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 an impressive load of empty boxes at the top of the post as we put out more boxes for our foragers.

This year's honey crop is very much in process, but we do have a fair number of full boxes on a good number of hives. Then there are other hives that are just getting started or appear to need another month to have great production potential. It is the same with various yards. Some are doing awesomely, and others are not impressive. We still have a few more weeks of decent potential before the reality of the overall crop is clear for us. Here is an image from one of the best yards. If I remember correctly, 29 of 32 hives looked almost this good as this particular pallet of hives:

The overall bloom is past its visual peak. There is still some white sweet clover with some color, the red clover is passing, and the Dutch clover is hanging in the picture but starting to decline. Soybeans are in bloom now, so that is a major potential source that's not fading yet. The 2020 bloom will not be spread out as much as 2019 since the soybeans were planted earlier for the most part in 2020. We do hope most of the honey boxes are put to good use and not carried around solely out of hope.

In areas where there is a strong flow underway, we've seen some really beautiful brood frames. Here is one of the best on a day when the brown caps seemed to shine with an unusual gleam in the sunlight.

While we have not even started the harvest process except for beginning to prep the extracting equipment, I'm already getting nervous about moving on to parasite control and making any summer splits that we want to get started before it is too late. Time continues to fly along at warp speed as we endeavor to keep up with nature!