Our Bees

Well, actually Linda doesn’t have much to do with the bees! Bees have always been a fascination to me and I have wanted some bee hives for some time. When we moved into this house we have plenty of room, not only for the garden and orchard, but also for bees.

I started 2009 with two hives and planned to allow the hives to grow into strong colonies. Being a novice, I realized too late the spring honey flow was a strong one and I was not prepared to harvest honey. Needless to say both colonies ran out of space after filling up with nectar and pollen and they swarmed. Fortunately they landed on the okra plants and I was able to capture them both. Now I have four hives!

One of the new hives - busy bees!

It takes some getting used to having bees in the garden while working in the garden. They just do their thing, gathering nectar and pollen, and usually we leave each other alone!

It’s amazing to stand by the hive and watch the bees come and go. As the bees return to the hive, their pollen baskets on their hind legs are filled with pollen of various colors. Usually yellow in early spring when the dandelions are in bloom or a pale greenish-yellow from the mustard plants. As the spring and summer continue, the orange and reds are beautiful!

With such a diversity of flowers, the honey should be amazing…I cant’ wait!