September brings changes for the bees. Summer flowers, yielding
light colored and mild flavored honeys for the kitchen table, are replaced by
fall flowers, producing robust flavored honeys, which beekeepers usually leave in
the hives for the bees to consume over winter. Adrian Higgins describes how
homeowners can plant flowering plants to provide a continuum of blooms providing
nectar and pollen for honey bees throughout the spring, summer, and fall: https://www.arkansasonline.com/news/2018/sep/08/a-boon-to-bees-20180908/.
As well as listing numerous species available for horticultural plantings,
Higgins reminds us to provide bees water and avoid using pesticides. Another
recent publication, About You Digital Magazine, http://aymag.com/all-the-buzz-arkansas-beekeepers-keep-hope-alive/,
features Arkansas beekeeping friends, Jon Zawislak of the University of
Arkansas Extension and John and Corinne Smith of Central Beekeepers Supply of
Russellville, Arkansas. Apiary instructor, Jon Zawislak, explains the plight of
honey bees that are stressed by parasites, pathogens, and loss of habitat. He
explains that public awareness of the importance of honey bees in the
production of our food has brought in many new beekeepers. John and Corinne
Smith supply these beekeepers with bees, hives, and equipment at their Russellville
business. John Smith explains the importance of bees, “Any non-wind-blown crop
has to be pollinated by insects. And the honey bee is the world’s most
efficient pollinator.” Zawislak is quite the promoter of Arkansas honey: “Fresh
raw honey is so different and superior to what sits on most supermarket shelves
that there is really no comparison. If you have ever eaten a true Arkansas
homegrown tomato in the middle of the summer, you understand how different it
is from those tough pink things labeled as a tomato in the supermarket in the
winter. The difference in honey is like that.”
Elsewhere in Arkansas, a black bear was removed from the
city of Conway near the University of Central Arkansas campus (UCA mascot is a
bear). Several members of the Ozark Foothills Beekeepers Association, based in
Conway, have experienced bears visiting their bee hives. Today’s photo: September
goldenrod.
--Richard
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