Working on the apiary

We finished up the biggie mail box today.  I needed to paint the support board and the retaining wall needed a little tweaking thanks to the snow plow.  Sometimes I think that the snowplow guys have a competition to see how many mail boxes they can destroy or tweak.

Then we moved on to the apiary.  We currently have one hive but the plan is to add two additional hives in 2016 and 2017.  The area behind the barn offers protection from the cold winds and from driving rain which usually comes from the west.

The area behind the barn is also rather quiet.  Once I finish stripping the paint and painting we will probably rarely go back there.

I have started adding to the flowers in my yard by planting more fall blooming flowers such as asters. I also read that Joe Pye Weed was a high nectar plant so I purchased a couple of those.  My yard currently has a lot of phlox so I will transplant a lot of those to the area behind the hives and also to the south side of the barn.  I've noticed that the bees and butterflies love the phlox flowers.

During the summer we purchased a small shallow cement bird bath that we will move back to the area behind the barn.  I read that honeybees need fresh water and to use a sponge so they can land and not drown.

Our yard has sidewalks with slate embedded in it and as we dismantle the old swimming pool, I've saved every large piece of slate that I possibly can, but a lot of it just flakes off in thin pieces.  The pieces that I managed to save will be placed in front of each hive to keep it free from vegetation and also to make it all blend with the old sidewalks.