Attack of the Ants

Have you noticed that the ants are PARTICULARLY large this spring?? I am scared I am going to get bit up like crazy if I don't watch where I'm stepping and standing for pictures. :)

Signs of Spring

One of my favorite signs of spring is baby birds and bird nests. I loved spotting this one while roaming one of our bee yards recently - wonder what kind of bird nested in it in the past and what will be in there soon. Hope I get to see them. Thankful it's low enough for me to get some great shots.

Blooming Huisache

Another lovely sign of spring - the Huisache trees are totally bursting with blooms! I wish my mom was here to see it with me. :)

Wisteria and Bees

Good morning, everyone! Just a quick hello from Seguin. Haven't had much time to post as we had a big event this past Saturday for our new beekeepers. Here's a shot of the latest thing to bloom in our yard - upright Wisteria. I love it and so do the bumble bees. Yesterday I saw three of them buzzing around the tall plant. Their flight behavior is so different from our honey bees so I enjoy watching them dart around in start/stop fashion (versus the more smooth flight of the honey bee). Here's a shot of our class from Saturday. We had a SUPER FAB time and now there are at least 24 new beekeepers in South Texas, keeping gentle bees. That's not counting the folks who got a jumpstart on things and picked up nucs weeks earlier. Let's hope we all have a great honey harvest this year!

Huisache in Spring

This year the Huisache is blooming all over the place like there's no tomorrow and they've got to show themselves now! It is pure eye candy this year in terms of flowering trees and bushes in addition to wildflowers. Everything is so lovely and colorful and green. Seems like we are getting rain every week or other week - what a great thing for us! The tanks are getting full as well. Many had dried out during the harsh drought last year and I didn't know how long it'd take or how it needed to rain to fill them all up but it looks like we are on the right track for sure. Love it.

Spring Breaks

Happy Spring Break, everyone! Seems like the whole state is on break this week. The work parking lot is mostly empty. Makes me just want to skip work and take pictures of all the blooming loveliness about town. I snapped this beauty out at the nearby My Father's Farm nursery on Highway 123 close to our house, which is very near the center of town. I always wonder if people realize there are over thirty bee hives on that nursery property. They are doing quite well out there between the abundant wild mustard blooms and now all sorts of different wildflowers are coming out. Very lovely to see.

Early Flowers

The weather's been pretty mild lately with a few days of cold sprinkled here and there; pretty mild winter overall really. The wonderful thing is the rain we've been getting. Everything is so green compared to this time last year and the bees are building up for the flowers that are coming. Here's an early bloomer - the Agarita. I love the name and the look of it. If it bloomed in winter, I'd definitely cut some and put in a vase for Christmas. Very lovely.

Butterflies and Thistle

This one if for Alan. :-) Thistle is here and so are the butterflies. We saw these along Big Oaks Road south of town a bit when we went to check on the bees out there. So many black butterflies everywhere - it was amazing! We had too many bee yards to check on so no time to get out of the truck. I got a few shots of the activity. We were wondering if these butterflies were competition for our bees as they all searched out nectar in this dry spring. The butterflies must be winning or the bees must not yet want thistle in their diet because we saw not one bee on the purple blooms.

Wildflowers in a Drought

This spring is nothing like last year's spring, that's for sure. Last year we had abundant rain. This year? Dry, dry, dry. And more dry. We need rain! And yet we still are able to see and enjoy some beautiful wildflowers. I know it's nothing like in the years we have rain, but I'd say we're lucky we have what we do! This is a variety that Mark picked from one of our bee yards for a photo shoot for our honey products. I just LOVE all the colors and how different each kind of flower is. The color, shape and scent of each is amazing. This is what goes into our honey that is being made by our bees. I love it.

Squirrel Family Love

These two were sooooo cute yesterday over by the honey house in our backyard. I came home to grab lunch and Mark told me they had been hanging out in that tree for some time already and at first he thought they were yelling at him to go away. Our squirrels are like that in the backyard. They think they own the great outdoors and they will let you know when they want you to leave their area. :-) Anyway, Mark watched for a while and he said the Mama had been trying to Baby to follow her and for some reason he would not. Maybe he was scared. Maybe he was hurt. We're not sure. At one point, she had a hold of his little paw and was tugging at him. CUTE! I wish I had caught that. By the time I was snapping pictures, she was showing him how to jump from the tree to the top of the honey house. That's probably about three feet but the drop to the ground is a lot farther, maybe ten feet. Poor thing. When I got home after 5p, they were gone. I guess she finally got him to follow her. Good for them. I'm not a huge squirrel fan but they were cute.

Don't forget today is Spring Fling at Maldonado Nursery on Highway 90. It looks like the perfect day to stroll around for great deals on plants and other products. We're headed over there after lunch. Hope to see ya!

More Springy Signs

Nothing says spring like flowers blooming everywhere - in fields, on trees, on fences, in flower pots and in gardens. It's everywhere and I have spring fever. I need to get out and dig into the flower beds and our little garden. I just need about 20 more hours added to my weekend to get it all done. :-)

The above picture is from a trip we took to one of our local bee yards. This year there is an abundance of these wild berry plants growing all over pretty much everything. Good news for us and the bees. Last year Mark and I sampled a few berries we found and they were very tasty. Maybe we'll have even more to sample this year.

Below is a shot of a Bluebonnet I checked out in the same field as the berry blooms. I like pulling down the petals and looking at the bright pollen and the cat-claw inside. It is such an intriguing flower and it lifts my heart each time I see it; whether it's one bloom or an entire blue sea of it. It's one of the most beautiful wildflowers I've ever seen and it's one of the best things I love about coming to Texas so long ago.

Spring is Springing!

Once I see these two sights, I KNOW spring is right around the corner for sure. The Redbud is about to burst with blooms this week and the mockingbirds have returned to their nest in the Crepe Myrtle. Plus I saw our third sign though I couldn't get a photograph - our woodpecker is back and digging out treats from our pecan tree. He typically arrives when fall gets here and then again when spring is hitting us. Though I have enjoyed some cold weather (and snow even though I had to see that out of state, I count it), I do enjoy wearing short sleeves and shorts and sitting outside on the back deck. I have to enjoy this before the 95 degree weather comes along, right??

Signs of Spring

Not that this is from this year's crop, but I love persimmon and I like to photograph them. Not sure if it's the sentimental since I typically only enjoy their deliciousness at Lunar New Year time (Tet in Viet Nam or Chinese New Year, as it is known to most). Anyway, today turned out to be a lovely day. Actually, beyond lovely - perfect. Yes, perfect. Nip in the air but a clear blue sky to enjoy. Plenty of sun.

We had a bit of rain lately and I'm hoping that means good things for spring blooms. Come on rain. We could use a little more and on a regular basis. Not asking too much, are we? :-)

This persimmon was on a little tree that was in a customer's yard when we went to deliver some honey. He has an orchard he's trying to bring back and I think that would be sooooo lovely! I'm excited at the thought of being surrounded by beautiful, orange persimmons to photograph!

2010 Honey from Gretchen Bee Ranch

Here's part of the reason we have been so busy lately - honey harvest time! We finished harvesting our 2010 crop and it's officially for sale. So if you want to check out the price list and our bee blog at the same time, head over to Gretchen Bee Ranch!

Happy Tuesday!

Another fresh fruit shot for you. This year we have been blessed with abundance in all things in our life. I am not sure I deserve so much goodness! Hope you are all having a great week. We've been super busy between honey harvest and work travels for me. Be sure to check out our blog for the latest on the honey flow!

Peachy

Hi everyone. As you can tell, we've been busy. Honey harvesting is in full motion right now and with my work, we've been neglecting our beautiful peach tree! I guess everything just comes to you when you least expect it. This tree hardly ever bears fruit for us in the past years, though we enjoyed a few here and there. Well look at it now! Not only have we been blessed with over a ton of honey (and they're still making more) but we've also got so many peaches, we can't get to them fast enough!

Hay, everyone!

Happy Memorial Day weekend! Hope it's been a good one so far for you. Isn't it wonderful when you have a three day weekend? :-) Lots of bales of hay can be seen all around town and in the countryside these days. I love the different shapes of the bales - round, small rectangle and very large rectangle. Pretty cool to drive over a hill and see the fields dotted with these. Stay cool out there!

Butterflies Galore

Here's another something I notice we have an abundance of this spring - butterflies! They are everywhere! And of course, so are the caterpillars...my favorites. Not! :-)

Swarm Caution

Just another warning to be careful out there with all the bees. While most are gentle, when disturbed, they may become agitated. The wonderful weather means food galore for the bees this year. That's wonderful, but it also means there have been a lot of swarms. This evening we went to check out some bees (not in a swarm) that had colonized in the wall of a garage. Mark was trying to be helpful but that is likely the last time we do that sort of bee collecting. They sure got unhappy with us. Bee careful!! ;-) (couldn't resist)

Flower Explosion

This spring has been one of the best flowering springs I have experienced in my 15 years living here and I am happy I stayed here long enough to enjoy such a sight! Every time I drive somewhere, I am truly amazed at the new flowers that have appeared that weren't there a week ago. And many of these I haven't seen here before. It's wonderful!

Currently, it seems there are a lot of yellow and purple flowers of different varieties blooming. BUT...there are also these beautifully delicate white flowers (anyone know the name) along with the Indian Blanket shown below. By the way, the bees LOVE Indian Blankets. They were all over these as I was photographing at a friend's home out in the country this evening. We ate dinner before heading out to see Jim, who had contacted Mark about a swarm. I guess we took too long for they were gone when we got there though Mark said they were likely nearby as they were buzzing the flowers pretty well. Thanks for showing us around, Jim!