Spring is here...finally!?!?

Maple Syrup now Available

In March we tapped trees here on the property and produced a small batch of pure maple syrup. It's available now in limited quantities online and has already become one of our favourite seasonal projects alongside the bees. If you've ever been to a sugar shack as a kid, this syrup has that same mild and buttery flavour!

Free Basil and Sunflowers for Bee Backers!

Bad news, we will not be holding the usual spring plant sale this year. Tim and Shelley took an extended vacation this spring (yes, Tim went away somewhere, pick yourself up now!) and we were not able to raise as many veggie plants as usual.

However, we still wanted to do something special for our Bee Backers community.

At the end of May, we'll be giving away sunflower and basil plants to any Bee Backers who would like to stop by and pick some up! Sunflowers are wonderful for pollinators, and basil is one of our favourite companion plants for summer gardens and grows great in pots. Drop us a line and we will reserve some for you. We'll send out pickup details closer to the date.

Winter Survival and New Mite Treatment Results

We're happy to report that our winter colony survival was fairly strong this year. Out of 14 colonies, we lost 3 hives over the winter. While that is slightly higher than our normal losses, two of those colonies were part of a comparison trial using a synthetic miticide treatment that we normally would not use.

We tested it against our newer organic formic acid treatment program, which continues to show very promising results for us. As always, we remain committed to using bee-friendly and sustainable management practices whenever possible. This year we will be back to all organic using our new micropore treatment delivery method for phase II of our small scale study.