Adventures In Beekeeping

Hello from Long Lane Honey Bee Farms, also known on the Internet as www.honeybeesonline.com We are David and Sheri Burns and we own and operate a bee business. We carry a full line of beekeeping equipment, supplies, bees and queens. You’ll see that we provide a ton of free, up-to-date and accurate beekeeping lessons. Some of you have learned everything you know about honey bees from us, and we appreciate that a lot. Keep in mind that you can return the favor by purchasing your beekeeping hives and supplies from us. We really do appreciate every order. Our livelihood comes solely from great customers like you. The best way or us to get to know you better is for you to come and take a class with us. Not only will you get to hang out with us, but you’ll walk away knowing how to keep bees. We keep our classes under 20 students so we can be personable and answer all your questions.

Today I want to excite you about all the possibilities and adventures beekeeping may open up for you. But before I do, let me fill you in on what we’ve been up to.

Here in central Illinois our bees were flying like crazy on Sunday. It was a good sight to see now that we are half way through winter. Compared to last year our winter has been very mild. My bees are on their second Winter-Bee-Kind and some customers have now been back for 2 refills. Do not think that just one is going to suffice. It might, but if your bees have eaten an entire Winter-Bee-Kind, they are hungry! If you haven’t checked, pop the lid and see how much they have eaten. Refill it or order another one because we have many weeks of winter to go. Don’t forget as winter ends and the weather warms up, we’ll want to remove our Winter-Bee-Kinds and place on our Burns Bees Feeding Systems. This delivers maximum liquid and protein for late winter and early spring feed. Especially helpful for packages or nucs.

We’ve lived here in this old farm house over 11 years this spring. It was built in 1876, eleven years after the Civil War ended (1861-1865). The builders left their name and date on a piece of siding we removed. Cool discovery. Over the past 10 years we’ve been making improvements to our home like most folks do. At first we made essential improvements, like getting the septic system to work and the roof fixed. But lately we’ve been remodeling eye sores. So I finally remodeled our mud room. In the early days, before we had the other buildings, people had to walk into this room to access the restrooms during beekeeping classes. So finally, I did some plumbing, tiled the floor and hid some ugly pipes. Sheri stained the wainscoting. How do you pronounce wainscoting? Some people say it like wains-coating. Others say wains-scot-ing, like the name Scott. Because we stay so busy with our bee business, we are like everyone else, we can only work on the house a few hours a week. When does it every stop? Now I’m fixing things that I fixed 11 years ago. I’m starting over!!

Speaking of remodeling…You may have noticed we took our website through a complete remodel. Wow! I lost a lot of sleep on this huge project. Technology keeps changing and to keep up with the times, we were forced to do a total re-write. It is functioning perfectly, but I will continue now to make minor improvements like colors and overall appearance over the next few weeks. At one point there were three of us sitting at a table, each with a laptop smashing code. Stop in and take a look at: www.honeybeesonline.com and along with that you can follow us on Facebook and Twitter. Sheri spends a lot of time keeping things going on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

Another cool thing that graces our home at night is the sweet sounds of violin music in the air. Sheri is a musician. She plays the piano and flute and several years ago she thought it would be neat to play the violin. This Christmas I surprised her with a violin. She is taking lessons and is getting really good.

Our beekeeping classes have started for the year. We offer beekeeping classes all year long. Many places only offer them in the early part of the year. Last weekend was so much fun. We had several people from Iowa, Missouri, Indiana and Illinois. Every year we improve our student books and accuracy of materials. We love meeting new people. The folks were just fantastic, like visiting with family. Come on and join us for a class. It’s more than a class, it is an experience. Check out all of our upcoming classes. We are getting closer to perhaps having two Beekeeping Institutes this year as several have expressed a desire to come to a second one. We’ll keep you posted.

Sheri and I are back in the Podcast Studio, producing podcasts again. We have a new one done! You can listen to it in the next day or two at: http://www.honeybeesonline.com/beekeeping-podcast/ or on iTunes at: https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/studio-bee-live/id400801201?mt=2

Mystery Photo

Test your beekeeping knowledge by taking a look at the honey bee leg on our website: www.honeybeesonline.com. Tell us if it is the front leg, middle leg or back leg of a honeybee. Tell us the reason for your answer. The first person with the most complete answer will win a Burns Bees Feeding System. Leave your answer on our Facebook page

Adventures In Beekeeping

I’m an adventurous person. Maybe that’s what got me started in beekeeping. What I love about beekeeping is that it’s not only helping to save the honey bee, but it’s fun. Every time I inspect my hives it is an adventure. The dictionary defines the word adventurous as “willing to take risks or to try out new methods, ideas, or experiences”.

Beekeeping keeps us active and thinking. It motivates me to work out in the fresh air and to get some natural vitamin D. It provokes me to think, study and tinker around with new ideas. This keeps my mind stimulated to grow, expand and learn. I’ve known people who have retired but became bored and disenchanted with life. Their spouses became concerned about them because they all but gave up on life. They lost their enthusiasm for each day. It was for this very reason that Rev. Langstroth kept bees and eventually discovered bee space, giving us the removal frame hives used to this very day.

Being adventurous means trying new ideas and some times even taking a risk. I really don’t see beekeeping as a risk or dangerous, but I suppose it is to some. Certainly your bees could die, so you could risk losing your investment. However, haven’t we all taken this same risk in other areas? We took a risk and something didn’t work out the way we thought. That’s not a reason to become a fearful recluse. Sometimes we have to take a risk to enjoy the benefits that can only be achieved by stepping out of our comfort zone.

Beekeeping has opened up the opportunity for me to meet more great people, to speak around the country, to do things with bees that I never thought I’d do. All of that is a little risky, but sometimes taking a risk energizes us.

On the other hand, maybe you are done taking risks and you just want to keep bees to regain your sanity in the serenity of your apiary. That’s cool too. Life is challenging and sometimes very stressful and hard. Sometimes our world seems crazy and all messed up. It’s comforting, in light of the world’s problems, to light up the smoker, put on the suit, open up a hive and see thousands of individuals working in harmony with one another. Maybe beekeeping is just the adventure you’re looking for. It’s not too late to start beekeeping. Check out all of our hive kits and we have packages of bees available with our hives.

David and Sheri Burns
Long Lane Honey Bee Farms
www.honeybeesonline.com
                                                                217-427-2678 Check out our seasonal farm hours on our home page.