Bee here when it happens
It’s April 14 and Honey Bees have landed on the V6. Yesterday was my long awaited entry into the Honey Bee business. In the three preceding drought years I had a bee man who after using his bees to pollinate the Almond trees in the San Joaquin Valley he would bring his bees to the V6 to forage for nectar and pollen. Then he would load up his hives and travel to the east side of the San Joaquin Valley to pollinate orange trees where there are several thousand acres.
The V6 is in a unique location at the north end of the headwaters to the Salinas River. This starting point is called Little Cholame Creek that mingles with several other creeks and rivers before it drains into the Salinas River to complete its journey of about 125 miles to the Pacific Ocean. Surrounded by two and three thousand foot mountains, this topography boundary disallows the entry of all the many herbicides and pesticides that can infect bees with many different mites and diseases.
Now with all the rain, 30” this year, I decided to take a fling at harvesting Wildflower Honey that will be for sale at John and Barb’s gift shop this Autumn in the Parkfield Cafe. So it’s time to get some of those “busy bees” that only live about 90 days but there is always a new crop of ladies as all the worker bees are women of the species that do most all the work to keep the hive buzzing. So what about the Drones, that’s the male of the species, his job is to keep the one and only Queen Bee happy with lots of sex with multiple Drones so there is no chance of inbreeding. Now she’s ready to lay lots of eggs for the next generation. So what happens to all these Gigolos? Sorry guys but you definitely won’t want to be a Drone mating with Cleopatra because when you're done, your penis falls off and you die.
My beekeeper Mike Vigo has just arrived and I ask him to follow me to the apiary where I have my five hives. Just think Jack in your hay day you would run 5,000 head of stocker cattle each year, age certainly changes expectations. Mike Vigo,who owns The Bee Ranchers is my beekeeper. Quite innocently he asks me if I would like Republican Bees or Democratic Bees. I’m caught a little off balance with that question. So I told him that I was an Independent but leaned to the right. Mike said you will have to feed the bees for awhile as they adjust to their new home. By taking one cup of sugar and mix it with one cup of water (1 to 1) ratio then pour it into a shallow tray and leave the tray near the hives. Mike said they will soon eat it all. So I asked how do I know which political party will they be? His reply was, if after a short time you quit feeding them so they have to go fend for themselves they are Republicans. If you want Democrats just keep feeding them.
This very weekend John and Barb have a group of 50 or 60 guest staying at what we call Horse Camp for their annual Cowboy Academy so Zee and I trek down each night and enjoy another delicious free meal. Jack, I think that’s a good definition of a Hypocrite.
It’s Sunday and the temperature is 50 degrees and I’m watching the bees come and go, I’m parked in a place where I can also watch to see if any of these workers slip over to the pan with the easy to get sugar syrup. It’s a landslide not one worker took a sip, they all went for the natural nectar and pollen made in flowers only. Old time beekeepers talk about super bloom years when the bees can’t carry their booty to the hive fast enough and one hive can yield 150 pounds of honey. I’m hoping for a good case of beginners luck so that everybody that wants a jar of V6 honey with a little Parkfield Magic mixed in and we might even throw in a San Andreas fault earthquake for good measure so you can say “Bee here when it happens.”
See Ya,
Jack