Here is a link to a nice story about Blue Moon Bees on Rose Taffy. This was a beautful day in Carmel with our friends Cindy and Ted Walter of Passionfish Restaurant in Pacific Grove. http://www.rosetaffy.com/best-field-trip-ever-cindy-walters-backyard-beehives

                                                                                                                                         Mason bees are a solitary alternative to large and expensive honeybee colonies. Here are a couple of pictures to inspire you and a link for more information. www.beautifulwildlifegarden.com

I was recently included in a really nice post on: http://www.rosetaffy.com/

There are some nice pictures and stories from the hives I set up in Carmel.

Insects in the Garden: The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly

Presented by Emmet Brady

Saturday, June 18, 10 to noon

76 Race Street, San Jose

Emmet Brady will present “Insects in the Garden: The Good, The Bad and the Ugly” as part of the ELSEE Living Laboratory. In celebration of National Pollinator Week (June 20-26), Emmet will give a part-lecture, part-tour around Middlebrook Gardens and teach us how to identify which bugs are which: beneficial predators, little known pollinators, and the history and mystery about how the insects interact with us and the plants we grow. He will show some of the images he has photographed on the property.

Emmet will also discuss some ideas on Integrated Pest Management (IPM), non-toxic alternatives to pest control, the benefits of native plants, and what we can expect to see from the research in the future.

Emmet is a dynamic speaker. Don’t miss his workshop!

Register by sending email to sarah@middlebrook-gardens.com with “Insects” in the subject line.

Fee: CNGF members: $20 class fee plus $10 material fee. Non-members: $30 class fee plus $10 material fee.

(Join CNGF at the workshop for $38 and save $10 on this class and 30% on workshops all year!)

Amazing Carp Bee photo by E. Emmit Brady

The fascinating and award-winning documentary by Taggart Siegel, “Queen of the Sun; What are the Bees Telling Us?” will be playing on Sunday night, June 26th at 7:00pm at the Blue Light Cinema in Cupertino. If you are interested in bees, permaculture, ethnobotany or just want to see are really thought-provoking and entertaining film for just $5.00, then this is your night out! I will be leading a short Q&A after the film and there will be additional information available for those who would like to learn more about keeping bees. Here is some more information about the film: http://www.queenofthesun.com/   and here is more information and a map to the theatre: http://www.bluelightcinemas.com/

Hope to see you there!

Large beehive in a tree in Almaden. Successfully removed and relocated.

Sometimes I feel like this should be my address.

http://writersalmanac.publicradio.org/index.php?date=2007/10/20

Poem: “Hum” by Mary Oliver, from New and Selected Poems: Volume Two. © Beacon Press, 2007. Reprinted with permission. (buy now)

Hum

What is this dark hum among the roses?
The bees have gone simple, sipping,
that’s all. What did you expect? Sophistication?
They’re small creatures and they are
filling their bodies with sweetness, how could they not
moan in happiness? The little
worker bee lives, I have read, about three weeks.
Is that long? Long enough, I suppose, to understand
that life is a blessing. I have found them-haven’t you?—
stopped in the very cups of the flowers, their wings
a little tattered-so much flying about, to the hive,
then out into the world, then back, and perhaps dancing,
should the task be to be a scout-sweet, dancing bee.
I think there isn’t anything in this world I don’t
admire. If there is, I don’t know what it is. I
haven’t met it yet. Nor expect to. The bee is small,
and since I wear glasses, so I can see the traffic and
read books, I have to
take them off and bend close to study and
understand what is happening. It’s not hard, it’s in fact
as instructive as anything I have ever studied. Plus, too,
it’s love almost too fierce to endure, the bee
nuzzling like that into the blouse
of the rose. And the fragrance, and the honey, and of course
the sun, the purely pure sun, shining, all the while, over
all of us.