The Holding Yard Dilemma
It’s no secret that holding yards are what make almond pollination possible.
Holding yards?
Unless a beekeeper is very, very lucky and finds a spot in the western foothills with blooming crops long into the winter (and usually some distance from any orchards, and always hard to find), a holding yard [...]
I’ve mentioned that almonds are one of California’s biggest crops. Just so you know, here’s some more info that supports the fact that the beekeeping industry should be paying more attention to this tree.
Last year there were 740,000 bearing acres of almonds, but more importantly, there were 85,000 acres of non-bearing acres. That [...]
Almond Tuesday 1
Met with pollination broker Joe Traynor and USDA bee researcher Frank Eishen and others breakfast at 6:30 the first day in Bakersfiled. Frank and his two technicians, all from Weslaco, TX USDA Honey Bee Research Lab are here to study bloom time, pollination efficiency and bee density. They’ll make three trips [...]
An Almond Odyssey
Are you familiar with the term Odyssey? Think back…didn’t it have something to do with some Greek guy, a long time ago. Monsters, ships, sexy sirens on the rocks…it’s all there, somewhere in the back of your mind from high school English class, right? But Odyssey also means an adventuresome voyage, [...]
I just attended the 99th Annual meeting of the Iowa Honey Producer’s Association. They meet in Marshaltown every year at a motel large enough to handle the 150+ people attending. The Association has about 400 members state wide so 40% of their members attending was outstanding.
Though not nearly as contentious, dramatic, or as well [...]
I went to Georgia last week. That’s why I’ve been gone from here so long…I was having way, way too much fun.
Actually, I started in Alabama, at their Annual Fall meeting in Montgomery. A good crowd and some old friends. Ted Kretchman was there, the only commercial beekeeper left in the state now. There [...]
Have you noticed the goldenrod bloom this season? With the exception of the extremely dry areas of the south, there seems to be much, much more of this wonderful, productive, attractive bloom than usual.
Maybe it’s just me…and that could be…but I tend to travel quite a bit this time of year to beekeeper meetings [...]
