Honey bee forage in Kirkpatrick, Oregon

When is the honey flow in Kirkpatrick?

• First forage: Feb 16 (willows, roadside weeds (clover, dandelion, sweet clover, mustard), dandelion)
• Main flow: Mar 16 to Jul 15, peaking early May (roadside weeds (clover, dandelion, sweet clover, mustard), willows)
• Fall flow: Aug 1 to Aug 15 (roadside weeds (clover, dandelion, sweet clover, mustard), spotted and diffuse knapweed)
• Season ends: Sep 30

Forage available to a colony through the year at the center of Kirkpatrick, 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 20.

What the honey is made of

• Spring honey (March to June): roadside weeds (clover, dandelion, sweet clover, mustard), willows, clovers: white, alsike and red, dandelion; extra light amber, likely to set over some months
• Summer honey (July and August): roadside weeds (clover, dandelion, sweet clover, mustard), spotted and diffuse knapweed, alfalfa, clovers: white, alsike and red; extra light amber, likely to set over some months
• Fall honey (September to November): roadside weeds (clover, dandelion, sweet clover, mustard), spotted and diffuse knapweed, clovers: white, alsike and red, dandelion; light amber, likely to set over some months
• Whole season (March to November): roadside weeds (clover, dandelion, sweet clover, mustard), willows, spotted and diffuse knapweed, 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

• Peas: about 146 acres in a typical year, nearest 0.8 mi E, blooms late Apr – early Jun (grown 3 of the last 5 years)
• Mustard: about 56 acres in a typical year, nearest 1.3 mi S, blooms early May – late Jun (grown 1 of the last 5 years)
• Camelina: about 47 acres in a typical year, nearest 1.4 mi NW, blooms late May – late Jun (grown 1 of the last 5 years)
• Alfalfa: about 13 acres in a typical year, nearest 0.7 mi W, blooms early Jun – early Aug (grown 5 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 Kirkpatrick

Mostly: Winter Wheat; Fallow / idle cropland; Interior Western North American Temperate Ruderal Grassland.

Nearest mapped water: mapped stream or canal (may be dry in late summer) 0.12 mi W; creek, wetland or wet meadow 0.15 mi S.

Things to watch

• Lots of crops with little or no bee value. About 38% of the land within 3 miles is in crops bees get little from (such as wheat and other grains).

How Kirkpatrick ranks

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

Nearby

Mission 2 mi · Gopher Flats 4 mi · Cayuse 4 mi · Riverside 4 mi · Tutuilla 5 mi · Adams 7 mi

All towns in Oregon · 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 Kirkpatrick (45.6796, -118.6499); 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.