Freeloader Farm

Loofahs are a crowd favorite here!

We got a message about some bees that had moved into the bottom of a wicker chair. This one was more of a challenge than most since the wicker gave the queen a ton of places to hide and dodge my attempts to get her.

Shout out to my fearless, flip flop wearing dad that came out with me a second time so we could move them safely to a hive.

Keep us in mind if you ever need bee removal, we never charge for swarm removals 🐝

Our loofahs have done amazing this year!

All the credit goes to our honey bees and the native bees!

We took extra time to plant wildflowers between out crops to attract bees and other polinators.

For comparison, last year I only got 1 loofah, this year I have over 20!

Here is your reminder not to let those herbs go to waste!

Temperatures are getting cooler and we quickly forget to make use of everything we still have.

My favorite section of the garden is the herbs! I give my basil a squeeze every time I walk by because it’s my favorite smell.

I also always let at least a few basils flower and harvest the seeds for next seasons planting.

Happy National Honey Bee Day 🐝

If you are interested in becoming a bee keeper, contact your local bee keepers association. Many recommendations are location based (South East has mild winters compared to the North East so hive management during the cold months is very different)

If you don’t want to keep bees but you want to help (honey bees and native bees) plant flowers with pollen and nectar sources that bloom in different seasons. Around our house we plant tons of lantana, wildflowers, trumpet trees (what you see in the picture), our garden and we also have different camelias that bloom from October -April, and azelas and privets that are our first spring bloom.

Planting a variety of trees and shrubs that bloom year round will aid in your hive’s success!