Saturday, November 22, 2008

Hillside Hives


Not long ago, I took a Sunday drive to see what Little Lake Valley had to offer in the autumn sunshine. Out on the Reynolds Highway, on the northeast circuit of the valley, these gleaming white beehive frames caught my eye with their brilliant contrast to the oaks and rocks and bay tree. They make another component of the local food web.

8 comments:

Dina said...

Good for you for spotting them. Are they occupied? They don't look very orderly. Glad you didn't go any closer to investigate.
Nice picture.

Anonymous said...

I really hope the owner has lots of bees in his hives and none have been hijacked by African bees.

I think this is my first trip to your blog for a while. I am in Brookville, Ohio and it is cold this morning – 13 degree Fahrenheit = -10.5555556 degree Celsius. If I were just walking past you on the street I would probably smile and nod my head. I hope you would too. LOL

Jilly said...

Just love this scene.Gently rolling hills, so peaceful and gorgeous. And the hives are a plus.

Patrizzi Intergarlictica said...

This is such beautiful country. Maybe we can swap locations for awhile.

I saw quite a few stashes of hives on my way up Hwy 101 to Monterey last month. I stopped and bought a jar of almond blossom honey. It's delicious.

Susie of Arabia said...

Such a peaceful and idyllic setting! I can see myself sitting right in the middle of the photo!

Jane Hards Photography said...

Shows how deceiving a landscape can be the light and the foliage could be my own island. The British Honeybee has been on the decline which could be bad news all round, for the world's honey strange as that may seem,

Anonymous said...

At one time I was trying to get information on Bee keeping and discovered they actually had a shop dedicated to the Bee art in Los Angeles. I found that odd and unexpected.

USelaine said...

Dina - I don't know for sure, but I think I heard that there are four or five beekeepers in the Willits area. So far, I get along pretty well with bees, but I wouldn't want to raise them.

Abraham - We've talked about the bees before. I think one theory about their decline has to do with the stress of being trucked around constantly to completely different places and crops all season. But with these, they stick around. I have rosemary and lavender blooming right now, and bees still love them.

Jilly - Thanks, I agree that we have lovely countryside. Those hives set everything in contrast.

Miss H - You Pasadenoids need to make a group safari up here some time. The honey they make here is necessarily just labeled "wildflower", but almond sounds good too.

Susie - It was a beautiful Sunday, but these ranches are all fenced, so I just walked along the road after finding a small turnout for my truck. My one complaint is that there aren't wider road margins for turning out while touring our valley roads.

Babooshka - That cone shaped tree is one of our native broadleaf trees called California Bay Laurel, but the oaks could be in the UK, definitely. If we get cut off from the world, our valley has plenty of bees and honey for our population. I certainly hope you don't lose all your bees! You need them even more for pollination!

PA - I used to date a guy whose stepfather kept bees right in his suburban Sacramento backyard!

Thanks everybody!