Welcome to our photo page. Please scroll down for photos from our Honeybee Garden

The colonies from left to right: Queen Victoria, Queen Francesca, Queen Celeste and Queen Latifa photo DML 2007

The colonies. with three supers each, April, 2009 photo DML

, From left to right, Victoria and Francesca, are settling in for a night under the stars. As you can see, the population is booming. On the next photo, below, Francesca is bearding above the queen excluder! June 6 2010 photo DML

Francesca seen above, is celebrating her sixth summer with no losses!! This is especially important as she has survived with no miticides or pesticides, ever. She has also had no supplemental feeding since the winter of 2006-2007 when I implemented a management practice of leaving an extra super of honey on all colonies. My goal is to never use sugar syrup. To this end, I have frames of honey in the freezer for the next potential swarm hiving. Photo DML June 14, 2010

A Bees - eye view over the six foot hedge and straight on to their own front porch. Every October these hedges bloom with fragrant, nectar rich blossoms. photo DML

Shown above, Celeste's front porch with detail of copper cleat holding hive stand in place. Many folks have asked about the construction: 6x6 post, buried several feet into the ground with sackcrete. The hive stand is thru bolted and pitched slightly forward, copper cleats at corners to hold porch hive stand from slipping off. My husband is the architect. Easy to mow under, high for raccoons etc. Photo detail of stand construction shown below. Note the 6x6 has been beveled at the top to allow mites to roll to the ground. Photo DML

The path from the Bee Garden.... photo DML

Crocosmia blooming July 2007 photo DML

A Pair of Painted Buntings has moved into our herbaceous border. Above, Mr. Painted Bunting April 13 2010 photo HEL Click here to see more Painted Bunting photos

Snowfall, 8 inches overnight February 12, 2010 photo HEL

Honeybee in Crimson Clover (working lower left blossom) April 2008 photo DML

Drawn Small Cell Honey Comb measuring 4.8 - 4.9mm, this is an extracted frame from Queen Celeste. To calculate, measure a section ten cells long and divide by ten. October 4, 2007 Celeste is a small cell Queen from 'FatBeeman' Don Kuchenmeister in Lula GA. photo HEL

Harvest 2007 showing the differences in floral nectar sources gathered at different times of the year. Shown above, from left:: September harvest, July harvest, April harvest. The April honey, seen at right, and below, is the 2007 NC State Fair Third Place Ribbon winner in the Senior Honey Competition, Extracted Honey Light!

photo DML

This April honey was solely the work of Queen Francesca and her Francescan daughters! photo DML

Shown above, a huge Swarm from our Queen Latifa, that I captured in a Wax Myrtle tree April 1, 2008. I had placed an empty, fully drawn brood frame in the can before I came up under the swarm, to knock them in. The Queen settled on the frame, and it was a piece of cake to transfer her, by placing the frame into her new home. photo DML

Anne E. and I watch the girls march in following their Queen. It was a heart-warming sight! This swarm was so enormous, a second brood chamber was added immediately. Because these bees are fully regressed small cell honeybees from our own colony, I am thrilled! Photo HEL

Yet another swarm from Queen Latifa, April 11, 2008. Howie caught this one way up in the Cedar tree...It was a busy year! We captured two more. We gave a swarm, from Queen Francesca to Mr. D , and the other got away. This was a smaller after-swarm, but they built up nicely! We used the 'frame in the can method' for this swarm as well. Here I am, moving this fully regressed small cell family into their new home! photo HEL