I saw the design, Stitchy Bunny, at the Urban Threads website. I thought it was really cute. I swapped the colors used in the featured sample and sewed the embroidered design you see above.
This is Urban Threads “Stitchy Bunny”. I didn’t embroider this, it’s the sample that is featured on their site.
My daughter thought the above sample was “creepy.” I liked it, but she was happy with the color changes I made to the embroidered design.
She’s excited that is finally warm here in Maryland since she can now wear the t-shirt as a regular shirt. I’m really enjoying my Brother SE400, my daughter hopes I outgrow the machine. It can only embroider in a 4×4 area, because I told her if I upgrade I’ll give that Brother sewing/embroidery machine to her.
Yesterday was a busy day, for this soon to be beekeeper.
I exchanged several emails with the president of Central Maryland Beekeepers Association, Roger Williams. He did such a great job of taking the time to answer my questions in long/detailed emails that by the time I chatted with one of the potential mentors that agreed to help newbies, I didn’t have too many questions left to ask! However, my bee mentor did a wonderful job giving me some helpful information and clearing up some of my anxiety about purchasing hives. Thanks so much you two! Thanks to Garden Diaries, my local bee mentor, I’ve decided to go with one of the preassembled Langstroth hive. I’ll purchase it from a local beekeeper.
Yesterday my daughter, our dog, and I spent most of our day outside. The weather was gorgeous. Which made perfect weather for playing and strolling around our property.
Part of our tilled garden
I checked on the recently tilled garden
Collard plants
And was happy to see that the collards are coming along nicely.
A few of our strawberry plants
We also have a row of strawberry plants. The thing about strawberries is you have to pick them as soon as they start turning pink. If you wait the birds will eat them.
Our Shih Tzu: Mr. Bentley
And then Mr. Bentley and I made a trek near our woods to check out the area where I’ll be putting the beehives. My daughter was too engrossed in her blacktop chalk art to join our adventure.
Adding more honeybee friendly plants
I still have a lot of planting to do, and later this week I’ll be heading back to the nursery to purchase more bee friendly plants. I know that bees can travel long distance looking for nectar, but if I can… I’ll reduce some of their travel time by making some of their favorite plants readily available in our yard. I don’t have to purchase too many plants, since our yard is already bee-friendly. I adore bees and over the years, I’ve added numerous plants to attract them to our location. Did you know that honeybees make several trips to the hive each day since they can’t carry all that nectar/pollen in one trip?
I’ve already planted bee friendly wild flowers close to the woods and I’m planning to plant additional flowers close to the hives. There’s a water source close by the hive so they won’t have far to go to get their drink of water.
Enticing the honeybees; discouraging pests
I’ve decided at the base of the beehive(s) I most likely will sprinkle the area with diatomaceous earth to discourage ants from trying to visit the hive. Or I might just use cinnamon, since I know ants detest the stuff. We have large and small ants in our area. I adore ants, but I don’t want them to take over the beehive so I need to be proactive. Also, to make the new hive more “honeybee friendly” I’m also thinking of spraying the hive with lemongrass essential oil, honeybees love the smell and perhaps that will help in making their new hive feel like “home”. One of the benefits of being an aromatherapist is that I have plenty of essential oils on hand that can be used for numerous things.
Holistic approach to beekeeping
Additionally, this season I’ll be experimenting with various aromatherapy blends to deter the various pests that can plague honeybees. Although not the same thing, I’ve used a variety of herbs/aromatherapy blends on our furbabies and various critters that inhabit our yard with much success.
Yesterday, I made a simple but tasty black bean vegetable stir fry on our wood stove.
Black Bean stir fry
I pulled out my cast iron skillet. It’s about as old as my hand hammered stainless steel wok. This skillet is over twenty years old. I’ve had it since college. Besides black beans, I added other ingredients such as garlic, red onion, ginger, cauliflower, carrots, tomatoes, and other ingredients such as tomatoes. My daughter ate two bowls and asked for me to make it again today.
I dislike canned beans. When I cook my dried beans, I tend to make a large batch and use throughout the week. This past Thursday, I’d prepared these dried black beans on our wood stove. I cook my dried beans in large batches, and freeze into meal sized portions which are then consumed throughout the week.
Say hello to one of the newest members of the Central Maryland Beekeepers Association.
This morning, I paid my fee and joined the association. I also requested a mentor to help guide me through the newbie process. Bees, ants and spiders are some of my favorite insects so you know I’m counting down the days until I receive my honeybees! I feel there’s so much to do before my girls arrive.
Langstroth beehive illustration
Currently I’m trying to decide what beehive I should purchase. Being crafty, I do want to make it myself… they’re quite a few patterns/plans available for those wanting to do that and I’m quite handy with woodworking tools but I think I’ll purchase my first hive. I most likely will purchase the traditional Langstroth beehive.
Diagram of a beehive
Eventually, if I add more hives, I’ll make my own.
Over the years, I’ve watched numerous videos related to beekeeping and have come to recognize some of the respected bee experts in the field. So while I haven’t had my own bees, I kept my finger on the pulse of this buzzing community. 😉
Earlier today, I stumbled upon a few informative videos that are geared towards a new beekeeper. The first video is focused on installing your beehive. I’ve seen numerous videos about bees, so I’m not new to watching bee installation videos. I never was a fan of shaking bees out of their temporary home to place them in their new hive. I wasn’t afraid of them possibly getting angry…
Azure B., LLC: Installing a three pound package of bees
I was mainly looking for a gentler approach since I wanted to minimize the chances of hurting the honeybees and this video shows that! What’s interesting is that I’d thought of doing something similar with my new honeybees so it’s nice to see an established beekeeper already incorporating this when they are moving them to their new home.
Azure B., LLC: Where to place my beehive(s)?
I really liked seeing a young child involved with beekeeping, such a nice change since I see many kids (an adults too) parked on a chair with their heads buried in a mobile device, on the computer, or watching television!
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Marbury, Maryland is about two hours away from our location so it won’t be a quick trip for us… However, my daughter and I will eventually make a trip to check out their business and offer helping hands to help them with beekeeping activities. I’m looking forward to the experience.
It appears it’s too cold to get honeybees, at least at the place where I ordered mine. Those who ordered early will have to wait a bit longer. But this shouldn’t affect me since I’m in the late shipment. I don’t expect my honeybees until early May.
Here in Maryland, it’s still a bit cool and on some nights the temperature has dropped down to in the 20’s F. Since the bees are shipped in from the South, where it’s a bit warmer, extra steps would have been needed to make sure my girls survived our unpredictable nights. You know what? I’m so glad that designing costumes for the Passion Play prevented me from getting them locally. Now that I think about it… I wonder if the honeybee shipments from the local beekeeper are delayed also?
I’m still apprehensive about having ordered my honeybees online, but the site has received excellent reviews so I just need to get over picking up my honeybees from my local post office.
I can’t wait to post pictures of my girls in their new digs. My main reason for purchasing the honeybees is for pollination. I have no plans of fooling around with their beehive for quite a while. I’m going to let them do their thing and I’ll make sure I plant flowers that they’ll just have to visit.
Throughout life, you’ll face numerous milestones and while there might be cases when one has a legitimate reason to feel sorry for themselves, life still continues so you might as well learn how to deal with the challenges that you face. Currently the occasional challenges she faces are minor; not always wanting to do her homework because she might not understand something or teasing at school. I’m hoping that by showing her ways she can handle the challenges she faces now, it will continue to be helpful to her as she gets older.
Train up a child in the way he should go, And even when he is old he will not depart from it.
Proverbs 22:6, American Standard Version
The Holy Bible has a lot of common sense teachings and can be applied to more than just the spiritual aspects of daily life. As her parent, I know it’s wise to prepare her for challenges now. As I told her, running away or pretending a problem doesn’t exist isn’t smart since those problems will still be present when your forced to deal with them and in some cases they can get worse. I gave her examples from my own life both past and current challenges that she’s known that I’ve faced. I didn’t run away since I knew they’d be there, I dealt with them and moved on…
This weekend, as a surprise for doing so well, I’m taking her to the Ringling Bros. Barnum & Bailey Circus. Saturday and Sunday are the last two days they’ll be in town and I know she’s been wanting to see the event. I haven’t been to a circus since I was a child, so I’m sure I’ll have a sense of nostalgia as I watch the show with my daughter and pay for overpriced popcorn and bottled water. 😉
