Life on the Farm and
Stories from the Centre

February – Waiting It Out With Hopeful Signs The early weeks of February threw some serious winter weather at us. Temperatures dipped well below normal for extended periods, with daytime highs barely reaching freezing. As for the bees, they stayed relatively quiet, only moving enough to get to stored honey and conserve precious resources. Winter bees are tough, but long cold snaps still slow down even the hardiest colonies. Then came the tease of spring. A few days in the hig

Mid-February on the farm often comes with a slump. The big holidays are long gone, spring still feels far away, and the days blur together without much change. There’s no planting yet, no new life to break up the routine - just feeding, checking, and waiting. It's the kind of tired that comes from cold mornings, frozen ground, and doing the same things day after day.  In this slump, we are asked to slow down and nourish ourselves in other ways. Here on the farm, we've develop

In winter, thousands of bee bodies press close together inside the hive, forming a living sphere. From the outside, it might seem like the perfect conditions for sickness to spread - warmth, proximity, minimal fresh air. In human terms, it looks like a risk. But for bees, closeness is what helps them survive. The winter cluster is not chaos.  Bees keep the hive around 68 - 95°F,  depending on whether brood is present , and rotate positions constantly. Those on the cold outer

January – Quiet Days & Careful Watching The days are still short and most of the activity has shifted indoors here at the farm -  including inside the hive. While everything still looks calm from the outside, the bees remain alert and responsive to the changing winter conditions. This month, the colony continues to stay tightly clustered around the queen, adjusting their formation as temperatures rise and fall. On colder nights, the cluster tightens to conserve heat; on sligh

Honeybees are often spoken of as a collective, but each bee is also a beautifully complex individual, built with specialized anatomy for living a short, yet purposeful life. Understanding how a bee is structured and what happens at the end of its life helps personalize the hive and explains how specimens can be collected in a way that respects natural processes. Bee Anatomy A honeybee’s body is divided into three main sections: the head, thorax, and abdomen. Each part is spec

As Winter continues, the pace of life on the farm remains slow. Winter is the season for rest, for both people and plants, and there’s no better addition to quiet evenings and warm sweaters than a homemade cup of tea. At Stone Lions Farm, we love to make our own tea blends using dried herbs and flowers from the summer gardens. Each jar holds a little reminder of warmer days - lavender buds, lemon balm, mint, rose petals, and more. Together, they become soothing blends that wa

The New Year doesn't crash into the farm; it settles in.

As the air cools and the gardens grow quiet, honeybees begin one of nature’s most fascinating transitions - preparing for winter. Beneath layers of wood, honey, beeswax, and propolis, the hive remains alive and humming. Why Winterizing Matters Honeybees don’t hibernate. Instead, they cluster together within the hive, generating heat by vibrating their flight muscles. The queen stays in the center, where it remains the warmest, while the rest of the workers take turns rotating

December – Below Zero Nights & A Cozy Hive Winter delivered a real blast of cold this month, with temperatures dropping just below zero! While we stayed warm inside, our bees were tucked into their hive, working together to survive the deep freeze. As mentioned before, even on the harshest nights, honeybees don’t hibernate. They stay clustered tightly around their queen, vibrating their wing muscles to generate heat - like a tiny living furnace. The bees on the outside take

Yesterday morning at 6 a.m., I got a frantic call from our neighbor. The dreaded words "Your cows have escaped" echoed across the...

Our Stone Lions are getting a makeover by the Williamstown Art Conservation Center.

In today's modern world, there is an elusive ideal that many of us dedicate our days and hours to chasing—that of the harmonious yin-yang...

Well, we have finished our first fundraiser at Stone Lions Farm and what a lovely experience! We learned a lot and it was such a great...