A trip to Juniper Moon Farm in Palmyra, VA

Entrance to Juniper Moon Fiber Farm

The 4 hives at Juniper Moon with adorable outer covers!

Recently I had the opportunity to spend a few days with my Mom and Emily at Juniper Moon Farm to celebrate mother's day. In addition to sheep, goats, pigs, chickens, geese, cows, donkeys, and dogs (and babies from nearly all of those species), they also had a few bee hives that we had the opportunity to open up. Immediately it was clear how good these bees had it in Virginia--warm sunny days, fields of clover, and a much longer flowering season than in Massachusetts.

Burr comb from idle bees with missing frames in the hive

So much honey already! Virginia bees are happy

Zac Hackney is the resident beekeeper on the farm, and has already caught two swarms this year (last year there were only two hives). During one of the swarms he was caught off guard and did not have enough frames to fill the hive. You can see that the bees wasted no time, and built out their own comb, maintaining perfect bee space between the sheets. He encouraged the bees to depart from this comb and take up residence in the new frames. The wax will be saved for candle making later in the year.

We also had the opportunity to stick our fingers into the recently capped honey to have a taste! The honey was so delicious and warm right out of the hive. I have the feeling that if my bees had any idea how plush their life would be (and were capable of flying 600 miles) that they would have moved to Virginia yesterday. I'm keeping my fingers crossed for honey in my hive later in the season...