Plan Bees

It doesn't matter if it's 54° or 104° the native bumblebees are out doing their work!

One of the cutest bumblebee nests I've been asked to relocate. These girls were underneath an empty pool that was being deconstructed and amazingly chill about me moving their nest. 💚🐝💚

Bees swarming in the rain!

Collecting bee swarms in the rain is always a tricky proposition! I've tried sheltering them with umbrellas, knocking them in to containers while they're wet and then putting them in a heated room, all with mixed results. Fortunately with these girls I was able to find a break in the rain where they had enough time to dry out and it was just warm enough so the the ones who didn't go in the bucket the first time were able to fly in.

They will be on their way to their new home shortly!

💚🐝💚

How do bees know when you're out of town...? Of course they're swarming now!

Thanks for rescuing and rehoming them! ❤️

One of my favorite things is when a bee lands on me to do her grooming before she goes about her day. In this case she decided to take a break before joining her swarm sisters on top of the ladder in the background.

💚🐝💚🐝💚🐝💚

It's a beautiful day for spring cleaning in the beeyard!

A little cool this morning, but the perfect day to remove all the insulation from the hives and see how the bees are doing from the winter. Which overall it's pretty good, in this beeyard on Lorain highway 13 of the 15 colonies I had survived winter.

💚🐝💚🐝💚

It's a cold icy morning at the beeyard! I'm glad all the hives are still winterized and the bees are tucked nicely inside. 💚🐝

Who else is excited for the BEEvent this Saturday!!

The Linn County Master Gardeners Pollinator Conference is packed full of great speakers. You can still get tickets to attend in person or online from their website.

https://linnmastergardeners.com/pages/beevent

First Bumblebee Queen sighting of the year!! 👀

The buzz of spring... bumblebee queens emerge from their winter hibernation to begin the search for a suitable nest site to raise the next generation of pollinators. 💚

With this balmy weather the bees are getting excited for spring! Or maybe I'm just projecting... 😋 💚 🐝

This little bumblebee is just done... 💚 😴

The new Queens are out!! Long live the queen 👑😀

Psst... We're swarming in August, past it on. 😅🤪🤦

Thanks to the great people at Pneu-med on Amazon parkway for letting me know about this deviant bunch of bees. Hopefully the end cap to another weird swarm season.

I'm so grateful to have been part of the beyond toxics Bee Jazzy event at Sylvan Ridge Winery last night.

What an amazing group of people!

Thanks to the brave souls who ventured over to play my match your local pollinator to it's nesting site game.

Join me this Saturday at 11am in the Mountain Rose Annex (across from the Down to Earth nursery) for a fun, family-friendly talk on 7 ways to help our pollinators!

We'll discuss creating space, building habitats, appropriate plants, and more.

🐝🦋🌿🌱🌺🌻

Down To Earth Home, Garden & Gift Mountain Rose Herbs KLCC Beyond Toxics Oregon Bee Project

Cool sleepy June morning in the garden. 💚🐝🌱🌄

Saving honey bees in the Walmart parking lot! Thanks to the pharmacist who noticed the swarm and called me. 💚 🐝 💚

Which option would you choose?

🧗 🪚 🍻 😭

I'll just set the bee smoker here by the van until it burns out... 🤪 😫

It was great having the team from KVAL News out in the beeyard today.

Reporting on the bees barehanded! 🔥🔥🔥

Thanks Juliette and Quinn!

First swarm rescue of the season!! Only about six weeks later than normal, but that just gave me extra time to get organized, right?

(Nope not a bit... 😂)

They got to ride in the front on the way home because the back is all cluttered with bee gear and ladders.

Come join me and Jeff Bandow from beeboxinghives this Saturday afternoon from 2 - 4 at Eugene Backyard Farmer for a fun class on keeping honey bees in Kenyan topbar and Warré style beehives.

Oregon State Beekeepers Association Oregon State University Small Farms Program Lane County Beekeepers UO Urban Farmers Eugene Weekly Lane County Farmers Market

New arrival! I'm looking forward to this book and Tomi Vaarde's perspective on permaculture.

It's time to hatch Mason bees!

I picked mine up today here in Eugene from Rebecca at Mason Bees Supply. You can still order bees from her and hatch them out any time this next month.

Super excited for my pollinator garden design talk today at the mountain rose herbs annex!

Super excited about the Blue Vervain from .bee.nursery that I picked up at this week! 🌞 🌱 🐝 💚

Most days it's about the bees. My connection with them and the meditation of working with them.

But some days, like today, it's about sweet golden honey still hot from the hive!

🐝💚🍯

I love that look of newly drawn comb! Especially when it's coming from one of this year's swarms and they're filling it up for winter! 🐝🍯❤️

So much fun visiting the OSU Honey Bee Lab today!!

Thanks to Ramesh and Hannah for being such great hosts!