On Bees and Honey: a blog to learn with the bees

This has been the strangest gardening season ever. For once, it started early. We had such a mild winter that tree sprouts and bulb shoots were up a few weeks early. The bees were booming and ready to swarm before we were even thinking of swarm season.

Visiting critters made it almost impossible to garden, and between chasing wild life and tending the garden, my lips got really dry.

Blue lobelia attracts butterflies like the Eastern Tiger Swallowtail both in the common yellow version as well as in the dark-phase form.

Hi! This is Adriana, the beekeeper from South Mountain Bees. Remember when we were talking about summer dearth and the risk of robbing? Well, it ha...

From chemical-free wood polish to award winning lip balm. A beekeepers journey in the quest for healthier cosmetics and clean beauty.

Plant pollinator friendly plants for season long blooming. Make your yard into a pollinator heaven with food year round.

Hi, This is Adriana, the beekeeper from South Mountain Bees. Between gardening and swimming my skin gets really dry. The chlorine of the pool le...

Provide undisturbed soil to provide and preserve underground nesting sites for native pollinators.

If we dedicate a few square feet of undisturbed soil to host ground nesting bees, we will be supporting biodiversity and the survival of native pollinators. And from all the things we can do to help, this one is probably the easiest one, since we don't have to do anything. Just let nature do its thing.

I love summer pollinators. This tiger swallowtail was flitting gracefully from coneflower to coneflower yesterday, and the sunset light was hitting it perfectly.

Our moisturizer with Shea butter and vitamin E can help soothe dry skin exposed to the elements during the summer.

The bees are doing great. We are about to hit a heat wave, and we are giving away free summer blooming and pollinator friendly plants with each purchase, while supplies last.

Honeybees collect nectar from flowers and use it to make honey. However there is a period of dearth during the Summer, where there's very little in bloom.

A dearth can trigger robbing, where strong colonies attack weaker ones.

Here are some ideas of how you could help.

Did you know that the Babylonians were making soap around 2800BC? That's almost 5000 years ago! They boiled fats (an acid) with ashes (a base) to make soap. 

I enjoy how handcrafting soap makes us part of a millenary tradition.

Hi, This is Adriana, the beekeeper from South Mountain Bees. I know you've been waiting for this. The Summer honey crop is now available! This is...