To Bee or not to Bee

   To have bees or not to have bees that is the question I have been presenting myself with for the past two years. I am totally in love with the idea of keeping bees for honey and beeswax, pollinating my gardens and fruit trees, and helping to restore the declining honey bee population. What I am not in love with is the extra work and commitment of taking care of the bees, and not to mention the monetary expense of the wooden hives, bee keeping equipment, bee keeper's suit, and yes, even the honey bees themselves. I also have been contemplating putting in a garden of 20 to 30 cold weather hardy lavender plants. The bees just seem like the perfect companion to the lavender plants for pollinating and then reaping the rewards of lavender flavored honey. It seems like the perfect pairing and yet the more I read about beekeeping, and I am reading everything I can get my hands on, it seems to intimidate me more. I think I will plant the lavender plants this year so that they can get established, and put off the decision of beekeeping until possibly next year. I change my mind on this predicament almost daily, so we shall see. I did just find out about a beginner's beekeeping class being held locally in April, so that will be my first step.
   I ordered most of the flower seeds for the cutting gardens, and all of the vegetable seeds for the kitchen vegetable garden this past weekend. I anticipate they will arrive in the middle of a snowstorm they usually do, but that is what makes it more thrilling.
   On Saturday morning my husband and I were on Music Mountain Road in Stockbridge, Vermont when I spotted a large flock of robins. Yes robins on February 1st on a mountain in Vermont! The field was free of snow since it had a southern exposure, and there were the robins. I lost count after 20, but I would say there were close to 30 of them. So, with the local groundhog in Vermont not seeing his shadow due to the cloudy, dismal day we had on Sunday, I would say we may have spring just around the corner. Oh wait, aren't we predicted to have two snowstorms this week?

This week's pictures of winter on the farm: