May 1, 2017

Bees have always been hit or miss on my property especially early in the season. Most years they show up briefly when my peach trees are blooming and then disappear for several months. They usually are absent when my apples bloom and when my squash begin to bloom.

It has been several years and has become protocol but for the first few weeks of my summer squash and butternut squash I hand pollinate. This lasts until the bees arrive.

 Until it dawned on me that the reason all the first squash would abort was because there were no bees. When this light turned on this changed everything. It is funny though, I find that hand pollinating is much more productive than what the bees do. I am more than glad to let the bees do this and they seem to do it tirelessly. Every year Deb would joke with me about putting on my bee suit. I would hand pollinate until the squash bed was a buzz with bees and then I would relinquish this duty to them.

This changed everything as far as early squash harvests. It became a dream to have a hive.

We did purchase a hive and for several years have missed the August deadline for ordering bees to arrive in April. Just never could get my act together.

Recently a fellow I met a couple of years back has gotten into bee removal from unwanted locations and he asked me if I would like a hive. This was a no brainer and Scott Wasserman of The Bee
Wranch brought by a swarm to re-home in my hive. I told him he is more than welcome to any honey they produce and that I was only interested in the fine services that the bees could provide me.

I have known folks that have “re-homed” bees to not have them stay and just move on. I so very much hope that these guys like their new digs. I am very curious to see how this changes production in the garden.

So if you need to remove some bees or are in need of give Scott a call at 432-294-9380 or go to TheBeeWranch@gmail.com  I am sure he would be glad to help you.