-Posted by Isaac

Can you find her? She's big, black and beautiful. One of the California carniolans ordered in April.

Mama has been busy lately. And the results are starting to show.

(They don't all look like this just yet. But I like to keep a few specific photos for the bragging.)

Yes, things are going good. The other night at the bee meeting, some of the old timers were saying that they've never seen such a fantastic spring flow. But I suspect that after 101 years of keeping bees, you tend to forget a year or two. (Like last year.)

2015 was pretty dang good also. But they're right, for a bee on the lookout for food, it's easy pickings right now. The world is an all-you-can-stuff-in-your-honey-stomach-buffet. I mentioned our great dandelion flow back in April. As we were making splits, the hives seemed to gain weight by the minute. Well, they're still putting on the pounds. Here are a few images of what's popping.

The autumn olive came out firing with both barrels. For once, the weather cooperated.

And of course, still blooming is our good old reliable honeysuckle.

Our girls are gaining in stature. We need more supers!

The grass, as you yard mowers can attest, is keeping right up with everything else. Growing at a roar.

There are many others-- not big nectar producers, but loads of pollen to suit the palate. Last Sunday we had a picnic by my brother's stream. Right above us was a black willow abuzz. Just humming! It made for good entertainment.

And just yesterday I noticed the hum coming from our big burr oak out in the goat pen.

Even our state tree shares some love with the bees this time of year.

Where are we going to put all this honey!? (Don't count your chickens, right?)

Well, just in case we do have a lot, I embarked on a project this week. We now have a big holding tank. On Tuesday I gave a bee talk in Amish country. It's a long way up there, and as usual I found a way to spend money.

This 500 gallon stainless steal tank will replace the 500 gal. plastic one from last year. One season of shoveling granulated aster honey was quite enough!