Beehives
Bees, Beer, and a Baby (Or “Why I Haven’t Updated My Blog in Awhile”)
Excuses, excuses! But really – I have been just about as busy as my bees!! Since last writing – I have gone from 8 to 10 hives! Way past my self-imposed “limit”. One was a conscious split. It needed to happen and I did have an empty hive box just sitting there, so… – 9 hives – that’s a nice number, right? The newest addition – the 10th hive (double digits -ah!) – was a swarm that landed very low on a branch near our house. I was hesitant to get them because I can barely keep up with the hives as it is, but my husband was so encouraging – “look at how close they are”, “you have one extra box, don’t you?” OK, OK. It’s the last hive though – seriously!
I love my bees, and am so happy they are doing great – but I have to be realistic with my time. Especially since finding out that I am a Mommy-to-Bee! About 4.5 months pregnant at the moment. I can only imagine how tired I am going to be in the coming months – and then when the baby arrives! Whoo – trying not to feel overwhelmed. It helps having a good bee buddy like Melissa Honeybee P. – who has been an amazing assistant in the hives this year! She is so gentle with them and has a sweet way of keeping the positive energy flowing during our inspections. Life is too good! So I’m just rolling with all of the changes and excitement!
And where does beer fit in, you ask? I may not be drinking right now, but this sober sister is still making the time for certain beer-related hobbies and events! My husband and I have been making beer and mead for a number of years, and are quite the beer nerds. We are certified beer judges with the American Homebrewers Association and plan most of our vacations around brewery visits and beer festivals. One of our favorite weeks of the year revolves around the 2nd Saturday in March when the Kona Brewer’s Festival occurs. It is one of the best beer festivals we have ever been to, and not just because it is on the Big Island! Amazing food, quality brews, and right on the ocean! We participate as judges in the homebrew competition that precedes the brew festival. We also enter our meads (made with Lava Bees honey) and homebrews into the competition – of course, only in categories that we are not judges in!
So, with a baby on the way and all – I was benched as a judge this year – but very much enjoyed helping in the competition by cleaning glasses and pouring fresh pitchers of palette cleansers for the judges. It was actually nice to take a break from all of the writing that goes along with judging and just relax. Being a beer judge is a lot more work than you would think! To taste a small sample of beer and write about a page worth of descriptions while trying to constructively critique and encourage home brewers to continue perfecting their craft – it’s not all cheers and beers! Some homebrews are downright funky and some are savored on the side to let the rest of the judges partake in the beauty.
Anyways, despite my state of sobriety, I managed to have a great time. It is like a family reunion every year that we get to reconnect with the judges that come from all around the country. And – getting a few medals was nice, too! We were awarded a gold medal for our Chili Pepper Mead, a silver medal for our Cranberry Mead, and a bronze medal for a California Common style beer. Our friend, Diki Short, also kindly gave us credit on a gold medal winning Jaboticaba Mead that we helped him make as a demonstration at the Hawai’i Honey Festival in 2014. It’s awesome to see that almost all of the mead winners this year are also beekeepers that use their own honey to make the mead! It goes to show that the mead judges really can detect when quality honey is used!
Looking forward to tasting some of our Lava Bees meads again next year – after the baby is born and after they have aged for awhile longer. Now it’s time to get creative and come up with some new recipes. Our Lava Bees are producing so much honey it is mind-boggling! I really am behind on how much mead I could be making! Good thing honey doesn’t go bad! No rest for the bees during the Hawaiian “winter” – and no rest for this soon-to-bee mama beekeeper. But as they say – happiness is being busy doing the things you love! Buzz ya later!
Bee(hive) Happy!
About our beehives… We currently have 8 beehives. 2 top bar hives and 6 langstroth (the traditional boxed-style) hives. 6 of the beehives reside in our yard just steps away from our house allowing me to peek in on them day and night. 2 of the beehives are on another property a mile down the road. All 8 beehives have ocean views! My husband was adamant that the bees hang out in a spot on the properties where WE like to hang out and view the ocean.. so cute. 8 hives seems to be my happy place. I have a full-time job (not as a beekeeper), so managing 8 hives has been challenging at times, but I continue to learn and grow as a beekeeper and am now thinking.. hmm.. maybe I can handle a couple of more hives soon. We shall see! I should mention that all of our hives originally came from one hive. That hive grew and I split it into two. Those hives grew and I split them. Some of the hives swarmed from being too full, and I caught them and so on until bam — 8 hives. As much as I love where I live, I believe the bees love it even more. The warm breeze, the nearby flowering trees, the quiet, peaceful life in Kalapana. They must wonder why I leave to go to work! I wonder the same thing sometimes! And these girls (yes, most of the bees are female) are rock stars! They have won awards for their honey and the mead we make from their honey. I always make sure to give them a big pat on the hive when that happens. Sometimes I think of them as my children, but in reality they are my teachers. A story for another day!
lavabees.net 