🐝 The Nectar Economy Is Booming!
Presented by Buzzwell, Chief Science Bee and Occasional Spokesbee
Greetings, pollinator enthusiasts, honey lovers, and people who still haven't figured out how they ended up subscribed to a bee newsletter.
June is one of the busiest months of the year in the hive.
Flowers are blooming across Vermont, and the bees are taking full advantage of the seasonal buffet. Every trip a honey bee makes creates one of nature's greatest partnerships. Bees collect nectar and pollen to feed their colony, while flowers receive pollination and the opportunity to produce seeds, fruits, and future flowers.
It's one of the oldest win-win agreements on Earth.
No contracts.
No lawyers.
Just millions of years of successful cooperation.
Humans should probably take notes.
A Promotion Is In Order
The bees would also like to formally recognize Jade Christensen, whose title has been upgraded from Head Beekeeper to:
Chief BeeKeeping Officer
This promotion reflects outstanding leadership, countless hive inspections, problem-solving under pressure, and a demonstrated willingness to work around tens of thousands of highly caffeinated insects.
The bees reviewed her performance and unanimously approved the promotion.
Well, almost unanimously.
One worker bee abstained due to a scheduling conflict involving clover.
Congratulations, Chief BeeKeeping Officer Christensen.
The Apiary Report
While the flowers have been busy, so has the Putney Ridge Raw Honey crew.
Brenna spent much of June conducting mite treatments across the apiary. Rain or shine, she completed three separate five-day treatment cycles to help keep the colonies healthy and productive. If honey bees had an employee appreciation program, she'd probably have enough points for a free toaster by now.
Meanwhile, Reece has been waging an ongoing battle against Vermont's rapidly growing grass. Keeping vegetation trimmed around the hives helps prevent entrances from becoming blocked and keeps plants from contacting the electric fence.
The grass continues to resist these efforts.
Reece continues to resist right back.
Elsewhere in the apiary, Elizabeth and Brenna have started processing some of the abundance of beeswax collected over the years. Using the power of the sun and black food-grade buckets, they're slowly melting and cleaning wax for future projects.
The bees remain suspicious that humans are once again taking something they worked very hard to make.
Return to the Runway
For the first time since surgery, the Apiary Air Traffic Controller suited up and entered the apiary.
No lifting was performed.
No boxes were moved.
No heroic beekeeping stunts occurred.
However, frames were inspected and Reece received hands-on instruction on removing and replacing frames within the hive.
The bees appeared pleased that management finally visited the workplace.
Or perhaps they were planning a performance review.
It's difficult to tell.
Reece getting in one final pushup before reporting for duty. The bees were unimpressed and immediately assigned additional tasks.
The Great Honey Extractor Feast
One of the most exciting events of June occurred when the honey extractor was placed outside for the bees to clean.
To humans, this looked like routine equipment maintenance.
To the bees, it looked like an all you can eat buffet.
Thousands of workers arrived to reclaim every last drop of honey left behind from previous seasons.
Don't worry.
The extractor will receive a thorough cleaning before our first extraction of the season on July 2.
That's when honey frames will be removed and bottling preparations will officially begin.
The bees have asked us to remind everyone that they did all the work.
Bee Fact of the Month
A single worker honey bee may visit thousands of flowers during her lifetime and will typically produce only about 1/12th of a teaspoon of honey.
Suddenly that jar on your kitchen counter seems like an incredible bargain.
Buzz Bros Corner
Buzzwell, "The pollination season is proceeding according to scientific expectations. Also, flowers continue to be remarkably cooperative."
Buzzbee: "Thousands of workers. Zero meetings. Still somehow more productive than most organizations."
Buzzloaf: "I helped supervise the honey extractor cleaning operation. By supervise, I mean I watched while lying down."
New Videos From Hive Mind Studios
The Buzz Bros have been hard at work producing educational programming that absolutely no one asked for but everyone should watch anyway.
New releases include:
🐝 When Hives Collide: The Guard Bee Dilemma (Hive Mind Lab Ep. 4)
🐝 The Bees Inspect Back (Buzzloaf's Chill Zone Ep. 7)
🐝 Thousands of Workers. Zero Meetings. (WaggleFit with Buzzbee Ep. 4)
🐝 The Bees Have Better Time Management Than Humans (Hive Mind Lab Ep. 5)
Watch them all at PutneyRidgeRawHoney.com/hivemind, YouTube, Facebook, and Instagram.
One Small Favor
If you enjoy this newsletter, please encourage friends and family to subscribe, that includes you Reece.
If they don't enjoy bee newsletters, ask them to subscribe anyway.
We're trying to increase readership, and the bees assure us that collecting subscribers is much easier than collecting nectar.
We're not completely convinced.
The can buzz to the bottom of the Putney Ridge Raw Honey Website to sign up.
Looking Ahead
July means honey extraction, bottling, and the beginning of another sweet harvest season.
The flowers are blooming.
The bees are flying.
The grass is growing.
The extractor is waiting.
And somewhere in the distance, Buzzloaf is probably taking another nap.
Until next month,
Buzzwell
Chief Science Bee, Temporary Newsletter Correspondent, and Defender of Accurate Pollinator Information
Bee kind to others.
