4/5/2024
This was a pretty incredible day. But to fully grasp how much stuff happened, we need to briefly go back to when the apiary was setup and to when the lavender bed was initially cleared off.
Apiary setup
About this time last year we were trying to find the best place to setup the apiary. We were looking for a good balance of shade and sun. Shade to help with comb collapse and sun to possibly help with controlling small hive beetles. I say possibly because I haven’t found a peer reviewed article that proves or disproves this idea.
We found a great location just behind our barn. There was good morning sun and afternoon shade. It needed to be cleaned up – dead trees removed, underbrush cleared out, etc. Normal stuff.
After the cleanup, we noticed this incredible tree growing out of a old, old stump. It made a V shape, so we called it our wishbone tree.
The tree quickly became one of the focal points of the apiary.
The lavender bed
On and off all last summer we had been cleaning some of the areas that were overrun by cedar trees and other underbrush. One area was turned into a large flowerbed to be filled with plants that pollinators, especially honey bees, would use.
There was another large area that we didn’t have any idea what to do with. After a trip to Battlefield Lavender, we made up our minds. This area would be a lavender bed. But there was a lot of work to do.
We spent a lot of time and effort in cutting down the trees. It was exhausting work.
Some of the pictures from that day.
When we were finished it was left like this.
And there it sat. Some of the smaller pieces were moved, mostly by Linda, but not much else was worked on.
Disaster happens
Disaster may be the wrong word to use, but what happened made both of us sick. In the middle of March, after a pretty good storm, we went to the apiary and found the wishbone tree split.
Seeing the split tree was bad enough and then we realized that the piece on the left had the potential to take out at least two of our hive boxes. Not good, not good at all.
We went back to the house and Linda called Colter’s Tree Service. They had done some work for us last fall and did a fantastic job. Scott – the owner – came out the next day. He looked the tree over and wanted to take it down the upcoming Sunday. It took a minute for us to realize that was Easter and would not work.
As we were walking to his truck he noticed the cedar trees down and wanted to know if we wanted some help with this. Linda told him the story about what happened and why it was left like it was. We told him that anything he could with it would be more than welcome. We agreed on a tentative date of April 5th to do the work.
The tree work
The crew arrived at 8:30 in the morning. They brought a skid loader, the lift to get up in the trees, a chipper capable of handing 14 in wood, a bunch of saws and 6 total guys.
These guys are fast. They quickly got the lift into place and started tying off the tree to stabilize it as it being brought down. As soon as that got going, two of the guys asked us what we wanted done with the cedars. All that was explained and they brought the chipper down to make us a pile of mulch out of the both the cedars and the trees in the apiary.
We, or at least Linda, stayed out of the way. I mostly stayed away but I did get a few pictures. It was pretty cool when they got started, but later it warmed up a bit and the bees became very active. I said active, not agitated. They ignored what was going on and continued to bring in yellow pollen.
We did find out why the tree failed. It was hollow.
I was really hoping to get a bunch of oak boards to work with. Not very likely.
The aftermath
The tree that was threatening the hives is on the ground and so is the other one. Scott said he was afraid of someone getting hurt so he brought it down.
The lavender bed has really been opened up and I hope to have it tilled up soon.
It was an incredibly hectic day. More work was accomplished than I expected. Kinda perfect.
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