Honey bee forage in Middleway, West Virginia

When is the honey flow in Middleway?

• First forage: Feb 16 (dandelion, early trees (maple, willow, poplar))
• Main flow: Mar 16 to Jul 31, peaking late Apr (clovers: white, alsike and red, dandelion, soybeans)
• Season ends: Sep 15

Forage available to a colony through the year at the center of Middleway, 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): clovers: white, alsike and red, dandelion, soybeans, roadside weeds (clover, dandelion, sweet clover, mustard); extra light amber, likely to set over some months
• Summer honey (July and August): soybeans, clovers: white, alsike and red, dandelion, roadside weeds (clover, dandelion, sweet clover, mustard); extra light amber, likely to set over some months
• Fall honey (September to November): clovers: white, alsike and red, dandelion, garden flowers, fall wildflowers (goldenrod, aster); extra light amber, likely to set over some months
• Whole season (March to November): clovers: white, alsike and red, dandelion, soybeans, roadside weeds (clover, dandelion, sweet clover, mustard); 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

• Corn: about 191 acres in a typical year, nearest 0.7 mi E, blooms late Jun – late Jul (grown 3 of the last 5 years)
• Soybeans: about 98 acres in a typical year, nearest 0.7 mi S, blooms early Jun – early Aug (grown 1 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 Middleway

Mostly: Eastern Cool Temperate Pasture and Hayland; Northeastern Interior Dry-Mesic Oak Forest; Northeastern North American Temperate Forest Plantation.

Nearest mapped water: pond, lake or river 0.09 mi S; open water 0.09 mi S.

Things to watch

• Bee crops nearby that are often sprayed. Apples: insecticides used on about 77% 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 Middleway ranks

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

About 57% 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

Inwood 5 mi · Charles Town 6 mi · Shenandoah Junction 8 mi · Martinsburg 11 mi · Shannondale 11 mi · Bolivar 12 mi

All towns in West Virginia · 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 Middleway (39.3035, -77.9806); 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.