Yellow Flowers

Aum Amriteshwaryai Namah

Hive 2 is still active

Nigama and I didn't have time to do a full hive check before satsang today. We had gone to a treeplanting seva in the morning in partnership with Evergreen. She decided to stay over at the centre and find someone else who could help her on Sunday. I had a little bit of time so I decided to take a stroll out to see how our strong hive was doing and say my hello to the bees. Everything looked great, as it had in the weeks before.

Closeup of bees at entrance to Hive 2

The forager bees continue to bring a lot of pollen into the hive. Nigama and I have been wondering where they might be collecting it from, especially because there are still cold days. When we first started working with the hives, we had the opportunity to ask Amma if we should plant a special bee garden. It was during one of her visits to the centre around the time of the Toronto program. Amma assured us that there was plenty around for the bees, so we've never worried about it. It's just interesting to figure it out.

There are some maple trees that generally blossom between February and April, so that was one possible source. Last week, we noticed a patch of yellow flowers about 30 metres east of the hive. So today I head over to take a look.

Source of pollen? A patch of yellow flowers about 30 metres east of the hive

Upon closer inspection, I found lovely, small flowers with petals like many rays. Somewhat like a dandelion. But I did not know what they were. Thanks to the digital age, I found the answer very quickly when I got home. This website on Ontario's wildflowers revealed that they are called Coltsfoot, and they are one of the province's earliest appearing spring flowers.Their stalk has reddish scales and they love wet waste areas, especially ditches along country roads.

Coltsfoot: one of Ontario's earliest appearing spring flowers

Om Parashaktiye Namah!