Bees, Honey, and Pollen

Excited about bees? We are too!

We recently assembled and installed two Langstroth beehives for colonies of Russian bees we’ll be bringing in this spring and we are excited to tell you about our bees, honey, and pollen.

Here is a photo of what one of our beehives look like!

Bees are small but are very mighty when it comes to benefiting the planet! They hold so much power, and we are grateful to be able to host some of our very own.

Not only are we excited to be able to raise bees to eventually provide our CSA with organic honey, but bees will also benefit our orchard trees with bee cross-pollination!

Bees spend their days hopping from flower to flower in search of nectar. As they go, they spread pollen that helps our trees to fruit.

To help benefit our bee friends, we have established a bee sanctuary all around the farm filled with flowers that bloom from early spring to late fall. We have water sources for them provided by our ducks who dig holes and make little puddles everywhere they go. And we have fields of clover which go un-mowed and are left for the bees to gather nectar from. We are also growing specific flowers which research has shown to boost a bee’s immune system - such as Sunflowers, Anise Hyssop, Roses, Mint, Marigold, and Snapdragons, just to name a few! So, in addition to the ‘bee grocery store’, we have a ‘bee vitamin store’ too!

Most people paint their hives to protect the wood which turns a dull gray after a year outside unprotected. We chose to paint ours with Farrow and Ball’s sunny Dutch Orange with Duck Green trim. We hope the bees love it!

We’ll post updates as the bees move into their new abodes this spring.

Stay Tuned!