Bees
February 9, 2024–my first insect photos of the year. The honey bees are out today visiting the Oregon grape mahonia. The buds are just starting to open, and the flowers will be beautiful in a day or two. They smell amazing. The mahonia and the snow drops are the earliest flowering plants here, and the honey bees wasted no time finding them.
Honey bee on mahonia
Resting in the sun on mahonia leaf.
Honey bee on mahonia
Honey bee on mahonia buds.
Honey bee on mahonia
Honey bee on mahonia.
Honey bee on mahonia
In flight.
Honey bee on mahonia
Honey bee on mahonia.
Honey bee on mahonia
Oregon grape mahonia with honey bee.
Fall Beauty
So far, we’ve had what I believe is an unseasonably warm fall. The tropical milkweed is still going strong, and the cleome is just starting to look worse for the wear. The bees are out and about: the bumble bees are tending my fall-bearing raspberries and they...
Sunday
It’s Sunday. I’m doing laundry, cleaning, shredding zucchini for bread and to freeze. I should be scrubbing the kitchen floor. Instead, I decided to walk around the yard with my camera,and this is what I found.[gallery size="large" type="divi" link="file"...
Keeping Honey Bees
One of the reasons we wanted a larger property was so that Ben would have a good home for his bees. In Maryland they were in a small space in the shade, which was not ideal. Here they are spread out in the sunshine and are thriving. We’ve planted wildflowers, bee...