asakiyume: (feathers on the line)
[personal profile] asakiyume
Two days ago was World Bee Day. One day ago, in the evening, my neighbor up the street reported on FB that he had a swarm of bees in the branches of one of his oak trees.

A swarm of bees! I've never been so lucky as to see a swarm of bees. A swarm of bees is like a fairy hunt, a wild racing, everyone together, the queen at the lead. HOW COOL.

Today, a woman who raises goats and has two beehives came to relocate the swarm. I got to see her work. I can't begin to convey how magical it was to be within this globe of whirling bees, the intense buzzing, as she worked to get at the crook in the branch where--she presumed--the queen was. She worked with cheerful calm and grace. Here are some photos:

Most of the time she was atop her minivan

IMG_0310

At one point her son or grandson got up and helped.

IMG_0311

Here she's carefully putting the key piece of branch into the box where she's collecting the bees.

IMG_0312

A box of bees!

IMG_0314

The goddess of bees--if you click through to Flickr and click "magnify" twice, you will see a bee perched on her eyebrow.

IMG_0315

Once the branch was in the box, you could feel the bees calming down, the whirl of energy beginning to settle.

The side is open so those few bees who are still on the outside can climb in:

IMG_0313

To top off the wonder of it all, the wife in the family whose house all this happened in told us a story about her husband. What you have to know about him is that he's always been very lawn-proud, always putting herbicides on to keep it pure grass. But....

"He started getting interested in honeybees and what was happening to them, the declines. The other day I saw him bowed over, looking at a dandelion in the grass. 'There's a bee on it,' he said triumphantly. He said, 'I'm so sorry I spent so much time trying to get rid of dandelions, not knowing how important they were for the bees.'"

I felt in that moment like the whole world had been saved.

Here's a beautiful instrumental track, "cerca de abelhas" (close to bees) to go along with this bee story.

Date: 2020-05-22 08:36 pm (UTC)
cmcmck: (Default)
From: [personal profile] cmcmck
We had one just up the road midweek which was equally efficiently dealt with. :o)

Date: 2020-05-22 09:44 pm (UTC)
pameladean: (Default)
From: [personal profile] pameladean
That is really a lot of bees! How encouraging! Thank you for this post; it was so cheering. I also enjoyed the glimpses of burgeoning green in the surroundings.

I've just put up a post about catbirds which may be some small return, though I have to say that bees are cooler.

P.

Date: 2020-05-22 09:48 pm (UTC)
aamcnamara: (Default)
From: [personal profile] aamcnamara
Oh!! What a lovely event all round. Thank you for sharing!

Date: 2020-05-22 10:30 pm (UTC)
mallorys_camera: (Default)
From: [personal profile] mallorys_camera
That is deeply cool!

We have a couple of hives in my collective garden, and I just put in some cosmos and nasturiums for the honey bees. 😀

Date: 2020-05-22 10:36 pm (UTC)
minoanmiss: sleeping lady sculpture (Sleeping Lady)
From: [personal profile] minoanmiss
"I felt in that moment like the whole world had been saved."

*cheers*

Date: 2020-05-22 10:49 pm (UTC)
athenais: (Default)
From: [personal profile] athenais
I am in favor of bees, of course, but I am absolutely terrified of them. I'm not allergic, just got stung one too many times as a kid and now the very thought of a swarm makes me want to dive into bed under the covers. I'm glad others can enjoy them.

Date: 2020-05-23 12:20 am (UTC)
athenais: (Default)
From: [personal profile] athenais
It's okay in print! I just can't cope in person. I WIG OUT, MAN! But looking at photos of bees doing bee things is perfectly fine.

Date: 2020-05-22 11:19 pm (UTC)
osprey_archer: (Default)
From: [personal profile] osprey_archer
That's so magical! I'm so glad that you got to see it.

Date: 2020-05-23 12:29 am (UTC)
osprey_archer: (Default)
From: [personal profile] osprey_archer
Now that's true neighborliness!

Date: 2020-05-23 01:19 am (UTC)
sovay: (Silver: against blue)
From: [personal profile] sovay
A box of bees!

That's so cool!

The bee brow definitely looks like a sign of royal favor.

Date: 2020-05-23 10:43 am (UTC)
amaebi: black fox (Default)
From: [personal profile] amaebi
Our tenant beekeeper expected two swarms,so we were watching out for them. But now he thinks they swarmed undetected, alas.

I feel somewhat guilty. I've been sickly and not getting out to garden much. Of which missing a swarm would be just one ill effect.

SO agreed about the magical ness of bees and their swarming! Have you read Dina Wynne Jones's Power of Three? I think you'd love it.
Edited Date: 2020-05-23 10:45 am (UTC)

Date: 2020-05-23 01:05 pm (UTC)
amaebi: black fox (Default)
From: [personal profile] amaebi
I'll going to call on Tuesday for a doctor's appointment. I hope to fold it together with a sports physical for Chun Woo.

Date: 2020-05-24 09:47 am (UTC)
wayfaringwordhack: (Art: Thibault Prugne - Bee Rider)
From: [personal profile] wayfaringwordhack
Beautiful story. It is swarm season here, too, but alas, I am not really ready to catch any. However, on Friday, a neighbor, his wife, and I began the process of creating an artificial swarm for me to get me stared. We will know in a month if it worked or not. In the meantime, I need to finish applying beeswax to my main hive. :

Date: 2020-05-24 11:00 pm (UTC)
zyzyly: (Default)
From: [personal profile] zyzyly
I love bee stories, and the bit at the end about the guy no longer using herbicides on his grass so the bees could have dandelions was special.

Date: 2020-05-27 01:19 pm (UTC)
rimturse: (Default)
From: [personal profile] rimturse
I love bees and they've always been sweet to me, but I still think I would have worn more protective gear than her. :)

We have thousands of dandelions here. I walked through our grove yesterday evening and it was so pretty with all the white dandelion lollipop fluffs among the trees. We also have a lot of bumblebees this year for some reason. :)

Date: 2020-05-28 03:31 pm (UTC)
rimturse: (Default)
From: [personal profile] rimturse
I'm sure the bees picked up on it as well. :)

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