The farm is abuzz.....

The bees made it through the winter. Now I am faced with many new options, like splitting the hive to get two, letting them make a new queen or buy a new queen. I know for sure that at some point I will have a propolis trap and maybe the pollen trap on the hive and of corse Honey! It will be nice to get something back from the hive this year, after many years of trying. Now I can finally say I'm a Bee Keeper, and because of that I made my first trip to the SEMBA conference. SEMBA= South Eastern Michigan Beekeepers Association.
The conference was on Saturday, St. Patty's Day, and boy did I learn so much. I came back with new ideas and got to see a few friends. The most interesting part for me were a few "classes" on Apitherapy. Apitherapy is using bee's, their venom, and the products they make, like honey, pollen, royal jelly and such for medical uses. This is one of the main reasons I started keeping bees, so to get to attend a workshop on it was awesome. Now the plan is to save up some money so I can go to their main conference in Oregon, where they teach the corse, in October. I feel like this is something I should be doing. After all my name is Melissa, how serendipitous.  Cross your fingers for me that I can do it. I'm sure with it being in Oregon, it's gonna be a small fortune to get there.

I also took the twins with me, and they had a blast. I was late for every one of the classes because everyone had to stop and talk to the babies. They ate up all the attention they were getting and smiled and cooed and flirted back with everyone. They were dressed in their green for St. Patty's and looking cute, if I do say so myself. All in all it was a very motivating day.

I  just finished up the calender for when to start my plants. With all this warm weather messing with my head, it was good to see all was not lost for the growing season. I think I might even have an "in" with a few of the local Farmer's Markets. Who would have thought that they wouldn't want any more veggie growers. So I am very hopeful for this season's garden, some of the veggies are on the Ark Of Taste Slow Food list. I have one more workshop to attend on the Cottage Food Law here in Michigan. I am looking forward to it and will keep you posted, in the mean time here is a link to the American Apitherapy Society and SEMBA for further reading. Enjoy!