Signs of spring abound all around us. But if you live in Indiana like me, you resist believing it’s here to stay. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve cleaned out my flower beds only to have a snowstorm hit the next week. Just when I think it’s time to break out the shorts, I must bundle up in my winter parka again. There’s an old Midwest saying that describes this unpredictability. ‘If you don’t like the weather today, wait until tomorrow.’ It’s sure to change!
Not much more than a month ago, we plunged into a deep freeze during the ‘Polar Vortex.’ It lasted a good two weeks and tried our patience. Keeping animals warm and fed during these conditions is no small task. We have only a few to care for whereas many farms have large numbers of livestock. Thank goodness we didn’t lose power.
Overall our piece of heaven, affectionately named Lazy Bee Farm, survived the big chill. Though I’m sad to report, our bees fared the worst. When the air temps rose above 50 degrees, I opened the hives to do an inspection. Three out of our four hives didn’t make it. During most winter seasons, the bees are able to cluster together to stay warm. But not this year. It stayed too cold, too long for their natural survival mechanisms to maintain their temperature.
In hindsight, we should have wrapped the hives with an insulating material. We have a wind break but it wasn’t enough. We’ll know better next winter. As a novice beekeepers, we’re still learning. Perhaps we always will be gleaning new information as different situations arise.
For now, I’m working to keep our lone hive healthy. The other hives still contained plenty of honey. So I transferred a few of the full frames over to give them extra food since available pollen and nectar is sparse right now. In the meantime, I ordered two new ‘nucs’ which are starter packs of bees with an Indiana queen from a local beekeeper. These will arrive by late May to restock our empty hives.
Once the spring nectar flow starts, our surviving bees will have plenty of nutrients to multiply and thrive. If you look closely, you’ll notice the buds on the maple trees ready to pop and daffodils reaching toward the sun. Signs of spring abound all around us as the earth experiences its annual resurrection. How appropriate to celebrate Easter during this season of renewal and rebirth!
