Beekeeping in Mo.

[brooksbeefarm]

2018 was a Bad year for Beekeeping in Missouri, our Spring weather would be in the upper sixties and seventies two or three days then dip down to the fifties and forties three or four days? The bees were short on stores to start with so they were eating what they were bringing in, so they never built up strong enough for the flow. Then we started getting much needed rain during the flow which then turned to a drought where farms hay crops  suffered and when winter set in those big round bales of hay was selling for $100.00 + a bale. With the sickness of our daughter (ALS) and her passing  Sept. 26,2018 as you can expect my beekeeping took a back seat. I had between 60 & 70 hives going into winter and will be lucky if i come out of winter with 20 or 30 hives. My form picture is of me with Mike our black and tan coon hound, i was about 8 or 9 yrs. old and my little brother Jim, i am 5 yrs older than Jim, 8 yrs older than John and 15 yrs. older than Junior (ROY) this was probably taken in 1945 or 1946, John and Junior was not with us yet. :no:My computer man put the picture  on the forum for me and tried to show me how Jack

[tecumseh]

Thanks for the update Jack.  Sorry to hear about your daughter... my mom passed two years back and to some degree it was a blessing.... I miss her.  Jane is pretty much permanently set down in Northern California looking after her 97 year old (and still pretty geeky) dad. The up side is I get to visit out that way 3 or 4 times a year. 

We have had the same kind of up and down and abnormal weather pattern for the past three springs... It did not impact the hay season here but in Louisiana where I still own some land and rent it out for pasture the young fellow who rents that tells me he got about 1/3 of his average hay yield. Here we have had about 1/2 a crop of honey for the past 3 years... basically everything looks good, the bees build up nicely and then about the time the bees should be putting a lot in the supers it turns cold, damp and grey for weeks at a time.  I am in the process of rebuilding my honey house so this past year I got the TAMU lab to recruit volunteers and we extracted my honey there and then I gave back half the honey to the lab to sell here on campus.. < we got a guy to video and u tube this and the largest plus was the good will created via the experience thru the interaction of the students at the lab and the volunteers.   

[Bakersdozen]

Jack, we are not that far apart.  I'm northwest of you.  It was tough here too.  I had plenty of honey to harvest, but the bees didn't have an opportunity to fill their stores up for winter. 
I lost quite a bit of my backyard grass this past year.  Between the drought, a rainy early fall that kept me from picking up leaves, and a rambunctious dog, I have bare patches of dirt.  I think I am going to throw down White Dutch Clover seed in the spring.
I love your avatar (is that the right terminology?)  We had an old car like that when I was a kid.  It was parked down by the barn and we kids played in it. 

[brooksbeefarm]

B13,Our Aunt Lottie and Uncle Roy Haynes lived next door and i think that was a 1941 Ford? They also had a 1940+? Nash, but i think that was their Ford???