Cakewalk Into Town

-Posted by Isaac

Here's a theme song for this blog post. I'll let the master entertain you as you read.

So about a week ago I was going to give you a mouthful of bitterness. A grumbling, whining, complaining rant, cussing the rainy summer and life in general. Up until a week ago we had produced almost zero summer honey.

When you lift a super in July, it's disturbing to look through and see daylight.

(Sorry about the sheen on these photos. I dropped my phone and cracked it to pieces... lucky it still takes photos at all.)

Rain and more rain. I think I heard it's the wettest year in this area since 1874. As Taj says, it put my face in a permanent frown.

The bees couldn't forage. For about forty days! Right at the peak of our summer honey production--Not Good!

And the thing is, the hives were ready to make honey. Big, strong high populations all cooped up in there, waiting to get out and DO something. 

For a while I settled into a routine. Wake up, walk out, look at the sky... and start cussing.

I've been making my way around feeding protein. It just about drove me crazy to see busting populations like this and no honey to show for it.

So anyway, as you know, things turned around last week. It got dry, it got hot.

Thankfully, Jayne beat me to the punch on writing a blog, and you didn't have to hear my true bitterness concerning the weather.
A very well done post I might add, about our wonderful employees (oops, at Whole Foods they're called "Team Members") A post that would have taken a slightly different tone had I done it.
By the way, I'm not friends with any of those slackers.
GET TO WORK!

After a week of hot and dry, normal summer weather, things look a bit different. The bees are back to work.

See the white new comb being built on the edges? A beautiful sight. And a relief. Maybe we're through with rain for a while. Won't have to steal chickens from the rich folks' yard. It's time for a picnic in the country, Mama.