Strawberry Moon

You might notice that I started this post over two weeks ago from the title, for we are no longer under the Strawberry Moon but the Buck Moon. According to the Old Farmer’s Almanac

July is the month of the Full Buck Moon. At this time, a buck’s antlers are in full growth mode. This Full Moon was also known as the Thunder Moon because thunderstorms are so frequent during this month.

If you were wondering what is the best day for cutting hay, fishing, and for ‘setting eggs’ (whatever that is), I’d suggest you have a look at the site.

Other moons:

January: Wolf Moon (or Old or Ice)
February: Snow Moon (or Storm or Hunger)
March: Worm Moon (or Chaste or Death or Crust or Sap)
April: Pink Moon (or Sprouting Grass or Egg or Fish)
May: Flower Moon (or Hare or Corn Planting or Milk)
June: Strawberry Moon (or Rose or Hot)
July: Buck Moon (or Thunder or Hay)
August: Sturgeon Moon (or Green Corn or Grain or Red)
September: Harvest Moon (or Corn or Barley)
October: Hunter’s Moon (or Travel or Dying Grass)
November: Beaver (or Frost)
December: Cold Moon (or Oak or Long Night)

from National Geographic

Honey Moon

Not traditionally what we think of when we put the two words together, but what developed when I was trying to adapt the list of the moon names to beekeeping. I suppose there could not be just one Honey (gathering) moon-the best time to collect honey. Although I would regard May as the Swarm moon, swarms are another activity that can happen at different time. Maybe not so easy, this adapting moons to beekeeping.

It does seem to be past Swarm Moon/month around our house, so much so that the swarm we caught in May were pretty much accosting us in the yard and demanding better premises.

We had noted their discomfiture during the last warm spell. For better or for worse, we had placed their nuc above an empty hive, but noted when it was particularly warm that they seemed to be in the process of moving themselves. There was quite a bit of activity around the entrance of the big hive. And a lot of hanging about the face of the hive as the overcrowded nuc heated up.

One up, one down

They are now happily ensconced in the big hive, bring pollen pellets the size of golf balls back to the hive. So, things are going well.

Of course, there is not the same level of activity at the garage hive (from whence they swarmed) now that swarm season is passed. This had been in the past few seasons a mighty engine of a hive, so I am curious to see what will happen with them over the rest of the summer.

Although just recently there’s been downpours here, it generally has been a dry summer thus far. So, there’s been quite a bit of bee activity around our rock pool. They like this more than any other of the watering holes around the garden, because they don’t necessarily have to get their little bee feet wet, and there are a lot of shallow crevices in the stone from which they can easily drink. The only difficulty seems to be the queues for water, resulting in three or four-bee pile-ups.

We have a lot of honeybee-friendly plants around the yard, but quite a few more are the favorites of the bumbles, including thistles.

An entirely different subject

You may remember the photos of squirrel determination (surely, destructiveness) from past posts. But nothing equals the level of ingeniousness demonstrated in the photo below. I had set this feeder onto the clothesline when not in use.  I was hoping that the squirrels would not try it because it is supposed to be squirrel-proof (yes, it is hard to believe that I am still that naive). The scene below is what I came back to one day after work.

Maybe it actually was squirrel-proof, and the squirrels realizing the difficulty of getting tho the food while it was hanging set about trying to dislodge it from the line. By sequentially cutting lines down until it fell. I was severely tempted to leave it there and see how long it would take them to be successful.

After all, my husband had said a few weeks ago that we needed a new clothesline. It seemed the squirrels were only too happy to oblige him…

If I had left it there, they’d have every last line down…

But, we also like the squirrels will not be vanquished. After every industrial plastic container had been breached, my husband dug out his military strength storage containers, meant to see of even the most determined rats to be found in shipping containers by air or sea. So far, so good.

We have to resort to military technology…