It’s below freezing and the first layer of ice started to form along the shores of our secluded forest lake.

Our beehives are winter-ready. Raw wool insulation is both inside the double-walls and directly around the bee nest.

I harvest once a year in the Fall and my bees keep most of their own honey, enough to last them through Winter & early Spring.  

I only harvest surplus honey and it’s a beautiful gift of nature.

And these hives do look a bit like Christmas gift boxes – they are the gifts that keep on giving!

It’s better for the bees’ health to keep the hives far apart – it reduces sharing of pathogens.  Here we moved a beehive to a new location about 200 yards away.

After a cold spell, on a warmer day, the temperature edged above 50 (10C) – and the bees were flying!

For the relocated hive,  I lightly covered its entrance with branches which made the bees do an extra orientation flight re-adjusting to the new coordinates of their home.