This has proven quite a year thus far. Looking back on March 2020 and our uncertainty about getting bees out of almonds in California amid the arrival of covid regulations, it seems like one of those tip of the iceberg moments rather than an anxiety that merited distraction. The reality is that business is very […]
The Lynnville side of the operation started extracting a few days ago. The image above is the the first load they hauled in from the yards. Over on the Mount Vernon side of things we once again had a few equipment related items to remedy before committing to a building stacked with honey to extract. […]
We always wonder if there will be a surplus honey crop. Average yields fluctuate annually, the exact timing of the surplus flows shifts around by weeks, and there is always the sad possibility of an utter dearth when we harvest nothing substantial. The good news? We don’t have an utter dearth for 2020! Phil has […]
June is almost always a time of great hope for an impressive honey flow in Iowa. As the image above shows, we’ve been running around getting boxes on everything in hopes of catching some early surplus honey. Andrew has enjoyed climbing around the trucks and making “steps” of the boxes so that he can get […]
One of the virus-related disruptions of 2020 is that I no longer sit at a coffee shop on Sunday mornings and write a blog every week or two. Apologies for the lengthy delay in writing an update since the California venture early in the year! The bees did quite well in the exceptionally warm and […]
Almond bloom is exploding into a beautiful scene for bees and beekeepers. When we pulled into this orchard several days ago, there were no open blooms. As the image above shows, large portions of this orchard are now fully open and enticing millions of bees to visit. Forager after forager is coming home loaded with […]
Almond pollination is officially underway in the orchards where our bees are located. In the image above, I count six pollen carriers, though one of them is disappearing into the entrance rather than standing around with the others. The orchard with the load from Pella is in substantial bloom, especially in the younger half of […]
This week we had a request on social media to offer more detail about how we are working to prepare for almond pollination season. The trees won’t open for a few more weeks, but we go through a lot of work and investment to get them shipshape before the big event. Right now I’m sitting […]
A few days ago we started our California bee rounds among the almond trees. We are in two different orchards instead of one this year. The Pella load of bees all went to a ranch where we found them staged on the ends of the rows. We got through that entire group in less than […]
The American Honey Producers Association is holding its annual convention in Sacramento. Founder Phil started coming to this conference roughly fifteen years ago; we think it was 2004. In more recent years, Alex and I joined the annual bee people party. This year’s conference was the first time that all three of us have been […]