At our market, there would be no apples, tomatoes or squash without pollination. Farmers with the controlled environments of greenhouses lack these pollinators. To compensate, farmers have to tap the tomato blossoms to activate pollination. I've seen my husband, Neil, take the male blossoms off our greenhouse zucchinis and manually pollinate the female blossoms.

Luckily, such endeavors are unnecessary outside since Alaska has plenty of native pollinators. Rob Heimbuck, who has covered rows of zucchinis, simply rolls back the cover when his plants start blooming to let in the pollinators. Homer fruit growers are always willing to enlist a little aid and house a beehive or two in their orchard to ensure good pollination.

Honeybees are not native here in Homer, but there are more than 30 dedicated beekeepers in the area who can't give up this fascinating hobby. A few of them over-winter their hives successfully. They all probably smile on those early dandelions as much as they do on the bounty of late fireweed. And there are always a couple of bee keepers willing to let go of some of their prized honey down at the Farmers' Market.

Come see what sweet treat you can find down at the market on Ocean Drive from 3-6 p.m. Wednesdays and 10 a.m.-3 p.m. Saturdays. If you would like to have more information, check out the Web site at www.homerfarmersmarket.org.

Kyra Wagner is the director of Sustainable Homer and the Homer Farmers' Market's biggest fan. She can be reached at kyra@sustainablehomer.org.