 | AuNT BEE (2011) by Mary Curious, I peeked in the top of the hive one weekend, and OH MY GOODNESS, an ant colony had moved in. Not hundreds, but thousands of tiny ants. It seemed the bees kept them above their honey, but nevertheless, it was a mess, and the burlap cloth was filled with them. Disgusting, and we hadn't even thought to fret about ants! Todd came to help, and we put small pieces of the hive in water to drown the ants, and hosed off other parts. Both of us got stung once because we hadn't put on the bee suit, but the stings weren't that bad. Once I pulled the stinger out, the pain was gone, unlike mosquito bites. Actually, the ants bit me more. Did you know that ants don't want to cross a barrier of coffee grounds? I put them around our house instead of buying a pesticide. Fortunately, we often take bags of used coffee grounds from Starbucks to the farm for the compost pile, and thought to use them to make a thick layer around the hive. It seems to have worked. Later: Larry continued to worry about the hive getting too crowded, so we decided to add another box. On this type of hive, you add to the bottom and harvest honey from the top. We discovered the hive had become so heavy, it took both Todd and Larry to lift it off and put it back on after adding the box. Maybe we can harvest a little honey even this year! |
I thought my worries should also be over for a while, because, although the dandelion blossoms were getting sparse, the clover was about to bloom. Clover honey is on the store shelves, so they must like it, I reasoned. Well, both times we were at the farm, I couldn't find bees on the clover blossoms, and both times, I apprehensively checked the hive to see if bees were still coming and going. They were! I'm guessing they have been busy pollinating the wild mulberry trees down by the spring.
Joke: Do you know why ants won't cross a coffee ground barrier? The caffeine makes them antsy. Compliments of Gil Neumann!
