Oh Honey, we're getting Bees!!

Honey Bee taking a pollen bath
in a zucchini squash bloom

I love bugs (yes, I use the term very broadly) - I could watch them all day long! From the wonderful ground beetles that hunt the slugs in my garden to the beautiful bees that pollinate my zucchini squash plant (yes, just 1 thank you!), and even the small sugar ants that that make their long journey from here to there. They all are in integral part of the food web that has evolved over thousands of years in our world and one would hardly survive without the other.

Native Bee on Calendula flower

Even if you've been living under a rock you're entire life, you still know Honey Bees have been struggling to stay alive under the stress and constant attack of agriculture and home garden chemical use, disease, and pests - which can ultimately lead to a heart-breaking colony collapse. Please be careful and do your part to protect our garden warriors! Not only the bees (Mason, Bumble an other native bees as well), but all the beneficial insects that roam your yard and garden need your help and protection.

PLEASE BE KIND TO YOUR GARDEN FRIENDS - 98% OF THEM ARE BENEFICIAL!

Titan sunflowers, zinnias, and cosmos
 planted for the birds and bees
 at The Wade Creek House!

Last year the wild honey bee swarm that took up residence in an old bee box in the garden at The Wade Creek House was busily collecting pollen and nectar from nearby plants and flowers. I loved going over to watch them furiously work over the humongous sunflowers and explosion of lavender in the garden, bringing back loads of food to the hive they comfortably called home. I even noticed the bees in my yard would come and go from the direction of the shop - I was also a "honey hole" for these little darlings with a profusion of Calendula, Borage and Phacelia growing in my garden. Bees will travel up to 3 miles looking for food!

Bubmle Bee on Pole Bean blooms

Not a huge consumer of honey, I was not in it for the golden comb, I wanted to help the bee population survive. So, I did it... I did some research, went to Ruhl Bee Supply and bought a hive. I figured Becky's bees would eventually swarm (conveniently to my yard) and I would also have bees!

YUMMM! She was able to harvest 4 frames of honey from her wild swarm last summer - it was a beautiful golden wildflower honey, a true treat!

2014 Harvesting honey from the
hive  at The Wade Creek House!

It was too late in the year for a swarm to find my bee box, so I put a greenhouse panel on top weighted down with concrete blocks to keep (most) of the rain off, and dreamed of being a future bee owner, reading books, blogs, magazines and attending several beekeeping club meetings and beekeeping classes.

Then Christmas came... my sister, who happens to get her honey locally here in Estacada, got me BEES FOR CHRISTMAS!!! The guy she gets her honey from has several hundred hives he rents out to pollinate various crops throughout the region. She got me a small hive (nucleus hive) that will come with 5 full frames and a mated queen. I am so very excited!

The bees will be here end of March/beginning of April - will tell you all about it!
In the meantime, here are a few awesome websites you need to check out - take a little time and learn how you can help out and protect our pollinators!



www.buzzaboutbees.net
www.beesource.com
http://extension.oregonstate.edu/mb/
http://www.orsba.org/home.php


PEAS OUT!
~GP


ps..... I am sad to report that the bees at The Wade Creek House did not survive this winter. When we opened up the hive at the shop last week, we discovered that water had gotten in. As it happened, a local beekeeper checked the hive earlier this winter, about 6 weeks ago - bees were good with plenty of food. He plopped a small pallet on top of the hive cover to keep the wind from blowing it off; this inadvertently tweaked the hive cover enough allowing water to seep in and ultimately kill the bees.