Frog Bottom Hollow Apiary & Farm

18/07/2026

17/07/2026

In Western North Carolina we are officially entering the period known as the dearth. During this period the forage drops off significantly, and with it so does wax production. Wax production is nutrient intensive and the bees naturally switch from expansion to preparation starting on the summer solstice, and now that sourwood nectar has slowed to a trickle very little new wax will be produced by the girls.

With this in mind I've begun leaving equipment that I've recently pulled off hives in my open sided garden shed so that the girls can come gather any wax or propolis and take it back to the hive to repurpose and conserve their energy and food supplies.

I think it's fascinating to watch them gather and pack wax onto their corbiculae. These creatures never cease to amaze me.

16/07/2026

Step 1.
Grow fully organic, delicious, healthy produce.

Step 2.
Deep fry it.

16/07/2026

16/07/2026

After a day of beekeeping and garden tending i tend to... Just stay in the apiary and garden a while.

The real reason we all this work is because we genuinely enjoy the environment it creates.

If I won a billion dollar lottery I'd wake up tomorrow and check on my beehives and plan to expand our homestead. Yes I want to turn it all into a business, but that's just so it can pay for itself to grow.

14/07/2026

I like it when the backyard turns to a produce aisle.

13/07/2026

Being a beekeeper means working when you NEED to and not always when you want to, or when is ideal.

I've been dealing with a severe honey bound situation that is admittedly my own fault, but a great learning experience and something that needed immediate remedy before more damage was done. This meant buying a less than great piece of equipment last night off Facebook marketplace (thankfully found a really nice dude who gave me a fair price) and then working in rushed bursts through 4 hives as breaks in the rain have allowed today.

I've spent more than one afternoon stressing about what the right solution would be for this problem. Read, reread, thought, cursed, accepted, got aggravated again, blamed myself, felt a bit defeated... But never once second guessed my commitment to beekeeping and the FACT that I will overcome this one way or another and grow from the experience.

Friends,
Beekeeping is hard,
Beekeeping is expensive,
Beekeeping is time consuming,
Beekeeping takes a lot of study and knowledge and patience,
Beekeeping can be stressful,
BUT beekeeping is the journey I've chosen to take, and a beekeeper is WHO I AM, so God willing I won't quit until I can't lift the boxes no more.

I hope everyone out there has something they are so in love with that borderline failures and aggravations just make you dig your heels in a little deeper and double down.

For most of humans relationship with bees we've seen them as messengers between us and the divine, and I sure hope they are carrying my message to God that I'm not going anywhere and I'm here for the struggle.

Chins up boots down my friends, together we will march to the mountaintop and proclaim our victory, hell or high water.

Love yuns, happy chorin' out there.

13/07/2026

09/07/2026

Becoming a beekeeper has vastly deepened an already profound love of nature, especially the insect world.

I was always reluctant to kill any living thing without clear purpose, but now I intentionally stop and observe like never before.

The insect world has become a true fascination.

Some people get older and start watching birds.
I'd rather stare at bugs.

08/07/2026

Looking forward to passing this around a few fires in the colder months.