Here's to the Bees

Let me tell you a little about Bees... 

It all started last year.. a friend of my sister asked if they could put a few bee hives out at the farm. Of course we said "Yes". The extra pollination would most definitely help out our little strawberry patch!

Fast forward to this year... The bees have taken over..

Working on a farm usually means getting up when the rooster crows, but we get up at the crack of dawn for a different reason.. the bees..

Now in the summertime bees are out and about as they should be. Pollinating the plants and flowers for everyone to enjoy. So one might expect to see a handful of bees on outdoor excursions.

We see more than a handful... imagine.. walking down a row of sunflowers with a bee on EVERY bloom. Yes, EVERY bloom...

Wouldn't you get up at 5am in the attempt to cut flowers before all the bees come out to play?

Oh and not all the bees sleep in the hive, some just nestle in on the flowers. It's amazing how they can just sleep hanging off of a leaf or flower petal.

This little guy is fast asleep... 

  oh to be able to sleep like that ;)

We try not to disturb these sleeping beauties, but sometimes you just can't help it. Or you don't notice them on the back of a flower! Either they wake up and fly away or they don't. Heck we still cut the flowers with the bees sleeping away on them.

The other day I went ahead and cut a flower with a bee fast asleep. When it was time to collect our buckets of flowers I tried to wake him up.. because who wants a bee flying around the inside of their car? not me! I poked the flower with another flower, poked the bee.. until finally the bee fell off... still fast asleep in the grass! 

I can't say that I am completely comfortable around bees now, but they don't startle me as much as they used to!

Here's to the Bees 😄