There is perhaps no hotter outfit than a bee suit. I think of it as a very cheap sauna experience. And such a fashion statement too! But a bee suit makes shaking and scooping a swarm of bees into an empty hive box a rather thrilling experience instead of a scary one. So when this group of bees swarmed into a nearby autumn olive, I donned my bee suit and went to work.
This swarm quickly settled into its new quarters. Soon there were bees whizzing in and out of the hive. With the swarm that I moved into a hive over the weekend and this one, we now have six hives. This one offered up its name when it was still in swarm form. Nemshala. Hive number five gave itself the name Perseus. These two join Ben-Wa, Menemsha, Andromeda, and Lyra.
The bees from Perseus are entering the hive from a gap in the back of the hive versus from the hive opening. This leads me to suspect that Perseus was a swarm from Lyra which is another hive that refuses to use its front door. Lineage is very important to bees. If I can continue to overwinter the bees successfully, it gives them a chance to live with members of their tribe. Rudolf Steiner writes more about bee lineage in his book about bees, a book I am working myself up to read because I can get overwhelmed with what I am not doing for the bees pretty fast and I am fairly certain Rudolf will have LOTS of pointed advice.
Anyways, this beautiful day saw all the bees from all six hives speeding off on nectar and pollen gathering missions. So I too dashed off for a little bit on my own Flower Essence gathering mission in a small marshland area across town where I had seen Yellow Water Lily blooming.
Yellow Water Lily is on my list of Flower Essences to make this summer. This morning seemed the perfect day to go make this Essence.
As a kayaking mission, it was rather brief. The distance from where I put in the kayak to the other side of the marsh was less than a hundred feet, but it was lovely to be briefly on the water.
At one point, a blue heron flew overhead, and then there were the many Flower friends I found in this marsh, including Swamp Candles. This shot is not very good but it does give you a feeling of this Flower’s incandescence.
The photos of Yellow Water Lily were better.
Sometimes this Flower sits up above the water and sometimes right in it. No matter how it sits, it is an amazing presence.
Another old friend glimpsed this morning is Branched Bur Reed, a wonderful Adirondack research Flower Essence that helps us stay free and unencumbered during toxic high dramas or when we live in “swampy” places.
When I returned to the farm, I found Emily and Sophie pounding nails for Jim, bumblebees glorying in the Hollyhocks, and Orange Zinnias still strutting their stuff, cheek by jowl with the Red Shiso. In other words, all was well.
