So all our best laid plans to get a quick jump on the wishful to-do list at Wildwood is basically stuck in a holding pattern because the last bits of winter just...won't...STOP!
In early March the weather started to warm and we put out a small bag of plain sugar for the hive. The bees were doing well and active. We reset what trail cameras were left out and poked around a bit getting our plans in order. It was too cold/windy and everything was still frozen so we weren't going to get much done.
Now a month later there's been cold days, mild days and freezing days. Temperatures have not stayed over 0C for very long and are typically just above freezing in the day and -10 to -15C overnight.
Mostly it has us worried that the bees are going to suffer after waking up and becoming active without any plants starting to bloom. Last weekend they seemed to be fine and there was still half the bag of sugar left so they must have enough food.
Checking the trailcams showed lots of activity as the weather warmed a bit but really not much activity until just this past week. Lots of raccoons & rabbits, a lone fox, deer and a huge flock of turkeys.
We've picked up a brushcutter to start working on trails. It's a pretty heavy weedwacker/trimmer with a circular saw-like blade mounted in-lieu of trimmer line. It takes some getting used to using but it can make short work of cutting through brush and small (thumb sized) trees. It will cut down larger ones, but it's prone to pinching in tightly packed areas. Definitely it works better to cut some stuff and then clear it out of the way....which goes much quicker with many hands helping.
We've bought 3 more hives (lowers/uppers/lids/bases/frames/etc...) and are getting ready for the new colonies in May.
The garden fabric is down...and fingers crossed that we can get some soil/compost/manure on it before it gets blown away and torn up.
This weekend we're supposed to start the playhouse platform for the girls...but I'm not sure how'll that go if it's too cold to be outside for long.
