ONE STEP CLOSER TO BEEKEEPING

March 25, 2010

My equipment arrived! My husband went from a nice healthy brown to a very pale sickly white when he saw me unwrapping the hive. The delivery man couldn't even maintain composure. He asked if I was making honey. It sounded funny me making honey since the bees are the only ones making anything.
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MY BEES WILL BE HERE IN LESS THAN 5 WEEKS

March 20, 2010

I finished my beekeeping course, ordered my bees, tonight I order my supplies. I chose the carniolan bees. Not sure if it was the best choice but I'll soon find out. They are the most docile bee, over winter better than others, but they love to swarm. I've been taught how to eliminate swarming and hopefully I don't screw it up because my neighbors wouldn't be happy if they found a swarm of bees hanging out in their backyard. 
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MY BEES HAVE BEEN ORDERED

March 19, 2010

I placed an order for my bees yesterday and I'll be picking them up on April 21. I'm more nervous than excited at this point. Right now I'm still pouring through beekeeping equipment catalogs trying to decide on what I need/want, plus making sure I remember everything I'm suppose to do once my bees arrive. I'll be ordering the beekeeping video put together by the University because it is very thorough and it will help me stay on track once my bees are hived. Yikes! Feels like April 21 is around the corner.
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PESSIMISM GETS YOU NOWHERE

March 16, 2010

I've talked with the neighbors and it seems all my pessimism did is give me sleepless nights because both neighbors were very supportive and intrigued by my need to have honeybees. The neighbors that I thought would be the easiest to convince were a bit skeptical only because the man of the house is terrified of bees after watched his own mother almost die from a bee sting. The neighbors I thought would be the most difficult to convince were excited for me and very interested in the process. So, nothing stands in my way of getting my bees except me.
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I MADE IT!

March 14, 2010

Not quite a beekeeper yet but 1/2 way there. I finished my 2 day 16 hour beekeeping course at the University of Minnesota. It was FANTASTIC! You'd think after sitting for so many hours I wouldn't want to do it again but it was full of information I kept wishing the time would tick by slower. Our professor
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BEEKEEPING COURSE STARTS TOMORROW

March 12, 2010

I'm excited and nervous at the same time. I'll be studying bees for two full days (16 hours) total. I received a message telling me that 250 people have signed up for the course. I keep wondering what classes will be like. With such a large number of people attending are we going to be able to ask questions? Will everything be done by slideshow? The last time I was in a class with more than a 100 people was in college and I didn't like it because I was just a number and it created a limit on learning but hopefully this will be different.
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I KILLED MY OWN SOAP

March 10, 2010


Why Why Why? Is all I can ask myself. Twice in my soap making years have I had soap seize up on me, turning to a curdled mess. Sure, it's still salvageable for the sheer purpose of just giving it away but I wouldn't sell it if my life depended on it. Well, I would if my life depended on it but whatever... 
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NATURE: SOLELY FOR WILD ANIMALS AND THOSE WHO RESPECT IT!

Haven't we carved enough space out of this planet for us? Do we really need to start invading the space that our wildlife occupy and then complain that somehow the wildlife is a burden because they are there?
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A HODPODGE POST

March 7, 2010

Been busy around the house and with the family lately so I haven't had time to organized my thoughts in order to make an interesting post. Rather, I've decided to post now about various things since I hate leaving my blog to collect dust.
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SOAPMAKING CLASSES BEGIN

March 3, 2010

For a few years now I've been teaching soapmaking to people as they've expressed an interest, even one person who intends on creating a new business out of her new venture, so I thought, why not offer classes on a scheduled basis.

Beginning March 18 I will be offering beginning soapmaking classes for one or two people at a time in my home, so if you are in the area (St. Paul, Minnesota) and would like to learn the art of soapmaking, please give me a shout: michelle@thesoappixie.com
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