Market Friday...on Saturday

Today was Bee Education Day at our little farmer's market. I don't get to go to the market very often anymore because I'm off on goat rounds every day, and usually by the time I'm done, it's either too late or I'm too tired and gross to be out in public. Bee Day is pretty fun, though. @meanbees takes an observation hive to the market every year, and it's always the star attraction. He marks the queen ahead of time so people can locate her. She's the one with the green dot on her back.

Even without the dot, you can find the queen because all the bees around her will be facing her. She gets all the attention.

The observation hive always attracts a lot of neighborhood bees. They are drawn to the smell of the hive. The reason you can't see the wings on this one is because she's "fanning." When a hive gets too big, they will make a new queen, and the old queen leaves with half of the worker bees to find a new place to live. When someone finds a good spot, they fan the air with their wings to propel the scent to the other bees, telling them to come live in the new place. In this case they were all disappointed when the hive left at the end of the market.

Most of the vendors at the market sell bee related things on this special day. The vendor who sells baked goods made these adorable sugar cookies.

All the local beekeepers bring their honey to the market, even if they don't usually have a booth. This last winter was so hard on the bees, though, that there was very little honey for sale today. We haven't harvested ours yet, and usually we do it in early July. We went into the winter with fifteen hives and came out with four, so the spring and summer so far have been spent trying to build up the hives. We might not be able to harvest at all this year, since the bees need a certain amount of honey to get through the winter. It's too bad, because honey harvest day, while hot and tedious, makes the house smell heavenly. Hot honey and beeswax instead of the usual pervasive stench of damp dog and whatever came in on their feet.

I know almost all the vendors at our little market, partly because our town is so small, and partly because I had a booth the first year the farmer's market was here. My best friend and I formed a group of teenagers made up of my son and several friends of his. The kids planted a garden and took care of it all summer (with a lot of help from us), and somehow we actually got a bunch of sixteen year old boys to show up every Saturday all summer long to sell produce! Yes, they occasionally tied each other to chairs with bungee cords, but they had a good time, and they made $600 by the time the market closed in September. I gave them all their shares and then took them to Seaside for a day of fun on the beach and boardwalk.

One of my good friends has created a fence extender to keep predators out of your fields and away from your livestock. He made a hat to demonstrate the product so people can understand how it works. It's actually pretty brilliant.

Here's a close-up.

Another friend bought a form for her cucumbers. I've never seen anything like this, but I thought it was hilarious.

We have one woman who makes the most beautiful goat milk soap. I thought about trying soap when I first got goats, but I eventually gave up on that plan and just buy soap from her. I don't have to know how to do everything myself.

If you want to check out the observation hive yourself, as well as other views of our farm, click here to watch MeanRoosterFarm LIVE!](https://www.vimm.tv/@meanroosterfarm)

This is my first entry for Market Friday, by @dswigle. I hope she forgives me for posting it on a Saturday, but that's when our farmer's market is. Have a great evening, everyone!