Seasons Turning
We are always seeing the changing seasons, aren't we? Fall really lets us know it, though. At the beginning of August, something fun happened this season that I wanted to share here before I give an update on our hives. Some friends of ours said they had bees going in and out of a knot hole in an old oak tree. When we visited, we observed the activity and saw that they were honey bees! Over the years of beekeeping, we have lost many bees to early season swarming, when half of a hive leaves with a queen to make a new colony. We have always comforted ourselves that, although we are losing something, we are contributing to nature, but this was the first time we have ever seen a colony like this for ourselves. It was so amazing to see a colony "in the wild!" I have heard positions on either side of whether honey bees should be considered "native pollinators" since they were brought to the U.S. from England. Honey bees have stolen a lot of the public attention as...