A Bee Story

I'm quite captivated by non-gross insects and having our garden has helped that interest grow. Today I watched a bee collecting pollen from one of our sunflowers and although I know people have seen this a million times, it was fascinating to watch through the lens of my camera.

The bee was using his front legs to grab pollen and pile it up on his head. He really piled it on and seemed to smash it up there like a big yellow hat.He was wiggling his back end to fill his legs with pollen and his legs looked really heavy with fluffy yellow balls. He made sure to fully circle the center of the flower and seemed quite intent on getting a bit of pollen from each part of the disc.
He even flew around a few times and dropped little pieces of pollen off his back legs in flight.
If our garden has taught me anything so far, it's to stop and appreciate the small stuff. I hate being cliché, but it's true. Without a garden I would never have discovered the beauty of dragonflies, the grossness of tomato hornworms or the fascination of a bumble bee at work. So even if we don't grow anything edible from this garden, at least we've gained something from it: a little appreciation of the small things in life.