The answer, my friend

From the moment he set foot on Skillet Farm, Tom started in with the where do you want this-es?. Where do you want the garden? Where should we put the orchard? Where would you like a clothesline?

Sometimes I knew right away. The garden will go where the previous owners had a garden. The orchard is out front. The clothesline is attached to the poles already in the backyard.

But mostly I said, "I have to live with the place for awhile."

I need time in a house, time on the land, time in a new state. I need to see how the rain collects around the yard, where the birds build nests, how the creek behaves when it's dry and when it's wet. And, literally, which way the wind blows.

At Woodchuck Acres in New York, the prevailing wind was from the northwest. We were in a small dell surrounded by trees. We rarely felt the brunt of high winds and calm days were the norm.

Skillet Farm is in a river valley but it is still Midwest. And Midwest means prairie and prairie means wind.

This is country designed for outside clothes drying; it makes me consider the possibilities of wind turbines and dream of pinwheels; days with 20-30 mph winds aren't uncommon. 

So I needed to consider very carefully where I will situate my beehives.

My beehives are plastic (there, I've said it. All of you natural material only people can stop reading and hang me in effigy if you like). I chose them over woodenware for two reasons: the weight is less (and being a small senior citizen who handles the hive by herself, this was a big consideration) and the insulating value is greater than wood. I had no idea if bees would overwinter in the crazy upstate NY weather. They came through in these hives with flying colors. And that insulation will be of special value here where the summers are sunny and hotter than blazes.

But the plastic hives being lighter means they also are more prone to being tossed about by the wind. Hives full of bee brood and honey weigh enough to withstand stormy winds but the tops and covers will take off like kites in March. 

And bees don't have the advantage of storm windows and doors. In windy weather the air will whistle through the hive disturbing the girls and lowering temperature. So it was important that I find a place with some protection from the gales.

Not an easy thing on this wide-open property. No windbreaks, few trees, no bushes.  Luckily, the tumbledown shed that came with the place has an open area behind it. I've added a pallet with some extra boards on one side and nestled my two hives in the lea of the prevailing southwestern winds.

And added two bricks to the tops to ground them further.

I won't be getting my bees for another month or so which gives me time to make sure this is a good place for the hives.

I knew my honeybees needed protection from the winds. Humans are a different matter. Some days we need to be safe and sheltered from being buffeted about. Some days we need to run against the wind.  And there are days when we need to reside in the calm, even if it's only the eye of the hurricane. Many times this past year, I've felt like I'm barely riding the storm out; just gotta have faith that the answer is indeed blowin' in the wind.*


* Extra points for identifying all of the song references!