Heading into this spring season with over 40 honey pre-orders in queue, one thing was for sure, it was time to expand our apiary. Expanding the farm’s apiary has always been a dream for this beekeeper. It was never really a matter of if, but when? With over 450 organic acres, rich in floral resources, literally tons of forage and water throughout the growing season, it was only a matter of time. So this year, 2021, was the year.
An Early Spring with All the Buzz
The spring treated us well, allowing us to triple the number of hives early in May. Warm temperatures in April (hot? 80 degrees F) got the beehive party started about two weeks earlier than normal. Tinkering with some new strategies this year, we collected one honey bee swarm that soon became two. Suddenly, we had five bee yards scattered across our farm with one yard providing exclusive access only to collected swarm colonies to begin monitoring ‘wild’ genetics and performance over time. The start of this season just seemed to be smiling upon us.
Drought Hits
Then it got dry. So very…very dry. It seemed that by early June, whatever flow and well-spring of life our momentum drank from in early May had completely run dry. We were witnessing what appeared to be the onslaught of a drought. Forecast models had predicted it, and we were seven inches of precipitation below average going into the final week of June. Seeds were planted in dry soil to wait for a rain to come. I even began watering the bees for the first time ever in 13 years of caring for them. It was so extremely dry, we were uncertain of what might happen with all the farm’s crops.
Character is the virtue of hard times.
Charles de Gaulle
And, the ‘Character’ I am referring to above, is the character of the honey bee.
Then Flooding
Suddenly, in true, weather extreme fashion, the rain faucet turned on. Over five inches in three days, then three inches more to round out that last week in June with 8 inches in less than a week. Now, you might be wondering, ‘Why all this drama about the weather?’ or ‘the hard times?’ de Gaulle references.
Well, a couple things about weather, particularly precipitation: 1) Bee foraging behavior is impacted by the weather. Honey bees, particularly, do not fly much if it’s raining. They just can’t do it very well. They use the sun for navigation, and then wet wings make for very difficult flying. And, 2) Nectar availability and flow from floral resources is also impacted by weather. Too much or too little precipitation, impacts bloom and the flow of nectar that is available to honey bee foragers. From drought years that limit plant water, to wet years that dilute the sugar content of nectar, and then there’s the washing away of nectar that a heavy rain can easily do. When it comes to honey, weather calls the shots.
So, here we were approaching July, and it was as if all hive developments had paused. Everything inside the hive seemed to slow to a crawl from early June when the drought picked-up through the remainder of the month that ended with a deluge. Going into the year, I felt so confident. I was trying out this new ‘Honey Buyer’s Club’ initiative, and now with 40+ pre-orders promised and unfulfilled, I was trying not to get nervous. Yet, these conditions were something new, and the optimist in me was starting to wonder.
Alas! Honey
Then, with a puttering start, the honey spigot turned on. With very little synchrony, thematic for this season, honey started flowing in excess with just a few hives. Adding more drama to the mix was the high temperatures that seemed to last all summer. Colonies that were populous and primed to collect a lot of nectar were working hard to keep their colony cool from overheating, yet the bees persevered. The first pull in early July yielded enough honey to fill most the pre-order promises. Then other hives started picking up momentum, and by August we had one of our biggest honey harvests to date. September’s final harvest did not disappoint either.
We rounded out this year with a honey harvest that tripled the previous year, and one hive that produced a farm record – over 220 excess pounds! The Michigan state average is about 50 pounds of honey per hive.
From the slow-moving and nerve-wrecking start to the honey flow this year, the bees made it happen. Forever grateful am I to these amazing, four-winged friends and all that they provide. We wrap-up this September, the official National Honey Month, feeling more in awe than ever by these remarkable creatures. So many lessons about hanging on when the going gets tough, and ‘it ain’t over ’til it’s over’ come to mind. After all, maybe the bees had this all on lockdown from the get go. Yet, the bee caretaker inside of me knows ‘winter is coming,’ and a new and daunting cycle begins for this seemingly delicate organism with paper-like wings. In the meantime, I’m going to enjoy the sweetness of this September moment.
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