The Bee Barn - A European style apiary

I have been wanting to learn beekeeping for some time. StonePath could really use a hive, however, I lack the necessary know-how to attempt adding one.

My best friend has a large certified organic farm down the road from me and he used to be into beekeeping but had gotten out of it as other farm duties took more of his time.

He had built a European style bee barn on the property, an octagonal hut that could house seven to eight hives securely. It has remained empty the past few years, that is until about a week ago.



My friend has a field of red clover that he really wanted pollinated. He uses the clover as animal feed, so the seed produced from this field would be a considerable savings versus buying seed locally.

I also have another friend who has had bees most of his life and needed a place for his three hives as the local food sources were getting scarce in his area.

It didn't take much convincing to get my friends together on a project that will yield pollinated clover and a load of good, quality honey.

In the process I can learn everything I need to learn from two very knowledgeable beekeepers, while also getting hands on experience.

Gary is a very innovative farmer, I suppose that comes with the territory of becoming an organic farmer in the 1970's before anyone was really considering it. He came up with the idea of the bee barn from looking at and reading about European bee houses.

The style is all Gary. He designed it to fit the land and the area he had planned for it. Octagonal just made the most sense.

The barn keeps the bees sheltered from the harshest weather, yet allows them to come and go as they please.

Each hive opening is adjacent to a large opening at the floor of the barn, and the side they face is approx. 6 feet off the ground due to the slope the house sits on.

We are starting with three hives so that Gary can ease back into the hobby, and it's simpler for me to learn to maintain them.

We are prepared to increase to seven hives next year. We have all the necessary bee boxes and materials to quickly expand the operation.

After letting the bees adjust to their new environment the past week, we decided to open the hives and check the health of the colonies.

The first hive needed another super, as the colony was really filling the space quickly. These bees were very docile and didn't seem to mind the jostling very much.

Everything went as planned and we were very pleased with the overall hive health in the three hives. One hive had swarmed recently so it was fairly empty, however, the new queen had the colony working hard, so progress was being made. It should be a solid colony by Fall.

This is a very exciting endeavor for me. I am anxious to learn as much as possible and be operating a hive at StonePath this time next year.

Some mid-June pictures

We've been busy in the garden, mostly weeding. We did remove our broccoli, as it had finished and was bolting. In the past we would have let it remain and glean from the small florette's that grow on the stalk, however, we needed the bed for bush beans.

We're also tying up the tomatoes and I'll be posting pics of that after we've finished. Everything is growing wonderfully by God's grace so I thought I'd share some pictures from this weekend.

This is front gate to the lower, main garden. I have a Pennsylvania Dutch heritage, so the hex sign is a reminder of my families past.

The former broccoli bed can be seen in the lower center of this pic. It's gone and replanted as bush beans.

We have the stakes in place for the tomato beds but are in the process of tying them all up.

Our beets have been real winners this season. They are coming along in wonderful fashion. They are in the center of this picture.

These last two are just fun pics, snapped during a break.

June lettuce bed.

I thought I'd show-off our lettuce bed. This bed has been a terrific producer in the past, however, this year it's phenominal.

The bed is roughly 4' x 8' and is not raised like most of our other beds. The lettuce seems to like the stone around it. The stone wall seems to cool in the heat.

This bed always produces for us, this year it is way ahead in terms of production.