We’re kicking off the season tomorrow at Dejon Vineyard. They’re hosting an Earth Day event with BBQ, corn hole, and lots of wine! There will be cute, friendly farm animals, live music, and we’ll have honey!

Craig and I bottled about 80 pounds of spring harvested honey this week and it tastes amazing!! We’ll also have some Windtree Bee t-shirts and can answer any questions you might have from “What should you do if you see bees swarm in your yard?” to “How do you start beekeeping in Baltimore County?” No admission fee for the event but bring your own camp chairs if you want to sit outside. Hope to see you there!

What else have we been up to?

The American Museum of Natural History

This spring, I visited the AMNH near Central Park in NYC. It’s a huge museum! I limited myself to only the insect-related exhibits and I still didn’t see everything. (I forgot to reserve tix for the “What’s in a Name?” exhibit, a collection of rare books, entomological illustrations, Warhol art, and the “surreptitiously displayed” “whimsical” Withus oragainstus longhorn beetle. Sounds intriguing – a must for next time!)

The exhibits I saw were excellent:

The Davis Family Butterfly Vivarium – an exotic butterfly house with a pupae incubator. It was magical, although my favorite butterfly houses are still native ones like Ladew Gardens’.

The Solomon Family Insectarium – really neat! There’s a huge honeycomb exhibit, lots of info on honeybees, other bee species, and all sorts of interesting insects + a ginormous leafcutter ant farm.

“Extinct & Endangered” – Levon Biss’ macrophotography, which is best appreciated up close and in person.

Erie Eclipse Trip

We were lucky enough to be able to travel to Erie, PA to see the total eclipse. Craig planned our trip nearly a year ago. We were worried we wouldn’t see much because of the cloud cover, but the clouds cleared enough at just the right time for us to see the totality and immerse ourselves in one of the most outstanding natural science moments of 2024.

Until this month, I had only ever seen a partial eclipse. The Totality was everything they said it would be – incredible!! Such a neat experience. Witnessed flocks of circling birds beforehand, felt the temp drop during the event (so much so that I had to put my jacket on), and was able to see Baily’s beads, solar prominences, and the stellar corona. Hard to capture with words how extraordinary those three and a half minutes were!

Lots of hiking, a bit of beachcombing, and prayers for our bees…

Unfortunately, our prayers turned out to be last rites because most of our bees did not survive winter. It’s always sad but not uncommon. We’re constantly trying to up their odds of winter survival. Beekeeping is both an art and a science… and a little bit of faith.

Queen Rebecca (a.k.a. Boudica II) survived! She is the sole queen to make it through winter. Her line continues to be robust and strong. Long live the Boudicas!! 😀

We’ve also been catching swarms, jarring honey, and getting ready for the 2024 Season!

I’ll update everyone on the new bees and the Hereford Farmers Market soon. In the meantime, hope everyone’s spring is going well and that we will see you soon! Maybe tomorrow at Dejon Vineyard?

Also… Ladew Gardens’ Butterfly House opens July 6th!

Ladew Gardens is a wonderful public garden right in Monkton. Perhaps best known for its topiaries, it offers all sorts of excellent nature-themed info, education, and entertainment. I’ve posted here about its awesome fall event, Garden Glow. This summer, I’m volunteering in its Butterfly House, so I can help out in a place I’ve admired for years.

Native Butterflies

The neat thing about Ladew’s Butterfly House is that it’s a native butterfly house. Many of the region’s butterfly houses are gorgeous and magical, but they are full of non-native species — beautiful tropical varieties that look spectacular but wouldn’t live outside of their enclosed spaces. At Ladew, all of the butterflies are caught each year instead of shipped in from elsewhere. That way, it’s not a big deal if they escape. It also makes handling caterpillars easier and (frankly) nicer. If there are too many caterpillars in the house to be supported by the greenery in there… off they go to the great outdoors right outside the door. The other reason Ladew’s native Butterfly House is so cool is that it allows all of us (myself included) to learn more about those colorfully winged pollinators.

Did you know that butterflies don’t eat? They only eat in the caterpillar stage. AND many of them eat only ONE TYPE OF HOST PLANT. So, if that plant isn’t around… neither are they.

I hope to post more about the Butterfly House in the future. We can learn together — hahaha! In the meantime, please come see us at the market this weekend. Pick up something hot & spicy for Dad or the dude in your life! 🙂

We’ll be at the Hereford Farm Market, which is located at the Hereford High School, 17301 York Road, Hereford, Maryland, tomorrow from 9:00 a.m. to noon. Look for Windtree Bee at the “Hats & Honey” table!

Tag: pollinators

Earth Day Celebration!