This artwork represents the history of beekeeping through time and our relationship with bees. Each hexagon symbolizes a window with each painting depicting a different time period and story dating back thousands of years to modern day.
Starting from the front leg to the chest,

1. Cave painting found in Spain 6000 BC,
2. Egyptian time period, hieroglyphics translates to Beekeeper,
3. Greek God Aristaeus, creator of various arts including beekeeping,
4. Medieval beekeeping collecting honey,
5. Modern day, family beekeeping, learning from generations with the invention of removable frames to properly inspect beehives.

From the back leg to the shoulder,

1. Mayan beekeeping with stingless bees,
2. Medieval tree beekeeping, climbing trees with their family names carved onto the opening of the hive, still practiced today,
3. 1600’s ship with bees to America,
4. The indicator bird, whistling back and forth, the bird indicates where the hive is,
5. Swarm catching, dating back thousands of years, and we still catch swarms of bees today.

Bees have been intertwined throughout our existence from the food we eat, mythological and religious stories, use as currency, and medicinal purposes to name a few. The arms are full of flowers with wandering pollinators looking for nectar which drips to the hands and turns to golden honey symbolizing that we have hand harvested honey for thousands of years. Glowing paint is used around the hexagons, bees, vines and flowers on the legs representing the bees continued hard work throughout the day and night
Elements and Mediums used- clay, modeling paste, acrylic paints, glow acrylic paint.
By
Nicole Zebrowski
Backyard Buzz

This was such an incredible project to work on with my mom. We entered in on the wearable art fashion show at The Mercantile at Doylestown in April. We collaborated together so well, and we were so excited to get started on the project! We found an amazing outfit and we got to work. We love honeybees and how they are so important as pollinators, but we also wanted to incorporate our native pollinators as well. Clover and golden rod are important nectar sources for our pollinators and we wanted to include this in the piece. Honey bees, bumble bees, hummingbirds, sweat bees, bats, and lady bugs are hand painted throughout the dress. The dress was painted with acrylic paints, the honey dripping is actually hot glue and then painted with acrylic. The skep is made with jjute to be worn as a hat, with metal acrylic painted bees.

If you haven’t checked out the Mercantile yet, go! It is such a unique and cool place to see! There are over 80 different arts, crafters and vendors all under one roof. Also they have a bar and food in the back! We are one of the artists/crafters so make sure to check out our space with our new bee facts on the ground!

The season has come to an end for 2020 with our last honey harvest. This honey is beautiful, full of flavor and is a dark amber color. Our honey is ethically harvested, and the girls have plenty for winter time. Now is the time the queen will slow down production of laying eggs and the bees are raising the winter bees. Winter bees will live for about 6 months throughout the winter, keeping the hive warm. They vibrate their little bodies to produce heat so it is very important that they have honey because that is their food for the winter. Without food, they will starve and it is the saddest thing to see come a nice day the beekeeper opens up the hive and finds bees with their butts in the air and faces in the cell of the comb.. they are dead. This is why it is so important to only harvest excess honey. We aren’t doing anybody good if we harvest all the honey the bees worked so hard to get and leave nothing for them. That is why you should know your beekeeper or where your honey is coming from!

Check out our home made beeswax wraps! Instead of using plastic wrap or ziplock bags try out some wraps! They mold to your food, cover your bowls and you can even make a little pouch to store fruit, nuts or cheese in them. Made with 100% beeswax straight from my backyard hives, jojoba oil, pine resin and 100% cotton fabric. The sizes that we offer right now are 10x10, 8x8 and 6x6 squares. They are also very easy to clean by rinsing them off with cool water and dish detergent. These wraps are not to be used with raw meats. Beeswax wraps are environmentally friendly! Check them out on my Etsy site!

Spring weather is swarm season and this year is swarming! What do you think of when you hear a swarm of bees? Well I can tell you it is a cool sight to see it happening. Bees are everywhere, landing in different directions, then when the queen lands somewhere, the bees follow her. The hive that she left is now left with only half the amount of bees and queen cells to raise a new queen. This is the way bees make more colonies and propagate. When they settle down with the queen, they look like a large clump on a tree branch. These bees are homeless, nothing to defend, filled to the gills with honey, so usually they are most docile the first few days. When they can’t find a home and are still clumped together, they will start to get a little cranky but they are still manageable to catch. This hive here was up in a pine tree for a few days. I had this beehive which I baited, and the first nice day, they flew right to it. They wanted this home! So far so good, the queen has not started laying yet, might be a virgin so i will check later in the week.

I love seeing the changes of honey over the summer time. In my experience, Spring honey has been light in color and starts to get darker with every harvest throughout the summer. The taste changes also. This Spring, the honey was packed with a sweet wildflower taste. This early August was dark with a little sweet tang at the end. All in all, it was delicious. We always leave enough for the bees for winter because this is their food too. If they don’t have sufficient food during the winter, they starve and die. Bees don’t hibernate during the winter, they cluster up to keep the queen warm, so it is important for them to have ventilation and food supply throughout the cold season.