Gary here. Thanks for stopping by!
It’s the weekend; though with social distancing, sometimes it is hard to tell where on the calendar we are, since ‘home’ is not just home anymore, but rather it is where many spend most of their time.
If you can safely get outside to look at a tree or smell a flower, take advantage of it, a chance to clear the head. And if you cannot get outside, then perhaps just take a moment to join me, to be zen with some bees.
Be well and stay calm.
We all have many journeys. Gary’s began in a small Midwest town, where he could play unfettered in the woods, finding an early love for nature and learning self-reliance. The space program and the night skies hooked him on astronomy. After finishing college, the wide world beckoned, and his fascination with science drew him to California to participate in the booming tech industry. Now he still stares upward, wondering what it all is about.
Enjoyed
Malinda, thanks. Stay well, and be calm. 🙂
Love my bees
Yes, they really are calming! I find you can go to “work” the bees, totally immersed in them, and when you look up, an hour has gone by. 🙂
Thanks for this lovely moment in your world. I love watching bees in my flowers. I am curious about the practice of feeding sugar water to the bees instead of giving them their fair share of honey to feed their young. Any thoughts?
Hi Candace! Regular honey is usually the best food for bees (besides protein, and “bee bread” which they collect and make from pollen, a bit of honey, and some salivary enzymes mixed together). When a new colony is getting started, they need to do lots of things – the queen lays eggs; nurse bees take care of the little larvae until they are ready to come out; forager bees go outside the hive box to find nectar; guard bees guard the door. The beekeeper can help by lending the colony some honey, or sugar water, until the foragers can bring back enough nectar. That causes the queen to lay more eggs faster, because the bees sense the available food, and adjust. So the colony can grow faster and remain healthy if the beekeeper lends a hand early on.
If there is any natural honey around (say, borrowed from another colony), then that is good to use. If not available, then sugar water works well as a substitute. The beekeeper needs to buy good sugar water, avoiding the high fructose corn syrup stuff, IMHO. There are also good protein sources, such as “protein patties,” that can be bought to help. Keep watching my series of “Bee Zen” videos, and we will continue to cover a season with the bees. 😉
Being outside, making contact with nature every day is so important to the human spirit; if you cannot go outside, bring the fresh air and sounds of nature inside by opening windows.