The Queen Likes Pizza?

  Son, like any young man, eats a lot of pizza.  He loves the stuff.  His favorite is just plain old pepperoni pizza while if I had my way, everything would be piled on top!  And, even though I have quart jars of assorted herbs and spices, his favorite is what he calls "Pizza Spice".  The rest of the world evidently uses the wrong name of "Oregano".  Since he likes oregano so much, my stash is always being depleted which is why I took to growing that along side all of the other herbs.  Since oregano is easy to grow and reseeds itself, at least I shan't go broke buying the stuff.  

  While out picking figs this afternoon, I noticed that the oregano is in dire need of clipping.  Tomorrow will find me out with the scissors snipping the stalks for drying.  My harvesting is a bit late, though, as the herb has already started blooming.  While this will not hurt the flavor of the herb other than making it a mite stronger, I am a bit hesitant about going wild with the scissors.  Bees, namely bumblebees, have taken a liking to the blossoms!  Hundreds of the tiny bees were busy harvesting their own part of the oregano!  It seems as if the herb gardens are full of pollinators this year!

  The bumblebees that are busy in the herb garden are not truly out to make honey with the pollen and nectar they gather.  Since their colonies are tiny compared to honeybees and since only the queen bumblebee overwinters, there is no need for a mass amount of honey.  The bumblebees fill tiny "nectar pots" with the stuff they gather.  This is to feed the larvae that hatch in the spring and to feed the queen.  The queen sort of overstuffs herself to prepare for winter and then hibernates.  She awakes in the spring to tend to her new brood but unlike the honeybee queen, she has no worker bees.  She tends to the larvae herself and, once they mature, the cycle starts again.  

  The bumblebees, today, were quite busy on the herbs.  As they gathered food for the nectar pots and for the queen, I could not help but giggle.  I sure hope the queen likes pizza!