...Sting like a bee

Bee on my bonnet

One of the things I wanted to have on our farm was bee hives.  We have a lot of space.  Hubby planted a front field into Operation Pollinator.  We are smart with pesticides and love the pollinators that visit.

Operation Pollinator

So I sent some emails out to local bee keepers, asking if anyone would like to keep hives at our place.  No responses. I asked a local club.  Again - no response. So I saw a bee keeping club had a day long "bee school" and said ok, you want something done, you do it yourself.  So I read the textbook cover to cover.  Took the class.  Came away with more questions than I went in with.   Joined the club.  Bought a bee veil and jacket.

Hello, ladies!

The club I joined has hives, and every Saturday they meet and go through them, let the rookies learn to work with bees, ask questions, get experience.  So I started going every Saturday.  And learned a lot.  Went to club meetings and learned more.  Bought a lighter weight, ventilated bee jacket to wear in the North Carolina heat.

Learning from experienced bee keepers at the club hives

Then someone at the club said they had too many hives and wanted to send a hive home with someone, and my name came up.  So why not?  Apparently when you buy a hive kit, it comes "some assembly required"...or as hubby said "this could be a marriage ending project".  Well, it turned out pretty nice (and we are still married!).

Looks like an Ikea project, doesn't it?

Finished hive

Hubs went with me to bring my bees home.  That's a fun nighttime project - gotta do it when all the bees are in the hive.   So now we have one hive sitting in the unused front pasture.  Hubby comes down and watches me work with them.  The queen is gentle so the hive is pretty chill.  They do their thing while I do mine.  I made a sticky mess of my kitchen learning to make food for them (hey, if you steal their honey, you gotta feed them something!) and I also learned if you melt beeswax on your stove, it's gonna get everywhere and is impossible to clean up.

But we found we really started noticing what plants the pollinators liked, and were careful about not pulling those plants out or spraying them.  We started learning about native pollinators (honey bees are European, not native).   I had always chosen native landscape plants that the butterflies would like, but now we were thinking about what would bloom well into late summer and fall, and feed the pollinators during hot, sometimes dry, summers.  We started watching bee behavior in the evenings, and found that some of the farm residents were watching us.

Holding a drone - they don't sting.

Do I get stung?  Yes, every now and then.  It happens.  I try to only work with the bees when they are in a good mood, and I try to understand why they are aggressive.  Personally I find working with them calming.  Maybe it's the sound.  Maybe it's because all of my movements have to be slow and deliberate.  Maybe inhaling all that smoke is messing with my head.  But in any case, I feel better for working with the girls.  (All the workers are females, only the drones are male, and there are few drones, did you know that?)

So the goal is to have 3 hives here.   Let's face it, with the way things go, I'll probably end up with 10.  But for now, 3 is a nice number.  And before anyone gets all excited, it takes about 2 years to really establish a hive productive enough to steal their honey.  Right now I just want my one hive to survive the winter!

Our resident Great Horned Owl watching me while I check on the bees.

Happy Trails!

J.