Rain again today.
So, no field work for us.
And to everyone working hard this Monday—hope you’re hanging in there!
We told ourselves,
“Okay, today we’re finally going to catch up on all that office work.”
And somehow,
I’m writing this instead.
Maria often says,
“I feel better whenever I get to see the bees.”
And it’s true. She always seems to be in a good mood when she’s at BeeCamp.
But when we go to the apiary on a rainy day,
the cicadas have stopped singing by this time of year, too.
Everything becomes sooooo quiet.
It almost feels like we’ve wandered into a completely different place.
We hardly see any of the bees.
On days like this, the honeybees don’t really go outside.
Instead, they stay inside the hive, each one apparently doing whatever she can do.
But what we do worry about is the food stored inside the hive.
Small colonies can run out of food if they go too many days without being able to collect nectar.
We see the same thing sometimes in early spring, when colonies are just starting to build up.
Even though there may be very few flowers outside, more and more adult bees are being born.
They keep eating the honey that has been stored in the hive, and eventually, the colony can run out of food and starve.
Sometimes, we find bees that have died with their heads still deep inside an empty cell.
We don’t want that to happen.
So, once tomorrow’s rain has passed,
we’ll go check on everyone.
And if they need a little help,
we’ll give them some sugar syrup.
Well then, dear bees,
have a lovely day!