What are bees searching for now?

I got a phone call just the other day from someone who asked me what the bees are doing so early in the season. Well they are out in search of food. Pollen when combined with honey is also known as bee bread and around here the first thing I see them going after is the pussy willow just off of my back deck. As soon as the pussy willow pops open and starts to go it is covered with a ton of pollen. The bees gather it on their "legs" bring it back to the hives where it will be carefully packed into cells.

Pollen is stored in broodcomb cells and is the main supply of protein and vitamins for the hive. Pollen is 6 to 28% protein by weight and usually contains the 10 amino acids essential for bees.

Nectar is from 5 to 80% sugar but is less than 0.2% in protein, so nectar is the carbohydrate supply for the hive. Nectar is placed in honeycomb cells and the bees tending the honeycomb evaporate the water from the nectar by rapid wing movement to create ventilation. When the amount of water remaining in the nectar is less than 18%, the mixture is called honey and the bees cap off the cells.

A mixture of honey and pollen is called "bee bread" and is the food for most larvae and bees. When a worker egg has been selected to become a queen, it is moved to a much larger queen cell and is fed large quantities of "royal jelly" which is similar to bee bread but contains more mandibular gland secretions and more honey (34% vs 12%). The larger cell for growth, larger food supply, additional carbohydrate, and more worker secretions results in the development of a queen.

As soon as I can get a good photo showing bee bread I'll put it up.

This educational moment has been brought to you by . . . .heck I couldn't help it:)

First day back at Market

Well the Market was wonderful and getting to see everyone down at the market just made my day. To be honest getting up in the wee hours of the morning on Saturday wasn’t my favorite part, either was the loading and unloading of all my products but once I got everything all set up and the people started to arrive it felt like I was home.
I didn’t get to bring all of the products I usually bring to market but never the less I did manage to make people happy who were waiting for me to come back to the market. Of course my lip balm went flying off the table and the whipped honey was gone just as fast as I could pull them out of the box.
The vendors are all starting to come back to market and I’m enclosing some pictures to show you what you can expect to see at the market. Flowers are in right now and with Mothers day coming up here is your chance to come on down, support a local farmer and plant either your own flower or vegetable garden or even better, plant your mom’s flower garden. The vegetable plants are in as well and the hydroponic vendor was there with all of his fresh veggies, beautiful lettuce like you only see at the peak of the season.
My buddy Floyds brother and sister in law stopped at my table to visit and and told me next week they would be bringing fresh asparagus in so if you’ve been waiting for asparagus here is your chance. Yes I know we are supposed to have snow this week but they are going to harvest before the weather turns bad. Yipeee.
We are expanding the market so that it not only is going to operate on Saturdays down at the farm market but the market will once again be open at Westgate in front of Elder-Beerman on May 7th hours are from 4 – 7 p.m. One more market will open in Waterville on May 27th from 4-7 p.m.

No market for me this weekend :(

Well, Jim came home from work feeling pretty bad. So bad that he asked me to stay home. I have no idea what he has come down with. I thought we had gotten past the flu, he isn't coughing but has the worst sore throat he said he has ever had. On top of all that he said he just feels completely drained. I don't want to take any chances so I'll spend the day taking care of him. I'm sorry if this causes any problems. If you need some honey just give me a call and I'm sure I can find a way to get it to you.

Have a good day, the bees are flying and the sun is supposed to shine tomorrow. Life is Good!

Time to get back to market!

Miss Abby

Well spring is in the air, that's of course if you can get past the muck, the rain, the mud and yes occasionally the snow and sleet. Then again we live in Michigan which means the weather isn't exaction a real predictable thing. I hope to get enough things together to get to market this Saturday. I've got some fall honey to bottle and I have some whipped honey ready as well. Just getting back into the swing of things will be great. If you get a chance, stop on down to the Farm Market in Toledo and visit me, I'll be the one in the funny bee hat(probably keeping my ears warm)brrrrrrrr.


The bees had a real rough winter. It was pretty bad I ended up losing almost 70 percent of my bees. Some were weather related, hives that got tipped over this winter, some mice decided to inhabit the bottom of the hive and the bees just couldn't handle it. I have no idea what happened to the rest. I don't believe my losses were related to colony collapse disorder because I found dead bees in all the hives I lost. It broke my heart to see some of them die of starvation with honey just a frame or two away from them. I still have so much to learn, Uncle Ted says it's a lifetime learning curve. Great. . . . . This year I'm going to approach my bee yard with a whole different way of beekeeping, I'll let you know how it goes.

In the meantime underneath my feet is a new addition to the family, Miss Abby, another hunting dog for my husband and a great companion for me and my other buddy Jedd (the poodle that doesn't know he is a poodle). She's about 10 weeks old and yes she is a handful. To tell you the truth though, she is the smartest little thing you can shake a stick at. She already rings the bell on the front door to let me know it's time to go out. She knows how to sit and she has a pretty good temperament inside until she decides to get Jedd a little riled up. She doesn't back down and so far either has Jedd. It's gets pretty noisy in here sometimes.

See you soon!