Honeyfest is Over, Goldenrod Begins

-Posted by Isaac

What a crazy time was this year's Honeyfest! As usual Jayne was responsible for the beautiful display. I was able to snap a few pictures while she added some finishing touches. This was around 11 a.m. Friday morning:

An hour before the official start, the early birds trickled in.

By afternoon (and the entire next day) we were swamped. Thank you for all the support and nice compliments, honey lovers. It was a happy, fun, busy weekend.

Because of the perpetual crowd surrounding, sampling and buying, I'm left with just a couple small regrets: one, I didn't get to talk to you in a relaxed way... too many people needing help. And two, I wanted to make it around the festival, finding interesting things to post on this blog... well, I didn't get to; same reason, just too busy. I guess that's a good problem. Maybe next year we'll hire more workers.

The goldenrod has now started to bloom in earnest:

The pollen traps are filling up, and as you can see, the bees have found it. This is the beautiful orange (tasty!) goldenrod pollen. In just the span of a few days the color has completely changed from browns and yellows (clover, ragweed) to pure orange.

We have four bee yards with pollen traps. Around 50 hives in all. Until today I would come home with maybe a third to half a five-gallon bucket full of pollen. Not now. The skinny times are over, the Fat-Cat (Big-Bee) days begin. This evening I should have brought another bucket! We were overflowing... what a difference the goldenrod makes!

This is my favorite of the four yards:

Just step out the front door, girls!

I think this is the equivalent to having prime lakeside real estate. Or if you're like me, a Swiss chalet on a mountain trail.

This evening the family joined me for a "pollen run."

It took a little prodding to get the kids to come along. They're suddenly at the age where Legos and cartoons become much more important than, in Mason's words, "a boring pollen run."

We had a small stinging incidence. We had tears.

Oh no.
They'll never come with me again.

Maybe we'll just stick to the bee yard with the near-by backyard swing set.