Ide's Gary Ave Gold Honey

05/09/2026

https://www.facebook.com/share/r/14d5REvNhSE/?mibextid=wwXIfr

04/24/2026

Farm Hippie

Chewie and I restocking at Farm Hippie-Collinsville ❤️

04/24/2026

Chewie and I restocking at Farm Hippie-Collinsville ❤️

04/21/2026

The mourning dove builds the worst nest in North America.

And they're incredibly successful anyway.

→ Nest materials: 3-5 sticks. That's it. Sometimes just 2.
→ Built in 2-4 hours
→ Eggs regularly visible through gaps in the bottom
→ Wind blows nests apart constantly
→ They nest on flat surfaces: porch railings, AC units, hanging baskets, car bumpers

BUT:
→ Mourning doves are the MOST abundant native land bird in North America
→ Estimated 475 MILLION in the US
→ They breed up to 6 TIMES per year (compensating for bad nests with sheer volume)
→ Both parents produce 'crop milk' (nutrient-rich secretion) to feed chicks
→ Chicks leave the nest in just 12-14 days

Their strategy:
→ Don't waste energy on architecture
→ Breed constantly
→ Overwhelm mortality with NUMBERS

It's not bad engineering.

It's a different philosophy.

'Move fast and break nests.' 😂
HASHTAGS:

04/17/2026

Some swarms are brutal to collect. You try this and that, and an hour later, more are still flying than not. This morning was one of those. This afternoon, it was the opposite. The bees were hanging on one branch. I removed the limb without disturbing the bees. I lowered the limb into the box and shook them off. Closed it up with only a few on the outside.

03/06/2026

Starting tomorrow, you’ll be able to purchase our honey in Bartlesville. Farm Hippie is going to be a gift to Bartlesville. Stop in. They’ve got what you’ve been looking for and I bet you’ll discover things tickle your fancy. .

03/02/2026

March is when bees swarms begin to appear. If you see a bee swarm, call us at the Tulsa Bee Swarm Hotline 918-981-BEES (2337). You’ll speak with a beekeeper who will take down your information. Then a beekeeper will come and collect them. And please, don’t hesitate to call. They won’t stay there forever.

Please share if you would.

01/16/2026

Jay Ide

Couple weeks ago we had a conversation about Bees & Bananas. I was out checking Hives today after a week of Storms. They had to eat from the Pantry without the ability to refill it. The foragers were coming home with full Pollen Pants & lots of new nectar in frames, Still fed them banana slices & generic marshmallows to hold them over.
Several Bee Research organizations are looking at feeding Bananas to the Bees for the Potassium & micro nutrients. I have been doing this for 2yrs & see a remarkably improved colony health. They chew the Bananas up, peel & all, to use as Pollen substitute to make the Bee Bread for the Babees.

51m, Texas, Size 4x Bee Suit. Whole banana for scale.
Post Credit: Carl Lee Shanklin

08/26/2025

A long long time ago, Leo, Ozzie and Verona painted some bee equipment under the expert eyes of Denny. Nothing is forever, and those boxes are shot and being sundowned. I wish I could get them all together to decorate the replacements.

08/21/2025

The harvest is winding down. This is the last stack of honey supers. Tomorrow I’ll finish spinning what remains. After bringing home 10 more 5-gallon buckets of honey and the wet supers, I’ll move on to the mite treatments, supplemental feeding colonies that are on the light side, combine weaker ones, …. By mid-October I’ll be taking a long-anticipated trip.