In just under a month, spring will breathe her breath of life into winter stiff soil and bones. Already, snowdrops have opened their bowed, bell heads, and dandelion buds have sprung from cold earth. Winter is hard. Especially in the beehive. Honeybees have these incredible and instinctual survival skills, but sometimes nature’s course still brings devastation. And it’s heartbreaking (ask me how I know).

If the bees survive winter, in spring, they’ll break their cluster and begin the busy work for which they’re known. Queen bee will begin laying a couple thousand eggs each day, and the worker bees will start nurse and foraging duties. The hive quickly expands. If the queen runs out of space (comb) to lay eggs, the hive will prepare to swarm.

Swarming is when half the hive leaves with the queen to look for a hive with more space. The bees will have made swarm cells in the current hive to begin the process of raising a new queen. In beekeeping, we try to prevent swarming by splitting hives or expanding the hive to give the bees more space. It’s a delicate dance, though, between giving too little space or too much space. If too much space is offered, the hive is left defenseless. So, beekeeping requires diligence. As my mentor advised—

“Get in the hive and think like a bee. Be a bee-keeper rather than a bee-haver.”

J. Cripe

I’ve become a bit bee obsessed, and have learned so many life lessons from my bees. As spring approaches and bees begin to swarm, my blog, here, is going through a swarming process. There has been a name change, and content will reflect the new name. I’m a multi-faceted, multi-passioned soul, and I’ve felt limited to writing about just a few topics. Instead, I want to welcome you to my hive and invite you to sit at my hearth to listen and learn, share and sip tea, inspire and be inspired.

With the help of my sweet honeybees, I plan to re-stock my Etsy shop Hearth&HiveMarket, a place you’ll find bee items, cozy things, whimsical wonders for and from the hearth and hive. So, you see, swarming can be a good thing—even for bees and hives. It’s natural. Allowing my blog to let go of old things to create space for the new is exciting and inspiring.

What is something or some things you need to release and let swarm? Or what are those things which you need to cling to more tightly? If you’re comfortable sharing, I’d love to hear your share, your thoughts, your ideas here at my hearth. ❤️