Heading Into Winter: A November Update

Somehow it’s already November, and we’re getting the girls ready for another Michigan winter. I swear we were just making spring splits, and now we’re checking food stores and thinking about snow. How does a bee season go by that fast?!

This year brought a little bit of everything. We grew, tried new things, made a lot of honey, and faced some challenges that really put us to work. There were exciting days, frustrating days, and plenty of days when we came home with more questions than answers.

But through all of it, I’ve loved getting to do this. Watching a little colony grow into a strong production hive still gets me just as excited as it did when we started with two hives in 2019. There’s always something happening in a bee yard, and apparently I’m never going to get tired of wanting to know why. :)

What did this season bring us?

We took on a lot this year, and we’ve grown quite a bit along the way, as an operation and as beekeepers.

Between pollination, raising nucs, managing our own colonies, and bringing in the honey crop, there wasn’t much downtime. Our summer flow gave us something to be excited about, and getting that honey extracted and into barrels, buckets, and jars was a good feeling after all the work leading up to it.

The fall flow was a different story. We had hoped goldenrod would help carry the girls into winter, but it just didn’t come together the way we wanted. That meant paying closer attention to feed and making sure colonies had what they needed instead of counting on the fields to provide it.

That’s one thing about keeping bees, you can have a plan for the season, but you’d better be willing to adjust and pivot!

What challenged us the most?

Mites have taken up a lot of our attention this summer and fall. 

Those big, honey producing colonies we get so excited about also raise a lot of brood, which gives mites plenty of opportunities to keep reproducing. As the colonies grow, the mite population can grow right along with them, making it even more important to stay ahead of them.

We’ve had yards looking good and other yards that have been much more challenging, even after treatment. There’s nothing fun about opening a colony you’ve worked hard to build and seeing it getting smaller when you need it to be preparing for winter.

We’ve been checking, treating, checking again, and trying to understand what’s happening in each yard. Some days that’s discouraging. I don’t think there’s any reason to pretend otherwise.

But it’s also made us pay closer attention and ask better questions. What actually worked? What didn’t give us the results we expected? What should we change next season? And am I being realistic expecting every hive to look fantastic all the time?

When you put this much work into your bees, you want every colony to do well. Learning when to step in and when to adjust your expectations has been part of this season too.

Those are things I want to keep sharing too. You see us on the exciting days when the bees are growing and the honey is coming in, but the harder days are part of this business as well. And well that's just farming!

So, are we heading back to California?

We are not..and we are honestly so excited about that!

This winter, all of our girls are staying home. We’re sticking to our roots and overwintering entirely outdoors, right here in Michigan.

I’m looking forward to having the bees close, being able to check on them ourselves, and putting our attention into getting them through winter and ready for spring. There’s something comforting about knowing that’s where our focus will be.

We’re grateful for what we learned from going to California, but we feel good about this decision. This year, home is where we want to be. :)

What kind of winter are we hoping for?

If I could put in an order for the weather, I’d ask for a good, steady Michigan winter.

Cold enough for the girls to settle in, snow on the ground, and none of those huge swings between warm weather and bitter cold. I don’t want a winter so warm that they’re active and eating through loads of food, but I’m certainly not asking for stretches of negative temperatures either!

Just a nice, consistent winter. Is that too much to ask? Michigan will probably have its own ideas. 😂

For now, we’re doing what we can to send them into it with adequate food, protection from the weather, and close attention to colony health. Then we’ll keep watching and adjusting as needed.

I’m praying this ends up being a good winter for our bees and for everyone else getting their colonies tucked in right now.

What are we looking forward to next spring?

Even while we’re finishing up this season, we’re already thinking about the next one.

We’re excited to keep working with our queen lines, raise next spring’s nucs, and take what we learned this year back into the bee yards. There’s something really rewarding about sending a colony home with someone and then hearing how it’s growing throughout the season!

Our spring 2027 nuc reservations are opening for local pickup in Hillsdale, Michigan. If you’re planning to get started with bees or add to your operation, you can find the details on our nuc page.

We still have winter to get through before we know exactly what spring will look like. Right now, our focus is on taking care of the girls we have and giving them the best chance we can.

Thank you to everyone who bought honey, brought home nucs, watched our videos, asked questions, or followed along this year. We’ve gotten to meet so many AMAZING people through these bees, and that’s become one of my favorite parts of doing this.

It’s been a busy, challenging, exciting year, and I’m grateful we get to keep building this life.

Now let’s hope Michigan gives our girls a good winter! 🐝