• Skip to main content
  • Skip to footer

Jacqueline Briggs Martin

Stories that are part of our lives

  • Blog
  • My Books
  • About
  • Contact Me

Season of Bees

October 12, 2020 By Jacqueline Briggs Martin

scratchboard illustration of queen rusty-patched bumblebee
New queen by Claudia McGehee

It’s the season of pulling out tomato plants and taking down bean towers. It’s the season of very few bees. And I’m wondering if the bumble bee queens in our yard have gone to their nests, tucked in for cold weather. Wherever the bees and butterflies are, I hope they are safe. I’m leaving a few flower stalks and brush piles for them and other insects this year. Insect scientists say a good garden doesn’t have to be perfectly neat.

When they come out in the spring, the lovely “new queen” pictured (in process) here, an illustration by Claudia McGehee, will come out with them. She is part of a new book, Begin with a Bee, written by Liza Ketchum, Phyllis Root, and me, and illustrated by Claudia McGehee (published by the University of Minnesota Press). We are all excited about this book.

This queen is not just any bumblebee. She is a Rusty-patched bumblebee. These bees used to be found all over the northern states of the United States, but they have disappeared from many states in the last decades. They are the first bees to be placed on the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Endangered Species list. But we still see them occasionally in Iowa and Minnesota.

If we help our yards become more bee-friendly perhaps we will see Rusty-patched bees more often. And our new book has many suggestions for being friendly to bees.

If you are still seeing bees this fall and want help identifying what you are seeing you might want to visit https://beespotter.org/.

Filed Under: News Tagged With: Begin with a Bee

Subscribe for Updates

Enter your email address to get my new blog posts immediately sent to your inbox.

NOTE: Children under 13 years old must have their parents
fill in the email form below using their parent’s email address.

Footer

Special Events

September Book Party: Fun with Fermenting, Fun with Reading

I am so pleased share news about a book party for Sandor Katz and the Tiny Wild, co-written with June Jo Lee. September 14, 4:00-5:00 p.m. at The Perfect Blend, 224 First Street, Mount Vernon, IA 52314. We will do a “chop, salt, pack” demonstration (though the chopping will be done ahead of time) to […]

Contact Me

artwork - frog using laptop next to phone booth

(Click the picture above to contact me)

Subscribe for Updates

Enter your email address to get my new blog posts immediately sent to your inbox.

Children under 13 years old must have their parents fill in the email form below using the parent’s email address.

Privacy Policy
Cookie Policy (US)

Copyright © 2023 Jacqueline Briggs Martin. All Rights Reserved.

Website by Market Street.