so. much. life.
Our hives are also bursting at the seams... Sarah and I have been making splits as fast as we and our equipment will go. But it hasn't been fast enough. We breed Russians. Russians are known for their fast build up and swarming tendencies. It's why I love them, they are prolific, it's also why I hate them, we are always pulling them out of trees.
The past few days the swarms have landed in the tops of our oaks... fifty feet in the air. I resigned myself to letting them go after we cut one tree down and it failed to result in a capture. With sixty hives on the ground, it wasn't life and death that I retrieve them but still, they were mine and I felt bad that they were hanging in a tree exposed to the birds and wind and rain.
Then my wonderful hubby, feeling bad for me, rented a 55ft boom lift. His reasoning was it was cheaper than if we were to buy two packages and the bees above us were better than packages because they were my genetics, Missouri genetics, that I had been working on for the past five years.
This old lady did NOT get in the boom lift. I am too well grounded for that but Sarah and Andrew went in my place and the photo credits all belong to them.
The bee yard they absconded from.
It is a pretty view up there.
See, I did help. I got them set up. lol
let's catch some renegades.. but first, let's take a selfie.
If you look real close you can see Preston and Daddy
in front of the gas tank watching.
The first batch of girls was pretty easy, just a bump with the bucket.
Speaking of buckets, Grace and I made sure these two
didn't get away while the kids were up the tree.
The second batch had been hanging there for about three days when
they decided to move into this little guys house.
Needless to say, he was less than impressed and
I think a little thankful to see the bees captured.
there was a hole in the tree that Andy enlarged with a chainsaw.
They then used a modified shop vac to suck the girls out.
It is guaranteed when you live on a farm. At some point in your life, you will be chasing animals... Maybe it's the bull running through a fence or chickens that get out of their pen. or pigs... don't even get me started on chasing pigs. And even a little more frustrating bees hanging just out of reach... Sometimes it is bothersome and other times it is downright exhausting.
One thing that is constant, however, is the chase always reminds me of our Saviour's love... To know the pull on your heartstrings from a wayward critter. To give up your time, your resources, your energy to bring them back safely into the fold. To care for them enough to pursue them. A small picture of a Redeemer's mighty grace.
Have you thought lately, of what Christ gave up for you? To leave glory and all the comfort it provided to chase and pursue you. The love He must have felt to go to the cross just so He could bring you safely home... Amazing love. How unworthy we are of it... maybe even more unworthy than a wad of balled up bees...
So I praise Him for redemption.
I praise Him that when I run He doesn't rest until I am safely back in the fold.
I praise Him for making a safe passage for me.
Maybe today, you could take a moment to praise Him for not giving up on you until you were saved. And if you are not saved maybe today you could give up the chase and become fully His.
"For God so loved the world that He gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life." John 3:16
He gave all he had for you.
"I am the door: by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out, and find pasture." John 10:9
May you surrender to Him and finally find rest in His pastures.
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