As a person who practices bee-centric beekeeping, my goal for hosting homes for honeybees does not lie in the honey harvest. I am a bee guardian because I believe in the healing power that comes with the keeping of honeybees. My reasons for being a bee keeper are found in the bees’ ability to pollinate flowers and bring new life, beauty and food, as well as the calm and meditative feelings I get when I listen to their gentle hum in and around the beehive. I love watching through the windows to my backyard the little flashes of golden light through the sky as the bees fly to gather nectar from the local flowers. The honey that the bees provide is a wonderful added bonus to being a beekeeper in my opinion.
Producing honey from flower nectar is very taxing to the sweet little bees. In the heat and little moisture of high summer, a honeybee might only live around six weeks of age. The long days and moon lit nights cause the bees to work so hard that their life span is much shorter in this time of year. In late fall, winter and early spring months, the honeybees can live around 6 months of age. In the spring, nectar flow is plentiful, and there are many options for bees to collect nectar from the newly blooming spring flowers. As spring progresses into summer, the time between rains begins to lengthen, and the number of flowers providing nectar begins to fall. Flowers like echinacea and sunflowers become really important sources of food for the bees during these tough times. Here in Mississippi, the nectar flow and sources of nectar seem to lessen drastically from mid- June until early July, and do not pick up again until late August when goldenrod begins to bloom.
Tune in next month to learn more about how bees make honey.