This summer has given new meaning to the descriptive term "spotty", used in beekeeping to describe the widely diverse yields of honey that may be found from yard to yard in some seasons.
A few weeks ago, we went to one yard to take honey off for the third time this season. Over half of the colonies yielded 200 or more pounds, most of which had come in during the previous 14 days. Some of these are colonies that had already had 200 pounds taken off in June and July, which meant that they have now made 400 pounds, with the goldenrod and aster honey still to be gathered.
I had never seen anything like this before. The power in nature is humbling, and I will always be in awe of what this yard made in 1998.
At the other end of the scale, there are yards nearby with colonies that have not made any honey this year, this is the " spotty" nature of the season. Where the bees did make honey, it came late and with the volume of a tidal wave. It is often hard to tell why there are differences in yards and with seasons. Ten basswood trees that are maturing near a bee yard could make a difference. Also, in some years their blossoms may be knocked off by a rain storm. A 60 acre field of alfalfa cut earlier one year because of good drying conditions may change a crop. In areas where dairy farming is fading, goldenrod fields are part of the succession of plants. We do know that it was cool and wet for much of the early season. So much of these things remains a mystery, but we are always grateful for the honey that the bees do make.
We appreciate your interest and support of our bees and their work.
State of the Hive Annual Report - Winter 1997/1998
As beekeepers, we work through a rhythm of yearly cycles. These include helping the bees build up for and then gather a crop for around six months of the year, harvesting this crop (with hope that there is one, it doesn't always happen), packaging the crop, and working on marketing the honey and building equipment while the bees are dormant and resting up for the next season.
While this yearly cycle is constant, what is different each season and also on a day-to-day basis, are the constant changes of the flowers, amount of rainfall and snow, temperature in the location where the bees are (and on the other side of the world, which affect us), and also cultural changes of each location, such as alfalfa and clovers being cut earlier than 30 years ago in order to provide more protein for dairy cows, construction and development building in areas for flowers for the bees once grew, and farms becoming abandoned, which may allow for wildflowers such as berry bushes, goldenrod and asters to grow more profusely. 1997 will be remembered as an unusual year where patterns in nature were different, often unexplainable, which I think of as mysteries of the land.
These monumental forces that change the nature of each week for the honey bees are impressive and command a great deal of respect. We are not able to predict the changes that we face each season. While this is unusual for a business in America in the 1990's, these changes have always been a constant for beekeeping. We have faith that over the years, the bees will make crops of honey.
While this yearly cycle is constant, what is different each season and also on a day-to-day basis, are the constant changes of the flowers, amount of rainfall and snow, temperature in the location where the bees are (and on the other side of the world, which affect us), and also cultural changes of each location, such as alfalfa and clovers being cut earlier than 30 years ago in order to provide more protein for dairy cows, construction and development building in areas for flowers for the bees once grew, and farms becoming abandoned, which may allow for wildflowers such as berry bushes, goldenrod and asters to grow more profusely. 1997 will be remembered as an unusual year where patterns in nature were different, often unexplainable, which I think of as mysteries of the land.
- Because of a cool Spring, most of the colonies only had one day or so of flight to work on the dandelions in May. The bees traditionally get dandelion nectar and pollen for several weeks, and this enables them to build up for the main crops of the summer and fall. With only one day on the dandelions and a three+ week delay in other nectar and pollen, the bees were noticeably weaker most of the summer and many colonies had starved by June.
- This was a season where the bees made less honey from the " major honey plants" (alfalfa, clovers, goldenrod) and a greater percentage from the " minor" plants that provided nectar such as milkweed, chicory, purple loosestrife, sumac, thistle, leafy spurge, and aster. An early frost killed much of the goldenrod in September and later the warmest October in memory enabled the bees to work the aster plants for weeks on end and make honey.
- Several bee yards made zero honey up to early September and then made an 80 lb. per colony average during two weeks in mid-September. I saw this as a miracle it was very humbling to feel the power of nature.
These monumental forces that change the nature of each week for the honey bees are impressive and command a great deal of respect. We are not able to predict the changes that we face each season. While this is unusual for a business in America in the 1990's, these changes have always been a constant for beekeeping. We have faith that over the years, the bees will make crops of honey.