Got a few hives that are heading into winter a little light on honey stores? No shame! It was a HORRIBLE year for honey in Texas (and apparently a lot of the Southeast) and when the weather doesn’t cooperate to provide the resources bees need, this is just one way to provide nutrition to get through those winter months.
Bees can’t take sugar water in the colder months, plus breaking into colonies and opening propolis seals to reapply is not a great practice! Also, condensation in a colony in colder months = bad, so this is one way to ensure your bees have the carbs they need to make it through.
Have you tried mountain camp feeding before?!
My ladies. 🤩 (and Jared 🔥)
#beekeeper #beekeepersofinstagram #beekeeping #twohives #twohiveshoney #urbanbeekeeping #experiencesoverstuff #beelife #beekeepinglife #fortheloveofbees #beekeeping101
So many big thanks to all of you that showed up for our Holiday Bazaar last Saturday! The bonfire was so cozy and the lovely voices thanks to @lmschoir mccallumchoir @manormustangchoir MADE the event. (We will definitely hope for a repeat performance next yea!)
It wasn’t easy to get out and support small on that rainy dreary day, and yall DID. It was such a successfull event. Thank you again, and until next year!!
Thanks to all our vendors :
@SheenasPickles
@therealconsciousgoods
@txkeepercider @srslychocolate @sweetcharligirl @awkwardauntie @kbeaujewelry @honeysolcafe
Ready to have everything you thought you knew about organic honey to be blown up?! Keep watching to learn why “organic” honey may not be all you thought it was.
Truth in labeling in honey is notoriously horrible, and this is just the tip of the iceberg. Follow @twohives to learn more about why everything you knew about honey may be wrong.
#texashoney #honey #twohives #twohiveshoney #instagood #foodie #honeybees #honeyfarm #honeyworks #austinlocal
SEIZE HIM.
It’s that time once again. Did you know that as we enter the winter months, the male drones in a colony are forced out to starve or die? Drones are important for reproduction, but literally for NOTHING ELSE. So when resources get lean, they get the axe. But it’s all good, the queen can just lay more next season. A totally renewable resource. 🪓 😜
#beekeeper #beekeepersofinstagram #beekeeping #twohives #twohiveshoney #urbanbeekeeping #experiencesoverstuff #beelife #beekeepinglife #fortheloveofbees #beekeeping101
What can we say, we ❤️ Devon because of all this, not in spite of it.
(And big shout out to Jared, who doesn’t get NEAR ENOUGH love on here. We ❤️ the hardest working guy on the Two Hives Team. 😜 )
#beekeeper #beekeepersofinstagram #beekeeping #twohives #twohiveshoney #urbanbeekeeping #experiencesoverstuff #beelife #beekeepinglife #fortheloveofbees #beekeeping101
OFFICIAL BOOK RELEASE TOMORROW!
Have you ordered yours yet?! (And to my smartie pants pre order folks who are smugly sitting at home having had your copy for 2 weeks...please tell me your favorite part of the book!)
#beekeeper #beekeepersofinstagram #beekeeping #twohives #twohiveshoney #urbanbeekeeping #experiencesoverstuff #beelife #beekeepinglife #fortheloveofbees #beekeeping101 #forthebees
I wrote a book. This is why.
First round of pre orders went out this week! But there is still time to get yours before the official release date of November 5th. Get those orders in today!!
#forthebees #beebiology #beekeeping101 #beek #twohives #beginnerbeekeeper #ladybeekeeper #beekeeper #beekeepersofinstagram #beekeeping #twohiveshoney #urbanbeekeeping #experiencesoverstuff #beelife #beekeepinglife #fortheloveofbees #beelife #queenbee #honey #honeyharvesting #austin #austinoutdoors #booktok #beekeepingbookrecs #beekeepingbook #beebook
Important reminder: blooming flowers does not always mean nectar flow. (Even if historically those flowers have provided a nectar flow for your bees). Intense drought means the goldenrod just isn’t making nectar in many areas. Unfortunately, our bees rely on this food source to store enough money for the winter months. If you’re not checking your colonies’ food stores and assuming that they are good to go because of the blooming goldenrod, I’d reconsider that thinking!!
In Jan ‘21, frustrated by the options available for a text for my apprenticeship class, I outlined and wrote 1/3 of a beekeeping book in 6 weeks. Then on the morning of Feb 15 we all woke up the biggest ice storm to hit Texas in decades. No power, and later no water. Also on this morning I ‘discovered’ I was pregnant. (Quotes are because I couldn’t be sure, since I couldn’t access a pregnancy test for days. I just had a feeling.) All side projects came to an immediate halt.
Five months later, @utexaspress reached out. They had heard my story and wanted me to write a book...You know..the CIA officer turns beekeeper kinda book. (Yes, that’s my real story, long before it became a major motion picture.) I pitched them my holistic and biology-forward beekeeping book instead. They were in.
I committed to finishing the book in the months after I gave birth. Boy was I an idiot. I had no idea what having a baby would be like, and I certainly didn’t know that our baby up every 1-2 hours for 8 months, and wouldn’t sleep through the night til well after 2 years. Extreme sleep deprivation, coupled with all that comes with being a new mom, and me naively still trying to do everything I did before and then some would result in the hardest two years of my life.
But, we did it. I turned in my first manuscript in Oct ‘22. November 5 is the official release date of this incredible labor of love, so much that I’ve dubbed it my third child. The dedication reads:
“And finally to my little Atlas, who as I write this is sleeping in his crib with the only stuffie he has ever shown affection for: a bee. I wrote almost half
of this book in the two months that I had you in my belly but no idea you were there. I finished the first draft of this book in your first year of life, turning it in two weeks after your first birthday. That I believed writing a book while raising a newborn was even possible demonstrates my naivete about this whole process. But I kept goin