Paul Perkins

New conditions force growth. Growth is never easy or painless. The new conditions in 2020 were a novel coronavirus causing disease across our community. The governor of Washington issued a stay-at-home order. For beekeeping during Covid in Seattle, the practical question was immediate: what does this mean for the bees? Beekeeping During Covid: What Changed Beekeeping is usually done with significant distance between the beekeeper…

We mark the end of the beekeeping year. We are keeping on eye on the health of our hives and feeding them sugar to help them survive winter.

Spring beekeeping in Seattle means shifting from maintenance mode to honey production mode. The bees are producing lots of offspring right now — brood rearing is in full swing — and at least one of our hives has already gained 14 pounds in the last two weeks. That honey is staying with the bees for now: they need it for raising brood, and we cannot...

After each honey extraction, we render the beeswax from the cappings and use it to make beeswax products from our Seattle hive harvests. This season we made lip balm, lotion bars, and mustache wax — all from the same beeswax that capped our honeycomb. Making Lip Balm and Lotion Bars from Seattle Beeswax Beeswax extraction is a satisfying part of the harvest process. After uncapping...