Honey bee forage in Peaceful Valley, Washington

When is the honey flow in Peaceful Valley?

• First forage: Mar 1 (dandelion, maples, willows)
• Main flow: Apr 1 to Jul 15, peaking early May (summer-flowering shrubs, maples, clovers: white, alsike and red)
• Season ends: Sep 30

Forage available to a colony through the year at the center of Peaceful Valley, 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 May 2.

What the honey is made of

• Spring honey (March to June): summer-flowering shrubs, maples, dandelion, clovers: white, alsike and red; light amber, likely to stay liquid a long time
• Summer honey (July and August): summer-flowering shrubs, himalayan blackberry, huckleberries, clovers: white, alsike and red; light amber, likely to stay liquid a long time
• Fall honey (September to November): clovers: white, alsike and red, dandelion, garden flowers, spotted and diffuse knapweed; extra light amber, mixed: part of it sets quickly, part stays liquid
• Whole season (March to November): summer-flowering shrubs, maples, clovers: white, alsike and red, dandelion; light amber, likely to stay liquid a long time

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

Bee crops within flight range

• Corn: about 883 acres in a typical year, nearest 3.1 mi NW, blooms early Jul – early Sep (grown 3 of the last 5 years)
• Caneberries: about 5 acres in a typical year, nearest 1.4 mi NE, blooms late Mar – late Jul
• Blueberries: about 143 acres in a typical year, nearest 3.3 mi NW, blooms late Apr – late May

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 Peaceful Valley

Mostly: North Pacific Lowland Mixed Hardwood-Conifer Forest; North Pacific Mesic Western Hemlock-Silver Fir Forest; North Pacific Seasonal Sitka Spruce Forest.

Nearest mapped water: creek, wetland or wet meadow 0.3 mi SE; mapped stream or canal (may be dry in late summer) 0.34 mi N.

Things to watch

• Bee crops nearby that are often sprayed. Caneberries: raspberries: insecticides used on about 99% of acres in Washington (2023); Caneberries: blackberries: insecticides used on about 60% of surveyed US acres (2017); Blueberries: insecticides used on about 91% of acres in Washington (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 Peaceful Valley ranks

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

About 70% of the land here is scored with national averages for its vegetation type rather than measured plant cover, so the wild-plant part of this estimate is rougher than the crop part.

Nearby

Kendall 3 mi · Maple Falls 3 mi · Sumas 6 mi · Nooksack 8 mi · Deming 9 mi · Everson 10 mi

All towns in Washington · 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 Peaceful Valley (48.951, -122.1483); 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.