Bees are hugely important for pollinating our Orchard during Spring. As our trees start to bloom, honeybees visit each flower – unknowingly pollinating that flower to produce the sweet fruit that we are so well known for. In fact, if we have enough bees, they can pollinate our acreage of pear trees in a few days!
We have bee hives all across our Orchard. Each hive houses thousands of bees, and can pollinate around two acres of fruit trees. What a life for a bee! Large, open space with more flowers to visit than meets the eye, we’re pretty sure they are loving life. Bees pollinate when they land on a flower. Often times, their tiny feet slip into a groove in the flower that holds the pollen sacs, then when it flies away this pollen sac stays with them. When they land on a new flower, the pollen sac comes off and pollinates it!
A trusted beekeeper will visit the hives and add extra pollen to them, in hopes that the bees will step into it and carry it to our flowers. Once a bee pollinates a flower, it moves on. And, every single flower needs to be pollinated in order to turn into a fruit. We consider bees our friends, as they are so important for our fruit trees.
Watch our beekeeper putting pollen into one of our hives here.
