Magic Kingdom

We can live in the midst of miracles, and not even notice. These last few weeks, that was probably me. In the last article, Spring brought with her much work. And I have been focused doing what needs to be done. For instance, take this fence. An ordinary rundown country fence that wouldn't stop a dog, much less any livestock. Not amazing, not wondrous, is it? Well, what about the work itself? Not especially marvellous either. Much of my time has been getting the grass down to expose the fence which was overgrown, trimming the tree branches to get the tractor through, staking out where the fence posts will go. So on and so on. I was certainly happy to be outside in the Sun enjoying the warmth of the outdoors. But I can't say I considered the job extraordinary. Some advice, whenever you think things are not extraordinary, look closer!

Okay, so yesterday I was out clearing a big pile of oak branches thinking how I wish I were done so I can get to the next chore on the list. I'm in the middle of the tall grass. There are dozens of different kinds of insects buzzing past my head. Butterflies, bumbles. wild honey bees, my domestic bees, occasionally those annoying face flies, a horsefly or two. Birds, there are these brown ones that hide in the brush piles that come out in a flurry when you pick them up. Lots of lizards scampering around the downed wood. I have to say, there was so much air and ground activity, I did pause for a moment to think how completely cool it was to exist right smack in the middle of such teaming life. Literally everywhere. And then I heard it.

My subconscious heard it actually and alerted my conscious. What I was dismissing as background buzzing was not the insects in my direct proximity. There was an enormous rumbling coming from an adjacent field. So loud it was drowning out the bumbles right next to me. A swarm!

I started over towards the sound. I had a few hives over there. And I noticed a huge swarm directly above. It was quite large. I ran to get my camera. When I returned the swarm was in full force. I shot this photo of the hive. If you notice on the left hive, right at the entrance a large clump of bees.

Oh no! My bees are swarming! I thought. I had just checked them about a week and a half ago and put a super on. They didn't look like they were going to swarm then! One of these days, I thought, I was going to figure out how to really keep bees.

I said to myself, I'm going to try to capture them in a new hive. I dropped the camera and ran back to the shed to get a new hive ready. I had on my list to clean out some of the frames from hives that didn't make it last year. The wax had been eaten by wax moths. It was too badly damaged to save. So I replaced the comb on ten frames. I wanted to sterilize the wooden ware just to be sure no new disease is passed to the new hive occupants. I had done some research on non-chemical ways to sterilize and learned that the wooden ware can be scorched with a torch to kill disease. So all the frames, the bottom boards, the covers, everything I scorched with the torch. Then I assembled a hive, and donned my gear and ran back over with the new home.

Ahh. The swarm was gone! There was a small clump of bees at the entrance. The mass of the swarm body overhead was gone though. Was I too late?

With abated breath, I cracked the cover open on the hive. I was fully expecting my heart to sink as I opened an empty hive. I have to tell you from experience, that emptiness where there should be bustling fullness of life is quite emotional.

But cracking the hive open, it was indeed still bustling with life! The honeys were home. You can see here the frames covered with the little ladies.

I pulled out some of the frames just to see how they were doing. You can see here lots of healthy bees working on this year's crop of golden honey. Mmmmm. I was tempted to harvest a frame right then and there. Every now and then a forager would walk by, legs completely laden with bright orange pollen. I guess all was well. Maybe they were just riled. Or maybe that swarm was from somewhere else. I hiked around the immediate vicinity. I figured if I could find it, I would give it a new home. But no sign of them. I was fortunate to be there at the right time to experience them.

Well, today I went back to working on the fence. And once again, back to normal. Taking some of the concrete posts out of their forms. Nothing special, right? What did I tell you about thinking that?

Look there through the fence and what do you see? Apparently this wild cat finds entertainment in my toils. A bobcat had parked herself just on the other side, a quiet observer.

No animatronics, just real life. What a truly magic kingdom in which we live.