The Buzzz About Bees

Our main focus for Bearhead Creek Farms this year is bees.  Kenny and I are taking a beginning beekeeping class through Lamar (Orange) Leisure Learning.  Our class is taught by Brian and Tammy Muldrow of Muldrow Bee Farm.  We will have both classroom and apiary instruction.  Our class meets once a month in the classroom and once a month in the apiary.  It will last an entire year.  We purchased a hive from the Muldrows to use during class.  At the conclusion of the class we will have experienced beekeeping through all the seasons and transitions of the hive.  We will move our hive to our house after the class is over.  So far in class we have discussed personal protection equipment, tools for the job, the hive, foundations, frames and bee space, bee biology, description of the bee body, caste system of bees, comparison of bee roles, and the life cycle of honeybees.

On April 15th, we joined our other classmates at Muldrow Bee Farm in Beaumont.  We sat around the fire and had an open discussion.  The students were able to ask any questions they had about beekeeping.  We observed the bees earlier in the evening to get an idea of how active they were at that time of day.  Later in the evening we took another look and noticed a significant difference in the bees.  Most had returned to the hives.  We selected our Nucs and taped up the entrances to the hives.  They were then loaded into the back of a truck and moved to our class apiary in Orange.

Once in Orange, we prepped the ground with liquid soap.  Then we lined up the nucs.  We stood in front of our nuc and waited for the go ahead to remove the tape.  Everything was very organized so that we minimized the chance of someone getting stung.

We’ve purchase additional bee boxes and equipment.  We are learning how to assemble our boxes, frames, and foundations.  Our class is very interesting.  We can’t wait to learn more about bees and to work in the class apiary!

 

Advertisement

What’s in a name?

Like most couples, Kenny and I often discussed dreams and ideas for our future.  Most of our future plans involve our property in Fields.  Affectionately known as “Ma’s House” by family and friends, it is our plan to live there one day.  We spend as much time as we can there.  Our conversations about chickens, ducks, goats, rabbits, cows, deer, turkeys, ponds,  gardens, etc. led to the decision to officially start a business.  We wanted all of our products and services to be associated with this business.  We made an appointment to get our paperwork going.

Then came the fun part…coming up with a name for our business.  Sounds like fun, right?  I thought so too.  It was actually difficult.  It was like naming a baby.  We wanted something that had meaning.  Something that encompassed all of our plans.  Something that was easy to say and easy to remember.

We thought about using a family name.  Our family had homesteaded the property a long time ago.  Did we want to name it after that family?  That would have represented the beginning, but did it represent where we were now?  We thought about using our last name.  That would represent the present, but it didn’t feel like it would show our growth and the future of our business.  Going with a family name just wouldn’t work.  There are so many families whose hearts have made an imprint on this land.  There was no way we could show all that love and history by using one family name.

Some of us also refer to this area as “Bearhead” or “Bearhead Creek”.  Bearhead Creek runs near our property.  We decided that the creek was a connection from the past to the future.  We knew that was the name we should use.  So we became “Bearhead Creek Farms”.

Bearhead Creek Farms Family

Spikes

Pierce

Cooper

Perry

Tucker

Desonier

Mears

Gore

Little

Perkins

Crabtree

Stratil

Vidrine

Pickett

Nash

 

Bearhead Creek Farms

Kenny & I are very excited to let everyone know that we have started a business! It’s called Bearhead Creek Farms.

(I know some of you just commented to yourself that Bearhead Creek is not in Vinton. We’ll tell you more about that later.)

For now, we just wanted to share our good news. Officially starting the business is the first step in a long journey. This year we will be focusing on our bees. We may work a few more chickens in there. And a goat or two may show up along the way. We also have some products and services that will be added. We can’t wait to share this adventure with you!