measures, robbing is rampant! Make sure you have all the gear needed on hand before you start working your bees but also keep the cover on them while you're not in the hive. Move quickly but efficiently and for the love of god don't leave any honey laying around.

I ended up feeding some of my bees - not my ideal scenario but what's one to do when there's follower to follower brood and no nectar or honey? I guess I could have thrown them a couple frames of the sticky icky from another colony but that's not the safest option either. You tell me. At least I'm brewing them up the Rudy Steiner, nothing is finer recipe... 1:1 sugar - water, whole chamomile (I was using just bags, but have since stepped it up thanks to Clay) and a pinch of salt. Not sure if it was Steiner or Gunther Hauk that said to also add Comfrey. Dunno about that but I have added some lavender blossoms in the feeder when I have them. Remember to ALWAYS reduce the entrance when feeding. I leave a very small opening at the far opposite side to discourage robbing. Actually, this image shows an external feeder but really if you have to feed your bees I'd use a method from inside the hive like a top or frame feeder. This particular feeder is a custom design made by a student of mine that has a long straw that goes down into the brood chamber. It's an experiment... Feed your bees inside the hive!

Working the bees at Billy G's. Take note of my VW head badge... I met a cat named Don in Napa that  wrenches v-dubs. He did me a fat solid by not only putting my badge on but installing seat belts, and adjusted my valves. We talked about doing a lot more to my car so stay tuned...  If you need aircooled assistance you should call Don's VW Repair 707.363.4779, he's the Volkswagon shiz-nit!

Working Roger's bees and making an Andy Goldsworthy-inspired entrance reducer. Don had just done the work on my truck the night before so I emptied it and forgot to bring proper reducers. The bees were a bit pissy so I decided to wear my gown. Sadly I just threw it in the bed when I drove off and It must have blown out in transit. So if you happen to come across a Dadant veil with the Napa Valley Bee Company logo on the back - it's mine..

Bee class at Arnie Bunter's.

Anytime is a great time when you're hangin' round Arnie but the ultimate bee bliss is working the girls at his place. Michael and I took our beekeeping - bee garden class that is normally held at the Connolly Ranch out to the Bunter's for a little bee fun and yum-yums.

This kid Scott took most the pictures. He did a wonderful job if I do say so myself.

Smokey....

Stirrin' 'em up!

Check-out Arnie's Exxon beekeeper get-up.

Laura having a bad veil day...

I got stung twice.

I went through my freezer this weekend and found a bunch of pollen I had forgotten about that I stashed away over the summer. The problem is that when you freeze wax it makes it really brittle and because of my lack of freezer finesse a lot of the frames that didn't have that plastic foundation broke apart. Not the end of the world, you can rubberband it back into a frame but why not have a little fun while your at it?

This one was too obvious.. I know, I know, how cliche but what am I meant to do? The shape presented itself and I couldn't deny. I hope the bees don't think it's as corny as I do. I wouldn't eat pollen out of heart shaped comb based on principle.

Once I was doing a hive removal where the bees built around all these twigs in a building. It was truly one of the coolest things I had seen bee do in a long time. I decided to try and recreate that while also securing some loose comb by harpooning the pieces together with sticks from around my yard.

I even put an acorn in it, corny.....! Can't wait to see what the bees do with these wax constructions. I don't suspect much will get done on them until next spring as I'm not seeing a lot of wax production this late in the year. I was thinking I may incorporate them into my over-wintering protocol in the upper box, so as the cluster moves up through winter they will run into some extra pollen treats along the way. Yum!

Sadly I ripped out all my Borage yesterday. My all time favorite bee plant had run it's course. Luckily for me and the bees it will reseed and hopefully I'll get another round before winter.

If you keep bees – you need one of these…

 

I’ve found the perfect beekeeper’s vehicle. It took me a while, but I finally made the commitment a couple months ago I bought a 1961 split window Volkswagen Single Cab. Like my cell phone, garlic press, and MacBook, I find myself asking myself how I ever got by w/o it.  It looks cool, has fabulous storage space, fold-down sides that create a flatbed, and gets decent gas mileage. According to this website I found on-line (www.volksdoublecab.com) about Volkswagen Double Cabs, the larger more spacious crew cab to my car, the VW bus was invented by this cat Ben Pon in 1949.

I wasn’t there, but it’s said that he wanted a bug style car that was more commercial. Many of the components for this new “box on wheels” vehicle, including the engine, transmission, and running gear were borrowed directly from the Beetle. The new commercial vehicle, released in 1950 was called a VW bus, Type 2, or Transporter. These transporters were designed as simple work vehicles and were a hit for new businesses starting up after WWII.  The earliest Transporters were so basic that they didn’t even have a rear window or bumpers. It took two years, but in 1952, Volkswagen introduced their first truck version of the VW bus.  This truck version was called the Single Cab. The intended use for the VW Single Cab was for farm workers, beekeepers, single speed mountain bikers, and construction companies. The unique fold down gates [sides] of the bed allowed the VW Single Cab to carry objects larger than itself and made the truck versatile in many situations. Imagine being able to drop the sides and load-up 15 bee hives with ease. In 1958, VW took the production of the Double Cab in house and started making the vehicles at their own facilities. In 1958, the Double Cab sold for about $1800.  That was about $300 more than for the Single Cab. I can’t say for sure what made me want a VW pick-up but once I spent a little time researching the vehicle and eventually saw one in person I knew it would be my perfect bee-mobile. Originally I thought I wanted the Double Cab and had even planned to fly up to Spokane WA to buy one from a guy named Matt Angelini.

Only by absolute luck did I stumble upon my Single Cab in Sebastopol. On the great advice of Joel at Joel & Ron's Harmony Garage in Cotatti I really took the time to look at two things. One was although the Double Cab had more room for passengers it created far less room in the bed of the truck for hauling bees and equipment. Secondly, why would I go nearly 1000 miles away, feeling a sense of obligation to buy the vehicle that I might not otherwise. He advised me to find one locally, or at least in a 50 mile radius. At the time I thought he was out of his VW tree cause not only were there slim pickins’ for this type of vehicle in the area but the specimens I saw were a fortune. TheSamba.com has some of the most beautiful examples of the car known to man but unfortunately I didn’t’ have suitcases of honey money to throw at the project. At one point I  spoke with Jason Grace at Umpqua Bank about a business loan to float my VW dream.  Luckily I didn’t need to take a loan, I met Mark Ashley, a vintage clothing dealer in Sebastopol. Mark had his 61 single listed on Ebay and it was in my own backyard. I had only seen a few singles in person at that point and most of them looked like 50 year old rusty work trucks.

So when I actually got through to Mark and saw his car I was pleasantly surprised. It was priced right and in really good shape considering its age. I wouldn’t call the car show quality but it certainly was in good enough shape to exist as a bee-toatting work truck. I spent the afternoon talking with Mark explaining my bee project and how I intended to incorporate the truck into my plan. We really hit it off, so much so that Mark not only gave me a better deal on the car but also took a bunch of my grandfather’s old coats, some misc. designer dresses from the 70’s, classic purses, a handful of military pins and badges, a smashed Lyle Tuttle penny, and an early model 50’s Rollfast bicycle in trade to sell in his vintage clothing store. What was I doing with all that stuff….? Don’t ask…… I ended up with an absolute steal paying only $4200. I also purchased the original yellow and black plates for the car that I JUST got reissued last week. I couldn’t be happier with the vehicle, it is wonderful for starting a conversation and makes people smile whenever they see it roll by.

Here are some visuals:

This is the car as I first saw it. Notice the beehives in the back, me sizing up the bed.


An image Meg made of Davis and I shortly after I first arrived home with the truck.
Check out Mark's initials on the inverted front badge. I have since taken it off and have been unable to get it back on correctly.


New 56 black on yellow plates. I had Art at Napa Valley Glass cut me a piece of plex to cover the 1961 registration sticker. The guy at DMV told me it would get stolen otherwise. Apparently getting old plates reissued is murderous. Mark had it all pretty well worked out for me when I bought the plates. They were two hundie extra but will substantially increase the value of the car.


Out at the College Avenue Apiary.




Loading up at Lyle's.

All sides dropped at the Carneros Apiary.

The "treasure chest" is a 3x5 foot storage compartment that runs the full width of the truck and has access to both sides. Perfect for storing tools!

 

Davis made these two photographs out the front window in the Carneros, obviously bored out of his skull.

Pretend pulling the Overlander bee observatory at Copper Iron Design. We are working on the trim of the trailer.

Working Chris Miller's hives on Soda Canyon Road.

Through the front window at Zinnia Ranch in Yountville.

Working Dorthea's hive on Monticello Road. Old school Voss Apiary stickers.

On a swarm call in Browns Valley with my bike in the back. It was a very small late-season swarm, I used it in a two-queen colony with one of the Carneros hives.

With Jason Grace in front of the Yountville Market, we were actually going to Poncho's, the bar next door.

Tasting honey off the back at Connolly Ranch with the Dirt-to-Dine kids camp.

I brought along an observation hive of bees that I recently removed and relocated from Gauge Wines in downtown Napa.

I put a Winnie the Pooh Pez head in the observation hive - the kids loved it.

In front of a buzzing bee kiddie ride at the Napa Fair.