Peaches and Bees

This morning I went out early to check on Gobble and take care of some chicken chores. I decided to trim some branches off one of our Hawthorn trees as a treat for the goats. Using a very cool tool (not sure what it is called but it is basically a little curved saw on the end of a long stick) I sawed off a few small branches. Feeling slightly more ambitious I selected a much larger limb. I sawed about halfway through and the branch shifted slightly. I heard a buzzing sound. But I didn't stop sawing. Intent on my task I didn't stop sawing, even as I swatted buzzing insects away. The branch shifted again and the buzzing intensified. Fortunately, at this point my saw became stuck and during this interim I realized that the buzzing had a source and that my labors had repositioned a very large bee hive by about 3 feet. With typical grace and calm, I dashed shouting across the yard, flailing my arms and legs about. My sudden dash startled the goats, and they too ran across the yard, hopping over a few ducks in the process. The ducks then noisily flapped their wings in an effort to resettle themselves away from the malay.

I decided to deal with the bees in the evening, hoping that they would perhaps calm down in the evening. I left the scene, saw suspended and hive dangling.

We headed for Ashland and peaches. Vally View Orchard had some (although slightly hail damaged peaches) as well as apples and nectarines.

Our goal was to harvest enough peaches to cut and freeze for cobbler throughout the winter. This was our first foray into food preservation. Unfortunately we were about a week late for peaches, but the peaches we did get were absolutely incredible, I am talking juice running down your arm delicious. In the end we took about 13 pounds of peaches, 10 pounds of apples, and 4 pounds of nectarines. We blanched, removed skins, cut and froze 5 bags of peaches. Looking forward to pie this winter!




















The sun was setting by the time we made our way back to the scene of the bees. Johan was ready to lead C and K into the bee battle. None of the boys had been present when I discovered the hive earlier, all were excited to see the hive and were ready to take it down! The initial plan was to knock the hive into a plastic bin and then quickly cover it with a lid. We soon realized that the probability of success in said endeavor was nil. We opted for quick and sudden although somewhat haphazard destruction. Having freed the long saw from its position high in the tree, Johan now extended it, and circled the hive. C and K were nervous and giddy, excited and scared all at once. C kept a running commentary and relayed each development to me (I was about 15 yards further away from the excitement than him), he didn't want me to miss anything...

The first hit was a direct hit, but those bees are skilled craftsmen and the hive moved little. Two more blows in quick succession resulted in hive chaos, from our vantage. All four of us retreated but quickly realized that we were not followed by the anticipated hummmm of angry bees. We crept closer. Johan and the boys were not going to leave until they were sure that the hive had been destroyed and that we could safely return in the morning. So we crept closer, but still on alert and ready to run. Remarkably the hive had survived the saw and remained securely attached to the branch and virtually unscathed. Two more big swings, and the hive was split and down. This time we left, quickly, we all made it to the car unstung.