Monday, October 11, 2010

Thanksgiving Feast for the Bees

Yes, even the bees get a special treat for Thanksgiving. At this time of the year they need fattening up for the winter and there is not a lot of fall forage out there. There are cosmos, Jerusalem artichokes, some sunflowers and asters, but let's face it, the sources of pollen and nectar are dwindling. So we mix up two parts sugar (4 c) to one part water (2 c) and blend in a pollen patty. As you can see, the bees are hungry and they immediately slurp up the smoothie with their tongues.


We are worried about our bees because when we checked them two weeks ago they had lost yet another queen. They had made three good queen cells so our fingers are crossed that one strong queen will hatch and help them make it through the winter. We've had really bad luck with our queens this year. I hope next year will be better.


I am drying the fennel and hops from the front of our house, but most of the hops grew way up beyond our reach. I need a trained squirrel to harvest them.


My amaranth fell over after the rain, so I've been stringing them up. I brought one head inside to see if the seeds will ripen.


I harvested some fennel twigs for school art projects.

After a lovely warm day working in the garden it was time for the human's Thanksgiving feast: squash, brussel sprouts, turkey with stuffing, cranberry jelly and my pumpkin pie made from scratch. I think the bees would have liked the German dessert wine we had with the pie. Happy Thanksgiving!


2 comments:

  1. Mme Bee,

    Bellas all of you.

    Love the first shot. Is it my poor vision? They look like they've big eyes on their heads. What kind of bees are they?

    Mrs O'K

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  2. You're right, they are worker bees with big eyes as opposed to drones who have even larger eyes to see the queen to mate with her. I don't know why most worker bees appear to have eyes tucked neatly at the sides of their heads and others seem closer to the top of their heads.

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