Aquatic Greens Farm is now Grow On at Ag Farm - same unique farm, same great team members and volunteers.
GrowOn
at
AG Farm
BRYAN,TX - Est 2013
HONEY AT THE FARM
Bees, blooms, and the weather that drives them.
We keep honey bees for honey. They pollinate while they work, and we are glad of it, but the hives are here because of what comes out of them — and honey depends entirely on what is in flower and whether the weather lets the bees get to it.
​
Honey bees came from Europe — brought to North America in the 1600s by farmers who needed a pollinator they could move and manage. One colony gives you more than ten thousand workers, which is why they became the crop pollinator of choice, and why they are the bee almost everyone pictures. They are social, they store honey through the winter, and that stored surplus is what a beekeeper harvests.
​
Honey bees are generalists. They are not fussy about where they forage and will work whatever happens to be in bloom, which is exactly what makes them practical to keep. Give them a succession of flowering plants across the year and they will find it. That is also why this page exists: knowing what is blooming, and what is about to, is most of beekeeping.
THE BEEKEEPING YEAR
The year, as the bees experience it
Central Texas has a rhythm, and it is not the one the calendar suggests. This is what the daily readings are really about.
1
Late winter - the first pollen
Brood rearing starts before anything looks like spring. Early-blooming shrubs and trees carry the colony through it. What matters here is pollen, not nectar.
2
March to May - build up
The colony expands fast on the first tree and bramble flows, and this is swarm season. Wildflowers come in across the state.
4
July and August - the dearth
The hard part of the year here. Nectar becomes scarce, stores get eaten, robbing starts and colonies turn irritable. Bees collect large amounts of water simply to cool the hive. Plants that yield only lightly the rest of the year matter enormously now, because they are flowering at all.
3
Late spring - the main flow
The honey crop comes off a handful of major nectar sources in a few short weeks. Miss the window and you miss the surplus.
5
September to November - the fall flow
Goldenrod, asters and late wildflowers give a second wave if the rain cooperates. This is what builds winter stores — and what is left after the bees are provided for is what we harvest.
What's in bloom at the farm
Bloom times shift with the season and the year. This is the general pattern for our part of Central Texas.
Spring
Fruit and berry bloom, early wildflowers, and the first herb flowers.
Fall
Late natives and a second round of garden flowers building winter stores.
Summer
Okra, cucumbers, squash, and heat-tolerant natives carrying through the hottest weeks.
Winter
Quiet months — occasional warm-day flights when something is still open.
Why bees matter here
They set our fruit
Figs, blackberries, cucumbers, and okra all need insect visitors to set a crop. No pollinators, no harvest.
Forage runs year-round
We keep something in bloom across the seasons so there's nectar and pollen available, not just one big flush in spring.
Weather decides the day
Temperature, wind, and rain determine whether bees leave the hive at all — and a long-range outlook hints at the season ahead.