Honey bee forage in Homestead, Oklahoma

When is the honey flow in Homestead?

• First forage: Feb 1 (roadside weeds (clover, dandelion, sweet clover, mustard), dandelion)
• Main flow: Mar 16 to Jul 31, peaking early Jun (roadside weeds (clover, dandelion, sweet clover, mustard), soybeans, clovers: white, alsike and red)
• Season ends: Oct 31

Forage available to a colony through the year at the center of Homestead, from what grows within flight range (about 3.7 miles) and when it blooms here. Dates are the model's estimate for a typical year; the spring index for this spot falls on Apr 1.

What the honey is made of

• Spring honey (March to June): roadside weeds (clover, dandelion, sweet clover, mustard), soybeans, clovers: white, alsike and red, dandelion; extra light amber, likely to set over some months
• Summer honey (July and August): cotton, roadside weeds (clover, dandelion, sweet clover, mustard), soybeans, fall wildflowers (goldenrod, aster); extra light amber, mixed: part of it sets quickly, part stays liquid
• Fall honey (September to November): fall wildflowers (goldenrod, aster), cotton, garden flowers; amber, likely to set within weeks to a few months
• Whole season (March to November): roadside weeds (clover, dandelion, sweet clover, mustard), soybeans, cotton, clovers: white, alsike and red; extra light amber, likely to set over some months

Nectar-source estimate (plants weighted by how much bees favor them), not a pollen analysis. Full honey estimate.

Bee crops within flight range

• Soybeans: about 45 acres in a typical year, nearest 0.4 mi S, blooms late May – late Jul (grown 1 of the last 5 years)
• Canola: about 77 acres in a typical year, nearest 1.8 mi SW, blooms late Apr – early Jun (grown 1 of the last 5 years)
• Cotton: about 43 acres in a typical year, nearest 0.4 mi S, blooms early Jul – early Sep (grown 1 of the last 5 years)
• Sorghum: about 44 acres in a typical year, nearest 0.7 mi N, blooms early Jun – early Jul (grown 2 of the last 5 years)

From USDA's crop maps for 2021–2025; fields rotate, so a crop counts by how often it was grown. Listing a field says nothing about its owner.

The land and water around Homestead

Mostly: Winter Wheat; Great Plains Comanchian Ruderal Grassland; Central Mixedgrass Prairie Grassland.

Nearest mapped water: mapped stream or canal (may be dry in late summer) 0.02 mi W; creek, wetland or wet meadow 0.39 mi SE.

Things to watch

• Lots of crops with little or no bee value. About 65% of the land within 3 miles is in crops bees get little from (such as wheat and other grains).
• Bee crops nearby that are often sprayed. Cotton: insecticides used on about 39% of surveyed US acres (2025). Figures are from USDA's Agricultural Chemical Use Survey, matched by crop type from the crop map. The survey counts any insecticide use in the crop year (not seed treatments) and doesn't say when; ask nearby growers about spray timing.

How Homestead ranks

Percentiles among 3,000 random land points in each region, scored the same way: land in general, not beekeepers' apiaries.

Nearby

Okeene 5 mi · Isabella 7 mi · Longdale 9 mi · Fairview 9 mi · Canton 13 mi · Hitchcock 13 mi

All towns in Oklahoma · National map · How the scoring works

An estimate from public maps (USDA crop maps 2021–2025 averaged, LANDFIRE vegetation), not a survey of the ground. Maps can't see garden plantings, understory density, other beekeepers' hives, or this year's weather. The point is the Census Bureau's published center of Homestead (36.15, -98.397); a yard a mile or two away can differ, so check your own spot. The FEMA flood map was not checked for this page. Benchmark 2026.5, built 2026-10-19. How this works · All sources.