All outward signs pointed toward a bumper harvest of honey—good rains; nice cover of flowers, both wild and planted; mild temperatures—but for some reason we got only a fraction of the usual production this year.The number of monarch butterflies and their more exotic cousins also seemed to be sharply down. The only bumper crop this …
Tag: honey bees
Regime change in our beehives
Despite bad weather and nervous handlers,two new queen bees are now buzzing in our hivesLast week Felix and Stew set out to replace the queen bees in two of our three hives, a tricky ritual even during optimal conditions—bright sun and warm weather—that became trickier during the torrential rains we've been having for several days.Our …
'Tis the season of the spiders
Just in time for Halloween, and the Mexican celebration of the Day of the Dead, spiderwebs have appeared all over the ranch. Some are small, maybe six inches across, others can span gracefully and grandly for three or four feet, sometimes from one bush or tree to another. A few are works in progress, just …
El Rancho Santa Clara 