We quickly learned why there are fewer and fewer beekeepers keeping bees each year. What used to be a relatively easy and enjoyable pursuit is now a challenging and often heart-breaking endeavor with countless diseases, pests and the mysterious 'colony collapse disorder' plaguing the health of the honeybee. It is now virtually impossible to keep hives without engaging in some form of treatment to keep the ever present mites at bay...and without the routine use of anti-biotics, one runs the risk of contracting a disease called foul brood which not only kills your bees, but contaminates your equipment with disease spores rendering it useless for future hives. We were unfortunate enough to learn all about this latter affliction during our first year beekeeping when the nucs (baby bees) we bought came to us already infected with the dreaded foulbrood. A big bonfire (to burn the contaminated equipment) and hundreds of dollars later, we were back at square one. If one does manage to keep their bees healthy and happy during the season, the winter months can wreak havoc on the colonies and often beekeepers arrive at their hives in the spring to discover them empty. We unfortunately lost 3 of our hives over this past winter.
All of this paints a bleak picture of beekeeping, but the thing is, it's so addictive that once you venture into the world of the honeybee....there's no turning back. They're fascinating creatures to observe with one hive being made up of about 50,000 worker bees (all female) one queen (who lays between 1000-2000 eggs each day!) and a handful of drones (the male bees who basically laze around the hive in the off-chance that they might need to breed a new queen....which only happens once every 2 or more years....that's okay though, in the fall the worker bees toss the free-loaders out of the hive so they don't have to feed them over the winter). The worker bees work tirelessly at their designated jobs- raising the baby bees (called brood), collecting pollen and nectar, and guarding the hive against intruders. When you observe closely, you can see the many colours of pollen the bees bring home, stuffed in little sacs on their back legs, ready to feed to the young. They forage up to 5 miles from the hive but if suitable food is closer, they're happier to stick close to home. On average each year we're able to harvest about 100lbs of honey from each hive we keep while still leaving enough for the bees to feed themselves over the winter. There's nothing more rewarding them tasting that first sweet taste of honey during the extracting process...it's tasty and it's also amazingly good for you with anti-bacterial, anti-fungal and anti-viral properties. It also never spoils....perfectly good honey has been found in ancient Egyptian tombs!So yes, here at reroot organic farm, we're addicted to beekeeping despite the many challenges. We're learning more each season about this complex species and are dedicated to making them an integral part of our farming operation. For this reason, we became the first farm in Wellington County and one of the first farms in all of Canada to become a Certified Bee-Friendly Farm. In addition to keeping bees ourselves, we also plant crops that provide food for honeybees and wild bees alike; allow hedgerows and naturalized areas to grow providing habitat; and don't use any chemicals on our farm that might be harmful to bees.
We think beekeeping is one of the most important things we do at reroot organic farm, and encourage everyone to try their hand at beekeeping or at planting a bee friendly garden. More information on the Bee Friendly Farming Initiative can be found at http://pfspbees.org/bff.htm
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