#beebloom2018

#pollen rainbow ... lots of dandie, willow, ornamental pear/cherry and deadnettle. #beebloom2018 #bees (at Robinson Township, Washington County, Pennsylvania)

Happy Summer Solstice and National Pollinator Week 2018! The Helianthus ... aka “sunflowers” ... are beginning to bloom! It’s been a busy Pollinator Week so far but there are some fun events coming up this weekend! Taste Spring Tree Blossom Honeys at @treepgh ‘s Summer Solstice Party at their new Allegheny Riverside Educational Campus tomorrow evening from 5:00-9:00 pm! Saturday evening, join @burghbees for a seed bomb hike at 6:30pm at Beechwood Farms (DM for RSVP) and then grab a beer at @strangerootsbeer afterwards. If you’re looking to create backyard pollinator habitat then stop by @gardendreamspgh urban farm this weekend and get 20% off of bee-beneficial native perennials! June 29, we’ll be @imadeitmarket ‘s Farmers Market at The Block at Northway with some fun summer-inspired 100% locally crafted honey infusions like including our organic herbal fire honeys and creamsicle, too! #bees #nationalpollinatorweek #treepittsburgh #gardendreamspgh #millvalecommunitylibrary #beebloom2018 (at Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania)

Loads of incoming pollen last week from 4/12-4-15/18 ranging from white to all shades of yellow to bright orange. Most hives at 3-5 frames brood. Very few queen cells. Many blooms opened from 5% to 30-50% within a day or two including willows (Salix discolor), ornamental cherries, dandelion, squill, magnolias, forsythia. Lamium started to bloom but no foraging seen during that period. #beebloom2018 #beebloompgh2018 #bees (at Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania)

dark amber Fallopia (aka “knotweed”) nectar flow coming in very heavily for my #Pittsburgh city bees! Lots of burr comb being drawn on hives that aren’t heavily supered. The knotweed flow still a few days to a week from full in the more rural/suburban yards. Love how the smell of ripening honey from the bees fanning in warm August weather fills the air with the smell of earthy molasses. Most of the 80 hives I’m tending are running so strong this year I can barely keep ahead of constant supering with foundation, particularly in urban yards. Drawn comb production hasn’t slowed much which is not the norm every year. #beesbestrong #nectarflow #beebloom2018 #falliscoming (at Hazelwood) https://www.instagram.com/p/BnCwlP5Hz0U/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=jbyfaiw51fsq

dark amber Fallopia (aka “knotweed”) nectar flow coming in very heavily for my #Pittsburgh city bees! Lots of burr comb being drawn on hives that aren’t heavily supered. The knotweed flow still a few days to a week from full in the more rural/suburban yards. Love how the smell of ripening honey from the bees fanning in warm August weather fills the air with the smell of earthy molasses. Most of the 80 hives I’m tending are running so strong this year I can barely keep ahead of constant supering with foundation, particularly in urban yards. Drawn comb production hasn’t slowed much which is not the norm every year. #beesbestrong #nectarflow #beebloom2018 #falliscoming (at Hazelwood) https://www.instagram.com/p/BnCwlP5Hz0U/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=164cxaztikbsy

yellow #pollen = yellow #beeswax #beebloom2018 (at Millvale, Pennsylvania)

So, I was going through my 2017 bloom sequence records to get ready for this coming season. Thought it’d be fun to post some of bloom record here and pair them with honey happenings from last year. (There’s is an April Fools Easter Egg in here somewhere, if you can find it) Weather last season definitely had its share of extremes but the bees have been coming through this winter with no major mortality to report. 50 out of 54 hives have currently made it through the winter and will likely split to between 70-80 hives in the coming month. Three of the hives that died this winter were no surprise as they always struggled to gain weight likely due to lack of varroa mite resistance. Just mentioning too that we’re honored that our Fall Fallopia Wildflower Honey won a 2018 Good Food Award in January! I gave a talk on behalf of the Honey Category at the Awards Ceremony. You can read or listen to the talk at the Apoidea Apiary website: www.apoidea-apiary.com. After major apiary remodel last year that took 7 months, I’ve been super busy on 2 long-term projects that will continue through this year. Will try to post bloom updates this season. So far a crazy warm February has turned to uncomfortably cold March. The prolonged cold has suppressed the normal March bloom. As soon as it warms up things are going to explode! As always, Bee Prepared! #beebloom2017 #beebloom2018