It’s World Bee Day!

Day 11 of 365

Apparently, bees are so important that the United Nations set aside May 20 as International World Bee Day!

I love the bees. I have never kept a hive, but our neighbor did for several years. I fell in love. The bees made our garden come alive with both their pollination and their song. Her hive didn’t make in through the winter of 2020, such a tough year for everything and everyone, I remember thinking.

I miss her bees.

I think my favorite thing was sitting next to the garden and watching my neighbor’s honeybees in the squash flowers. Their little legs would be so full of pollen that they could barely fly. Such little miracles.

One time, I was outside with the ducks, and a bee flew up my farm dress, only I didn’t know it was a bee. My hand immediately cupped whatever it was. I didn’t squish it, just to be safe, and when I opened my hand, out flew a little honey bee, back to work after her little detour up my dress. My dress was made of a floral print.

I miss my neighbor’s bees so much that Ron and I are thinking about getting bees, but we worry about getting over extended, which is something I talk about in the latest episode of A Farmer-ish Podcast. Ron is missing from this episode because he has too much work in the garden right now, but I was so excited to get to talk with children’s book author, Loree Griffin Burns, about her new book, Honeybee Rescue.

I wrap up the episode with a reading of Ron’s poem, “Marie’s Garden,” inspired by her bees. I hope you will check out the collection the poem comes from Why the Moon Tumbled Out of the Sky. It’s a beautiful collection of children’s poems that focus on nature and the four seasons here in Maine. It’s a treasure to me! Plus, all profits go to keep Farmer-ish going, so that’s a perk!

I will keep today’s writing short, as I am still grading student essays and have to clean coops this afternoon, but I hope you will check out Episode 3 of A Farmer-ish Podcast!

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And just a quick Ruby update, of course. After her scrambled eggs this morning, I checked, and I think we are lice free! I will give her a follow up treatment next week to ensure the hatching eggs are gone too, but I think we are in the clear. She also took a break today and went back to her nest in the garage with zero help from me. Good girl, Ruby!