Here are some early photos of the garden this year. My this year is to grow things that we love to eat and herbs and flowers to feed the bees 🐝
Garden 2019
I am back!
Sorry for the radio silence on the site and lack of new posts! This winter has been busy.
The weird winter weather was not good for my bees. Sadly, I lost my last hive a few weeks ago so I am in a rebuilding mode.
This seasons post may focus more on my garden and pollinator friendly activities. I will still be a sources of support for new keepers but, I will probably curtail my number of hives.
Below are some shots of the winter aftermath.
Busy summer
Sorry about my lack of recent posts! I am still around and my bees 🐝 are healthy.
Above is a photo of one of my several sunflowers 🌻 in my yard. I have taken a bit of break on the blog but, my hope over the next few weeks is to post the many photos and stories that I have documented over the last few months so please stay tuned!
Best Wishes!
Michelle
Sunday Morning at Real Food Farms
I met Will one of the farm managers at the site to look at the hives. We discovered one of was lost during the winter.
Will was excited to see the honey frames and posed for me above. I will be back to the Farm because they have donated equipment to BeeMore for use and rehabilitation.
I will be holding an event here in May stay tuned for more information.
Have a great Sunday!
Michelle
Seedlings at Park Heights
People often ask me how and why I started beekeeping and BeeMore and it all goes back to the garden. This morning, I dropped by the offices before an Earth day event and I was inspired by these seedlings which started off like this…
or probably more like this last summer 
So it’s great to see the early evolution of these plants before we put them in the garden when the weather warms a but more.
Happy Earth Day!
Michelle
🌻 Sunflower Starters 🌻
Over the last few weeks, I started some flower seeds inside because of the recent Nor’easter. My hope is to get a jump start on the pollinator friendly plants.
I thought that I would share some tips on indoor planting that I found on the internet.
- Make sure you use a larger pot or even cup because these seed grow quick.
- Make sure the soil temperature is 65-70 degrees. This plant is above a heat vent so these have taken off better than the ones in my kitchen.
- Water every 2 or 3 days.
- Wait until it’s above 65 to transplant.
Good Luck 🍀
I will be getting my 1st set of new bees on April 7th. So look out for some new bee 🐝 posts.
Michelle
Project Sunflower
I am currently a taking the UME Baltimore City Master Gardener course and last week we talked about pollinators which is one of my favorite topics. It sparked me to look at my garden and what I plant. Last year, I planted sunflowers and they were great in my garden. I found that sunflowers attracted a myriad of bees and other pollinators.
This year as part of my work with BeeMore, I am going up my game a bit by planting additional sunflowers at different sites. I found some great resources on this and the ongoing Great Sunflower Project.
I will share more on my efforts to support Project Sunflower.
Michelle
Some Bee Facts
Since its the winter and my post from the hives are limited. I wanted to add some interesting bee facts that I found on the internets.
Fun facts about bees:
- Honeybees are the only insect that produces food eaten by humans.
- Worker honey bees are female.
- Drones are male honey bees.
- The average worker bee produces only 1/12 teaspoon of honey over her lifetime.
- A worker bee lives about 6 weeks. The queen bee can live to be 5 years old.
- Honey never spoils.
- To make one pound of honey, bees must visit 2 million flowers.
- There are nearly 20,000 known species of bees in seven recognized biological families. They are found on every continent except Antarctica, in every habitat on the planet that contains insect-pollinated flowering plants.
I thought that some of these facts may be helpful getting to know more about the ever important bee.
Michelle
Viva la Abeja! Long live the Bee!
Bee Hive
Bees from Hive 1
Feeder
November 30th
Today, I was pleasantly surprised to find active bees building comb in Hive 1 at the Woodland site. See video below:
I only checked because I have been working on the greenhouses at Woodland for the winter season. I have been amazed by the greenhouse results so far. Below are some photos from my other project which is greenhouses. It has been exciting watching the progress.
Thanks for checking out the site and now I will be making at least two bee candy bars!
Michelle 🙂
