What's the Buzz around Woodland Creek honey farm??

June 2025

So much has happened this spring and here we are already in June! Here’s what’s going on around here.

All spring, our queens have been laying eggs, and our colonies have been building up in size. With the queens laying 1500-3000 eggs a day, and each bee requiring 21 days of development, every colony is adding 1500-3000 new bees daily. In a week’s time that’s roughly 10 thousand more bees. This is critical for each colony so that when the “honey flow” starts, the colonies workforce can maximize its foraging and make the most honey possible.

Over the next few days, May31-June 2, the “honey flow” will begin in earnest. What that means for us here in PNW is that the blackberry blossoms are just about to explode open with nectar and pollen. If you live in the area, you probably know the Himalayan Blackberry is an invasive species but is prolific in its production of delicious blackberries for us to enjoy.

Lining miles of roads, ditches and waterways of our county, these important plants provide the resources honeybees love and utilize to make the honey we love. The pollination the bees perform also creates the bumper crops of fruit we find.

What that means for us is that we keep an eye on colony health to make sure our queens are laying a good pattern of eggs, so their populations continue to grow. It also means we must make sure each colony has enough room to expand and to put honey into. Just as when our families grow, and we might look for a bigger home, the bees do as well. To help them out we add “supers”, additional boxes full of frames the bees can put honey into.

This explosive time of growth happens among all colonies of bees every spring and that’s just one of the reasons why this is also “swarm season.” It is not uncommon to see swarms of bees who have outgrown their home on the move to find a new place. You might see them on the side your home, hanging from a tree branch, on a mailbox or signpost. During this season we put out numerous swarm traps to catch some of these swarms and relocate them into hives in our own apiaries.

We have also finished pollinating a local blueberry farm. Moving colonies of bees onto and off the fields at night ensures that all the foragers are back home before we move them to a new location.

This is a busy and exciting time of our season. On top of all that, we also attend some local festivals with our observation hive. It’s a highlight to get to watch folks learn about bees and sell some honey as well.

We are also continuing our commitment to helping provide clean drinking water to impoverished people who do not have access to it. We do this by giving 40% of all our sales to Living Water International. When you buy any of our products; honey, chunk honey, honeycomb, pollen, or lip balm, nearly half of what you spend goes to help out those in need. THANK YOU!