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The Bee's Knees

Back by popular demand

We are thrilled to have a very active bee hive again this season thanks to our fearless bee leader Edie McDonald and a number of bee keepers at our garden. Bee Day is being planned for August 8th at 10a.m.. Last year's event was a huge success.

This is an opportunity to view the inside of a bee hive and possibly pet a bee. Our own Edna White honey will "bee" on sale.

The bee's knees

Meaning

Excellent - the highest quality.

Origin

Hard to tell if we need an etymologist or an entomologist for this one.

Bees carry pollen back to the hive in sacks on their legs. It is tempting to explain this phrase as alluding to the concentrated goodness to be found around the bee's knee. There's no evidence for this explanation though. It is sometimes said to be a corruption of 'business', but there's no evidence to support that either.

Nor is there any connection with another phrase, 'a bee's knee'. In the 18th century this was used as a synonym for smallness, but has since disappeared from the language:

Mrs. Townley Ward - Letters, June 1797 in N. & Q. "It cannot be as big as a bee's knee."

There's no definitive origin for 'the bee's knees', but it appears to have been coined in 1920s America. The first printed reference to it I can find is in the Ohio newspaper The Newark Advocate, April 1922, under the heading 'What Does It Mean?':

BEE HIVE

The garden has a very happy bee hive in the fenced in area. Edie is our bee keeper and she is training a few others, Brian one of our veggie gardeners, also works with Edie.She is at the hive a couple times a week in the morning. We are planning a Meet the Bee Keeper day at the garden some time in July. We'll open the hive and educated people about the importance of bees. Our own Edna White Honey will be for sale that day.

May Update on Raised Beds

Raised Veggie Beds

The garden has no plots left at this time. We are planning on building two more raised beds because of all the interest. The plots are approximately 4x4. Cost is 25.00 per plot for the summer.

Watering the beds and weeding is a group effort with a calendar and this blog to be used for organization.

Let me know if you're interested. We need people who can put the water on early on the veggies only 6-7 am. When its cooking outside we need it watered again in the evening.

weeds

Remember that a weed is just a plant that is out of place, I think we all have to calm down about the dandelions. Because of the veggies being planted at Edna White most of the community volunteers have agreed that chemicals are not the way to go.

 I will have Jack Pizzo make a visit. He designed the seeded area a will make recommendations about the plants coming up. 

Raised Beds

The garden has two raised beds that will be available for planting on Sat. May 3rd. The plots are approximately 4x4. Cost is 25.00 per plot for the summer.

Watering the beds and weeding is a group effort with a calendar and this blog to be used for organization.

Let me know if your interested. We have 4 out of 10 sold already.

Kathy