The Bees Are Back!

Saturday: The bees are coming today! To get ready for their arrival, I'm preparing their sugar syrup and making a homemade version of Honey B Healthy, a nourishing supplement that is added to the syrup. I'll be teaching my co-workers how to be beekeepers and they'll be installing the bees on Sunday with my guidance. Ray built us...

Tuesday’s Tips — Fruit Set Problems in Squash

Or we might have titled this post "Why Bees Are So Important." In January the press reported that scientists had noticed a significant decline in bumblebee populations in the U.S. — first it was the honeybees that were disappearing and now it's bumblebees too. Scientists are not sure why just yet, but one thing they...

Tuesday’s Tips — Disappearing Bumble Bees

We've written a lot about Colony Collapse Disorder and the nearly overwhelming problems that affect honey bees, but things are at least as dire for our native bees, most notably the lovely bumble bee. Bumbles are the stuff of our childhood memories. Who, when remembering walks through wildflower fields, doesn't see in their mind's eye...

Tuesday’s Tips — Planting My Meadow

Mary Beth: I've been dreaming about planting a meadow in my yard for a long time and the new gas line we had installed a couple of months ago provided me with the last push I needed to get this project underway. After searching for the right mixture for my zone (intermountain climate, Sunset Zone 2B),...

Wordless Wednesday

Colorado

Sunday Zen

Got behind on my dates. National Honey Bee Awareness Day was yesterday , but just because I missed that boat it doesn't mean we shouldn't be celebrating our honey bees every other day of the year. So let's start today by being grateful for all that these  insects do for us — pollinating more than...

Garden Journal — Block Island Bees

Mary Beth and I have been trying to push ourselves to blog more often so in the past few months we've created several regular features. One is Sunday Zen, a photographic time-out where we go into the garden, usually ours, but sometimes other public and private gardens, and take photographs that reflect our mood. Tuesday's...