The Brigade’s Bee Box Building Blitz

Michael was facing a logistical challenge. He needed 15 bee hives assembled, painted, and filled with frames, within the next three days.

The problem was that it would take him at least eight days to finish by himself. You see, frame building would be a long, tedious process and each box needed four coats of paint in some places! It would certainly not have worked to start any earlier, for we had not yet received the pieces to put together. Fortunately, Michael was able to foresee the problem and present it to the rest of the Staddon brigade a month in advance. This gave all the willing workers time to prepare for the blitz.

When the time came, Dad, Mom, Donald, Esther, James, Jonathan, and David helped Michael knock out the giant project with a servant spirit and encouraging smiles. Good Job guys and we will look forward to sharing the rewards of harvest!

9582_Canon EOS 40D, 21 mm, 1-60 sec at f - 4.0, ISO 2009547_Canon EOS 40D, 17 mm, 1-60 sec at f - 3.2, ISO 2009585_Canon EOS 40D, 31 mm, 1-10 sec at f - 2.8, ISO 2009561_Canon EOS 40D, 20 mm, 1-60 sec at f - 3.2, ISO 2009578_Canon EOS 40D, 21 mm, 1-60 sec at f - 4.0, ISO 2009554_Canon EOS 40D, 28 mm, 1-60 sec at f - 3.2, ISO 2009551_Canon EOS 40D, 17 mm, 1-60 sec at f - 3.2, ISO 2009615_Canon EOS 40D, 17 mm, 1-50 sec at f - 3.5, ISO 2009646_Canon EOS 40D, 28 mm, 1-200 sec at f - 7.1, ISO 2009638_Canon EOS 40D, 17 mm, 1-200 sec at f - 7.1, ISO 2009686_Canon EOS 40D, 17 mm, 1-60 sec at f - 4.0, ISO 2009628_Canon EOS 40D, 23 mm, 1-60 sec at f - 4.0, ISO 2009661_Canon EOS 40D, 20 mm, 1-60 sec at f - 4.0, ISO 2009668_Canon EOS 40D, 23 mm, 1-60 sec at f - 4.0, ISO 2009624_Canon EOS 40D, 31 mm, 1-60 sec at f - 4.0, ISO 2009674_Canon EOS 40D, 17 mm, 1-60 sec at f - 3.5, ISO 2009840_Canon EOS 40D, 17 mm, 1-160 sec at f - 6.3, ISO 2009857_Canon EOS 40D, 38 mm, 1-200 sec at f - 6.3, ISO 2009659_Canon EOS 40D, 20 mm, 1-60 sec at f - 4.0, ISO 2009572_Canon EOS 40D, 17 mm, 1-100 sec at f - 5.0, ISO 2009592_Canon EOS 40D, 33 mm, 1-250 sec at f - 14, ISO 2009695_Canon EOS 40D, 55 mm, 1-60 sec at f - 4.0, ISO 2009690_Canon EOS 40D, 17 mm, 1-60 sec at f - 4.0, ISO 2009697_Canon EOS 40D, 50 mm, 1-60 sec at f - 4.0, ISO 200

 

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12 Comments

  1. Esther Staddon April 27, 2012 at 1:15 pm #

    That was so fun! A real change of activity for me. I hadn’t used a hammer, drill and paintbrush hardly at all until that week! It was a real honey-appreciation course. 🙂

  2. Sarah S April 27, 2012 at 7:17 pm #

    Go Staddon Team! Many hands make light work!!! What wonderful servant spirits you all have :-). That is a LOT of bee hives. May the Lord bless them abundantly and bring forth much honey from them in the years to come!!!
    We recently assembled and put out more hives, and are looking forward to the wonderful experience and lessons we will learn this year through beekeeping!

  3. Sarah April 27, 2012 at 9:10 pm #

    Dear Staddons I think its great that you all bee keep as they are on the edge of distinction. I am sure the flowers thank you to ;). If you are all ever down this way you will have to stop by and teach us the art of bee keeping. We have talked about it but dont know were to start. Love and God Bless evrey single one of you Sarah!!

  4. Michael April 28, 2012 at 9:09 am #

    Each one of you was an incredible blessing. You all paid attention to detail and made sure to do a quality job, and were quick to receive instruction and correction and changes in plans as needed. Dad, you made sure that whatever it took, the job would be completed. Your extra time in earlier weeks doing the things that could be done ahead of time really paid off. Mom, we could not have done it without you. Not only did you pitch in with the work, but you kept us fed and covered critical background jobs. Donald, your flexibility in working around other commitments, and initiative to get up extra early on that critical day was critical to our success. (I don’t mean to be critical, but the whole job rather was! :)) Esther, your flexibility amazes me to incorporate this drastic change into your already packed schedule, and you were often be the first to show up to work! James, I’m glad you were here this month! You really cared about doing it right and being an energy giver. Jonathan, most of our work was not the too exciting, but you kept going and going and going… cheerfully! David, I’m especially grateful for your eagerness to learn each new step to the process, and fill in wherever needed. Thank you for being willing to use wire when we ran out of line. And thanks everyone for taking the time to document and photograph the event so we can remember it later! (Like now for instance.)

  5. Allen Hynes April 28, 2012 at 11:30 am #

    Great post! Tim sent James a brief note on our beekeeping antics yesterday. Pretty small peanuts, but still fun. We were cutting out queen cells a couple weeks ago and we put a section of brood, bees, and a couple queen cells in a quart jar as an experiment. We hadn’t seen a queen hatch, but it was hard to tell through the glass. Yesterday, I worked with Maryanne to rejuvenate a nuc box, and Becky went out, placed the comb section inside and shook the bees into it. She came back inside saying “Dad, I saw the queen!” I asked if she was sure and she said, “Yes, Dad. I could really tell.” I’m excited to see the enthusiasm and joy in my young beekeeping protegees.
    Mr. Allen Hynes

  6. Daniel Staddon April 28, 2012 at 12:49 pm #

    Wow – using two hammers at once?! I guess David gets the efficiency award. 🙂

    It really is incredible how much can be accomplished when everyone knows what to do and how to do it well. You guys are inspiring!!

  7. Michael April 28, 2012 at 9:29 pm #

    Mr. Hynes, that is exciting. I remember once a few years ago I was cutting out queen cells and one hatched in my hand. One of those unforgettable moments. 🙂

  8. Jenny Wilkes April 29, 2012 at 4:40 pm #

    Incredible!! Go Staddons!!
    What a joy it is to see how the Lord blessed the work of your hands last week.

  9. Samantha Ant April 29, 2012 at 8:33 pm #

    Y’all are such in encouragement to me!! Not only to be a better Christian but also to enjoy(more then I do) my time with my family for I will not live with them forever!!
    I am SO glad that I got to meet y’all at the NC FEW these past 2 years!!
    I hope to see y’all soon(if y’all are ever in Georgia come see us!!)

    Much love and God bless
    Sami

  10. Tom Gillaspie April 29, 2012 at 8:35 pm #

    Good to see your apiary expanding so nicely Michael! Also good to see such good family cooperation! Our bees are busy working the palmetto blossoms here in south Florida.

  11. Christina May 1, 2012 at 8:34 am #

    Wow! That is a lot of Beehives!! :0 Thanks for the pictures!I like #3 🙂

  12. James May 12, 2012 at 8:51 am #

    I like #3 too. 🙂 And great post, David! You write very well.

    I feel bad about being in picture #10 . . . I didn’t touch a paint brush the entire week; I was just posing for the picture. 😉 My hat’s off to Donald and Dad and Esther who did the majority of the painting!

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