Category Archives: bees

Where’s Laura?

Posted on May 3, 2017 by Laura Rittenhouse

Recently someone asked me if I was just visiting as she’d seen my website link in an email and then gone from there to this “obsolete” blog where I broadcast to the world that I “live” in the Hawkesbury region … Continue reading →

Posted in bees, cat, Chickens, dog, Garden, Nature, Writing | Tagged Hobart | 23 Comments

Serving-up Honey in Winter

Posted on September 16, 2014 by Laura Rittenhouse

We’re down to the final kilos of honey from our January harvest. It’s been stored in 20 kilo buckets which we pour into the bucket with a tap before filling jars. Or we did before the honey crystallised. Once it … Continue reading →

Posted in bees | Tagged bees, honey | 22 Comments

Beekeeping Class

Posted on August 25, 2014 by Laura Rittenhouse

On Saturday, a beekeeping class was held here on the farm and in our apiary. Bruce was teaching the class and said hubby and I could join in. The course is generally held over 2 days but was crunched into … Continue reading →

Posted in bees | Tagged bees | 8 Comments

Bee Club Talk

Posted on August 12, 2014 by Laura Rittenhouse

I’m a member of the Nepean Amateur Beekeeper’s Association and we meet every month to talk about bees and check out the club hives. Since it’s winter, we aren’t opening the hives and so it’s a good time to think about … Continue reading →

Posted in bees | Tagged beekeeping, bees, honey | 4 Comments

Backyard Beekeeping vs Professional Beekeeping

Posted on July 26, 2014 by Laura Rittenhouse

A couple years ago, my husband and I became backyard beekeepers. Frank’s father had been a hobby/semi-professional beekeeper yonks ago so Frank had some idea what he was getting into, though that was a different hemisphere and a different generation. … Continue reading →

Posted in bees | Tagged bees, lessons learned | 11 Comments

Another One (Two Actually) Bites the Dust

Posted on July 15, 2014 by Laura Rittenhouse

A little over a month ago I posted about robbing bees. It turns out that a colony had died and so some of the cleverer bees from the other colonies took advantage of the gap (nature abhors a void) and … Continue reading →

Posted in bees, Nature | Tagged bees | 13 Comments

Winter White

Posted on June 15, 2014 by Laura Rittenhouse

It’s early winter here. I grew up in Seattle and there you could tell the season and even the month just by looking out your window. At this time of year (December, after northern hemisphere seasonal adjustment) the trees would … Continue reading →

Posted in bees, Garden, Nature | Tagged bees, Garden, season | 6 Comments

Robbing Bees

Posted on June 10, 2014 by Laura Rittenhouse

Well, it’s happened. I’ve got robber bees in the apiary. I’m suspicious it’s not the first time, just the first time I realised something was amiss and put in the effort to figure out what was wrong. Here’s what I … Continue reading →

Posted in bees | Tagged abscond, bee, robbing, swarm | 19 Comments

Bees Poisoned by Pesticides

Posted on May 24, 2014 by Laura Rittenhouse

I think all of the colonies will survive. I start with that sentence because it wasn’t what I always thought. There was a 24 hour period where my husband and I were sure we were overseeing the death of the … Continue reading →

Posted in bees | Tagged bees, honey bee, pesticides | 18 Comments

A New Beginning

Posted on November 28, 2013 by Laura Rittenhouse

I’m not beginning this blog again, not now anyway, but there is a new beginning with the animals on the farm. I hated that my blog ended on such a low note so I’m fixing that by introducing my new … Continue reading →

Posted in bees, cat, Chickens, dog | 51 Comments