It’s the middle of February – and that sounds like it ought to still be winter.  Too cold to be in the garden yet, and certainly too early to be messing with the bees.

But this is Texas.  And anyone who tries to predict Texas weather just hasn’t been here for long.

The honey bees are convinced spring has sprung.  The Calary pear trees – those beautiful white blossoms you see across our East Texas woods this time of year – are coming into bloom, signally the beginning of the spring honeyflow.   Look closely at that picture and you’ll notice lots of eggs and larvae, plenty of proof that the bees are moving out of their winter doldrums and frantically making new babies to prepare the hive for summer.

We did our first spring hive inspection this week.   All is well in the hive.  No indication of mites or beetle infestation.  A great balance of foraging bees and brood.  Plenty of honey still in the hive.  It feels good to have made it through the winter with a good, solid hive.   We’ll have five more a little later this spring and building the hive boxes and setting up sites for them is getting higher on the to-do list.   We tilled a good bit of area through the pasture and woods and planted lots of clover and a pollinator blend of wild flowers, to feed them.

When we weren’t working the bees, we were in the garden – planting potatoes, peas, purple pod beans, squash, brussells sprouts, carrots, leaf lettuce, endive, escarole and chard.  Onions, garlic and more carrots were started last month.