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Monday, September 10, 2007

Bees Are Doing What Bees Do In September


Even though it is September, we continue to sell hives and supplies! Our shop is humming to the sound of saws, routers and staple guns. The bees are doing what bees do in September. They seem to know that winter is imminent. They are trying to build up their final honey stores before the first hard frost that will kill the flowers and end the nectar flow.

Here are some bees on our hyssop. It's a beautiful plant and the bees love it! In the morning, the bees gather pollen from ragweed. Ragweed is of the genus Ambrosia and has small, greenish, unisexual flower heads. It grows at the ends of the corn fields around our house. It produces an abundance of pollen. Ragweed pollen in the air is one of the chief causes of hay fever. However, eating local honey with traces of flower pollen such as ragweed can help build your immunity up against these types of allergies.

I notice that early in the morning, the ragweed sounds like a swarm, it is so full of bees. Watch this short video and see if you can see two female workers coming in with yellow ragweed pollen in the pouches on their back legs.


I have crossed the halfway mark in the honey room on dry wall completion. It is looking good.