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 actually sleep in the flowers. Ben’s honeybees are on the milkweed, Russian sage, Montauk daisies, and remaining wild flowers. Here are some photos of the beauty of fall in my garden.
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.
Common Eastern bumble bee
Common Eastern bumble bee
Common Eastern bumble bee
Now, I’ll go scrub the floor!
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 balm, and borage for them, and they pollinate my perennials and our veg.
Bee keeping is not easy—you certainly don’t set up the hives and forget them. The bees need constant monitoring, maintenance, and care. They get sick, they die, they swarm off. One year we lost nearly all of them because of some fickle weather. It’s not unusual to see ladders propped in various trees on the farm. Ben has collected and returned three swarms of his own this year (the neighbors capture these incidents on video), and he also removes swarms from other people’s properties and brings them home.
The honey bees are generally very gentle and he often works with them without any gear. But one night he got stung on the lip. He looked like one of the Real Housewives, and I couldn’t look at him without laughing! Often, I am a bee widow, but that’s okay. They are lovely, interesting, and beneficial creatures, and I’m happy to share the farm with them.