Olsen Farm

Tag: honey

Many of you may know, in January we lost our father/ father in law unexpectedly after a short illness. The months building up to and after his passing have left us broken and the future of Olsen Farm in jeopardy. Tommy grew up on this land, helping his grandparents to take care of the farm and soaking up knowledge about farming and caring for animals.

Today is Tommy’s birthday. He would have been 65.

In May we spread Tommy’s ashes on the property so that he could be part of this land eternally. We have been working tirelessly to raise money in order to keep the family land from being sold off and developed. The two most important things to Tommy were his family, and this land. There is so much history here and we hope there will be many, many more generations of Olsens and Wheelers here caring for this incredible piece of land.

 

Happy Birthday Tommy! It is an empty feeling to celebrate your birthday without you being here. But our memories are strong and our love for you and this land are endless. Our gift to you is that we keep fighting to save the family farm, that we will do everything in our power to keep Olsen Farm alive.

If you werewith us this year, Tommy, here are some highlights we know you would take joy in:

We planted your favorite, corn- and it was a success! Chris tried three sisters planting, sowing corn, beans and squash in the same bed so the three plants could support each other. Next year we plan to triple the crop. IMG_3854

There were so many monarchs in the yard and one even built a chrysalis on the chicken coop! IMG_4519

We added some cute little fancy chickens to the flock, and Jelly Doughnut hatched and raised a clutch of chicks. She was a great mama hen. You will get a kick out of this- instead of Thanksgiving turkey we will be having Thanksgiving rooster and eating Mr. Alexander Hamilton! IMG_4752

Chris harvested our first jar of honey, super dark and spicy from all the goldenrod in the yard. We lost the hive we had last year in February after a cold snap, but now we have three hives and are planning to double again next year. Susan’s gardens are looking AMAZING with all the extra help from these busy, busy bees. IMG_4681

Chris and I saved an injured barred owl from the side of the road. I remember last year, when I found an injured owl and was able to coax it back into the woods. You were so excited to hear about it then, we know you would have loved seeing this little owl too. IMG_4826

We know you and Susan are always watching over the family and farm and probably already know about all of these things- but it feels good to put them down in writing. Happy Birthday, we love you.

Remembrance is bittersweet, but I believe it is necessary. We know Olsen Farm would not be here without Tommy and the work he did to preserve this land. We will always remember, and while it brings saddness to remember it also brings hope and relief in knowing our fight to save the farm is righteous.

 

Bees are truly incredible creatures. They have complex communication and social systems. They are hardworking, intelligent and organized. They pollinate our flowers, fruits, trees and plants. Without their hard work our gardens would not grow. They make delicious honey- a natural antibiotic and delicious vaccine for pollen allergies. We literally could not live without them.

At Olsen Farm we started keeping bees last year because of the importance of supporting pollinators and our drive to practice natural farm and gardening techniques. We have a responsibility to protect native bees by planting healthy gardens- free of chemicals and pesticides, as well as a responsibility to care for our domestic bees like any other pet.

Our colony survived the winter last year but was not able to survive the unfortunate February early thaw and sudden temperature drop. Bees are powerful and delicate, with our quickly changing climate and growing use of toxic pesticides their world is in great danger- and in consequence so is ours.

This year we have added a second hive, and are continuing our hope for the bees and all they share with us.

Here are some photos of the hive-filling process:

 

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Prepping the smoker, dried grass makes great smoke!
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Chris puts on gear to protect his hands, face and arms while filling the hive
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Prying the lid off to remove the queen’s cage
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Removing lid to expose can of sugar water queen’s cage is attached to during travel
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The queen’s cage is attached by a strap that has to be pried off for removal
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Pulling out the can and queen cage
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This can is covered in bees! As soon everything else will be too…
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Detaching the queen’s cage from the can
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Chris gently brushes bees off the outside of the queen’s cage and into the hive box, setting queen’s cage aside for placement later
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Holding the bee package upside down over the brooding box, Chris gets ready to shake them out
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The most exciting step- shaking, or tapping, three pounds of live bees into their new home. No stings to date!
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Chris carefully places the queen’s cage between two frames so the colony can get used to her pheromones and she can be released in a day or so
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Giving the colony some smoke to calm them
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Chris carefully stacks the super on top of the brooder box
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Stacking on the inner narrow lid
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Placing on the hive lid, or outer cover
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Weighing down the lid cover with a cement flat
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We use a ratchet strap to secure our hive boxes together, making it more of a challenge for a bear to break them apart if ever one gets through our electric fence
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Hive one is live!
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Happy bees, already getting to work cleaning up a honey drip in their new home