Wednesday, July 30, 2008

Bee Beard competition

Random shot of the monkeys.
Jennifer looking at a skep, the old fashioned way of keeping bees.
Jillian checking out an old bike.

Getting ready for the bee beard, first they attach a Queen bee around the neck of the competitor, next pour on the bees. They will go to their Queen, it is definitely an old tradition for the beekeeper. It was a very humid, cloudy and rainy day, the bees were not happy so there was a lot of stinging going on, yikes!!
The bees are cradled carefully in the arms until they make their way up to the Queen which is dangled in a cage around the competitors neck. It is hard to see, the pictures were taken through a thick screening to keep the cranky bees contained for crowd safety.
Another picture taken in the bee yard.
Superman in the old train station(which hubby helped move to it's new location), it's used for demonstrations and a classroom teaching area.

My beekeeper getting on his gear, I have to say Hubby never usually wears a veil or gloves, he is used to the bees and the odd sting.
A very funny, trained Billy goat. Goes across the bridge to retrieve his own cup of food, which he pulls up on a string, it is the cutest trick ever. Needless to say he is a crowd pleaser so he gets fed a lot!!!
Girls on the bee tractor.
Having a swinging good time.
Jennifer by the honey extracting area.
We had bees for many years(in my hubby's family for generations), we sold them off last years, we run out of hours in the day!!
When the girls get a little older we will get back into having just a couple of hives which will supply us with enough honey for us, family and friends. Jeff is excited to teach the girls the hobby of beekeeping.


12 comments:

Adele said...

OH how neat! I love all of the pics! What a neat thing to be able to teach your girls. Fun AND educational. You can't be that. :)

Vivian M said...

I love how you give the pictures a brown tint, makes them look so old fashioned, as if I was looking at a historical photograph!
Bee town looks like fun, except for the part where someone gets surrounded by bees...I have a phobia of all things insect!
I think it would be a great idea to teach the girls about beekeeping. There is so much talk recently about the bee population dwindling, and they play such an important part in our ecosystem (hey I paid attention during the Bee Movie!). Thanks for sharing this with us all (except for the bug part).

Sam said...

Bee careful!!! Sounds like an interesting and tasty hobby!

Half Gaelic, Half Garlic! said...

What cool pics...love what you did to them....really sets the mood!!!

Beekeeping...what a great hobby....even better when you get to enjoy the honey!

Lisa

Kim said...

HOW FUN!!!!!
That would be soooo educational and sooo much fun...
LOVE honey....
Love the pictures...
The horse swing is darling..
Have a great evening..
Hugs

JinXiu said...

I love the new pictures. Especially the new title page. You always come up with the greatest stuff.

It looks like you are haveing a great vacation

The bee hive complex looks fun but it will never see me. Im alergic.

Cant wait to see the rest of your vacation photos

Carol said...

I'm not getting near any bees................you have fun with that!!!

LOL!!

Fliss and Mike Adventures said...

Anytime you want to send some honey down my way you are more then welcome... love honey... I am down to the last of my honey that has the honeycomb in it... delicious... now Beekeeping... that sounds like fun... take care

Nikki said...

Your blog looks so neat - love the old fashioned feel.
But, this post scared me senseless - I am SO afraid of bees.
However, looks like ya'll had fun, and it does seem like a neat thing.
More power to YOU.
XO

JMCS said...

Love, love, love the sepia tone on the pictures. Girl, your blog is always rockin'. Wow, Jeff is brave to be around those bees. What a nice thing to eventually get some bee hives again. I bet Jennifer & Jillian would love that since they love animals so much. What sweeties.

Hugs,
Jonni

mommy24treasures said...

this was a great post! WOW I cant believe you had bees, that is really interesting:)

Lauren and Ed said...

What a fun excursion. Man, Mia would love to hang out with you and the girls. You go to her kind of places. The monkeys look like they are having a fun summer! They are so adorable!