Yeah for the bees - Eleagnus is in bloom!



Far view of the beehives Fall 2012

In the Spring of 2012, Chris bought three beehives (3 nucs - 1 with a queen, 2 without) and we set them up on the north side of the property facing the southern sun.  It is now fall and the one with the queen is doing great, one of the nucs is doing okay and one did not make it. 

The right one did not make it. 

Some of the struggles we have had is how much to intervene.  Chris and I want really strong bees and we want really strong bees to make more strong bees.  We have seen a lot of die off that appears to be pesticide poisoning and Chris started off giving them sugar water and then decided that even that would be too much intervention.  We have no intentions of harvesting honey from any hive unless we are sure they can make it so probably we will look spring to see if there is any to spare.  But it is nerve racking to see the summer blooms die and having no nectar for bees to forage.  Until the other day.  The air was thick with a flowery sweet scent and I walked over to the Eleagnus run that the park planted in front of our yard across the drive.  It was in full bloom and thick with honey bees. There is almost a mile of this stuff along our drive. Most people are scared of the invasiveness of the Eleagnus but from our point of view....YIPEE!



Picture of scale of Eleagnus - it runs along the drive for almost a mile

Honey bee on the Eleagnus