The month of June has been an exceedingly busy one. We’ve taken full advantage of the prolonged dry spell, allowing us to gather more resources without the hindrance of rain derailing us from our responsibilities. Our Hive has been a sweltering sauna the past fortnight and claustrophobia has been slithering in. The sheer quantity of us in this communal dwelling is becoming unbearable, tempers are fervent, especially in this heat. We think the last time the hive carried out an official colony census at the beginning of June, we recorded an estimate of 46,000 Worker, 1270 Drones and our Queen. However, that will have increased substantially since our Queen has been laying so proficiently. We have been immensely pleased with her contribution to the colony. Sometimes, you hear of tales that have travelled through the whispers of the wind of enormous colonies reaching monumental proportions, some say they consist of 80,000 honey bees. Oh what a sight that would be, think of how prosperous a colony of that size must be able to achieve in the summer months.
Our colony has been hard at work and they haven’t stopped since the end of the winter season. The previous winter was gruelling, we struggled, rationing out the last of our honey stores to keep our mother and colony alive. That winter felt unusually long, we lost so many of us due to starvation and the cold. Spring never arrived when we thought it would. We waited and we waited. Our patience wearing thin. In the end, we made the collective decision to send brave forager workers out to scope our surroundings for provisions. Looking for any sign of life, whispers of new growth, seeking out tender buds, hunting for the first bloomers that we wholly rely on in early spring-the delicate petals of Crocus, yellow haze of Primrose and the dense violet tiers of Bugleweed.
It is only now, that it feels like we are finally on schedule in preparation for the coming months, the hive is in optimal efficiency, we had an excellent harvest of our favourable spring Hawthorn, heavy drooping Sycamore and vibrant yellow Brassica Napus. It is all paying off. We’ve been in conversation with numerous colony members and from what we hear, it feels like we are going to have an abundant, fruitful year. Something to really celebrate. There is an excitement in the air, a buzz of community spirit and a high energy focus on proliferating our colony and diversifying our hives to new prosperous lands. We are hopeful, but aware the June Gap is coming upon us. This is the time where there are no longer spring flowering plants and the summer flowers have yet to blossom, meaning fresh food is scarce for a short period of time which will eat into our current stores to feed the colony. It is a tricky time for us, however by making that initial difficult decision to send our forager workers out into the unusually late spring has held us in good stead for provisions and a risk that has been worth taking for the greater good of our colony.
The Far Orchard 