Squash bees are out so early in the morning that they’re moving pollen around well before honey bees even arrive. Research done by the Department of Agriculture found that squash bees “are largely responsible for the production of cultivated squash across North America” and “much of the Americas.” That is very cool.
I like buffalo gourd (Cucurbita foetidissima) and I haven’t talked about it in many years. If you were to look it up you’d find that there has been a lot of modern research on both the seed of the gourd and also of the large tuberous root. And, this is cool; I remember reading years ago how an indigenous desert farmer made a liquid concoction of the rank foliage and flowers to deter squash bugs. Oh yeah!
The photos are mine of books pulled off the shelf and the buffalo gourd photos were taken on our weekly excursion. It was late morning and there is a squash bee snoozing in the flower.
